Ever wonder what kind of person trains at Wave? No? Well, I do. This is my general Idea and anecdotal view of the average Wave student. I believe it’s pretty accurate though, so there :)
Ambitious
The average Wave student is ambitious, by this I don’t mean they’re all workaholics necessarily. We do have students from every walk of life - actors, musicians, bus drivers, bin men, firefighters or bankers, any profession you’d name we probably have one or two students in those fields. What they do have in common is their ambition to become better people, better fighters, despite all the challenges life throws at them. They are all striving to improve and succeed at whatever they put their mind to.
The Wave student is ambition. Yes, they are at different stages and have chosen different routes with different bumps in the road, but they are all striving to improve and succeed at every aspect of their life.
Intelligent
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is complex, anyone can hit someone, but understanding the complexities of movement and leverage takes time. It is a puzzle box of arms legs and necks that take you in and throw up challenges that you didn’t expect and tests your problem solving and strategy forming parts of your brain. You have to be intelligent just to comprehend how it works, let alone do it too.
Happy
They are positive about the future and facing any issues that may arise, you have to have an optimistic outlook to believe that you will get better, especially at the start. BJJ is daunting and you will lose a lot before you win. You will come night after night and get beaten, by smaller people, by people who you think might not be as good as you, by higher belts, by your friends, everyone is going to beat you at some point. You have to be happy and optimistic to stick it out and believe that you will one day conquer this beautiful art.
Family people
Now that you are settled and don’t go out anymore, what do you do instead? Train BJJ. It gives you a break from your family so when you go back you are a better family person. You are fitter, healthier and release any stress you had stored up. so when you go home you are a happy caring member of your family. You release all the aggression, work stress and you feel free for that hour. It’s a great complement to a beautiful family.
Think Outside the box
You could be at the gym running on a hamster wheel while catching up on the stock prices on your headphones. Or you could be using your body and mind together to improve yourself. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu opens your mind and is a great metaphor for life’s challenges. Just ask any BJJ practitioner and they can compare BJJ to learning a language, creative thinking, and getting through getting fillings at a dentist. BJJ is a versatile art that can complement all aspects of your life.
Friendly
Are you outgoing or introverted? Doesn’t matter at Wave, we are all friends and are here to help each other along. Whether it be in training, in discussing computer games or bitcoin, or going for a coffee or a beer after training. We are more than rolling buddies and also rolling buddies. We are here for each other when times are tough, we help each other move house, we offer jobs and we go to the pub together/artisan coffee (coffee shop around the corner).
Conclusion
It takes a lot of great attributes to train at Wave and we love all the perfectly imperfect people that make up Wave. Nowhere else can you bond with and compete with such a great bunch of people.