Sep 10 • The Journey
Coach Nick
One of the biggest blessings in our boys’ BJJ journey over the last 18 months has been finding Coach Nick and the Prism family.
Both Benson and Wylie have leveled up significantly in a relatively short amount of time, but one of the things Stephanie and I appreciate most isn’t just the improvement we see on tournament day. It’s how intentional Coach Nick is about developing each kid individually.
Benson and Wylie are brothers. They’ve trained together for years. They’re in the same room, learning many of the same techniques and getting a lot of the same instruction.
But they are completely different grapplers.
Benson naturally gravitates toward his guard. We’ve spent a lot of time building his game around his Step One, establishing his grips, getting into his positions and then developing answers for the different reactions opponents give him. His game has become a decision tree. The more situations he experiences, the more branches we can add.
Wylie is different.
He’s naturally bigger and stronger, has always been comfortable playing on top, and sees positions differently than Benson does. What works naturally for one of them doesn’t necessarily make sense for the other.
Coach Nick recognizes that.
He doesn’t look at his students and try to create 20 copies of the same grappler.
He pays attention.
He learns their tendencies. He sees what positions they naturally gravitate toward. He identifies their strengths, finds the holes in their games, and then starts helping them build something that belongs to them.
That takes a different level of investment from a coach.
It’s easy to teach a technique to an entire room. It’s much harder to understand each individual student well enough to know what they need next.
And what has impressed us even more is that this isn’t something Coach Nick only does for Benson and Wylie. We see him doing it with his other students too.
This video of Coach Nick and Benson sparring is a small glimpse of that process.
When we post tournament clips, everyone gets to see the finished product. They see the sweep, submission, pass, back take or medal.
What they don’t always see are these rounds.
The conversations. The corrections. The problems Coach creates for them. The thousands of repetitions. The times something doesn’t work and they have to figure out why.
That’s where so much of the development actually happens.
As parents, we know we can provide opportunities, keep our boys accountable and make sure they consistently show up. But there comes a point where you also have to surround your kids with people who know more than you do and who genuinely care about helping them grow.
We’re grateful God put Coach Nick and the Prism family in the boys’ path.
The medals are great, but having mentors willing to intentionally pour their knowledge, time and experience into our boys is worth much more.
We’re only 18 months in.
This is just the beginning.
Benson and Wylie are proud to represent Prism, and every time they step onto the tournament mats, they want the way they compete to reflect the time and effort their coaches have invested in them.
“Walk with the wise and become wise.” — Proverbs 13:20 NLT
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Coach Nick
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Join our family as we raise young athletes, grow in faith, and build character through the journey. BJJ is our vessel.
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