New Student? Nervous? No Worries. My First Day...

My First Day: At Neutral Ground North

               I was always interested in learning Brazilian Jiu Jistu and was looking for a place to learn and train in the Ozaukee area. I didn’t want to have to drive far and the price had to be right. My friend told me about this place called Riptide Grappling, which now is renamed Neutral Ground North, that he went to train and loved it. He wasn’t a big guy, not a naturally gifted athlete, just all around a good guy that I couldn’t believe trained the martial art I was interested in. Sparing you all the boring details of this story I ended up NOT going to Riptide Grappling. Why Not? I was afraid, nervous, I thought to myself that I would look like a fool if I went in there. That I would walk in and the experienced people would look at me like I was a fresh worm on a new hook. Now what’s the point of all this? Why am I telling this to you? Because finally I got tired of thinking “What if?” and I went down there to check it out for myself.

                My first day at Neutral Ground North was nerve racking. I get nervous around people I don’t know, and here I am, walking into a gym full of them. I walk in and I see some other students stretching, and was quickly greeted by Luke (The Instructor) and he was quick to get me talking. He asked what my goals were, how I heard about them, if I had any questions about what we were going to do. He put me at ease very quickly and I was no longer nervous about the training. I was still nervous about meeting the students. We started warming up and the warm-ups were things I had done in high school gym class and when I used to play basketball. Once we were warmed up Luke jumped right into teaching the technique of the day. Once he demonstrated the Americana we were learning he told us to pair up and practice. There were an odd number of people in class that day and as the new guy I just sat there. I didn’t want to do anything wrong or rub anyone the wrong way.

                I talk to a lot of people about what stops them from doing things that they want to try. They always tell me that the people who already do it will look down on them for not having the said activity down pat. Whenever I think of people being nervous or afraid coming into class I always repeat the line that one of my fellow students told me on my first day.

“Hey man, I was new once, heck everyone was new once. We all know how you feel. No worries”

                No worries? From then on I was not nervous about training there. One of the most remarkable things about training at Neutral Ground is that nobody has an ego. A lot of the guys are competitive and can be pretty intense with each other, but at the end of the day everyone critiques each other to help grow, and improve. The family aspect of Neutral Ground is the reason I continue to come back. I can’t imagine myself training anywhere else. I can call all of my fellow classmates my family and we can talk and laugh about whatever we choose. We train together, we grow together, and we evolve together.

                So if you’re nervous about coming in on a first day. If you think that you may look foolish of be made fun of for your lack of experience, I urge you, to try us out for a week. Get a 7-day pass and give us a look see. One your first day you will feel the family atmosphere and meet some of the coolest people on the planet. Get in today and start training.

Train. Belong. Evolve

- Andy R.