Boundaries in tournaments

Lunchtime BJJ in Seattle.

As soon as I saw that the first drill involved jumping guard, I ran over to grab John. At 20lb heavier than me, he was by far the smallest person in there- and I didn't want some 260-lb guy jumping guard on me! As it was, I let John slither to the floor a few times, but at least I didn't drop him on his head!

So we jumped guard on each other, then some armbar drills from guard, then we started timed rolls. I got John first. I was trapped in his guard for the entire roll. Then Marc. That one was a litte more dynamic, and I even got mount- but neither of us subbed the other. Then I had to take a break.

Open mat- I asked John for another roll. He kept catching me in triangles, whereupon I would stack him. Twice he transitioned into armbars, just like Julie had done to me last weekend. So he helped me with the triangle defense where you move toward your trapped arm and step over the opponent's body. That's the same one Pat had been trying to teach me last week. If only I had absorbed it, it might have gotten me out of that spot in the tournament. It was another case of me not being able to keep straight whether I need to go to the right or to the left. Hope I got it this time- it's toward the trapped arm. Carlos also walked me through a defense against getting kimura'ed while in guard.


Later............

No-gi Friday night at Cindy's. SK was with me, and I took the opportunity to pick his brain in the car.

I first approached the issue sideways and asked, "Do you think my kung fu needs to be "meaner"?" He answered, "Yes." almost before I had the question fully out of my mouth. Humph. Nothing like those cold-bucket-of-water-in-the-face-style reality checks. I then asked him if he sees a dichotomy between my level of aggression in my kung fu sparring versus my BJJ rolling, and he doesn't think so. So apparently (according to him) I'm not "mean" enough in either MA- which wasn't exactly my perception. (Maybe I need to change my screen name... "Retiring Kitsune", perhaps?) Then we had to dissect the definition(s) of "mean" and the definitions(s) of "aggression". He feels that you can't be "aggressive" in an MA until you have enough of a toolbox to have options for constantly pushing your attack. I then asked if that means he doesn't consider the Spazzy White Belts "aggressive". He thinks that "drunk lout" type aggression (of which Spazzy White Belts may be considered a subgroup) is very different from skilled technique-based aggression in MA... and the "drunk lout" type aggression is not effective enough to even be considered significant (in his eyes).

I asked him if he would do "mean" things in a tournament, and he says that as long as it's legal, he'd have no problem doing it. Something illegal that the ref didn't see= not okay. Would it make any difference if it was a teammate versus someone he'd never met before? No. What if he was in the absolutes and going against someone thirty pounds lighter- is it "mean" to use your weight to help you win? No. You don't feel like it would be a "better" win if you did it with pure technique as opposed to doing something that wouldn't have worked if he didn't have the weight advantage? No. It's a tournament; here are the rules; if he's within the rules, all is well.

I envy him; it all seems to be pretty clear-cut in his worldview. I asked him a ton of "If situation A, would you..." type questions, and he didn't waffle at all on any of his answers..... even if I couldn't always buy into (or in some cases even follow) the logic.

I do think I hit on something important while we were talking, though. He said that even if he has never worked with the person before, he very quickly gets a sense of how intense that person will/can go, and adjusts his own intensity accordingly. I'm not sure if I have that instinct, or at least have it tuned as well. I almost never have the experience of doing *any* MA with someone that I outmatch- so I have had very little practice of adjusting my level of intensity downward. I'm not sure if I ever really adjust upward, either, now that I think about it- I assume the other person is going to have to adjust downward to accomodate me. But I could feel something about that part of the conversation tickling my "we're getting close to the REAL issue" sensors. I think it has a lot to do with not knowing where the boundaries are.

I have mentioned before that I am less comfortable working with JM than with many people, simply because she is not forthcoming about where her boundaries are. Since I can't figure out where they are, I feel like I have to tiptoe around to try to avoid crossing them- which is generally confusing, uncomfortable and makes me go a lot lighter than is probably useful for either of us. With JB, I just go ahead and whack her because I know she will tell me if it's too hard. Over long practice I get a sense of how hard I can go with her, and she has to give me feedback less often.

I don't know where the boundaries are in a tournament. Yeah, I know what's against the rules. But there is that wide range of "legal but arguably MEAN" stuff. Particularly with someone I've never met before, I don't know if she is willing to/going to thump all her weight down hard on my ribs, so I am reluctant to do such a thing to her.

Even if I had SK's sense of being able to quickly gauge her level of intensity- in a tournament, is there even that much time to waste? You're putting yourself in the position of waiting to see how she's going to roll so that you can react to it. In the dojo, there's always the option of saying, "Hey dude, I need you to go a little lighter on my right-side ribs please" or even stopping altogether if anyone squicks your boundaries. In a tournament you can't do that. There is no negotiation of the (finer) boundaries, and no time/leisure to try to suss them out on your own.

Hell, even if she *did* thump all her weight down hard on my ribs, I think I'd still hesitate to do it back- so maybe all these boundary questions are completely irrelevant due to an unwillingness in me to do certain things in *any* case.

Facing off in the tournament against someone I didn't know at all.... I don't recall feeling afraid OF HER.... I do recall feeling afraid. I assumed I was afraid of getting completely humiliated (flying armbar sub at four seconds), and surely I was... but now I think I can identify a large part of my fear as "I don't know where the boundaries are in this confrontation.... making me confused, unsure, reluctant to assert myself."

This bears a great deal more thinking... and meandering in my blog.... and maybe getting some other people's thoughts on. But I really feel that this is a very important issue for me as regards tournaments in particular, and my MA in general.


Anyway, back to class: Cindy had a new warmup drill- "This one's for you, Kitsune!" I had complained that it seems I need more core strength. This drill has you lying on your back and inching yourself to the side by hipping out and then doing a similar motion with the top half of your body. No fair using feet or elbows. It took me a really long time to grasp any semblance of this movement- and when I did, it was very difficult and it hurt muscles that I didn't know I had. Obviously, I need to do a lot of this. Ouchie.

We did some guillotines from standing, then into guard (I was very relieved to be drilling with SK- I dread going from standup to guard with my neck in a guillotine unless I'm working with somebody I really trust. I break out in a cold sweat whenever we have to do these at Gracie's. It just seems like a great way to end up a quadriplegic for the rest of your life with one tiny jerk at the wrong angle). Then the opponent defends the choke, so you transition into a triangle. There were a lot of steps in this, and I had a hard time with it. Still having trouble climbing the triangle up the person's back, trouble closing it, trouble getting my hips up high enough, trouble remembering to grab my shin before I start adjusting the angle so the person doesn't just stand up and walk away. I'm frustrated to have so much trouble with triangles in general- this is supposed to be the female BJJ'er's "go-to" move!

Then sparring. Cindy is on the bench with knee issues. I went with SK, then Elliot, then said, "I need a break" and started for the bench, but Cindy was having none of that. "No break for you! Go with Ian!" Argh. So tired. Then SK again. I was trapped in my old familiar residence of bottom half-guard a lot of the time with all three guys. They all kept crossfacing me hard out of deep half guard, which was very annoying. I got mount briefly on each one, but only when they reversed THEMSELVES (they all did that tonight)! I was THIS CLOSE to getting an armbar set up on SK once. I truly thought I had it, and I got really excited. He succeeded in muscling out of it. I'll tell you, if Satan himself had appeared at that moment in a puff of brimstone and offered me that armbar in exchange for my immortal soul, I might have said yes. I wanted it that bad. But I didn't get it. Tonight. Someday.


Lamont asked me if I was going to do the Revolution. I said, "We'll see." Cindy said, "We're planning on it."

Thursday kung fu

This morning, my body informed me imperiously that we were going to take a nap instead of going to lunchtime class. Having trouble shaking a slight sinus infection, and I've been phenylephrining myself half to death- it's having the side effects of insomnia and bizarre nightmares when I do get to sleep. Housemate had informed me last week while we were at the Garlic Festival that his friend had a bad cold, and that he was ordering takeout to deliver to her after dinner. This was two days before my tournament, so I was thinking, "Lovely.... your friend is going to share a cold with you, which you will then proceed to share with me, and it'll hit me on tournament weekend." Which it did. If I'd known about that, I would have declined having dinner with him. And it's the gift that keeps giving.... hopefuly it'll have run its course by next week.

Thursday kung fu. It was just me, SK, JM, and Nemesis tonight- DD popped in for the last hour.

Hand strike drills. I picked Viper's Tongue, and my left hand in particular was not cooperating. I also have the three middle fingers on each hand all taped up because I've done so much gi work this week, so that didn't help with finger dexterity.

Then SK had us each pick one hand strike that we felt was one of the "most powerful"- leaving that interpretation up to each of us. I picked Tiger straight punch, JM picked corkscrew punch, Nemesis picked palm-heel. We took turns holding the pads for each other while we practiced these three, with SK nitpicking at our technique- focussing on getting the max power into each strike. Nemesis' strikes drove me back four steps when I was holding the pad for him.

Then we did monkey-in-the-middle style two-and-three-step self defense practice. I hadn't put my contacts in today, so I was doing it blind.

Individual forms time- we actually got 45 min of individual forms time, because DD was huddled up with SK and JM. I also couldn't ask SK for forms help, because of same. So I worked on Kiu Two, Box form (implementing SK's corrections from last week),
Little Red Dragon In the Mirror, Leopard Fist In the Mirror, and Bung Bo Kuen In the Mirror. I'm now working on transcribing the most difficult sequence in Bung Bo, so it is slow going.

An intense double helping of BJJ

I never picked up my medal for being the loser in a two-person bracket last weekend... but if I deserve a medal, it's for being an almost-forty-year-old keeping up with a ripped eighteen-year-old athlete for an hour's worth of advanced class.


Today was one of the most intense double helpings of BJJ ever.

Lunchtime at Cindy's... rare gi class here; and still very hot in the gi inside the studio. It was just me, Lamont, and Spencer today- and Lamont has an injury, so he was doing drills only. He and I drilled collar chokes. He'd done them already Monday night, so he knew them already and could give me pointers.

Left hand deep to the tag, right hand grab a handful of fabric on the opposite shoulder of the opponent's gi- then slip right forearm across throat and choke. I recall seeing this once a long time ago, but I never seem to remember that you can use that grip on the shoulder. Lamont suggests that I need to be sneakier and faster, though- so that the opponent can't tell what I'm going for and have time to defend.

Cross-collar choke, using the forearm on grip one to force opponent's chin up to sink in grip two.

Trap opponent's elbow, cross-collar grip, hip out to opposite side, hug opponent's head and pull collar sideways to choke. This one was a bit above my head... I could walk my way through it, but I'll need to drill that one again before I can think about trying to use it live.

Relay sparring- just me, Cindy and Spencer. That was a long bout of grueling rolling. Spencer is a purple belt, really good, medium-large size. He grins like a kid on Christmas morning the entire time he's rolling- it's so cute. I called to Cindy, "When are you gonna wipe that smile off his face?!?" But when she gets something on him, he grins even more!

I didn't seem to have a lot of gas this morning, but I pushed myself really hard to keep moving, to stay off my back, to stay off the bottom, to not do my patented Clench-n-Cling. I am mostly remembering to never voluntarily go onto my back; Cindy hollers at me whenever she sees my back going toward the floor. Spencer commented, "You like those guillotines, don't you?" Yeah, I was going for those repeatedly on both him and Cindy (didn't manage to finish any), and I was doing it yesterday too.

Rolling with Cindy is hopefully going to break me of the Clench-n-Cling.... getting grips and just clinging for dear life whether they are useful grips or not; meanwhile I'm getting turned onto my back or other unpleasant things. Cindy can take any grip you have and turn it into a sub against you. In the rare instance where she doesn't seem to have one handy, she simply changes position and then she's got one. It makes you want to avoid committing too much to a grip, unless you're going to do something really good with it immediately.

I got a "Good, Kitsune." after our last spar- neato.

By my final roll with Spencer (OMG, so tired... Lamont kept forgetting to set the timer, so the rolls were loooooooong ones), I got into a really cool groove wherein I was just flowing along really fast, constantly moving, and skating around on top. Whenever he moved, I let go of whatever I was holding, squirted out of whatever he was reaching for, changed position and bounced back on top. I see Cindy doing flow grooves like that sometimes on top of people, and I want to learn to do that.

I didn't get a chance to ask this today, but I need to ask Cindy to help me with suggestions of what to do against people pulling guard and trying to slap on triangles. I want to get some good practice defending that. (mental note- make sure to have a gi jacket with me on no-gi days.)

Later...............


Evening BJJ in Seattle. I hadn't seen Rodrigo in two weeks, and I didn't want him to forget what I look like. Commute sucks, though, without any of my group with me... it took me an hour and a half. Ugh.

I knew I wasn't going to like this new schedule that has the basics class and the advanced class running simultaneously- and I DON'T.

We all warmed up together, then Rodrigo said, "White belts three stripes and lower, over THERE," There was no unobtrusive way for me to sidle over into the basics group, and no other colored belts went over there either. Later on I might get bolder about just holding my head high and marching myself on over there... but the unpleasantry remains that if I'm in the basics group, I will no longer have some of the good higher-belt training partners I've enjoyed working with in the past. It's going to be really unbalanced toward brand-newbies in that group. Less educational- as well as greater potential for injury- for me.

Another thing- Rodrigo is teaching the advanced class. He had a blue belt over there tonight teaching basics.... don't know if it's going to be a regular person doing that, or rotating. A blue belt might be fine, as long as I like hir teaching style. But it's not Rodrigo. I've always been acutely aware of how spoiled we are to be having someone like Rodrigo teaching basics classes... well, I guess that luxury is going bye-bye. I'm bummed- I really like taking classes from Rodrigo, and now it looks like I won't get any unless/until I'm ready for the advanced class. I know my crew is going to be disappointed with that as well (and they don't even have a choice about it, as I have). That may well be the final push for them to quit altogether. Sigh.

There was some distraction from having other classes going on simultaneously, but not too much (tonight at least). There is also some distraction from people going in and out, since the main trackways through the school as well and to/from the front door are right in the middle of the mat space.

So anyway, I found myself in the advanced class tonight, and thanking Rickson Gracie that I'd stayed to watch on Tuesday night, so I had at least some clue about what was going on. I also found myself drilling with Connor. I have some concern that he's not happy when he gets stuck with me (he usually jumps on a higher-belt partner), but I really like working with him. He's just my size, and really good.

Butterfly sweep. Butterfly sweep in which the opponent defends by standing up- so you transition to X-guard, try to stretch hir into the Chinese splits, and tip hir over backward so you can get on top. (Notes: make sure to take time to get yourself all the way underneath the person; make sure the knee on the higher hook is in BACK of that person; and grab opponent's far sleeve before you even try to stretch him). Then a takedown using a butterfly-sweep-esque move. (Notes: don't lie back on the mat- either on your back or on the shoulder!)

Rodrigo is in his Tournament-prep-overdrive mode... no downtime for us in the week after the Revolution Foreplay tourney. No breaks, driving, driving, driving, "Faster, come on guys, faster, keep it going..." I didn't have a whole lot of energy today to start with, and after a hard class at Cindy's earlier, I was flagging. Connor of course has enough energy for eight of me. The takedowns in particular, I was catching some significant air every time he tossed me over. And then there was the thud. And thud. And thud. And THUD......

By the last quarter of the class, the only question left in my mind was whether my lungs were going to explode before I passed out or after I passed out. Thank Rickson Gracie I wasn't drilling with anybody heavier.

One cool thing- I got to be Rodrigo's demo dummy briefly, for the first time ever. He saw me standing up on my one free foot while Connor was stretching me out in X-guard and then getting up himself. So Rodrigo used me to demo what you do "when the guy is REALLY flexible and doesn't fall over when you have their leg up on your shoulder." It was a takedown. THUD, again. Ooooooooo. It wasn't particularly hard, it's just that I didn't know what he was going to do or where I was going to land, so I couldn't brace myself. Rodrigo asked if I was all right. Curses- I didn't want to look like a whimpette on the very first occasion that he used me for a demo dummy! I jumped up as spryly as I was able, and he demoed it again (much more gently this time).

Then drilling all of the previous, over and over. Then some positional sparring from X-guard. Then bow-out- thank you God. I staggered to the sidelines, ripped my jacket off, collapsed onto my back and lay there like a corpse. I didn't even have the strength to lift my water bottle to my lips.

After a time, Connor's dad's head appeared upside-down in my field of vision to compliment me on my fight last weekend. So then we Monday-morning-quaterbacked the match, and Julie's game in general.... he said that he generally sees her staying on top, and was surprised that she'd pulled guard on me. He opined that she was scared to try to take me down because I had seemed heavier and stronger. I watched several of her Youtubed matches, and she seems to be a real pull-guard-triangle-armbar type of girl.... but that's not his impression... it's good to be reminded to not get too confident that you know what your opponent is going to do.

Then we chatted some about how others had done in the tournament, how Connor's BJJ is going, and how mine is going, and Rodrigo and Cindy as teachers, wrestling vs BJJ, and other related topics. Rodrigo started people going with the live training, but there was no way I could get back on the mat. He came over to ask me if I was okay. (Ya know, part of the downside of "double-dipping" at two schools is that he may not realize how much BJJ I am doing... and when I'm exhausted from doing a lot of classes, and die near the end of the evening, he might think I'm just a lightweight.)

So we chatted (with Connor and Sabrina coming over to join in a bit between rolls), and I hoped I'd get a second wind back and be able to do a little rolling, but no way. I was disappointed to not get a chance to free-roll with Connor. I haven't sparred with him in a long time- and as I said, he's just my size and good enough to be an excellent challenge for me. But I had to take a rain check.



The schedule may not stay like this.... they do tend to fiddle with it a few times a year, and maybe the basics and advances classes will change out of simultaneous time slots (I hope). Hopefully that status quo is not being seen as a needed indicator of Progress and Growth for the school, or something. I do fear that the precedent of having blue belts teaching basics classes will be here to stay, regardless.

This pic shows part of the interior of the new school.

English-as-a-2nd-language meets anatomical unmentionables.

130.5

I pigged out last weekend after the tournament; it's a relief to see that my weight didn't backslide too much.

I've only found one trace of my match online so far... a single photo of Julie getting up off the mat while I'm lying there on my back with the ref bending over asking me if I'm all right. ((blush))

While it would probably be useful to analyze footage, I wouldn't be too disappointed if that's all that remains of that history!

Tuesday morning no-gi at Cindy's... Cindy informed me that she had found my training blog entry about the tournament (Thank Gods I didn't write anything unflattering about her... that I recall, anyway! It still shocks me to hear that anyone is actually reading this stuff). She agreed that I should have been MEANER! She knows Julie, and says that Julie wouldn't have hesitated to put HER forearm in MY throat! She reiterated her mission to make me meaner, as well as to work on my "positive thinking". Today was Pick On Kitsune Day... but that's okay; that can be motivating if it's done right. One of the other students also suggested that we start scoring my rolls for "mean points"; I have to get a certain quota of "mean points" per match.

This is ironic.... my Shaolin classmates would laugh their heinies off at the idea that I need remedial lessons in MA viciousness. I'm a joke in THAT class for being excessively bloodthirsty. I'm not sure why the dichotomy. The level of contact is usually lower in the Shaolin class; we don't use pads or anything, so we have to pull strikes and such. However, sparring in particular does involve at *least* as much pain as moderately "mean" BJJ; frequently more. I feel outgunned much of the time in both venues; and I experience both safe and not-so-safe training partners in both venues. I wonder if it's got something to do with the level of bodily intimacy in BJJ. Like, it seems like more of a trust thing when you grapple with a training partner as opposed to standing across from each other hitting and kicking. I'm not Englishing that very well. Not sure I'm on the right path anyway. I wonder if it could also be something to do with the immediacy of potential backlash- with striking, there is some vague sense of "I could do this douchebag strike and then run" or "I could do this douchebag strike and then he'll be unconscious." While in grappling, the moment you do a douchebag move, your opponent can counter instantaneously with something equally bad or worse. I grew up in an abusive home-of-origin, where the backlash for even small transgressions was immediate and vicious. There was a lot of serious hardwired training there to go limp and show throat instead of resisting or fighting back in any way. Any trace of resistance was put down- well- very, very VERY firmly. Some internal dread of that surely still lurks, although I'm not sure why grappling would be triggering it worse than striking. This will bear more thinking. This (the dichotomy of my mindsets between the two MA's, not my childhood traumas) might be a good topic to chew over with SK if I get a chance to talk to him alone anytime in the not-too-distant future.

Having guard, "crawling" up the opponent's back to trap the head and one shoulder. This is hard for me. I think I need to build up my core muscles more. I'm also scared to loosen up enough to crawl, because I think they're going to escape/attack. Anyway, once you have the head and shoulder, clasping the opponent's trapped arm to your chest and turning slightly for an armlock. Still having a little trouble with the left/right thing- remembering which shoulder to trap, and which way to turn the body.

Then the opponent defends the lock, and you transition to the leg-over-the-head armbar. I love these. I want to learn/practice these a lot from different setups.

Next scenario- opponent stacks you, and you let them yank their arm out- upon which you transition to a triangle.

Lots of little steps to remember in today's sequence.... I need to get more methodical and make sure that I am not skipping and cheating steps in my panicky rush. If I am careful with my holds and keep everything really tight, hopefully I will have the person secure and won't *HAVE* to hurry. I got to do the drills with Cindy herself today, which is always helpful.

Short timed rolls with a few of the guys, and with Cindy twice. Several of the guys are being really nice to me- they're teasing me, sure, but they're letting me work stuff, and giving me positive feedback and all. It is a really good group of people in there. There are nice things about a big school like Gracie's.... but with that many people, there are just always going to be a few random assholes in the barrel even though I know Rodrigo and Carlos pay attention to how people are treating their teammates. I don't know where Cindy gets her students, but there seems to be some amount of established people bringing other people in- like I did with my group- and you're not going to bring people in that are going to put their muddy boots up on the furniture.

I torqued my neck rolling with one of those guys this morning, though- and it's giving me trouble tonight...




Later........................


Tuesday evening BJJ in Bellevue. I had waffled about going to the new Seattle school tonight, and didn't feel like dealing with the commute. So here I was in Bellevue, paired up with Hostility Boy again. Dang it! He looked as delighted as I felt. He was also getting back up after each rep very slowly.... I couldn't tell if he was nursing tournament injuries or if he was just being sullen because he got stuck with me. Every so often he randomly just quits cooperating so that I can't complete the drill. As my patience with him grows thinner, I want to respond to these stalemates by getting rougher. I wonder if this turkey (see aforementioned remark about "random assholes") is the Universe's cosmic lesson trying to make me Mean.

He did give me some pointers, and he's *usually* right (although Prof. Carlos came around and corrected a grip of mine that I had changed according to Hostility Boy's instruction).

Tomorrow night I'll make the commute to Seattle instead... but in the meantime, let me dedicate a song to you, sweetie:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023030/pray_for_you_jaron_and_the_long_road_to_love_official_video/


We did "safe clinch" to bump-behind-the-knee takedown to side control. Then escaping having your head clasped to the opponent's chest while in hir guard, followed by basic guard break, then into the pass where you go under one thigh and latch onto the lapel, touch opponent's knee to hir nose, then let the leg slide past while you take side control.

No positional training or open mat tonight (another good reason to have gone to Seattle instead), because the advanced class was immediately after this one. I sat and watched. Carlos came over at one point to ask me why, and with Serious Face (so he wouldn't tease me), I told him that the advanced class is too hard for me right now, and I want to do more basics first. He didn't tease, or push me about it- but agreed that one needs to feel ready, and that in the meantime it's good to watch.

So I watched them do some butterfly sweeps, transitions with X guard, a few transitions and a sweep using spider guard. Meanwhile, Mochi licked my feet... then he wanted to play a little tug of war with his little green rubber monster toy.


Humorous interlude.... while walking the advanced class through one technique, Carlos explained that he was going to move his "ass" over to this side... then abruptly stopped and looked around at the grinning class, started to let it go, then his eyes alighted on Brandon (the thirteen year old). Then he felt the need to grope for a more appropriate English word, but obviously could not remember anything better than "ass" for that particular body part. We just let him flail for a bit. It was funny. Finally he substituted "hip", with much visible relief. (I was sitting on the wall by the door; he might also have hesitated had I been standing there... if it had been just the adult men, he prolly would have just stuck with "ass".)


Most important lesson of the night: Do not fart audibly in Professor Carlos' class while he is explaining technique. EVER. He will stop, spear you with his gaze, deliver a long lecture on respect, make you do twenty pushups, and then lecture you some more- all while the rest of the class stands around and watches. Mortifying. (No, it wasn't me- if it had been, I would be dead of embarrassment instead of typing this blog entry.)

Snake chi sau

Had to cancel today's lesson with CC- rats! By late last night, my armbarred arm didn't want to move much. This morning it was better, but didn't have full range of motion. I e-mailed CC and told him that I might have to cancel, but that I'd check back with him after the ibuprofen kicked in- but he just wanted to go ahead and cancel.

Luckily the arm was sore but functional by tonight for Sunday kung fu (formerly Tuesday kung fu). We met in the rec room at JoE's apartment building- it wasn't too bad once we moved the furniture and opened the sliding glass door (it was very stuffy), but a bit small for our purposes. There is an alternate location being scouted- hope it works out.

Another plus- the commute only took us about 20 min from Bellevue (plus an extra 30min for me to get to Bellevue from Redmond). That's sure an improvement on the hour it takes us during weekday commute.

After a short forms warmup (we had to go one at a time- each of us picked one form for the next person in line to perform), we reviewed the section of Kiu Two that we'd done last week. JM and I also did some Kiu One, after we'd gotten sick of doing reps while waiting for SK to teach JoE the first part (he hadn't been in class last week).

The another short portion of each piece.

Part A- Right Snake hand wraps around opponent's upper arm (don't cheat the pullback before you start the wrap, though) and finishes palm-toward-you face level while left hand bong-sau's to forehead level. At the same time, you're scissor-stepping in by crossing the left foot behind the right. Then disengage by turning and taking two retreating steps to finish in a right-foot-front cat; while double Snake hands do a Dragony counterclockwise circle, dip to left hip, end in double Snake guard stance with right Snake on top. Remember to keep arms in front of body and not circle out too wide.

Part B- Same bong sau with left hand, but you're sticking your right arm out and bent downward at the elbow to counter the wrap. Same scissor step. Then the exact same Dragony arm circle and same ending stance as part A.

Done together, with Part B person not allowing the arm wrap to happen, you're coming together with your respective bong sau's touching, like a dance pose on a Grecian urn or something. And then splitting apart to face off in identical Snake guards.

After we'd practiced this a lot, we did some chi sau (sticky hands). Snake chi sau differs from Wing Chun chi sau in that the Wing Chun is always striving toward the opponent's center, and the Snake- well, it is too- but by going around, down, over, in a less forthright fashion. Both are supposed to be RELAXED, of course, which is the hardest part for both JM and me. We did one-handed chi sau and then two-handed chi sau, and then switched partners and I did it with Nemesis.

Tournament fail

Well, I didn't get subbed in the first fifteen seconds. That was my worst fear, and I dodged it, so I'll survive.

The Seattle Open tournament didn't go too well for me. There were a total of THREE (!!!) women signed up.... one white belt and two blues. Sabrina was the white. Good for her- props for guts. I wish I had been able to talk JM and JB into signing up. Either of them would have pulped Sabrina with both arms and one leg tied behind their backs, and then would have given us all a great show of BJJ technique while they duked it out for the gold. But Sabrina was the one to step up, so a round of virtual applause for her. I saw Bianca, Sonia and Bree there, all in street clothes, so I knew none of them were in. Wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed- the devil you know, and all.

My competition intimidated me right off the bat by having three stripes on her belt as well as a big patch on the back of her gi jacket that said "COACH". It was obvious that she had a lot more experience than me. I was pretty nervous. There were a lot of people watching, and Rodrigo, Carlos and Cindy were all ringside.... I felt like a squab in a pressure cooker. The worst part was the dinking around waiting to get started once we were called up.... waiting for the ref to get in place, tying the red belt on, etc. I thought I was going to wet myself. She was studiously avoiding looking at me, so it was kind of awkward. I was trying to not look at the crowd, because that was just making me more nervous. So there was noplace left to look except at the mat. It looked the same as it always does. Blue.

I'm afraid I didn't give the crowd a very good show for the only women's match of the day. I stepped in and grabbed her hard, meaning to try for an aggressive takedown and overwhem her right off the bat, and she pulled guard immediately. I hate that. I'd much rather fight for the takedown, unless it's somebody I know I can't take down. So then I was stuck in her guard for a while. She was trying to break my posture down with mixed success. She had better technique than JB/JM, but did not feel as muscularly strong. I pressed her hips down, broke the guard and tried to get my knee in, but she was ready for me- and fast. I was prepared for her to be fast, but DAMN she was really fast- and the next second, I was in a triangle. Razzafrackin..... I stacked her, and that's where we stayed for a while. She had the triangle on good and tight, but with suboptimal positioning and angle; it wasn't choking me, but it was restricting my breathing capacity to about 30%. She was hurting too, though- I could tell by her face and her breathing, and I think she actually whimpered at one point. I should have been meaner and placed my forearm on her throat and leaned on it. It occurred to me, but I just didn't want to be a jerk... besides, I could tell she was already uncomfortable, and I thought my stacking was going to get her to let go. I shifted around a bit to see if I could get my foot in, or over, and suddenly she did the lightning-move thing again, and transitioned to an armbar. It was so fast and good that I could barely follow what was happening. I tried to roll out of it, we rolled twice and then my elbow was screaming and I had to tap. This all sounds like it took forever, but I think it had to be around 1 min (maybe even less). I'm embarrassed, but it coulda been worse. She was good, she deserved the win.

If I have to fight that girl again at the Revolution, I will be ready for the guard-pulling, the ethereal speed, the triangle, and I may just go ahead with that forearm in the throat (or maybe a good crossface would have served as well) if I come to that crossroads of choice again. I hope I will also be less nervous, but I dunno... all those people watching...

I need to get me one of those big "COACH" patches for my gi. That was just scary.

I saw Connor and Ron lose (both good, long, hard fights, though), Hostility Boy win against Benny (fudge), Ben win two, white-belt-Kevin go into overtime, Frank lose, Pat lose, Brandon win. Kaungren was just stepping onto the mat when I got called over to be "on deck", so I missed his fight even though there was plenty of time and I could have still watched (they were hollering at me to get over there). After my match, I hauled ass out of there.... probably would have been educational to stay and watch some more, but I didn't want the sympathy.

Black-belt-Kevin had come over while I was "on deck" and asked, "You all right?" I said, "Yeah" and he looked closely at me and said, "Are you sure?" So I must have been really pale, or something. He grabbed me as soon as I came off the mat and told me that I had jumped the gun too much with that pass attempt, which I knew. After spending all that time in her guard, I was impatient to get out and do something- and also expecting her to move really fast once we started moving. Kevin said that she had had that triangle- and the armbar transition as well- all set up and waiting for me like a trap to be sprung. I think I was stronger than she was, so I should have tried to stay calm and patient and looked for ways to use that against her. While she had me in guard and kept trying to sit up.... maybe I should have let her keep messing around there for a while and get tired, because I did not feel in danger of being swept, and it wasn't really tiring to me. Hopefully Cindy took some mental notes that she will remember for next time I see her... I should have gone for her feedback right after, but I didn't want to face her right then.

The new school is one big room with four different mat spaces. It was warm in there, but there were a lot of people... hopefully it won't be that warm under normal class conditions. I don't know what it's going to be like with multiple classes going on simultaneously- it may be distracting and difficult to hear. There is a nice big women's changing area, to my relief. Only two bathrooms- there was a long line- but that's an improvement on the one bathroom we had before. I'd like to see three or four bathrooms, but this is progress.

"Sorry... I know this is mean...."

Friday no-gi at Cindy's, with JM and JB.

We were a little bit late getting in, not because of traffic but because we met a friendly grey tabby cat in the parking lot. I had cat food in my car, but no can opener- rats! Will be better prepared next time.

Warmups- I managed to walk on my hands ALL the way to the opposite end of the room tonight. It really is coming back with practice. Roundoffs with the extra spin are still suboptimal, but I think a little better than last time.

There were a couple of newbies, so we did pretty basic stuff- the same guard break & pass that we'd done on Monday, to side control, to keylock. If they straighten arm: armbar; if they bend it downward: kimura. I drilled with Angela.

When we started working on the keylock, we began from side control with the person on bottom hugging around your neck. You then crossface the person and do sort of a push-up on the side of their face, to get them to stretch out the arm. "This isn't mean, Kitsune! This isn't mean!" (and in an undertone), "I'm gonna make you mean yet!" ROFL. I am the class joke in this respect now. I also got reprimanded for being too TENSE while acting as demo dummy. "Relax, or it'll hurt WORSE!"

Short timed rolls with JB, JM (twice), Angela, and Cindy. Cindy let me get a couple things; I think she was trying to buck me up. When I rolled with Angela, I first came in fast and rabbited around her because I knew speed was going to be the best thing to use against her, and I sure as heck did not want to find myself on the bottom. The second time we closed, she grabbed me and clenched so that I couldn't do it again.

I got JB with- guess what? Yep, a guillotine. I let her go and said, "I can't BELIEVE you are still letting me do that!" She cried, "NEVER AGAIN!" I tried to sink another one a little later, and even though she was choking, she defended so vigorously that she eventually got out of it.

JM- I slapped on the grabbing-the-head-when-they're-on-top-of-your-turtle maneuver. She had her weight too far back for me to pull her over my shoulder (I taught her better than that), but I pulled her off my back sideways, bulldozed her over onto her back and got side control. The whole time I was doing it, I was saying, "Sorry- I know this is mean- I'm really sorry about this....." She had to take a short break afterward and rotate her neck around while I apologized some more. The next time we got matched up, I grabbed for her head again- while saying "Don't let me get your head again!" Well, she let me get it, so I tried the move again (still apologizing... I felt doubley bad because I knew her neck already hurt, but I have a tournament to practice for!). I was not yanking as hard or at as cruel an angle as I could have been, and she eventually got out- at which point my arm was straightened out there and begging for an armbar, which she happily applied (and kept applying while I yelped "TAP!" five or six times.... I can't really blame her, though, with the adrenaline rushing, and after what I'd been doing to her!). She was pretty gleeful, as she doesn't tap me out very often. I will need to watch for that armbar vulnerability if I try this move again. I saw it as soon as I lost my grip on her neck, but I thought it would take her a second or two to "reset" from the neck crank, and it didn't (she confessed in the car that she had already had that planned out while still in the neck hold). I also complimented her on her shoulder pressure, which is always perfectly placed and heavier than a cement truck, with no letup at any time... I think she has the best shoulder pressure in either school.

I was deliberately vague with everyone about whether or not I am going to be in this tournament tomorrow- the fewer people who are watching me, the happier I'll be! But Cindy is going to be there, so I might have her watching me anyway. Eek!