"Does not participate well"

Lindsey's class.... which I stayed for the entirety of, for a change, since kung fu was cancelled today.

We did a number of basic BJJ moves.... turtle to side control, seated ankle pick to guard pass, bullfight, triangles.

I worked with Jeff part of the time, and thus got to push it a little.... although he injured his ribs snowboarding, so we had to go slightly lighter than normal. He told me that he was going to recommend that I recieve a "Does not participate well" note for this class, as many of our drill reps sort of turned into sparring. Hey, it takes two, buddy!

Some of the time I worked with one of the new young ladies. There are two or three who seem like they might actually have some interest and aptitude for BJJ- including the long-legged gal I worked with a bit last week. So in those cases, I was tutoring a little. I think coming into a small subgroup like this and learning some basics must be easier for new women than doing the sink-or-swim in the regular class with all the big guys. This class could be a good source of some new female BJJ students. Lindsey had them actually gi up today, too.

The no-stripe blue belt guy came over to give her some instruction too... but if I may be so bold, he didn't explain it too well- and he gave too many details too soon. A triangle is a complicated technique for a newbie. When he wandered away, I could tell she was lost, so I said to her, "Just focus on this first part for right now." We drilled the setup without finishing the triangle, and when she seemed like she had that down okay, THEN I would add one detail or one new part at a time, and we would drill it some more till she was comfortable.

A little king-of-the-hill positional training, with Lindsey and blue belt guy on the middle and the rest of us cycling through, starting in top side control. Mission: keep top side control. (Jeff was sitting out by then... his ribs were getting more painful as the class went on).

I don't think blue belt guy was taking me very seriously (this is the same guy who jumped the line on me last week), but he seemed to be reassessing the situation after I cycled through him twice and he had a bitch of a time getting out of my side control. Once, he finally got my pantleg and pulled me into his closed guard with it. The next time, after we'd wrassled there for a long time, he resorted to the no-technique-all-muscle-pick-up-and-flip-over (I am no longer going to dignify this maneuver by calling it a "sweep"... I shall have to come up with a sardonic moniker for it).

When I got Lindsey, I tried to stay light, keep moving, and stay on top- and did fairly well. I stayed on his back quite a bit. Tried to be better about getting and keeping hooks, and about not trying to go for chokes unless I had both hooks first. Lindsey let me tap him a couple of times... once with one of those choke-from-behind-while-pulling-the-pantleg things.

The king-of-the-hill was nice, because it worked well for the varying levels of people present.

I am now alternating each class between my orignal CK tornado ear guards and the new Brute ones. As soon as I puzzle out the Gordian Knot straps on the new pair of CK's, I'll add those to the rotation ("easily adjustable!", my butt!). My latest hematoma is almost gone- it is going away by itself, thank Rickson- but I'm going to hold off on using the Asics earguards for a while longer, since they rub right on that area.

(pic: Santa and Mrs. Claus visted the Clackamas County Animal Shelter this week to have pics taken with some of the canine orphans. The Clauses bear a remarkable resemblence to RS and TS.)