August 1st 2015 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Half Guard Under Hook to back take & Guard Recovery 

Rolling/Game: Half Guard Sparring, Rolling from Knees

The boys did very well in class today.  However, Wednesday wasn't their best day.  Often when they work together they get a little too silly.  I saw a lot of improvement though with something that proved to be a difficult technique for them.  They had problems with the position in general like which way to turn and which foot to hook with.

Jayden is having a bit of trouble with being aggressive.  Like father like son I guess.  He seems to have spurts where he tries hard but will often give up.  I only try to encourage him and not dissuade.  Jace doesn't have this problem at all and seems to rush head long and try his best to win a roll with anyone. 

Open Mat
Rolled With: Tate, Henry, Robert, Bhuvana, Alejandro, Morgan, Austin
Game Plan: Be Aggressive

After this week of trying to be more aggressive I'm wondering if I have the mentality for it.  There have been times in the heat of battle that I realize that I've given up when I could have fought more.  It concerns me a little bit that I may not overcome this.  I'm not sure if it is cardio or if it is mental or how much of a combination of both.  Can continuing to improve my technique and roll with a lighter style be enough to overcome this weakness?  Time will tell.

Tate: It's been a long time since I've rolled with him, since this was the first time he set foot into LBJJC.  We rolled no-gi and it was quite a battle.  I even spent some time in 50/50 and had to defend and attack some leg locks.  I had a couple of good submission attempts but was unprepared for his ability to defend them explosively.

Henry: We worked on some deep half before rolling and also went no-gi.  We also had a battle and I felt pretty good about how our roll started out.  I don't remember much of the details but we finished with a barrage of attacking and defending separated a little.  He then went for a strait ankle and got it. 

Robert: He didn't have much time so we had a quick 5 minute roll.  I was still catching my breath from Henry though.  I tried to rise to the challenge and still be aggressive but I was a little gassed.  We ended our roll with me in deep half attempting a waiter sweep but I was kind of against the wall.  I was trying to think of how to transfer to x-guard like Alejandro showed me but couldn't figure it out at the time.

Bhuvana: One specific thing that came out of our first roll was from side control, I attacked the bread cutter choke and she brought her arms up to defend.  I then went to knee on belly which made her respond by bringing her hands down to defend that.  I then completed the first choke.  Which taught her to focus her defense on the biggest threat and sometimes it's necessary to ignore other threats or at least prioritize them accordingly. 

At the end of open mat we went over the north/south choke.  She was really only having trouble with the angle at which to slide.

Alejandro: I don't seem to be making any improvements while rolling with him.  It feels like he's untouchable.  I've been trying to watch him roll with others and the thing I've been trying to emulate most is his side control.  He had attempted a berimbolo at one point and I somewhat defended it.  He told me after our roll that I had the upper hand at one point but didn't capitalize on it.

Morgan: After a few rolls we discussed the triangle as he had attempted it a few times.  His major problem was that he wasn't controlling my posture and grabbing his ankle to help tighten the triangle. 

Austin: He did his usual thing of being difficult to submit.  At one point I had him in an arm triangle, but he was doing a good job trying to bridge out of it.  I didn't feel comfortable moving my hips over like I should have.  After rolling we went over back mount and I showed him what I had learned about harness grip and attacking the back.  Hopefully it helped.