"Just let it happen." Uh, no.

(Being in a) Hard Zone demands a cooperative world for you to function. - Josh Waitzkin, “The Art Of Learning”


Thurs lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue. We were professorless today, so Nelson was kind enough to work with us on a couple of judo throws, and then we sparred.

I continue to have great difficulty getting out from under side control (I continue to request that people put me there and just sit on me). Chrisanne likes to trap my near arm so that I can't get my elbow down, which makes it even harder.

Also, I need more options for attacking Chrisanne's Teflon Turtle. She doesn't let me get any hands or feet in anywhere. Next time I get some private moments with an upper belt, I will ask for suggestions for that.

Currently arguing with some asshat on Georgette's wall who feels that women should not carry guns and should simply submit to rapes in the hope of keeping their lives (because if you "escalate" , that'll just make things worse for you). I don't know why I argue with these people. It just gives me indigestion and makes me hate humanity even more. I should just find a forum to publish my eloquent wisdom as articles instead. 

Drillin'

The first and main tenent is the so-called “Vorschlag” (first strike). It means that you hit the opponent first- you draw first blood. It also means initiative. You want to be and remain in the active, attacking an initiating role. That also means that your opponent is in the defensive role. As long as you have the initiative, you are in the so-called “Vor” (before); your opponent is in the “Nach”- this means he reacts, he is pressed into a defensive role.  –Campfire Tales From Hell



Thursday BJJ in Bellevue. Drill day. I know they are good for me, but man, drill days kinda suck.  :P

1)The same drill we did last week, where you stand beside a lying opponent's feet and place near hand on the floor between hir legs, far hand on far knee, and hop to the opposite side. Remember BUTT DOWN and keep the hop as low as possible. Partner commented that this makes it much faster and smoother. I commented that this makes it much more painful and exhausting. Note that you want to wach for the triangle here; although I imagine that that's what the hand on the knee is for.

2) You in partner's open guard, s/he has right knee shield across your chest. You wrap your right arm over hir lef thigh and grab the foot underneath. Place your other hand on hir knee and head on hir ribs. Press the knee down and hop into side control. Partner must shrimp out and replace the knee shield.

3) Kneel beside lying opponent's hip and place forehead on the floor, hugging over both hir thighs with opposite arm, Cartwheel feet to the other side. Move head to other side and repeat. Note that you want to keep your feet far enough apart that  s/he cannot catch both of them in hir closed guard.

4) You in partner's butterfly guard, hug overtop of both thighs and grab the ankles. Place your head on one of hir hips and hurl yourself in a summersault so that your feet hit the mat beside hir head on the opposite side. Your belly is to the ceiling. Now run your feet back around to butterfly guard, twisting belly down as you do it. When I saw the demo, I thought this was going to pull the hell out of the torso muscles on the sides, but it didn't hurt- it just got hella exhausting after a handful of reps.  

A friend of mine (not around here anywhere) got groped on the mat and her instructor handled it poorly. It is a very upsetting thing to hear about, and I don't know whether to feel depressed or homicidal. I have always felt like I could trust any of my teachers to instantly toss a groper out on his ass upon my say-so, but I'm sure she felt the same about her teacher.  Makes you wonder. I wish I could ask each of them and just verify that no, they would not betray me in that way. There's been quite a bit of publicity in the last few years about molesters in the BJJ community, and it's so frustrating that this sort of shit is still going on and still getting swept under the rug.

STAY RIGHT HERE.

It is a historical constant that the strong rule the weak, and any shade of liberty enjoyed by the weak is nothing more than the benevolence of the strong.  You need guns because the world is full of the strong, and not all of them are benevolent. -John Fogh



Seattle Open.

The scorekeeping situation actually looked complex enough that I think it would have really stressed me- with my math issues- out.  So fortunately I ended up as a ring coordinator- which is a much bigger job, but used a lot of my best skills.  (I used Herald Voice until my throat hurt and the low tones started to crack a little.... but by gosh everybody heard me!) THANK GOD, though, it was not double elimination. It was complicated enough as it was. If it had been double elimination, my head would have exploded in under 20 min. Also, my horrible memory blanks for names and faces gave me some problems, but I just kept asking people their names over and over and they just kept telling me. Even I didn't have that flaw, it would have been a challenge with wrangling that many people. The women were easier. But the guys.... hundreds of identical short-haired, muscley dudes in white pajamas.

If I had expected to cut a smart authoritative-looking figure in my snazzy IBJJF blue vest and super-official clipboard, that went out the window immediately when I tripped over somebody's water bottle and fell on my face in the bullpen right in front of about 700 people.

If that had not humbled me sufficiently, one of the two refs at my station greeted me with "Aren't you the girl who had to fight CINDY HALES at that sub-only comp earlier this year??!?" Then went on to regale me with blow-by-blow lowlights of said match. Ah well... as I told him, it had been an honor just to stand on a tournament podium with Cindy Hales.

So, ten straight hours of work with one quick pee break and one rapidly-gobbled sandwich. I juggled up to five interweaving brackets at once, herded cats all day (It's amazing how many people can't follow an instruction as simple as "go to the table with the big SIX on it" or "STAY RIGHT HERE" and then you have to drop everything and chase them down again), I also had to do all my own ID checks, my own weigh-ins, report all the official results, no one was checking my work, and I did not fuck anything up although there was epic potential for fuckup at every turn.  and I must say that I think I did a terrific job, especially for a virgin ring coordinator. Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows how self-critical I am, so if I say I did a terrific job, that means I did a DAMN FINE job.

Of course there was one staff member who was all up in my grill much of the day criticizing small things that yes, I would have fixed if I was perfect and flawless, but they were small things that should have been overlooked in light of aforementioned DAMN FINE job. Recognizing the dude as a fellow anal-retentive Type A control freak, of course I had to realize that this was the person who knew everything that was going on. So instead of having The Clash Of the Control Freaks (which I would have lost, being on his home turf), I instead started popping up in HIS grill every time I had an empty-mat moment and badgering him to give me some more brackets. It was an interesting exercise in consciously handling a problem in a way I would not normally have been moved to handle it.

Critical Guy (randomly popping up like an evil jack-in-the-box over my shoulder to stab an accusatory talon at my clipboard): Why did you do THIS?

Me: We already covered this. You told me ten minutes ago to do XYZ, so I did XYZ. See?

CG (after staring at clipboard for a few minutes and letting me sweat it out): Okay. I just wanted to hear you explain it.

Me (thinking): You asshole...
Me (saying, very flatly) Okay. You scared me. I thought I fucked something up.

I think the tone of my voice (along with the fact that he had been WRONG and didn't want to cop to it and we both knew it) let him know it was time to back off me just a little.

(Snarky note: Why the fuck does anyone answer a question with "You don't know how to do that?" or "Nobody told you how to do that?" DUMB-ASS, If I knew how to do it or someone had already told me how, WHY WOULD I BE ASKING YOU RIGHT NOW???? The only purpose of that question is to make the other person feel even worse about not magically already knowing everything about a job they've never done before.)

The worst moment of the day was having to explain to a guy that his single competitor had not shown up, and he had come here for nothing. I felt really bad. I also had to DQ a couple of people. 

It felt weird being at a tournament and not competing. I kept feeling like I should be having nausea and tremors.

Unfortunately I was too busy to be able to watch matches.

----------------
In firearms news:  I don't want to sound callous or anything, but the timing of the local school shooting in regards to the two major gun control items on the current ballot is very unfortunate.

Why do people slam armbars?

If even for the blink of an eye you can control two of the other guy’s limbs with one of yours, either with angle or timing or some sort of clinch, then the opponent is in grave danger.  - Josh Waitzkin, “The Art Of Learning”


Wednesday FOD: Iron Needle




Why, oh why, do people slam on armbars????!!! Why? Do they not realize that it F'ing *hurts*? Do they just get too excited and forget how easy it is to pop their classmate's elbow? I have never slammed an armbar. Not in a comp, not on someone who is a dick on the mat and that I can't stand, not on anyone. I really don't get it.

Yes, someone slammed an armbar on me. Fortunately I am not injured, but it scared the cannoli out of me and I am irritated at the person, whom I think should know better.

If it's someone I don't know, I will usually call out "slowly please" as soon as I realize what they're going for... but this incident underscores that you can't really trust anyone.

More later (tomorrow, probably) on actual CLASS... I just wanted to get that rant out.