If you’re anything like me, you hesitate when people ask you what you do.

I run a jiu jitsu academy. True. I teach people how to grapple. Also true. But the benefits of the Higher Jiu Jitsu Experience extend far beyond this.

You see, it all started on a beautiful, sunny day on the 12th August 2012 …

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I’d been preparing for my second competition at purple belt. The first one didn’t go my way, but I’d trained hard, won a tonne at blue belt, and I was determined to prove myself at the next level.

First match was a quick submission win. Second was also a submission win, and onto the final I went. In the gold medal match I amassed a score of 30-0 on my opponent. I was smoking him, and making it look easy. In the last 30 seconds I attempted an innocuous adjustment of my arm, and heard the loudest, most grotesque tear in my shoulder. It was like a broadsheet newspaper slowly being ripped from one end to the other. The sound seemed to continue forever.

Initially I ignored it, the match ended, I got my hand raised to the applause of the crowd. I smiled. But I knew there was a problem.

Driving home that day was difficult. The pain was excruciating. The next day and the day after that were worse. So I went to the physio, who sent me for an MRI immediately. On my way home from the MRI the physio calls me. “John I just had a phone call from the radiographer. He never calls me. He had to call me today to tell me just how f&%k3d your shoulder is!” It was the news I was dreading. ‘Surgery?’ I asked.. ‘no doubt about it!’ was the reply.

…

To cut a long story short, I got the operation done, woke up, was given my precious shoulder cartilage in a cup, and sent home in a shoulder immobiliser.

Pre that local tournament gold medal I had aspirations. I wanted to be a jiu jitsu world champion. I wanted to show my family that I wasn’t crazy for moving to Brazil to train jiu jitsu. I wanted my mates to see that sacrificing beers with them on the weekends wasn’t for nothing, and I was actually pretty good at this stuff.

6 months later while attempting the return with a right upper arm no thicker than my wrist, it was obvious that things would have to change…

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Over the years since then I grappled (pun intended) and struggled with this new identity. I loved jiu jitsu, but I was no longer a competitor on the up. I had a shoulder that hardly worked at the best of times, but still the fire burned inside of me.

Jiu jitsu was in my heart and soul. Nothing I had ever done in my life compared to the passion I had for jiu jitsu. It was in my blood, and I knew it was for life.

So what do I do then? Quit and find a new hobby? One that didn’t need shoulders? Chess??

Since a kid I’ve been called a lot of things, but never a quitter. I wasn’t going to quit on the one thing I loved above all else.

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So, without realising at the time, I had to pivot. There was no choice. Jiu jitsu would be there for me, I could train, learn new positions, and details. I could hang out with my friends and sweat it out, and follow all the high level competition, but just not be a competitor myself.

It opened up a practice of jiu jitsu that I’d never even considered before. Jiu jitsu became something different and something I had never comprehended prior to the injury. I was no longer motivated by high performance, and results, and medals, and the competition calendar.

Suddenly I sympathised with the older students who just wanted to have fun with friends. I felt how the beaten up students on the mats felt like. I was limited, and held back by physical ailments. I wanted to push harder in the grapples but there was now something holding me back from the battles.

What’s more, I realised how easy it is to ruin your body, and that you only get one of them.

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It was around this time that my friend introduced me to the PCYC City of Sydney and an opportunity to open a school came about. I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life. It was just a matter of when. So when the perfect opportunity came about, I took it, and have never looked back.

Funnily enough around this time I met two mentors who taught me so much about the idea of jiu jitsu for a lifetime. Steve Maxwell, and Pedro Sauer are two men who have definitely been there and done that, and they generously imparted their wisdom on me.

And they helped me realise that yes, I do teach jiu jitsu. Yes I run an academy. But it’s also so much more than that.

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Thanks to the necessary pivot, I’ve seen that this art isn’t just about medals and competition glory. There is a whole world of benefits to be had. And it isn’t limited to the 1% of people that are ready, willing, and able to compete.

No, this jiu jitsu that I was forced to adopt was so beneficial to the other 99% – the everyday people, the average Joes, the people that are more frail, scared, weak, and vulnerable than the beasts I was tussling with on the daily.

And it acts like magic in the everyday world. You don’t just use jiu jitsu in competitions but you can apply it to every part of your life bar none.

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That’s why here at Higher ‘we help everyday people build quality of life with Gracie Jiu Jitsu.’ There’s a few words there, but I mean every one of them.

And when you come for a trial class or a visit you’ll see that there is something different. The ethos, the tone, the philosophy is just different to the other places that share similar moves.

At Higher, we practice Lifestyle Jiu Jitsu and it’s why I’m so confident that it can be a Superpower in life for you as it is for me.

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So, keen to come in and have a try?

I dare you. And I’m offering you a taste, because you’re awesome.

https://higherjiujitsu.com.au/free-trial/

Maybe it’s a hit and you find the passion for it like I have. Maybe not, that’s OK too.

But one thing is for sure – you’ll never know if you don’t try :)