ADCC Absolute champion Adele Fornarino opened up on The White Monster Podcast about a frustration that might surprise fans: despite her historic success on the competition stage, she says Australia is the hardest place in the world for her to sell seminars.
The topic came up during a discussion about tall poppy syndrome in Australian jiu-jitsu. When asked what she would change about the culture, Fornarino immediately connected the issue to her own experience trying to organize seminars back home.
“I think I struggle the most selling seminars in Australia than anywhere else in the world,” Fornarino said. “I can’t book seminars in Australia sometimes just because people have this, I think, false sense of they have access to me when they want it but they never use it.”
She then explained that she believes some Australian practitioners downplay the accomplishments of athletes from their own country because they see them as peers rather than elite-level resources.
“It’s like, oh, they’re Australian but I’m Australian so I’m just as good,” she said. “So it’s fine. I got access to everything that they have access to so I can do it as well.”
For Fornarino, the problem goes beyond ego. She argued that a willingness to learn from successful athletes is often what separates competitors who reach the international level from those who do not.
“It’s very noticeable when people are very receptive of the information,” she said. “And you can tell, it’s almost like you can tell who’s going to be successful on an international stage based off how many questions they’re willing to ask and how big their ego is and how they go about their training and structuring and all that kind of stuff.”
During the conversation, host Declan referenced how Jozef Chen approached working with Craig Jones, noting that Jozef credited Jones not for teaching him jiu-jitsu itself, but for helping shape his career outside of pure technique. Declan said the lesson applies far beyond learning submissions.
“I think that just goes to show that, like, ability to be receptive to information, not just about where to put your hand on a, you know, arm bar,” she said.
Fornarino stated Australians who succeed internationally should be viewed as valuable sources of insight rather than people to dismiss or make excuses about.
“When you have Australians that succeed on the international stage, instead of creating excuses about why it’s not you and why it’s them, have the conversations and ask them what they’ve done to end up in that position and learn from that,” she said.
