Teaching via heuristics: When I teach I try hard to find a satisfactory compromise between precise details, which are necessary for efficient application of techniques; and HEURISTICS – general “rules of thumb” that give the athlete a broad insight that guides the DIRECTION of their techniques. For example, I could sit in front of you all day and teach a thousand details on variations of ashi garami. Some would be of great value, many would have less value. However, none will have as much immediate value to you as a general heuristic that points you in the right direction in the overwhelming majority of applications and is simple enough to learn once and you will never forget it, you can use it tomorrow and it will never let you down. So if I say, “The athlete whose feet dominate the inside position will always dominate the ashi garami game,” this is a simple heuristic that I push upon all my athletes and which guides so much of their behavior in a simple and memorable way that can guide them for a lifetime. Of course, the heuristic must be backed up by technical details and a training program – but it's the fundamental insight that can change more than behavior- it can change your way of thinking about the leg game and get you thinking independently about where to go from there. Here, Nicky Ryan shows the benefits of good inside positioning, a skill at which he excels, as he enters a variation of ashi garami in a tough session at rga.
