The Enforcer /// By: Vincent Inoncillo

If you practice jiu-jitsu then more than likely it has become a part of your life. It's a lifestyle no matter how big or small your involvement. Aside from the other places in life you spend your time, the academy is one place you frequent and consider your second home. It's a place of comfort and for the topic of this blog, it's a place of order. Your teammates all come from different walks of life and everyone is different. Some are reserved and some can be a little disorderly. Sometimes it's hard for the instructor to keep order in class and this is where an enforcer in your gym can come in handy.

By definition, an enforcer is someone who maintains the compliance of rules or law. In this case it's someone who helps keep order in class and the academy. It's an implied role in the gym and it's usually an upper belt or multiple upper belts. Enforcers serve a good purpose in the academy because they can help diffuse problems whether it's between people or just a single person. Every gym should have an enforcer, not to police people around, but to also be an informal extension of authority when the instructor isn't around.

As we have mentioned you and your teammates conduct yourselves differently. Ideally everyone comes to the academy to learn. But once in a while there are a couple aggressive teammates. They are there to learn but also have a chip on their shoulder. One example is when this person gets frustrated during a roll and they achieve a dominant position and go a little rough on their partner. It could be adding a little too much shoulder pressure or they could be holding or cranking on a submission. The roughness could be a result of them not liking something that you just did to them. While most people will be rolling on the clock during this time, seeing this type of misconduct could be missed. For this type of example there has more than likely been times where the roll ended and the aggressive partner storms off and didn't want to shake hands or fist bump with the other party. This would be a good time for the enforcer to see what the problem is and talk both sides and try to find a positive resolution.

Another example is the teammate that trolls or harasses certain teammates because they feel they are more dominant than them. This can happen in the academy as well as on social media. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, there is a time and place for fun and games. This can go a couple different ways. The party being attacked could just ignore the harassment and not let it affect them. Or they can entertain the comments and exchange words and let it bother them. In a perfect world everyone would like each other and be nice to one another. And since the world is not perfect this is likely to happen. In this situation an enforcer can step in and do a couple things if it becomes to get a little excessive. Like civilized people do, the enforcer can talk to this teammate and let them know that what they're doing doesn't represent the image of their academy and themselves very well. If that message doesn't get the point across then the enforcer could be be partnered with this teammate during a roll and gives them a really tough sparring match.

A last example, as I'm sure everyone is familiar with, is the guy visiting from out of town that goes rough on the lower belts when it's time to spar. This is the guy who's in town for a few days and needed a place to train. After the first day the higher belts will be aware of this because maybe somebody that he rolled with the day before got hurt. This is a good time where multiple enforcers get partnered with this visitor during the next time he comes in. What will probably happen is that the enforcers will give the visitor super hard rolls while at the same time promoting their brand of jiu-jitsu. This is the time where this aggressive visitors tactics gets shut down and neutralized. The enforcers will show no mercy but with control. This should humble all the roughness.

As I always like to say, jiu-jitsu is one of the truest things in life. I believe that in jiu-jitsu maturity is not represented by your age but by your belt. You grow as you progress through the belts. It seems as if during the lower belt levels there is learning that occurs but a lot of time spent finding yourself as well. Only through proper training, testing yourself and good guidance will you be on your way to being a good representative of your instructor and academy. But if at any time you decide to act out and out of line there will be an enforcer nearby to guide you into the right direction.