47yo male - training about 4 years, blue belt for about 2.5 years (have 2 stripes).
I love BJJ, train 6-8 classes a week and try new gyms when forced to travel for work.
Coach the kids class and have competed maybe 10 times at my home gym.
We have a promotion event this weekend - normally whether I get or don’t get promoted really doesn’t matter to me. What was different this time / 2 guys that I started with and have been promoted at exact same times as me throughout each got a stripe and I didn’t. (One is 22yo male, the other 52yo male)
This kinda surprised me since I attend more classes and generally feel like I’m keeping pace or ahead of these guys in terms of technique - they’re my best friends at the gym so we roll all the time, but obviously my professor disagrees.
My question - I’m 100% not a guy to ask my professor ‘why not me’ - but I am eager to get a better ‘outside view’ of my game.
Is asking my professor for a private lesson a good way to do this? What should I ask to structure that time like to get the most from it?
(My instinct is to just put head down and train harder and focus more on improving - but I don’t want to lose an opportunity to learn….)