We Don’t have Hobbyist at No Limits Grappling Academy
There are typically two classifications of people in the jiu-jitsu/submission grappling space: competitors, those people who regularly take part in tournaments, and hobbyists, people who train with no interest in taking part in tournaments and train for reasons other than getting to the top of the medal stand. We don’t have hobbyists at NLGA.
I can already hear the new browser tabs being open to google other Jiu-jitsu gyms in the Scranton area that don’t force competition. Hold on, hold on. We’ve always said that while we encourage tournaments, we never force you to do one and we mean that. We just don’t use the word “hobbyist.”
Much like we explained that we prefer to call our members “athletes” instead of students, we use the term “Non Tournament Athlete” or NTA to refer to people who have no interest in competing in a tournament setting.
Why? What is the big deal? Why are we so specific about the words that we use?
Simple. Whether you ever choose to take part in a tournament or not, we don’t believe we are teaching a “hobby.” Hobbies to us are things like collecting cards/stamps or building ships in a bottle, things that you can put down and pick back up 3, 6, 9 even 12 months down the road. We don’t teach that.
What we teach is a lifestyle, what we teach is a commitment, what we teach is a path to achievement and building resilience, what we teach is navigating through highs and lows, what we teach is hard work. That is just some of what grappling is and THAT is what we teach.
We think it goes far beyond something as simple as the term “hobby.”
The term hobbyist also sometimes carries with it the connotation that because jiu-jitsu or grappling is “just a hobby” that you shouldn’t care about your training or want to get as good as possible at it, which could not be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, it's our goal that our NTAs develop their skills to such a level that they consistently push our competitors so that they improve and the level of skill in our training room rises all the time.
Which is why we don’t have hobbyists at No Limits Grappling Academy.