Learn to Fail Safely: Reducing Novice Attrition Through Intentional Pedagogical Design in Sparring Martial Arts
Join me at the 10th Annual Martial Arts Studies Conference in Brighton, England where I’ll be presenting the results of decades of experimentation on the mats and within our team. An expose on the positive outcomes while undertaking the goal of — reducing physical, mental, and emotional injuries in sparring based martial arts such as: Mantis Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and MMA; for the purposes of: improving training results for the practitioner, creating a stronger community invested in one another’s success, and reducing attrition caused by the aforementioned injuries, as well as counter-productive training environments.
Abstract
Failure is unavoidable in sparring-based martial arts, yet it is often misunderstood and poorly structured (Eskreis-Winkler & Fishbach, 2022), leading to increased injury risk, misinterpretation of feedback, and greater student attrition, especially among novices. Taking an instrumental case study approach grounded in Randy Brown’s 25 years of coaching experience in Mantis Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and informed by practitioner-reflective scholarship (Stenius & Dziwenka, 2015), this presentation examines how failure can be pedagogically re-framed as a productive learning condition rather than a discouraging or identity-threatening event. The analysis integrates three theoretical strands. First, research on learning from failure demonstrates that individuals often struggle to extract lessons from adverse outcomes, particularly when failure is experienced as humiliation and threatens identity (Eskreis-Winkler & Fishbach, 2022; Williams & Smith, 2023). Second, psychological safety theory shows that individuals are more likely to engage in learning behaviors when interpersonal risk is minimized (Edmondson, 1999). Third, edgework theory conceptualizes voluntary risk-taking as a negotiated encounter with the boundary between control and chaos, illuminating how practitioners might interpret sparring as either a meaningful challenge or a destabilizing threat (Channon, 2020; Lyng, 1990). Rather than treating failure as either something to eliminate or something students must simply endure, the presentation demonstrates how instructors can design training conditions that keep students engaged at the edge of competence while reducing unnecessary injury risk and psychological harm. Drawing on examples from Randy’s school, the presentation analyzes three instructional interventions—removing protective gear to slow down training and heighten perceptual sensitivity, redesigning the curriculum to embed failure within the learning process, and structured mentor sparring—that reshape how students experience and interpret failure. These intentional adjustments preserve the authenticity of live training while reducing unnecessary risks. For instructors, researchers, and practitioners, this presentation offers a theory-informed pedagogical framework for improving learning, safety, and retention without diluting the transformative potential of sparring-based martial arts.
Authors: Randy Brown, BS, Randy Brown Mantis Boxing & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, David B. Glover, PHD, Shinobi Martial Arts
References
Channon, A. (2020). Edgework and mixed martial arts: Risk, reflexivity and collaboration in an ostensibly ‘violent’ sport. Martial Arts Studies, 0(9), 6–19. https://doi.org/10.18573/mas.95
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Eskreis-Winkler, L., & Fishbach, A. (2022). You think failure is hard? So is learning from it. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(6), 1511–1524. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211059817
Lyng, S. (1990). Edgework: A social psychological analysis of voluntary risk taking. American Journal of Sociology, 95(4), 851–886. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2780644
Stenius, M., & Dziwenka, R. (2015). “Just be natural with your body”: An autoethnography of violence and pain in mixed martial arts. International Journal of Martial Arts, 1, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.51222/injoma.2015.12.1.1
Williams, F., & Smith, A. B. (2023). The downward spiral of fear of failure in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners. Leisure Sciences, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2023.2287105
Keywords: attrition, edgework, failure, martial arts pedagogy, psychological
safety