Identification and description of the sociomotor sub-roles and the Ludogram of Brazilian jiu-jitsu

INTRODUCTION: Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) was conceived to be an oppositional sociomotor practice with an emphasis on self-defense, but throughout the 20th century, BJJ gained sporting features, modifying its internal logic (IL). In BJJ, the richness of the motor itineraries can be revealed in the different sociomotor sub-roles. Considering the absence of research that identifies and describes the sub-roles and the Ludogram of BJJ, the following question was asked: how can the Ludogram of sociomotor sub-roles of Brazilian jiu-jitsu be systematized in accordance with its internal logic? METHODS: This work is characterized as theoretical research that is dedicated to rebuilding theories and concepts with a view, in immediate terms, to improving theoretical foundations. In this study, a theoretical reconstruction of BJJ’s operating dynamics was carried out, identifying roles and sub-roles, culminating in the construction of a Ludogram. The praxeological analysis was divided in two stages: (1) Description of the BJJ sub-roles based on sports rules and video analysis; (2) Systematization of the BJJ Ludogram. Eight public videos with unrestricted access were selected of fights from the 2018 BJJ World Championship. The sample was considered based on the following criteria: convenience, typicality, and saturation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The 26 identified and described sub-roles of BJJ indicate the richness of choices and possible paths to be followed by fighters within this itinerary of motor interaction. These different BJJ sub-roles described in this research highlight the importance of the concept of praxis communication, specifically, motor counter-communication, since many of the dynamics between a fighter’s subroles refer to the choices that the opponent indicates for the motor dialogue. BJJ requires from fighters incessant activations on aspects related to sociomotor intelligence, such as the need for sociomotor empathy, motor strategy, to anticipate anticipations, pre-acting, developing the capacity to make motor decisions, to recognize the affective, cognitive, relational, and organic loads activated during the fight, and to develop their motor conduct. In this sense, the Ludogram was elaborated, which enables future praxeological analyses of the sub-roles and motor conducts of any subject who wants to assume the sociomotor role of a BJJ fighter according to the rules of this Brazilian combat sport.