Last night at our annual 10th Planet Van Nuys Holiday Party I was awarded the prestigious 10th Planet Van Nuys Instructor of the Year award. I know it sounds corny but I really didn’t expect to win this award. I thought for sure it was going to go to someone else. We don’t have any “Ehhh” Coaches at our school. All of the instructors at my gym are top notch.

Each of us offers a unique perspective and has a completely different coaching style. Coach Mike aka “Lobes” offers great cardio and technique in his class. I’m pretty sure Lobes can watch a move once and then break it down and teach it to his class. Coach Mike aka “Tipz” is great at leading by example. Many coaches will preach all the time that you need to drill and then never drill themselves. Coach Tipz on the other hand drills, drills, and drills and encourages you to drill, drill, and drill.  Coach Bhimer offers top notch intense instruction. There are those times when we all want to give up or think you can’t do it and Coach Bhimer helps you push through mentally. Coach Al aka “Huge” offers great small man Jiu Jitsu. Coach Huge is the perfect example of size not mattering in Jiu Jitsu. He has some awesome techniques and variations on techniques that he shares with me that have helped my game progress.

I was put on the spot last night and didn’t really have much of an acceptance speech beyond “Thanks” but I wanted to thank everyone who shows up and trains at 10th Planet Van Nuys. Even if we haven’t rolled or trained together you have had some sort of impact on my game. Yes a great instructor can build champions but what really builds champions is the level of talent in the room. We are extremely lucky to have such talented guys in our gym and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for making me a better Jiu Jitsu player and instructor. Hope to see everyone on the mats this week!