My contention is that we must start going beyond teaching fundamentals as a simple set of basic moves in a rudimentary beginner level fashion and start identifying WHAT ARE THE FOUNDATIONS UPON ALL PROGRESS IN THE SPORT IS MADE and begin teaching these with a level of sophistication that can enable a student TO MAKE EXTRAORDINARY PROGRESS IN A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME FRAME.

So what are these foundations? We have to go beyond seeing them as a small set of basic moves. I see a fundamentals program as built around:

- Movement skills: You cannot perform MOVES well without the prerequisite MOVEMENT skills that make them possible

- Technical skills: These must be taught at a level of sophistication that will speed progress and sustain growth all the way to black belt and beyond.

- Conceptual knowledge: Only when a student is given the big picture provided by a clear statement of the underlying concepts beneath the many moves being taught can he or she put the moves of the sport in a context that enables them to be used effectively on the mat.

- Pareto’s principle: This a well known idea from economics that posits that in any enterprise, the vast majority of your success is derived from a relatively small percentage of your employees. So too in Jiu jitsu. Experience shows clearly that a small percentage of the moves account for the vast majority of success.