Teaching privates

[MEGALEF]

A baby blue belt asked me last week if I might consider teaching privates and offered me 200SEK (~25USD) an hour right away. I asked him if there was anything particular he had in mind and he just said "everything". He's a very smart small guy with a great desire to be technical.

I've been the assistant instructor at our club for about a year and a half now. Since our head instructor often is away on business it's quite often down to me to plan and teach class. As I'm a student the extra money would be totally sweet. Also, some day I want to start my own club and teach there so I figure I'll have to learn about teaching privates anyway.

However I'm not entirely confident in what I could teach him. I'm pretty successful at competitions but I feel that my basics are not that good and I mostly get by on having really good balance and flexibility in my hips. My own game often deviates so much from 'the basics' that I'm not sure if it's such a good idea to try and teach it to him because it might make him a worse player.

I'm going to try and watch the guy a bit closer when he's rolling to see if there is anything specific I could help him with but other than that I don't know what I can do.

Does anyone on here have any experience teaching privates and want to share?

[Tom Kagan]

He may just want more personal attention and other times to train which currently have nothing on the class schedule, so you might not have to sweat the details as to what to go over with him so much.

Don't forget your own instructor may prove to be a valuable resource in what to do with this guy, too.

[Goju - Joe]

I have thinking about doing privates.

What I want to do is work on the little things make a huge difference. I know the moves but might not be dropping my weight correctly or shifting my hips to early or not enough and so on.

Chances are he's probably in a similar space.

It's all the little things that you probably do instinctively

Teaching him will also help you focus on these aspects as I find good instruction is in the details.

[M-Tri]

From my personal experience the easiest way to do a 1-on-1 with someone that doesn't know exactly what they want to work on is to start with a warm-up using you're favorite drills, then just roll with him very slowly and watch the mistakes he makes. when he makes a mistake simply pause the roll and correct it; have him drill the correct technique/transition/motion 10 times on each side then start back in the same position you paused in and have him do it correctly on you and continue rolling until you see another mistake; obviously if there's an area he seems to be having more trouble with try to keep him in and around that position and spend as much time on it and alike techniques as he needs. Then when there's like 10 or so minutes left, put him through a bit of conditioning with sport specific routines, and/or just roll harder with him.

honestly it's a lot easier to teach (and learn) when you have 2 people doing the private, so if I were you I'd tell him to find a buddy to split the bill with him. however, some people like 1-on-1's simply cause they feel like they're getting more attention.

[Zapruder]

I find the easiest thing to do is to watch them and find things that would incorporate well into their game. If they are white belts, I will go over basic stuff with EVERY detail, and make them takes notes on everything. I will then go into something a little more advanced, but something that works well with their style, once again NOTES.

Privates are for the little details that get glossed over or not truly hammered in during normal class. I normally go over solid fundamentals for most of the time then I will give them one or two toys to play with; something new that fits with their game. Then I roll for 10-15 minutes...but that is usually after the hour is over I like to give them an hour of instruction :)

[Gumby]

Heres how I generally run a private lesson:

Assuming you dont know the guy or have any experience with him/watching him train.

I'll train with him for about 10-15 minutes to see what kind of game he plays and how he likes to play it. I then base what Im going to teach him based on what I saw during the private. Many times you'll see a hole or gap in their game that can make a big difference- the "next step" for them if you will. If you correct or improve upon these techniques, they'll usually do better when training, and as a result regard the private as a wise investment and return for more in the future.

For an hour long private, I usually wont go over more than 2 techniques

If I regularly see the student train, chances are I'll know his game and what hes lacking- you can show the techniques first and then roll around at the end.

[Hedgehogey]

I have to say 200$ usd per hour is pretty exorbitant for a private with a purple. My gym sets them at 80 pr hr and I still give them credit for another future hour when the gym owner's not paying attention.

[MEGALEF]

200SEK != 200USD
200SEK ~= 25USD
You get 80 dolaros for an hour? Holy carp!
The guy hasn't been to training very much lately because of work so I haven't had any time to see what and how he does in class.

[datdamnmachine]

Everyone pretty much has the jist, rolling with the person allows you to see what he may need to work on. Also, be aware of what he WANTS to work on too. This way, he feels he has gotten his money's worth and you KNOW he's gotten his money's worth.

Also, if you haven't had the chance to read Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University, I wrote a review here:

Review - Saulo Ribeiro’s Jiu-Jitsu University - No BS Martial Arts

In the book, he has a unique approach to privates. In it, he feels there isn't enough time in one private lesson to add to or change your game so he focuses on survival. He teaches this, in his opinion, "...because his defense has got to be tight before he even considers fancy sweeps or the newest attacks."

Really made me think long and hard. Just putting that out there.