I love the BJJ gym. Everyone is strong and technically 
better than me. Yet they are humble and willing to share
their knowledge. The coach, assistant coaches and training
partners go out of their way to help. As I train more often
and with the same group of guys these days, they are
becoming a tribe for me.

Unlike me, Tim dominated in the kids class. It was not about
talent or technique but age. He was the oldest and had a
longer attention span. Kettlebell training made him strong.
In comparison, his training partners were mostly younger or
easily distracted.

Three weeks ago, Coach J told Tim that he could come to the
adult classes with me, free of charge. This was a good deal
as Tim only had two classes per week. Training with the
adults right after the kids would double his time on the
mat. So far, he had back-to-back classes three times and
could handle the load. For one thing, he didn't have any
recovery problem.

Training with the adults means that Tim will have higher
standards in both conditioning and technique and I have no
doubt that he can live up to them. He needs challenges as,
unlike when I was young, improving our living condition is
no longer the big motivator in Tim's life. 

I have observed that the boy can be very clever in doing
things he loves. For example, he wired the bottom of our
crab cage with one extra cord, effectively halving the 
holes. Once a crab gets in, it becomes much harder for the
creature to slip out through the bottom while the cage is
being hoisted in the air. It seemed obvious but I never even
thought about the problem. (BTW, we stopped eating crabs.
Crabbing is purely for the fun of catching.)

Last Thursday, as we were about to leave, the coaches 
presented Tim a yellow belt. It was a nice surprise! I was
more touched than the kid: hard work was paying off. On our
way home and when Tim already changed the subject from his
recent promotion to fishing, I was still thinking about him
getting his black belt one day.