I was considering not going to class today, as I was wiped after yesterday's 2.5hrs. I really don't want to start the week worn down, but figured I could just go for technique and not roll if I wasn't feeling it. Sometimes not going to class is the right answer, but sometimes it works out ok.
Rolling today was flat out awesome. I'm not even to going to bother with the technique portion. I want to bask in the glow of a really, really good day of rolling for awhile.
One funny note is that I couldn't pay someone to put a DLR hook in today so that I could practice the passes that I learned in my private lesson yesterday. I even overtly used my leg as bait but no one would take it. Seriously???
First roll was with Sarah. Desperately tried to stay out of 50/50 and mostly succeeded. I had a very difficult time passing her guard, but eventually got a top position. Wasn't able to do anything with it though.
Next roll with a new guy, Ryan. It was his very first class, so I told him to just get on top using any means necessary. For (purportedly) never having rolled before, he did very well. Was just shy of being spazzy. Did a good job of controlling limbs, and only grabbed for fingers a few times (which might have been by mistake). I did a few catch-and-release subs, but primarily worked from guard and let him play with trying to get around me.
Van was next. It's her b-day, and I had teased her earlier that she was going to get choked 20 times today in celebration. I didn't get her once, although I had mount and was doing a fog choke that was pretty tight. She was absolutely determined not to tap, and she didn't and was able to survive. We were backed up against a wall at that point, so we reset from a neutral position in the middle.
After that it was Dennis, who it seems like I haven't rolled with for weeks. He had top side control and was fishing for a wrist lock and damn near got it. I had to work and work to finally get my arm free. Once I did though, I slapped on the inverted triangle that doesn't work, but this time I started going for a kimura on his near-side. He defended both of those well, and I finally gave it up. I don't know if it was a transition from there or somewhere else, but I somehow got to his back and attempted to work chokes from there. He tried repeatedly to shake me off, but I think we ended the round with me still harassing him with a bow and arrow. After the roll he said he felt like my game has gone up a notch. Nothing feels better than getting feedback like that from respected peers. That was the last roll during class.
After class, Jason (b) plopped down next to me and wanted to roll. This is where I really went to town. I've never dominated him in a roll, but I put a clinic on him today. He wasn't giving me positions either. I was just in the zone. It felt amazing! I passed his guard, got back-mount, transitioned to mount and worked on sub after sub. Kimura, americana, ezekiel, fog choke, back to americana, ezekiel...just moving from one to the other based on what he gave me. He was defending the submissions well and trying to escape, but I was having none of that. Finally I think I got him with the fog choke. We reset and I worked guard this time. I ended up in deep half guard, worked a sweep from there, and then we were done. A bunch of people were sitting around after class watching, which gave me extra motivation to implement my game.
I was spent after that roll, as I was going pretty close to competition pace with Jason. Julio wanted to roll for a bit though, so we rolled for a few minutes. He showed me a really nifty transition if you go for a hip bump sweep and they try to push your opposite side leg down. Reach your arm over like you're going for the kimura (i.e. getting the reverse underhook (?)), but then feed your hand across their chest. It's bizarre, but it locks down their arm and shoulder and you can take the back.
I'm going to savor this feeling, and try to remember it the next time I'm feeling down about my game and that I don't belong in my rank.
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