The very idea of “creonte” is ridiculous. It is old, outdated, and is heading fast into the dustbin of Jiu-Jitsu history. It is informed by an exclusive and divisive ideology that breeds conflict, negative environments, and closed systems of thought. Everybody suffers under this regime of rigidity and closed-mindedness – the purveyors of creonte ideology most of all.
History of the Term Creonte
Almost as soon as I started training Jiu-Jitsu, I heard the term “creonte” being thrown about, used as an invective against people who left the Jiu-Jitsu academy at which I trained in order to train at another local academy. It was obvious from the beginning that this was a pejorative term, hurled at those seen as “traitors.”
Doing a perfunctory Google search for the term creonte will reveal that it was coined by Carlson Gracie. It was a reference to a popular Brazilian soap opera character who was consistently involved in fickle double-dealings and changed his allegiances frequently and with little forethought. This character’s name (or nickname) was most likely borrowed from the character of Creon in Greek mythology. In the plays Antigone and Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles in 429 and 441 B.C. respectively, Creon is a duplicitous and conspiring character, scheming for control and ultimately the throne of Thebes. Needless to say, he is not a sympathetic character.
Professor Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhães claims that Carlson first started using this phrase to describe students who left his academy. This may have started during the mass exodus from the Carlson Gracie Team in Brazil, which led to the formation of Brazilian Top Team. This is ironic because Carlson Gracie himself purportedly left the original Gracie Academy over disagreements with his uncle Helio regarding the closed and insular nature of the Gracie Academy.
The Definitions of Creonte
Master Rickson Gracie defines a creonte as “the guy who betrays the teacher and goes somewhere else … to get the easier promotion.” Rickson claims that the student is involved in an almost mystical exchange of knowledge with their instructor, and speaks of this teacher/student relationship with terms like “love,” “family,” and the teacher having to “give [his] soul” to his students.
Another creonte definition comes from Professor Draculino, who uses similar terms, saying a “creonte” is “the guy who leaves his team or family without a valid reason,” and further mentions how it has become normal to do so in the modern era. Professor Draculino says that the “creonte” “just think about themselves, they don’t have any group or family oriented idea.” He does, however, qualify the term “creonte” as not just any paying student, but specifically as a student who isn’t paying membership dues, but is training for free and taking advantage of the generosity of the instructor/academy owner:
“… [‘creonte’ or creontes are] people who don’t pay scholarships … it’s funny because the guy who pays almost never leaves you. The guy who doesn’t pay leaves you. The guy who doesn’t pay is the guy who bring you more trouble, creates gossip, creates drama. He thinks he’s better than you, he thinks you don’t think right. So, the ‘creonte’ thing comes from the guy who doesn’t pay.”
Reality: the Positive and the Neutral
In reality, there are many reasons why a student would leave one academy for another, and very few of them are duplicitous. To teach Jiu-Jitsu is to provide a service to others in exchange for money (or some other form of compensation). It is not radically unlike the provision of any other good or service on the free market. If somebody is dissatisfied with the service they are being provided, they have the right – and some would argue, the duty – to seek out that service elsewhere.
This not only results in the student satisfying their own needs, but also sends a signal to the academy they are leaving that something in their program is insufficient – or entirely absent – for some students. If the particular problem is large enough, it will result in a mass exodus of students for another academy. That will send a signal to the receiving academy that something they are providing is missing in other academies. It is these signals provided by consumer choice that provide purveyors of goods and services to improve their products where they are lacking, and exploit and accentuate the areas where they thrive. This is the essence of market competition. It is only a zero-sum game if you allow it to be, by dwelling in the negativity and castigation of the bjj creonte ideology, always blaming others and pointing your finger instead of critically evaluating your own actions and your own program.
Negative Reality
It is certainly true that bad people do train Jiu-Jitsu. When those people leave one academy for another – often, they are driven out because of their bad behavior – they will sometimes badmouth their former academy to their new professors and teammates. Another relatively common situation that comes up frequently in the discussion of “creonte” is when a student will be taken in by a particular team or academy and truly treated like family. Their membership dues/tuition will be paid for, sponsorships will be solicited and secured on their behalf, their competition fees paid, and extra attention given in order to further their Jiu-Jitsu and career. This is usually only done for very talented athletes that any given academy is looking to recruit to bolster their reputation.
When a student that is given this sort of attention leaves for another academy, it can feel like a massive blow – and is often rooted in selfishness on behalf of the athlete, who is only looking to further their career and isn’t necessarily “in it for the team.” However, this is a risk the academy/team is taking on when recruiting and sponsoring said athletes. Most of the time there is no contract involved, merely a verbal or tacit agreement, and the academy/team is making a gamble that things will be amicable between them and the student/athlete involved will represent their team for an extended period of time. When things go south, it is often the sponsoring academy that is taking a loss in investment and the athlete that is moving on to greener pastures, after they have already built their name on the back of the sponsoring academy.
This is absolutely disrespectful behavior, and shouldn’t be celebrated or tolerated at all. However, the underlying issue with people such as this isn’t that they are traitors or creonte, but that they are disrespectful. The proper way to treat such people is to wish them well, and count yourself lucky that you weren’t stuck with that negative individual for one day longer. Why would anybody want a teammate who doesn’t want to be a part of their team? The best thing to do is send them packing and refocus your energy on your students/athletes who are worth your time, instead of investing negative energy into people who aren’t.
Giving Their Souls
It is true that many instructors have poured blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally) into their Jiu-Jitsu. Many have sacrificed their home life, more lucrative career opportunities, their bodies, and their financial security to pursue something that they love and to share that love with others. In that sense, teaching Jiu-Jitsu can feel to the instructor – as Master Rickson Gracie said – like they are pouring out their soul to their students. Their students come to feel like intimate friends and family, people with whom they share their dreams, aspirations, and passions. That is how emotionally invested and involved high quality Jiu-Jitsu instructors are. Because of this, when a student leaves one gym for another – for what can be perceived as petty reasons: belt chasing, personal disagreements, etc., – it can truly feel like a slap in the face of the instructor, a sign of disparagement and disrespect for all of the effort they have spent towards the instructions and retention of that student.
However, to respond to that perceived slight with contempt – regardless of how legitimate either claim is – is to compound the problem. It is adding insult to injury. To do so is to invest negative energy in something that, at that moment, you have little control over. It is to leave in the lurch students who are invested in your academy, and who look to you for guidance and support, in order to invest your energy in somebody who no longer cares for your academy.
Critical & Helpful Feedback
Honest lessons can be learned from the student who leaves your academy. Their criticisms or reasons for leaving may be legitimate. They could be providing you with valuable feedback that you can use to improve your services. As Bill Gates said, “your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” In the case that you feel their criticisms are unwarranted or unfair, you could reach out to that student to attempt to rectify the misunderstanding or to reach common ground. But only so much can be done on your part. At some point you may have to grow up, let go, and move on. You must realize that you cannot possibly satisfy everybody, and that is why there are a variety of places to learn Jiu-Jitsu. Each academy has their own style of Jiu-Jitsu, instruction, culture, and atmosphere. That is not a bad thing.
Cross Training & “Flying the Flag”
Some students choose to cross train. They may spend the majority of their time training at one academy and supplement that training by also training at another local academy. Often this comes in the form of attending the open mats of various academies. But sometimes a student will regularly attend the classes of multiple academies. This has traditionally been frowned upon, but is becoming so commonplace in the U.S. that it is no longer much of an issue. Nor should it be.
Some instructors will respond, “Well, when these cross training students compete, whose flag will they fly?” Usually meaning, whose patch will adorn their backs? Which academy will receive the public credit to for their Jiu-Jitsu? The answer is: it’s entirely up to that student. The academy that they feel has contributed the most to their Jiu-Jitsu will likely be the academy that they will choose to represent in competition. This can lead to hurt feelings and accusations of being a creonte.
Similarly, students who cross train are criticized for “giving away the techniques” of their “home” academy, or the academy at which they spend the majority of their training time. Sometimes they end up competing against the people with whom they cross train, and this can lead to accusations of conflict of interest, or of revealing their game to their opponents, thus giving an opposing team a competitive advantage. The answer to this is: who cares? This will only serve to make both teams better. Training is a mutually beneficial affair, and so is competing. When you “reveal” your game to an opposing team, by training with them, they are also “revealing” their game to you. That will serve to make you better.
A famous example of this is Leandro Lo, Bernardo Faria, Rodolfo Vieira, and Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida all regularly training together and fiercely competing against each other at various times. There needn’t be a reason to be contemptuous towards your opponents in competition, and shun training with them in a friendly matter. We all train and compete in Jiu-Jitsu in order to be the best that we can be. At least that is the ideal reason for training Jiu-Jitsu: not to beat up and demoralize other people, but to better ourselves so that all who train Jiu-Jitsu can be better, and our art/sport can evolve and get better overall. As the saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
Great Example to Follow: Island Top Team
Professor – and fellow Caio Terra Association member! – Rob Biernacki of Island Top Team in Vancouver has come forward with a particularly strong stance in regards to “creonte” culture and the idea that cross training is somehow disloyal. Professor Biernacki says:
“In an effort to bury the archaic ‘creonte’ mentality, we would like to publicly declare that we encourage our students to train anywhere they please (in fact we offer to pay for the drop in fee to remove any barrier to visiting another club), and don’t care whether we are informed or not, we have no say whatsoever in what adults do with their time spent outside our academy. We invite other academies on the island to do the same.”
This is quite admirable and, frankly, a brave and pioneering attitude to have. I imagine that Professor Biernacki’s students respect him greatly for his open nature. It is far better to be open and confident that one can retain students while allowing them to cross train at any academy they would like, rather than treating one’s students with guarded jealousy and spite when they choose to supplement their training at another academy.
Personal Stories
Jiu-Jitsu in Madison, Wisconsin is a fairly small community. All academies are connected in one way or another. I have had a few students who have left my academy to train at other local academies, for various reasons which they explained, and I readily accepted. I’m not going to pretend that it didn’t hurt. However, it did provide me with feedback about how to improve my own academy and my instruction. I took that to heart and used it as motivation to be better. I remain friends with those former students to this day, and they continue to be some of my best training partners. To hold enmity against them would not only be unethical, it would be a poor strategy for improving my own Jiu-Jitsu and the sort of culture I want to see in my academy and in the larger Jiu-Jitsu community.
I also have a student, Karen, who regularly cross trains at another local academy, Chosen Few Gym. At my academy I primarily focus on training and competing in the gi, for reasons that are too voluminous to list here. However, Karen loves training without the gi, and so she supplements her gi training at my academy with no gi training at Chosen Few. I think this is a great thing. She is looking to better herself and her Jiu-Jitsu by seeking a service that satisfies her needs. Her no gi instructor, Aaron Koller, is an amazing person, and has coached my students at competition when I was unable to make it, and I would do the same for him if the opportunity arose. Although the day may come when our students face each other in competition, we don’t see each other as adversaries. When Karen competes in the gi, she wears a CTA patch on her back, and when she has competed in no gi, she has worn a Chosen Few rash guard. There is no conflict here, because we have chosen not to create conflict. She is choosing to give credit where credit is due, and that is her decision to make, not mine. As instructors, our students are not our minions. If anything, we are their servants. They are providing us with an opportunity to do what we love, and to share what we are passionate about. Without their support, we are nothing. We owe it to them the freedom to make their own decisions.
Similarly, my academy doors and mats are open to all other teams and academies. If you are interested in stopping by, contact us here. I will always treat students of other academies with the same respect that I treat my own students. I will never deny a student of another academy the opportunity to step onto my mats and train, as long as they are there for the right reasons, and not simply to prove themselves or make a show of their abilities. Leave that for competitions, not training at the academy. When you step on the mats of an academy other than your own, you should be there to learn. There is a certain etiquette involved. You should mirror the hospitality and grace of your host, and not simply be looking to compete against their students. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t train hard. After all, iron sharpens iron. But, regardless of our team, we are all students of Jiu-Jitsu and we should use that commonality to respect each other and build each other up, not to put each other down in the name of ego or team superiority.
Final Thoughts
Jiu-Jitsu is a wonderful thing, a positive thing. It is something that should be shared with as many people as possible. The more people that train Jiu-Jitsu, the better the world will be for it. To cultivate a negative, myopic, and exclusionary environment by castigating those who prefer one school over another as creonte, works in the opposite direction: to make Jiu-Jitsu a closed, rigid, and ultimately small group of people who are obsessed with petty politics and infighting.
The students who train at academies that adopt this line of thinking and behaving will suffer – and so will their Jiu-Jitsu, by limiting the amount of open and friendly training partners that will drop in from other academies. They will also suffer because the environment in which they train will be negative and stultifying.
The instructors who adopt this line of thinking will equally suffer. As they become more paranoid, bitter, and resentful, the less people will want to train with them and be a part of their academy. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy in a lot of ways, the more you point the proverbial creonte finger, the more creonte you will produce. Soon you will be on your own island, with perhaps a few students who are too enamored or too afraid to speak up or part ways.
Instead, as students and instructors of Jiu-Jitsu, we should do all that we can to produce open and friendly environments and an equally inclusive philosophy. We should forget our differences when dealing with members and instructors of other academies and remember that we are all students and practitioners of the same art. We all love and train Jiu-Jitsu, so we should all act like it.