Oi!

7/12/13 - Downtown

Scissor sweep variations... scissor to triangle, scissor to omoplata and reverse scissor. I was drilling with two other people, and all three of us were crowding the reverse scissor which made it very difficult to get our partner loaded up. James had a great idea of having us start from kneeling. Get the cross-grip, put knee in their lap, reach across for the lat, lay back as you pull them into you, then extend. Gave a good sense of the space that we needed to make it effective.

Rolls with Jason, Zack, Kelly, Opal and an after class roll with Dennis. Jason kept going for kimuras and I was able to defend those much better than I did last night. Happy with that, b/c I'm getting a little tired of being kimura'd while someone is sitting on my face. Of course, it would be ideal to not have them sit on my face in the first place, but it doesn't always work out that way. Zack was going pretty hard and spazzing a bit. I really want to not tap to him. Oh the ego... 

Kelly and I had a good back and forth roll. First time I've rolled with him.  He's a one stripe purple, and I think he had to take a fair amount of time off from BJJ b/c of a heart condition.We ended with me having an inverted triangle, which wasn't tight but I was still pretty stoked about it. Jayson was watching and recommended that I use that to try to set up a foot lock.

The roll with Dennis was also a bit back-and-forth. He was going for an electric chair(?) sweep and it felt like it was really torquing my calf/knee/hip. I squawked as he was taking me overhead b/c it was a pretty sharp pain. No damage done b/c he released it immediately. Very strange positioning, wish I could have seen it on video. I was doing a fairly good job of passing his guard today. Had to be patient and work for it.

I was looking for deep half opportunities today since we worked on it last night, and got it once on Opal.

On a side note, I've decided to learn Brazilian Portuguese. Bought a book/audio set and am working through greetings in lesson 1. The heavy nasal usage is tough, as I have a very flat American accent and it sounds pretty lame when I try it. It's a pretty language, and shares some common grammar themes with French, which I took for four years in high school. I'm hoping to be able to speak a bit when Walter (James' instructor) comes in November. Walter is a stocky Brazilian, and it would be pretty neat to be able to understand him when he starts firing Portuguese at Nando.