Sunday, May 21, 2017

May 20th 2017 - Purple Promotion and Tinguinha Seminar

Had a busy weekend. Greg's coach, Tinguinha was in town for our belt promotion ceremony.  He taught a no gi class Friday night, a kids seminar Saturday morning, followed by the promotion and adult seminar.


No Gi

No Gi was packed with somewhere around 38 people.  With the limited space I was still able to get in a good workout. I partnered with Justin for a slick pummeling to armdrag series.  It included going to the  back and finishing with a takedown.  We also did some rolling back attacks from the turtle

We split up into 2 groups for positional rolling from turtle.  Then finished with 2 free rolls with Derek and Conan.



Kids Seminar

The kids seminar introduced a few techniques that they hadn't done before and a fun game using the belt.  They did kind of a butterfly guard pull right into the sweep takedown, then armbar from mount transitioning from americana, and some basic open guard to triangle.

The kids all kept up well and had some fun in the process.  I was impressed with my son, Jace, as he was partnered up with a boy from the younger class. He helped him with the techniques that he could and showed him how to tap.

The kids got promoted after this with most of them receiving new belts.  My sons are now grey belts with black stripes with yellow coming next.







Promotion

For some reason this was the most nervous I've been in a long time. Something about getting the recognition and being the center of attention.  It really wasn't anything to be concerned about. My name was called, I went up to the front took my ratty blue belt off. Greg put the new stiff purple one on and shook my hand and hugged.  I was choked up a bit but didn't have to talk so it wouldn't have shown. Then I hugged Conan and shook hands with Tinguinha.

There was applause, a lot of congratulations, many telling me that it was "well deserved" and "about time."  I also witnessed some training partners receive their blue belts (Ben, Derek, Josh, and Tyler)  and several get enough stripes to hopefully receive their blue next time.  I'd like to think I've helped and mentor many of them along the way.



Adult Seminar

We covered quite a few sets of techniques. Tinguinha stated at the beginning of the seminar that with the distribution of many different belt levels this time he wanted to focus on some transitions between techniques.

I had a good time working with Jerad. We were able to figure most of it out without issue. By the end my knees were probably the most fatigued. I would have liked to have rolled but understood why we didn't.

Here is the list of Techniques:

  1. Half Guard Butterfly 
    1. Hook Sweep
    2. Underhook and Knee Grab takedown
  2. Turtle 
    1. Arm Trap and Roll
    2. Grab knee headstand kick hips over to the other side
    3. Tripod to free head in kimura or attack turtle
  3. Omoplata 
    1. Ankle and Hip Control to get them flat
    2. An armbar counter when they try to get away
  4. Spider Guard 
    1. Kite Sweep
    2. Opponent recovers from sweep back up to omoplata
    3. Combat Base hook shin sweep
    4. Opponent recovers from sweep back up to Triangle

Thoughts

I feel like purple was very difficult for me to attain. I remember about 2 years ago not being able to fathom how I could get any better than I was.  I thought maybe my mind wasn't built for Jiu-Jitsu.  There were also quite a few times where I felt lost and didn't know what to do to get better.

I struggled with getting out of my comfort zone.  I worked on getting out of my head as much and to be more assertive and believe that my techniques would work when tested.  I had a problem with trying to make every technique be perfect and would often fall apart when something failed. I believe I developed a decent game along the way and enjoy being the guy in our gym known for deep half, cross guard, north/south choke, over/under pass and hopefully crucifix soon.

My confidence in Jiu-Jitsu is at an all time high.  I can't​ imagine how badly I would destroy my 4 years ago fresh blue belt self.  The work I've put in has paid off. That said, I'm exited to see what I'll be like when I'm ready for brown.  I've still got quite a few deficiencies, takedowns and leg locks being major ones.

I'm on a good path now.  I've got techniques and positions that I'm working to master  I still have several mentors in the gym to keep me humbled and give me guidance.  I've got a larger target on my back now so can't wait to break my belt in next week at open mat. 

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