It’s understandable to feel uncomfortable when you are thrown into a very unfamiliar environment. Not many of us feel at home with a 100kg man lying on top of you and crushing the life out of you and honestly during your first few training sessions you are going to feel like a fish out of water. Here is some advice for you to cope with the initial process of getting used to the mats and to streamline your learning process.

1. Ask many questions: Never be afraid to clear your doubts and ask many questions. Not feeling like you’re getting it right? Get the opinion of the coach or a senior. Exercise caution though, feel free to get advice from other people who are of similar or lesser experience than you if you feel that they have got the technique or concept down however that is not necessarily the case. Ideally you want to approach someone who is at least a blue belt, at least when it comes to the basics. No question is too “stupid” however just make sure that the question is relevant to whatever is being taught at the present time. If you have questions that do not pertain to today’s class it might be better to ask them after class so as not to disrupt the flow of the session.

1. Roll with someone better than you at least once per training: No one likes to lose but in this sport if you want to get better you have to lose. No one gets better from winning all the time. If you are winning all the time you probably are picking the wrong training partners or you are legitly very gifted (highly unlikely if you just started). Tapping out does not mean you suck. On the contrary it exhibits your ability and eagerness to learn and at the same time keeps your ego in check.
2. Roll with many people: Do not get stuck in the trap of rolling only with your friends or picking only small/medium/large people or even worse only “lousy” people. What happens next is you become so familiar with each other’s game plan that you only end up knowing how to win their strategies and when its competition time and you are forced to fight against someone with a completely different strategy you suddenly are at a lost at what to do. Diversify your opponents and your own strategies will also be diversified. You would be more prepared to deal with any opponent.

1. Stick with the basics: It’s very tempting to try out that fancy new move you saw one of the seniors do or something you saw online. However before you tryout that inverted double x gogoplata reversal make sure you get your basics right. Basics are extremely important and you need your fundamentals to fully appreciate and understand when to use the advanced stuff. As a white belt, simply the basics can get you very far at least until your first promotion. Never stop drilling the basics. If you try to short circuit the system, you will find yourself struggling in your later years.
2. Fully utilize open mat: Rolling is extremely tiring and as a result can be very put offing. There is a difference from knowing how to do stuff to actually being able to do stuff. Being able to practice what you learnt is what makes you a better grappler and not the number of techniques you are able to memorize. The time you spent on the mat is also what defines you as a grappler and you would also develop your own style and game plan. If you want to get good fast, roll as much as possible.