It turned out to be one of the hottest days yesterday, but luckily Conan had us wear t-shirts instead of gi's because we were mostly just going over tournament rules. I think I understand the rules pretty well now. The one thing that I'll have to remember is to maintain the positions for 3 seconds at a time so I can get the most points. That seems like something that would easily be forgotten in the heat of battle. Next we went over some basic strategies and where some team members have made mistakes in the past.
We did some mock matches where one person was the ref and two people would roll. It looks like it's pretty difficult to be a ref, because not all positions are clean and there is a lot of tangling up and scrambling. I ended up going against Jerad. I started off dominating and getting top position. However, I learned a valuable lesson because I worked the top for a while and eventually gassed out. I took his back at one point and then he reversed and got on top. At that point my energy was gone and I wasn't able to fight back as effectively. He eventually tapped me with a Darce choke.
So how can I prevent this. I think it mostly happened because I was nervous from everyone watching. I also don't get the top position very often right now so I'm not as comfortable resting on top. I'm glad it happened though because hopefully it will help me calm down a little bit more.
During open mat I rolled with David first. There was one point where I was in his open guard and he was pushing me back. I came back forward and we had a nasty headbutt. We both stopped and I made sure I wasn't hurt. It was forehead to forehead so it really stung but wasn't anything serious like getting hit in the eye or nose. I can't recall how he submitted me, maybe an arm triangle.
Ken and I had an epic battle. That took probably 10 minutes or more, of course it's hard to know how much time when you are rolling. There was a lot of back and forth and some really cool sweeps and reversals. At one point Ken was trying to pass my guard and I had him doing a hand stand vertically straight up. Close to the end I told Ken that a month ago I probably would have given up earlier in the match from being gassed. I know I've improved. Ken, Jerad and I sat and talked for a while giving me some pointers for the tournament. I just hope I can keep a good positive attitude for Sunday.
that was a good match. i think you'll do well at the tournament. hopefully, the heat won't be too much of a factor.
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