The rise of Deandre Corbe and a new method of training jiu-jitsu
Hi fellow Demons!
If you are like us, you are counting down the days to ADCC 2024 in August. The biennial no gi competition has in recent years become known as the jiu-jitsu’s Olympics and over the 12-months, athletes from all over the globe have been competing to qualify for the flagship event.
The latest North American West Coast trials showcased more incredible jiu-jitsu and saw the rise of a new star in Deandre Corbe. Corbe tore through the under-66kg division, defeating 6 opponents, including AJ Agazarm, Gianni Grippo and his own brother Gavin en route to the final. There he faced Keith Krikorian who he defeated on points to book his ticket to the main event later this year.
Whilst Corbe has been a world class black belt competitor since 2018, a lot of the commentary around his performance has been focused on his training approach under the tutelage of his coach Greg Souders. Souders is the head instructor at Standard Jiu-Jitsu, which is based in Maryland and he is a proponent of a new way of training which he calls “The Ecological Approach”. Through these new age processes, Souders has gained notoriety in the community for challenging more orthodox jiu-jitsu coaching practices.
What is the Ecological Approach?
Let’s first start by defining Souders Ecological Approach. This scientific approach is focuses on concepts rather than individual techniques to help athletes acquire skills. Rather than drill techniques, which is how 99% of BJJ gyms structure their teaching, students at Standard Jiu-Jitsu instead play a series of task-based games centered around the key concepts outlined in that lesson.
An example of this would be instead of simply drilling leg lock entries or finishes, you might deconstruct the process into a series of mini games. For example, if you start in the saddle position, Game 1 might involve one person seeking to simply maintain leg control and knee line, whilst the other person seeks to free his knee from the knee line. Game 2 might involve one person trying to create heel exposure, whilst the other just focuses on slipping the heel.
One should also note that this methodology is not necessarily new in the wider world of sports. Top coaches in soccer, basketball, golf and athletics have been using this Ecological Approach for a number of years.
How can this Ecological Approach be effective?
If we look at the previous leg lock example, there are various potential benefits to learning this way.
Firstly, these mini or task-based games focus on control first in every position. If you can isolate and then more importantly control a leg for extended periods of time, the finish itself (e.g. heel hook, straight foot lock, knee bar etc) becomes academic. When we squander dominant position or a submission this often stems from a loss of control over our opponent, which allows them to escape. Conceptually deconstructing positions to their barebones in order establish better control should improve overall performance and submission rate.
Secondly, no single scenario is identical in jiu-jitsu. Referencing the previous saddle example, every entanglement will be slightly different even if performed on the same training partner. Perhaps their leg will be slightly more bent or at different angle. There is no “one ideal movement.” Indeed the Soviet neurophysiologist, Nikolai Bernstein discovered in the 1920s that the key to becoming skillful is to be able to produce the SAME outcome by using DIFFERENT movements.
Therefore, Souders’ Ecological Approach to training directly addresses this problem. There are so many variables in jiu-jitsu sparring and the conceptual mini games allow the athlete to develop their own movement solutions to achieve desired outcomes. And you can be as granular as you want to develop key areas of your game. We don’t get the opportunity to do this by simply drilling the two or three techniques shown to us by our instructors in any given lesson.
Lastly, this creates shorter feedback loops. You get to reset the position more often and try to improve. Furthermore, you can get pointers from your training partners as to what they think you did well and how you can improve.
The future of training
So, what do you think of this style of approach? If you want to find out more about Greg Souders’ approach, we highly recommend you watch Josh Rich’s video linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TzG_D3S3Ws. Kit Dale is also coaching students in a using a similar method and has recently released an instructional called “Task-Based Games” which is sold here: https://www.kitdaletraining.com/p/task-based-games. Kit says that it is this system of learning which propelled him from white to black belt in four short years!
We intend to introduce some of these principles to our own training in 2024 and will keep you posted with the results!
Many thanks
The ONI Team