May 31st 2014 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids' Class

My boys did great today.  Due to no class Memorial day and my son having to get his front teeth taken out on Wednesday they haven't attended for a week.  They were excited to get back

Sumo was the first game and there were enough kids to run 2 separate rings.  This exercise is probably the most helpful in class for dealing with a bully.  The kids learn how to keep their own balance while trying to take someone else down or push them out of the ring.  I've seen them toughen up quite a bit since sumo was introduced.  They still need a little work on their strategy though at times.  Too much pushing in a straight line.

They worked on O-Soto Gari and there wasn't any problems picking partners and we finished up with a large group for blob tag.  The blob always wins. 

Open Mat

Today I tried to do more with the open guard that Greg showed us the day before.  I also attempted quite a few loop chokes although many of them were defeated.  The IBJJF worlds competition was also going on this weekend and several times everyone was huddled around the laptop checking out the matches.  There was also some talk about the worm guard seen in Keenan vs Buchecha and is featured in this BJJ Scout video.

Mo: He started off by asking me to review my north/south choke setup from knee on belly, that I had showed him recently.  I'm honored that others would ask me to show them techniques from my game.  I mostly experimented with getting to the open guard with him and then maintaining it and looking for a few submissions.

Ray: Had some good rolls with him today.  They all mostly ended up with him putting on the pressure from half guard and side mount and me struggling from the bottom.  Ray complimented my guard game saying that I was doing some new things.  My claim to fame is sweeping him with x-guard.  He did foot lock me from back mount and then again from deep half and I think he might have gotten me with a kimura at one point too.  Afterwards we talked about my attempted escapes and how they seemed to be all or nothing, usually nothing.  He thought maybe I should try to escape in increments like Conan does by constantly regaining ground and not giving it back, but neither of us really knows how Conan does that. 

Mike: With Mike I had my mind on my open guard against a standing opponent, most notably getting my gi grips.  I even surprised him with a loop choke in our first roll, although I think he took it as a success for himself since he just gave me some great pointers on the technique Monday.  In the end he caught me with a brabo choke and then said that was the only way he could catch me now, to which I said it's my new americana.

Jordan: He has been out for a while with an injury and said that he was feeling a little lightheaded from overexertion.  So I told him just to keep it playful and I'd flow.  I had a little bit of an internal argument at first about how light I was going to play and if I was going to turn it up if I were to come close to being submitted.  I convinced myself it was silly to even worry about it but it does show that my ego is still around.  I may have played it too light because I ended up on the bottom right away.  From there I did a lot of half guard and tried to always be moving but not use too much strength. 

Henry: He really took me a part today.  I did well in the beginning by trying to control the pace and hunker down, but once I allowed him to get to turtle I really lost momentum.  I really need to butch up my attacking from that position.  Lately with him, I'm really keeping an eye on my gas tank, trying to figure out how to pace myself and when I need to exert and when I need to rest.

Tim: I played a lot of open guard with him.  I also got to use some of the defense from knee slide that Conan worked on last week because Tim was really threatening that pass.  Later on we discussed gauging improvement and how difficult it is.  Greg had told him that he was getting better, it's just hard to see because everyone else is getting better as well.  It's true, he's definitely getting better and I feel like I've been there, you could probably go back a couple years ago in this blog and read about some of my frustrations. 

He also made mention that Open mat was his favorite class.  I didn't argue with it but it did make me think a little bit.  It's most certainly an important part for me but I'm not sure if I currently learn the most through open mat or through other classes.  I can honestly say that my biggest jump in skill came from attending the competition classes that we had in the November, December, and January time frame.  Choosing the cross guard, over/under pass, and single leg to drill over and over again and then seeing them work in rolling was a huge eye opener for me.  In my opinion, to get to the next level for proficiency for me I need to focus more on drilling and then incorporating what I drill into my rolling.  I need to have specific goals for open mat to maximize the time I spend.