BLOOMINGTON, IN — Trident Jiu-Jitsu Academy’s new anti-stalling policy went up at 11:14 p.m. on Tuesday, when Professor Dale Merrick, 52, taped a laminated 8.5-by-11 sheet to the wall of the men’s changing room, directly above the paper towel dispenser and slightly left of the moisture stain shaped like Iowa.
By Friday morning it had been violated between 1 and 97 times, depending on whether you ask Merrick (“once, by the same guy, technically”) or the color-coded spreadsheet on his phone (97, with a confidence interval he describes as “being worked on”).
The policy, printed in 14-point Arial and sealed in heavy-duty laminate (“the kind that lasts,” Merrick said, patting it), lists four prohibited behaviors:
- Maintaining any position without demonstrable offensive intent for more than 90 consecutive seconds.
- Pulling guard and establishing a defensive hip posture for longer than two minutes without an attempted sweep, submission, or “meaningful hip shift.”
- What the policy calls “the stall grip” — a two-on-one with no follow-up, particularly if the athlete’s eyes are closed.
- General malaise.
Below the laminated portion, in Sharpie, Merrick wrote: “You know who you are.”
Three members believe the note refers to them. None are the intended recipient.
“The actual person has already adjusted his approach,” Merrick said, declining to name him. “We spoke about this in October. This is more of a reminder. Institutional memory.”
The October conversation lasted 45 minutes. The relevant party was not present for the first 12.
The first violation occurred 38 minutes after posting. Marcus Thiede, a 34-year-old purple belt and project manager from Ellettsville, was caught holding closed guard for eleven minutes during a seven-minute round. The timer had stopped for a water break. Thiede kept going. The round had ended. The water break had ended. Three people were waiting to use mat B.
Thiede learned about the policy at 11:47 p.m., when Merrick came in to check on the lamination and found him standing there reading it.
“I thought it was a new schedule,” Thiede said.
The violation was logged. Thiede got a verbal warning. He said thank you.
By Wednesday morning the tracker had 14 entries. Wednesday afternoon: 31. Thursday: 68. Merrick stopped adding entries at 97 because the number had, he said, “lost its urgency.” He has not resumed.
Not all 97 hold up. Four were white belts who had never seen the policy. Eleven were the same purple belt, flagged at different points across a single class — Merrick confirmed this counts as eleven, not one, “for cumulative-impact purposes.” One was a blue belt named Curtis Engel, 28, who had been lying motionless on mat B for six minutes before anyone confirmed he was not unconscious but was instead, in his words, “listening to the room.”
Engel disputes the violation. His reason: cramp. The policy does not address cramps.
The last entry is Merrick himself, flagged during a technical demonstration Wednesday afternoon. His spreadsheet classification: “Exempt, pending addendum.”
The addendum has not been filed.
The sign’s location has caused what Merrick calls “an administrative side effect” and what his assistant coach, Petra Walcott, calls “a piece of paper taped to a wall that half the gym will never see.”
Trident has 47 active members. Twenty-two are women. The policy is in the men’s changing room. As of Thursday, zero women had been cited. Merrick called this “a meaningful early compliance benchmark.” Walcott said “obviously.”
A second laminated sheet went up in the women’s changing room Thursday evening. One line.
It reads: “See men’s room for full policy.”
Three women have requested transfer documentation to a partner academy. Merrick is calling it “feedback.” The partner academy has not responded.
Enforcement goes in three steps: verbal warning for a first offense, “formal conversation” for a second, and on a third offense the athlete has to demonstrate the violation in front of the full class and then get corrected live on the mat.
Nobody has hit the third step yet. Engel, at two citations, is closest.
“He’s aware,” Merrick said.
Engel confirmed he is aware. He’s also filing a formal appeal on citation two, on the grounds that the cramp was “a documented physiological event” — his words — which the policy, for its part, does not mention, because it does not appear in the policy.
“I asked Professor Merrick if cramps fall under item four,” Engel said. “He said he’d look into it. That was Wednesday. It’s Friday.”
Merrick is still looking into it.
Thursday evening, Merrick called a mandatory all-gym meeting. His stated reason: “a clear disconnect between what this policy says and how people are choosing to train.”
The meeting was in the men’s changing room, which fits seven adults. Fourteen showed up, including Engel, three white belts who still hadn’t known the policy existed, and Marcus Thiede, who found a folding chair from somewhere and placed himself directly in front of the laminated sheet for the duration.
Merrick spoke for 23 minutes. He covered the history of stalling in submission grappling. The competitive culture that rewards passivity. What he saw during Wednesday’s open mat. Specific athletes he would not name, but whose belt colors he mentioned twice. The difference between a “holding pattern” and “an active passing attempt.”
He did not demonstrate a single technique. He did not move from the spot near the sink. He did not attempt any offensive action of any kind.
Under items 1 and 4 of the Competitive Conduct Initiative, this is a violation.
The spreadsheet has not been updated.
Friday morning: the laminated sheet is still up by the paper towel dispenser. The moisture stain is unchanged. Thiede hasn’t been back to the men’s room since Thursday. Engel trained both Wednesday and Thursday and says his guard game is “evolving in a deliberate direction.”
The women’s changing room sign has been removed by persons unknown.
Merrick is thinking about a third laminated sheet, this one for the mat-side wall where people would actually see it while rolling. He hasn’t decided on placement. “There’s a lot going on over there already,” he said, gesturing at a wall with a dry-erase board, a 2019 competition team photo, and a handwritten reminder to check in on the app.
The violation counter sits at 97.
The addendum exempting technical demonstrations has not been filed.
Curtis Engel’s cramp appeal has not been acknowledged.
Three women are still waiting on transfer documentation.