Pretty large class yesterday taught by Conan. I ended up somewhere in the middle of the rank line. I told Mike that I felt like the king of the white belts. He said "That's what your gold belt is for." Much laughter was had and I've decided to be a gold belt instead of a yellow belt hence forth.
The theme of the class was omma-plata from guard. We worked a couple of entries with overhooks and underhooks and how to finish it. Nothing really new for me but some good practice was had.
During open mat Will accepted my challenge to roll first. Will was doing a lot with collar grips and sleeve grips. We switched positions quite a bit from turtle to guard and half guard but I was not able to pass his guard before Conan stopped everyone and had them switch partners. We discussed collar grabs later on and he said that I should focus on getting the grip off of my collar more and showed me a couple of ways to do it.
While looking for a new partner Bauer caught my gaze and the challenge was accepted. Like usual I did not do well fighting from my knees and even allowed him to take my back. It took a while of hand fighting and rolling back and forth. Then when I finally rolled into his guard I spent a lot of time there as well not able to open his guard. Eventually he went for an armbar and I didn't allow him to lock his feet back up again. I was able to pass to side control. We fought there for a little while and I was worried I'd lose the position, I went to mount. I tried a few chokes and tried to move higher onto his chest. He started to roll me over and I went for the armbar as I rolled over on my back. He was able to pull his arm out and automatically I went to omma-plata and with a little bit of a struggle I got him to tap. I felt really good about this roll, not because I tapped him but because I progressed and didn't go backward in position. I guess I almost went backward in position when he rolled me over. I wonder if I should have fought to keep mount more instead of going for the submission.
Bauer and I talked a little bit about the north-south choke and one of my setups to get it after that. Probably shouldn't have shared that with him. I don't want him defending it next time we roll.
I read in Gina's blog: Ginger Snaps that she doesn't like to write about mat especially her wins. I've struggled with this as well and feel much more comfortable mentioning when I lose than when I win. This blog is mostly for me, I like to read back on my old posts and see how I've changed over time. I hope that I don't offend anyone with the way I write. However, when I tap out David and Ken you can guarantee that I'm gonna rub it in their faces.
I don't think the way you write about your wins comes across as gloating, and if I tap out David or Ken, I will also rub it in their faces! I actually did tap Ken out once, and I wrote about it, but I didn't mention his name. ;)
ReplyDeletei hope i live long enough to read that post.
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