Reffing is Harder than it Looks

I was stiff after class yesterday afternoon and stiff this morning. I had to stretch a bit before bed b/c I was mildly uncomfortable enough to bother my sleep. Don't know what I did to cause it, unless it was getting rolled a lot with James' new sweep.

Today we did open guard drills and then worked the new sweep. I was fairly comfortable with it, especially on a standing opponent. Less so if they are doing the knee cut through b/c it leaves your far arm exposed. Also... it's easy enough for them to backstep. But it's still better than being passed.

Rolled with Savannah and Julio, then James had me ref his rolls against Nate and Jordan. I started standing with Savannah and did a decent job of pulling guard. She got a pass, I got a sweep. I'm being mindful of points throughout the entirety of rolls now. I tried the new sweep and of course she back-stepped. She tried it too and I was able to do something to either pass or at least shut down the sweep.

Julio was all beast mode today. Used technique but also a fair amount of strength to wrench my arms around. He had top control the entire time and got several subs. At one point when he was crushing me he said "I'm a bully". Well, no kidding bud.

I thought that I've watched enough scored matches that reffing would come easy to me. Um, no. I'm glad that James is having me ref some matches before Saturday b/c I'd probably have a super rough start to my day otherwise. I still might, but this practice will hopefully help me have a less rough start to my day. 

After class I rolled with Jason S. and Blaine. My goal with Jason again was to not let him sweep me. I was able to get close on a pass and turned it into an almost back-mount with an almost bow and arrow. I had the bow and arrow as tight as I could get it without my legs being in quite the right spot, but it wasn't enough. He was able to escape and he ended up passing my guard. Another point I passed his guard but had my far arm trapped between his legs. He was trying to set up a triangle and clocked me hard in the nose. I decided that would be a good point to stop the roll.

I had Blaine's back for a bit, lost it and he was able to pass on hastily thrown up arm-bar. I spent some time in bottom side-control, then some really uncomfortable time in a north/south choke that he wasn't able to finish. Waited that one out, got back to guard, then we called it.