Mackenzie Dern Seminar

Just...wow.

Two full days of jiu jitsu, with 5hrs of instruction on Saturday and 4hrs of instruction on Sunday. I didn't roll very long on either day after the instruction portion was over, probably an hour total (if that). Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10hrs of class in two days. My body is feeling it.

Drove over Friday night and though we were stop and go relatively early on b/c of a wreck that had been recently cleared, the rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Saw smoke from numerous fires and seemed like the whole damn state was on fire except for the coast.

Got the gym Saturday morning in plenty of time. There were around 26 ppl in attendance. Mackenzie was the only black belt. There were three browns (one was injured), three purples (myself included) and the rest were blues and whites. 

Mackenzie was running late, so we didn't start until 9:30 or so. Her instruction and personality was awesome. We did a kindof knee cut pass to head-and-arm choke to fist choke (don't know what else to call it). We also did an transition from mounted arm-bar to a sortof triangle choke, a choke if someone has double-unders in your guard and a choke if they're passing. 

There was plenty of time to drill each technique b/c she was going to each pair and ensuring that they had it down. That gave me plenty of opportunity to write down decent notes that I re-wrote in more legible hand-writing and with more detail that night. I felt ok with most everything, though Rachael and I got ourselves royally confused a couple of times. 

After her instruction it was picture time, and we got a pretty good shot of the three of us. I asked Mackenzie if she would roll, and she said after the afternoon seminar. I was so jacked, as I many high level competitors won't roll during seminars for various understandable reasons. I've never rolled with a woman black belt before, so I was especially happy that she was cool with it.

In the afternoon seminar, Amanda went over a way to make bottom side-control less miserable. I understand the premise behind it, but I had a really hard time incorporating it into my escapes. It seemed like one of those things that may not be quite for me, but I should work on it some more before giving up on it.

After Amanda's portion of the seminar, I rolled with a couple of the blue belts. I thought that Mackenzie had left after I finished my second or third roll, but she came back out and asked if I wanted to roll. It was a blast. She was definitely playing a dominate top game, but she let me work a bit from one not-great bottom position to another. What was really cool about it is that I could tell that she was putting some effort into it and not just effortlessly kicking my ass or being passive. She got at least one arm-bar and let several others go. She was really fluid on top, and I quite honestly didn't have much of an idea of what was going on during the roll as I was just focused on surviving. I was so, so stoked to get a chance to roll with such a high level competitor.

She was very accommodating of our random questions, and Rachael and I chatted with her for at least a half hour on both days.

I went to bed early on Saturday night and stayed there until 8:30 on Sunday morning. My body felt surprisingly good, though I could tell I was bit mentally and physically fatigued.

Sunday was another instructional with Amanda and one with Leah. I understood Amanda's content a lot better (not getting swept from open guard) and did a pretty decent job of putting it into practice. I understood Leah's too (passing) but had a much more difficult time of executing it. 

More open rolls at the end, and I was dog-tired at this point. Rolled with a couple of blues (including Rachael, b/c everyone else was paired up). Was hoping to roll with Amanda or Mackenzie again, but it didn't work out. 

Overall it was a really good experience. That is a lot of jiu jitsu to cram into two days. I have fairly decent notes though, so hopefully I'll be able to retain at least some of it.