The basis of confidence: Often I am asked how it is that my students play such a confident attacking game. They appear to attack without regard for the risks of failure. Many people voice to me a commonly felt fear that if they attempt submissions and fail, they will lose positional control and be defeated. This is a sensible fear. All offense, especially submission offense, carries inherent risk within it. If it should fail, there is often a price to be paid, as it can lead to positional loss or even being strongly countered by submissions. This is why I always teach escape as the foundation of a strong offense. If a student truly believes in the effectiveness of his escapes, both from pins and submissions, he will have no fear of failure in his offense. On the other hand, if a student knows his escape skills are weak, he will always hold back on his offense in a high pressure situation, no matter how technically proficient his offense may be, his inner doubts will stop him from pulling the trigger, even when he has all the physical tools and tactical opportunity in his favor. Escape work is thus a huge part of our training – ironic for a squad known primarily for submission offense. Let this be one of your training principles: confidence in your offense rests upon an unshakeable belief in your defense. The skills of jiu jitsu are evenly divided into offense and defense. They are not opposite ends of the game, but rather work in unison, as yin and yang, to create a confident proactive game that is a pleasure to behold and a terror to face. Here I put Gordon Ryan through his defensive drills with garry tonon shortly before his superfight with the great Keenan Cornelius – where his defensive skills would be strongly tested before his eventual victory.
