A major seminar was recently held by the martial arts style/organization I study. Students from all around our region attended. The black belts, myself included, were the instructors for the hundred or so students in attendance. These students were divided into groups based on age and belt level. The ten or so black belt instructors were divided into teams of two or three and were given a specialty with which to run sessions throughout the seminar for the various groups. I was paired with two other blacks to run the grappling sessions. The other two blacks were friends of mine who recently took up Brazilian Juijitsu and were excited to get a chance to showcase their newfound ground fighting skills. I had wrestled in college and was equally eager to show what I can do. Grappling in general is a new dimension to our style and there was an unspoken element of establishing territory in the style as the resident grappler which fed into the question of who was going to run the session. Remember now that myself and the other black belts were friends so neither of us were looking to run over the other in their quest for dominance not to mention the fact that our given mandate was to work and run the workshop together. Unspoken but certainly expected was the need for the workshop to be top notch making team work a necessity. The contest of wills and skills which was about to unfold would therefore most assuredly be against a “Lavan opponent.” I.e. Against a clever and thoughtful opponent with whom I would need to have a productive and ongoing relationship with regardless of who would come out on top.

The battleground was set.

My friend/opponent made the first move. Originally I received a call before the seminar from the senior instructor in Israel explaining how he wanted me and the other two aformentioned black belts to run the grappling workshop and that we would workout amongst ourselves how exactly to do that at the next black belt class before the seminar. I was devising a strategy on how to go about this mutual planning but my friend/nemesis did not show up to class. Further more the senior instructor came over to me lamenting the fact that my friend could not make it to class but he had spoken to him by phone and my friend suggested how I should run the kids class since he had no experience really with kids (not true!…sort of) and he and the other black belt would run the adult sessions.

Sneaky.

Adults would be the prize. He took the initiative by setting out an initial framework for how things should be run and got the OK of the senior. I was now dealing with an initial attack with some significant amount of energy behind it. Going against it would require more energy than I was willing to spend and the possibility of bringing the conflict to a level where I was not willing to take it. I would either have to find a way to redirect the on coming attack or consider capitulating.
The great thing about the unstable nature of fighting is that opportunity is often waiting just around the corner if your eyes are opened wide enough to see it.
Just before we left for the seminar we received an email from the senior with the final schedule. For the most part it was the same at least as far as our grappling sessions were concerned except for one little detail. Scheduled into the seminar was an after-hours session of grappling for the black belts.

A new prize emerges.

And with it a new strategy. When me and my black belt buddies would get together at the seminar to plan out what to do and who ran what, I would hesitantly concede the adults to them but I wanted to begin the session with the blacks from a wrestling base. I would show some basic “takedowns” and defense which would lead in nicely and provide a fitting introduction for the ground work my partners wanted to do which is really the essence of Brazilian Jujitsu. I didn’t just think this was a good way to showcase my skills and forget about everyone else, but I really believed this to be the best thing for me, them and the style. when we got down to business it was a fun and skillful sparring match with complex attacks and defenses, absorbing blows, adjusting strategies and orientations for new angles and venues of attack and defense. I thoroughly enjoyed.

Honestly.

He opened with the first shot, summarizing what had already been decided. A consolidating technique, cementing the status quo in his favor. He initiated but the initiative was not his. Thanks to the significant forewarning of the events leading up to the seminar, I had plenty of time to figure out how to redirect this first expected move. His initiation was my initiative, as I was well prepared and waiting.
I put up a weak resistance to their running the adult sessions alone and explained how my wrestling introduction would flow very smoothly into their grappling lessons. He came back strong but instead of simply reiterating his previous points (a typical reaction of an Esav battle and of a less talented fighter in general) he brought in another element explaining how there was simply not enough time in the sessions. I relented while in the same breath accepted as the next logical alternative to do it for the black belt session instead. He attempted the same argument of not having enough time but I pointed out that the black belt session was to be a half hour longer then the regular ones. He still did not think there would be enough time but I insisted what I wished to teach would fit into the available time slot. Since I was really the only one capable of knowing whether or not that was true he had to concede that battle.
The Lavan was now wounded, however, not defeated. He insisted that for what they wanted to do, they would have to start the session and they would lead into the wrestling element afterward. Practically this meant that if he were right all along and there was not enough time, I would not be able to give over my part after all.

I accepted.

However,

even should there not be enough time I had one more ace up my sleeve.

The seminar was excellent and our grappling sessions, kids and adults, were a highlight. When the black belt session came, as it turned out, time was not permitting as he speculated. Mostly due to the fact that grappling sparring was so popular it lasted longer than expected. However, given that I was still an instructor along with my two partners I was able to create an impression “from the inside”. Not in the least du to the fact that because I had not gotten a chance to teach my wrestling techniques during the session, the participants were not used to the wrestling style. As such I was able to make enough of an impression to have several of the other black belts want to work with me on techniques privately and one expressing interest to commute to my local Dojo for some one on one sessions.
In the end it was a win win situation. He was right about the time issue and he really led an excellent session while I remained flexible enough, even in the face of having my initial plans frustrated, to find alternative, and perhaps more successful venues for achieving my need/goal.

You gotta love a good fight.