Omoplatas and collateral damage

Like a martial artist who has developed an exceptional technique but who doesn’t have the wisdom to know when to use it, Western culture has in its hands the technological potential to turn the planet into a paradise, but has no clue as to how to enjoy it. Rather than being used as a means to enrich our daily lives, the evermore sophisticated technological inventions become a way to take us further away from our bodies and our nature. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Pink Team at Bellevue, followed by "all levels".

Pink Team- round robin sparring.  I enjoy working with the white belt ladies and coaching them. Today I taught Saeki the upa.  I hope I get to see Crisanne get her blue. It should be soon.

All-Levels: Begin on your back with opponent standing behind your head. Invert, cross your leg to opponent's opposite hip, and turn yourself square. This was fun and easy. I put my hands behind my head and thought I was a rock star. Then Carlos came over to ask me what the H I was doing ending by putting my feet on the floor. End with feet on the hips.

Next: you have spider guard on standing opponent. Opponent steps back with one foot. You maneuver yourself around and square back up. This was easy, but very tiring after a few minutes.
At last: You have spider guard on standing opponent. Opponent steps back with one foot. You move your foot on that same side from bicep to hip. Pull opponent forward. Instead of the obvious triangle, go into omoplata.

The trickiest part of this was bringing the opponent's arm over one's own hip and then "stuffing it in your own back pocket". If you fail to do this adequately, it turns into an awkward and dangerous armlock which seems like it would be great for SD, but unpleasant on your training partner whom you want to be able to train with again tomorrow. As you turn, you are trying to get your crotch socked right into hir armpit- just like in an armbar from guard. Being that close allows you to use your leg to shove on hir shoulder and encourage hir to face-plant. When Lindsey did it to me, I happily face-planted myself just to avoid the armlock. The omoplata seemed both less dangerous and more of an escape possibility from that end. Another matter- that knee. As you face-plant, your opponent's knee is going right for your mouth. After Lindsey clocked me once, I started putting my hand up to shield my jaw as I bent over. When I did it to her, I opened my leg and placed the outside of that thigh on the mat so I wouldn't whomp her.

She also kicked me in the head once (not hard). This was definitely a night that I was relieved to not be drilling with a white belt.