Jasmine Rocha Criticizes BJJ Black Belts Who Shame Students For Being Late To Class

Jasmine Rocha, daughter of renowned BJJ competitor Vagner Rocha, shared her thoughts on how coming to class late is treated in some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies.

Specifically, Rocha criticized the practice of shaming or penalizing students who show up late:

Don’t tell me to get down and do push-ups for you, I don’t care who you are.

Rocha emphasized that instructors should recognize the diverse challenges their students face outside of the gym – especially since they’re paying members who choose to spend their time training:

These people pay memberships, come to your gym, and they are coming off of work or maybe they just took a nap at home and they got here late.

You should be happy that they’re at your class at all.

Reflecting on her own experiences, Rocha admitted that late arrivals used to bother her.But she credited lessons learned from her father for reshaping her perspective – and now advocates for understanding and flexibility:

That’s their time and that’s their money…You don’t know what’s going on in their life.

She also took aim at practices like mandatory push-ups for tardiness or locking students out after class begins:

If you’re that way, you’re gonna deter people from coming out.