Back in March I got the chance to teach at Airlock After Dark, 10th Planet Airlock’s Thursday night seminar series in Bastrop. Every week they bring in a different instructor to teach something from their game, then everyone sticks around to roll. This time I was the one on the mat instead of sitting in the crowd.
10th Planet Airlock is where I earned my brown belt, so this wasn’t just another guest seminar. It’s the room that promoted me. Walking back in to teach there carried a little more weight than teaching somewhere new.
We warmed up with the ninja roll before moving into darces and a mounted anaconda choke. I love getting to share what I know and help someone else’s game click. I still remember the small details other people shared with me that completely changed how I rolled.
Explaining a position simply is harder than doing it. You can drill something a thousand times and still not fully understand why it works until a white belt asks a question you can’t answer clearly. Teaching exposes the gaps in your own understanding faster than rolling ever does.
Teaching doesn’t just show you what others need to learn. It shows you what you still have left to understand.