The Era of the Social Media Competitor

With BJJ competitions happening every month, it is no surprise to see posts on social media about everyone’s last competition. Below are a few of the most common that you see on average if you follow the sport and follow your fellow jiu-jitsu practitioners. Which one are you? Or if you are not an avid competitor, which do you find to be the most common on your social media feeds?

The “Hopefully Soon” Champion:

The most common phrase that you will see from this competitor is: “Today was not my day… but I learned a lot and I will learn from my mistakes and come back stronger next time.” You will also see hashtags like #keepgrinding associated with these posts. Sometimes you will see this person make the podium in a small local tournament but can’t seem to find their place in larger competitions. Either way, they have learned from this experience and vow to come back stronger the next time… and the next time… and the next time.

The “Every Excuse in the Book” Champion

This is the whiner and never a champion. Somehow their post turns into a rant rather than an “I’ll do better next time” post. They cry and whine about every single reason why they did not win – from injuries, personal problems (significant other just dumped them, etc.), bad coaches, overtraining, or bad training partners. This person never holds themselves accountable for their loss, as it always has to do with something or someone else. This person is also guilty of spamming your feed with pictures or videos of them training, teaching one of their “go to” moves, eating acai, or just everything and anything of them doing BJJ or BJJ related things. Because remember, they are training harder than their competition… but in the end, it’s always everyone else’s fault they don’t win.

The “Faux Podium” Champion

This champion may have gotten a medal but they failed to tell you that they got it by default. This is the champion who doesn’t have anyone else in their division and who also refuses to drop an age division or weight class to fight in a division where there are other competitors so they get a gold medal by default. This is also the champion who received a first round bye and ended up in the semi-finals by default… and loses, but still makes the podium. Yet these champions or medalists are quick to post on social media with their medal or podium pic but loves to leave out the details. But hey, they made weight... so that counts as winning, right?

Here’s what some notable black belts had to say on the topic:

Personally I love following competitors on social media. Especially the athletes I really admire. The ones I don’t follow are the continued excuse makers that look for sympathy from their fans and students. As long as you tried your best and put forth your best effort, there is no need for apologies and excuses cause your competition is working just as hard as you and deserves credit for their victories as well. The athletes I admire never make excuses and always shows respect for their fellow competitors. You can see there is no insecurities in their posts. They are professionals to the fullest like Lucas Lepri, Marcos Torregrosa, and JT Torres. – Jared Weiner, BJJ United

I’m a firm believer in the old adage “actions speak louder than words” when it comes to competitors taking to social media to air their grievances. It mostly speaks to their insecurities or need for the validation of others in many instances. More often than not, those who can do, and those who can’t talk. – James “300” Foster, Foster Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/One Jiu-Jitsu

Social media is a good platform to showcase achievements, the problem with this is that people like to lie to themselves and that’s okay for them… To this date social media has become something that really matters to people. I understand that top athletes want to expose their training program or what they eat to their followers so they can inspire them, but don’t get me wrong, everything has a limit, you don’t need to post about every damn thing you do… who cares??? I’ve seen a lot of athletes posting so many stories that I don’t even click on their profiles… boring… I’d rather keep a low profile, of course sometimes I post stuff about me training or eating but I try not to over do it. Top level athletes are role models to up and comer athletes so why not give them some inspiration? – Johnny Tama, Alliance

So what’s the best type of social media competitor? The humble ones. The people who don’t feel the need to post everything and anything they are doing that is BJJ related… the people who keep it real. If they didn’t win, they didn’t win. And if they did win, they don’t blow it up like they just won the Worlds. But unfortunately, in this era of social media, these people do exist. So the next best thing is to hit the unfollow button and save yourself the time scrolling through the things you don’t want to.