Side Control Escapes

12/10 - Downtown

James asked what we wanted to work on, and one place where I'm abysmal is bottom side. No one else said anything, so escaping side control it was.

Technique
Set-up: Opponent has you in side-control on your right side.

1. Arm-in: Bring your R hand across to their R shoulder, forearm across their face/neck and elbow to the near shoulder to make a frame. Swing legs as described in #2. When you come out the other side, cup the back of their head and move into a d'arce choke. Dang it. We did this several times, and I felt fairly proficient at it but now I can't picture it. I don't think my description is right.

2. Both arms under:  Grip their gi at their lat (if you can) and belt. Bring both knees in, pointed toward your opponent's hip, then straighten and swing to the left. Bring knees in, then swing out to the right. Keep doing that until you've cleared them. If they attempt to bring their R hand down and across your R hip, shoot your L arm up and turn into them.


3. North-south escape: Bring your right arm across their body and out the top of their right hip. Use that to leverage yourself into side-control. This is better than north-south, because now you have both of your arms to the left of their body. If they switch to a kesa gatame, push their far shoulder (L). If they've already established control, try taking your L hand, grip their near lapel (R) and punch it away from you as you hip out to the L.

Rolling
King of the mountain work with guard: Start from closed guard. If guard player sweeps, they win and stay. If  opponent passes, they win and stay. No subs. I did fairly poor at this. Couldn't keep my weight back and was swept all over the place. Had one successful pass, and was immediately passed by the next guy. I notice that I freeze when I'm in guard and I want to sweep, because I'm trying to figure out the right one to use. When guys put their knee

Rolled with Julio and James. Was turtled most of the time with Julio, but managed to stave off most of the attacks to my neck. Worked primarily from James' guard. From my guard, I put him into spider guard and then...nothing. Had no idea what to do it. Predictably, he passed. Focused in both rolls on not letting my hips hit the floor during transitions. This will be an excellent thing to practice. In general, it seems like good practice to not have your hips on the floor...