The Joy of Technical Sparring

There’s something amazing about rolling with someone who has clean and smooth techniques.
​
Technical sparring with such a person may be one of the most enjoyable things about BJJ.
​
I imagine this is similar to jamming with a great musician or dancing with a great tango dancer.
​
The sense of competition against each other fades away, and you two create a whole play of BJJ.
​
There’s no ego involved, and you play BJJ to have fun in such a roll.
​
You keep moving to explore what’s possible.
​
The best (and most recent) example I can think of is a Korean brown belt I met in Prague when I stayed there last year around this time.
​
He was a bit smaller than me (he competes in the light featherweight and I compete in the featherweight), and his skills were excellent.
​
The sad thing is that there aren’t many people who can roll like that.
​
I suppose there can be multiple reasons for this. One of them might be that not people are focusing on sharpening and smoothening their BJJ skills. I mean, you could win more without having sharp & smooth skills, at least in a lower level of the game.
​
But trust me, jiu jitsu will be more FUN when you can roll more smoothly. And I believe working on being more precise and smoother will help you get better at jiu jitsu overall. (Remember Lucas Lepri!)
​
BJJ is a competitive sport, and I get that people care about winning and losing… I do too. But keep in mind that there’s something more to BJJ than competition results.
​
Remember to have fun by going through this endless process of sharpening and smoothening your skills.