Ees eet the belt?

If you don’t give up your power and your dignity, no one can take it from you. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


Was tired this afternoon, and didn't feel much like going back to class. The 4:30 basics class has been doing less technique drilling lately and more sparring and positional training- which would be fine, except that the class tends to consist of a handful of spazzy white belts plus Ritchie. Having safe, considerate partners (like Dave, whom I had this morning) really makes a difference in both enjoyment of class and in getting anything valuable accomplished. Thus this is turning into one class that seems more skippable of late.

Comp class: all spars. Prof said, "Try to keel each other." Then looked at me and started to explain very seriously that this was only an expression. He also called me "Keeller Keetsune" which is what Lindsey always calls me (without the Portugese accent, of course).

I had cut my nails before class, but still somehow managed to scratch my own face severely enough to bleed all over the mat and have to take a break to hold paper towels over my nose for a while. I also kicked the Prof in the side of the head- medium-hard.

Ben- I remembered to stop lunging right into his half-guard- although that resolution met with mixed success as he often pulled me into it one way or another anyway. I also remembered the defense he showed me for that sweep that he likes- and he didn't get that one on me at all today. In fact, he mostly had to do different things today instead of getting me with the same handful of techniques over and over. This I count as progress for me.

I was in turtle at one point, with Ben on my side- I tried to do a sweep that I've drilled a few times over the years, where you capture the arm that the opponent has wrapped overtop of you, grab the pantleg that s/he has stretched out, and roll hir overtop of you. You end up on top. I have really liked it every time we've worked on it, but I've never managed to pull it off live even though I try it constantly. This time, when it didn't work, I stopped Ben and asked him what I was doing wrong. He didn't know... he said that he's never managed to get that one either. So after the timer went off, we asked the prof to go over it with us.

Turns out you DON'T grab the pantleg (at least for the variation he showed us tonight)- you trap that arm HARD, to the point of overbalancing the opponent if you can. Then (here's the salient point that I was flubbing) you have to stick your leg out behind the opponent. *THEN* roll.  Geez, I really want to get this on someone live.

Lindsey (different Lindsey- girl Lindsey- I've never worked with her before). She seemed a little lighter than me, and I think I was a little bit of a bully with my weight. But I so rarely get a chance to be on that side of the equation! She has an interesting flexibility that allows her to persistantly hook and trap a foot from bottom half guard, which was proving pesky for me.

The Prof- he actually gave me a clue today as to what he wants to see from me when I spar him. He says that I am way too tense and stiff and use too much strength. He seems to think that I roll with him differently than I roll with other people- that I don't do this quite as bad with others. I think I do it with everyone, and I know it's a bad habit to work on. He asked what was intimidating me so much to spar with him- "Ees eet the belt?" No, a major part of it is his long arms and legs. Each limb seems about a mile long, and yeah, that's hella intimidating, especially to someone whose limbs are very short and stubby.

Another part of it (I didn't tell him this; I didn't even really start to parse it until I was ruminating over it on the way home) is that I don't want him to think I'm not working hard. I feel like if I go in relaxed, it'll look like I'm not trying, and/or that I'm a wuss, and he won't take me seriously.... which is lame, since one of the main goals of any MA - but BJJ in particular- is to relax- it actually MAKES YOU BETTER! But it's one of those things where your brain intellectually understands it, but putting it into practical practice is a little trickier.