Purples

Monday night back at class. Lots of congratulations, and the entire team seemed to be hyped about our weekend. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiig class.

We did take-downs, but my head wasn't really in it. I was working in a group of 3...everyone was b/c of the class size. I think I provided good advice, but my own tries were pretty poo poo.

KOTH, rolled with Rachel B and let her win after transitioning through a number of positions. Rolled with Jesse awhile later. Knew I couldn't let him get on top...but sure enough, he got on top. Finished with an arm-bar. Back in line, then had Chaz, who I could tell was just kindof toying with me, not really going very hard. Time was called.

We lined up, James starting talking about Worlds and what it meant him. He mentioned that I escaped belt testing again b/c I won my division with at least two fights in a major tournament, so I won't have to test for my brown if/when the time comes. He then called up Jamie and Rachael for them to get their fourth stripes. He handed Rachael the tape b/c he was struggling with getting it undone...and then pulled out two purple belts from inside his gi. They were both overwhelmed and the room went nuts. I think pretty much everyone knew it was going to happen except for them (and me). I was so incredibly happy for them, as they both deserve it. Both of their families were there. 

Wed Morning

I'm back to mornings after finagling my schedule a bit. Went in this morning and was really happy to see that James was covering baseball bat chokes, loop chokes and his dive choke. I've never been formally taught the BB choke, and I picked up a lot of very useful details that I've been missing. Felt decent with the rest of them.

Rolling was with Sol, Jason S., Dennis and Russ. Got pretty well worked over by all of them except Russ, who was doing a weird knee cut pass where he gave me the underhook twice, which I promptly used to take his back. Either he was trying something new or he was just giving it to me.

Wed Night

Energy was good, warm-ups were no problem. Guard passes tonight, mostly starting from butterfly. Did ok on them, not great. Rolled with Rachael, then Rachel B and a bunch of white belts. Rachael got top control and pretty well dominated the match. The rest of the rolls were pretty easy.

My energy level is good, but my spirit is off. I think it's partially due to hormones. I'm going through a phase with my body that isn't super uncomfortable but at times pretty annoying. I'm also emotionally wiped out from last weekend, and feel like I haven't had a full day/night to myself to rest up. I'm also a little skittish about all of the attention. I don't like having a lot of attention on me, even if it's good.



 

Master World

Unbelievable weekend. I cannot believe that 3 out of 4 from my school took home gold, winning two or more matches each to do it. I was hoping that one of us would get to the top of the podium but never would have guessed that all three of us that competed on Friday would do it.

Vegas is...Vegas. I'm not a big fan of the city, at least the Strip. Too many people, too loud, too much alcohol, too much extreme behavior, etc., etc. Regardless, that's where we stayed. We flew in Thursday evening, and after checking into the hotel Rachael wanted to walk around a bit. We wandered around and ended up at NYNY. They have a rollercoaster on top of the hotel, and I was more or less coerced into riding it. I would never choose that for myself a night before a big tournament, but I figured it would be a good way to blow off some pent-up energy. It did that for sure. I was trying to control my breathing but it looked in the pictures like I was trying to vomit.

Friday morning we get to the venue around 11:30am b/c Jamie's first match was scheduled for 12:30pm. It was nerve-wracking trying to find Walter so that he could coach Jamie, get space next to the mat to yell/spectate and keep track of the match times. Jamie did awesome, being patient and working for take-downs in all of his matches. I think he was on the bottom once or twice, but otherwise he dominated from top positions. He worked hard on take-downs in class leading up to this and it was gratifying to see his hard work pay off.
 
The nervous energy inside the building was outrageous. Rachael was scheduled to start around 2:30pm and I was supposed to start around 4:30pm. There were numerous computer/network problems which kept putting everything back. Rachael was pushed back by a half hour or so and I don't think my first match started until 6pm. Again with the trying to track down Walter (he was coaching a lot of people yesterday) and make sure I knew the start times for Rachael's matches. She went out and dominated both the first and second match, getting the second gold. I was so happy for my best friend and teammate. 

In my first match my opponent pulled guard. I managed to stay out of the closed guard and quickly passed, taking a top position and worked from mount and the back for the majority of the match. I eventually got an arm-bar to finish.

It was a three person bracket, so she went against the person who had the initial bye. They were pretty evenly matched for a bit, but the other woman eventually passed, got to mount and finished with an armbar. Watching their match I felt like there's no reason why I couldn't beat the third woman. I didn't want to get overconfident, but I wanted to go into the match believing that I could win.

After waiting for what seemed like a very long time (~40min?), I stepped out for the final. I wanted to get the takedown, and did a godawful job of it. I ended up in guard, but at least she didn't get the takedown points. I swept and instead of really focusing on staying on top, I tried to take the back and ended up getting swept. However, somewhere along the way I was awarded an advantage, so as long as she didn't score any other points or advantages I'd win. I was able to close my guard and that was that. I was actively looking for sweeps and submissions, but wasn't able to get anything going. Once I realized I was up an advantage, I kept my guard mostly closed. Less than a minute later, gold.

Happy for myself, but more than that, thrilled for my teammates. Both of them put a lot of work and emotional energy into the tournament. Words can't describe how awesome it was.

 

Master Worlds Prep

I debated going to advanced class on Sunday, and I should have gone with my gut and stayed home. Just killed my confidence to get rolled up by everyone.

Monday night didn't go much better, as Rachael got me several times. In the later rounds I recovered and had good transitions, but I was starting to question why I compete, why I do jiu jitsu, etc ad nauseum. I've rarely felt like that lately, but the week prior to comps can be a whole lot of not fun.

Going to flow roll Wed night and leave it at that. 

It's supposed to be 100F in Vegas this weekend. HOT.

Company completed the move to different city over the weekend. Nice office space, but definitely not a fan of open office environments. It's also going to make training in the mornings tricky b/c of the added commute.

Wed Night and Thursday Lesson

Last night was a dose of spiderguard. Take the back, sweep to the side if you can get them to step above you and a super complicated knee bar if you can't get the sweep to the side.

Rolling was KOTH, I started down with Rachael. Win by sub, back or mount. About midway through I was very, very close to mount. However, I gave up the control under her arm and she was able to get out of it. 

She had top control for awhile after that and made life pretty miserable. I think I eventually got back to a top position, but it was close to 20min of back and forth. Neither of us was going nuts, but we kept a pretty steady pace. One of us was generally in a pretty defensive position.

Did a lesson with James today. Covered quite a few areas in which I had questions, and picked up some great details that will definitely help if I can keep them in mind and drill them. He showed me an amazing sweep from a backstep that was really pretty amazingly cool. We rolled for a bit at the end and I found a few more problem areas, such as when someone rolls through a kimura. 

Wed Morn

Rolled like complete poo poo this morning. Chris N. got me with a Peruvian necktie, new white belt got me in a foot lock, Jason got me with a bow tie. I more or less controlled the roll with Chuck, but everyone else just kicked my ass. I wasn't trying to do anything specific and I don't think I was overthinking the rolls. Just. Got. Smashed.

Hopefully I can bounce back tonight. 

Monday Night

Felt a bit tired for the rest of the day after morning class and was happy that the evening class warm-up wasn't especially draining. My back was ok, but felt like it could be hinky at any point in time. 

Technique was some lasso-ish stuff that I haven't done in a loooooong time and had forgotten about. Great to be reminded of it.

KOTH, win by mount, back or sub. Rolled with Rachael, Missy, Sol someone else and Zack. Got a crappy takedown on Rachael and managed to get to mount after a piece of time. Got mount or back on Missy. Had a long, mainly despairing roll with Sol. I was able to regain guard a couple of times, but he had tight, heavy side-control and was attacking a number of submissions. I eventually succumbed to mount.

Rolled with someone else that I don't remember in which I think I won, then finished with Zack. I was trying an over under pass and kept slipping b/c the mats were slick with sweat. That was frustrating, but I probably should have changed tactics. Time ran out before either of us to get to a winning position.

Rolled with Jenny for a bit after class. She's so much fun to roll with b/c she's tiny and moves extremely well. Her mid-air balance is outrageous. She said that she's going to be testing for purple in November. I'm pretty excited for her b/c she's been a 4-stripe for quite awhile due injury and switching schools. 

Felt better about my rolls than I did in the morning class.

Weekend

Just....ugh. 

I had a whole plan for teaching Fundamentals class, but it went off the rails in a hurry. No particular reason, other than my mouth can't seem to decide if I'm going to discuss technique or theory.

Open mat was pretty good. I took one or two rounds off. Can't remember specifics other than I felt like I was thinking of body mechanics instead of steps in a technique, especially when I was in the midst of a pass or trying to maintain top position.

Sunday advanced class I worked techniques specifically for Worlds. They were so-so and need quite a bit of work. I feel like I'm making some progress though, so that's something. Rolls were tough, I always get my ass kicked pretty good on Sundays. Russ ran right through me. Rachael's back was bugging her, and I barely stopped myself from locking up a body triangle. 

I felt tired before Monday morning class even started. Got through the techniques fine, but rolls were pretty meh. Sat under Sol's side control for most of a round, Dennis demolished me and I couldn't for the life of me finish a submission Jordan even though I had numerous choke attempts.

Class again tonight. It's going to be a rough week, with a double on Wed, private on Thu, class on Fri, double on Sat and teaching a private on Sunday in addition to advanced class. I'm going to have to back off next week.

Worst picture ever, but whatever.

Benefit Seminar

Wow.

Over a hundred people, including 20+ black belts. Between the registration fees and raffles, around $10k was raised. The instruction was top notch, with a half hour allotted for each of the 10 or so instructors. There was no way I could take notes, so I'm hoping the video is distributed. It lasted around 5 hours with no formal breaks. 

Giva Santana came, unbeknownst to Foster who was really moved by the support. Renato Laranja was quite a character. I learned later that not only is he not Brazilian, but he's a former soap opera actor. Interesting dude, to say the least. Very entertaining.

 I felt fortunate to participate, and I was proud of my coach who showed some techniques and my teammates that attended. The support of the community was really something to behold.

Rachael I stayed Saturday night and joined the Sunday classes at Foster's. The first was a regular class consisting of warm-up and technique. Jimmy (?) the brown belt showed chokes from mount, including the chicken wing one that I often forget. Rolls after technique. I had two purple belts and Jimmy. One of the purple belts worked me over pretty good. Good, fun rolls. 

The next class was a Fundamentals class, then a competition class. Rachael and I wanted to bail on the Fundamentals to save our energy, but we both thought it might be construed as kindof rude. The class was very mellow, and to be honest sitting for an hour might have been worse. I got to work with a brown belt, and I picked up some movement tips from him just having him do the techniques on me. Very smooth transitions from one side to the next.

The comp class was warm-up of your choice for 20min, then people would be paired up to roll with a ref present. A couple of people would sit out, similar to a comp. The idea was to get the atmosphere as close to a competition atmosphere as possible.

There were five women (four blues and me), and we rotated through each other. My goal was to get takedowns and not pull guard. I worked my takedowns and they were largely successful, even though they were ugly as sin. I was able to work my game without much trouble in the first two matches, which were back to back. The third woman pulled guard and very nearly locked up a triangle. I was swept but managed to wriggle out of it and get to a top position. No submissions.

We went again and it was another tough match, but I was able to again get to top position. 

After that I rolled with a couple of the black belt guys, one of whom got me in a gogoplata. Boooo...

Overall, 9hrs of jiu jitsu in two days. Rachael and I were both pretty uncomfortable on the ride home.

Monday Night & Wed Morn

Monday night went pretty well. Rachael and I rolled most of the time. She did well on takedowns, but once it hit the ground I was fairing better. She had to sit out a round b/c she wasn't feeling too hot. I rolled with Keith H. who has been out for a year or so. He did very well considering he was out all that time. 

Wednesday morning was more leg drag setups and then transitioning to an over-under if they attempt to reguard using a leg weave. I was working with another newish woman (Taylor) and she was doing pretty well with the gross movements. It's very interesting to see the rate at which different people pick up concepts.

Rolled with Taylor, Laurie, Jason S., Blaine and Shaun. I tried to let Taylor work more, but her movements are so unorthodox that I was having a difficult time doing my stuff the right way but still let her work. For example, I wanted her to be able to work with back control, but I had to basically back-step into her and stay turned away for it to happen. I think it's ok if I'm consciously doing it and don't make a habit. 

Laurie was admonishing herself for not getting the underhook when knee cut passing. I tried to reinforce it by taking her back or sweeping. Tee hee. I should have let her work more during the round, but I wasn't cognizant of the time.

Jason does this thing where he gets an arm-bar from...somewhere. I come up to get him on his back and crowd him and then he takes my back. I'm doing something really wrong when I crowd him. In any case, he got a body triangle. I was able to roll him to the side to get his hooked foot on the mat, but he set up a bow and arrow. Let me tell you, having someone transition from a body triangle directly into a bow and arrow is decidedly uncomfortable. I'm not sure at what point he unlocked the triangle (if ever) but I let out quite the ooooof. He apologized profusely, so it must have sounded bad. I reassured him that I just got the wind knocked out.

I resolved to not play closed guard with Blaine. I was able to leg weave successfully and ended up taking his back at the very end. Had good control of that match.

Shaun and I started off fine, then he jumped to a choke from top half. Hit it FAST and then continued to crank it like his life depended on it. He also jumped into top side control which elicited another ooooooof from me. Clearly he's amping his game for Master Mundials. Ok, fine. We reset and I attacked his guard from top half and didn't give him an inch. Passed and got a solid cross-face.

Another class tonight and then Thu/Fri off to rest for the seminar and probably some comp training on Sunday.