2/5 - Valley
Just Gary and I, and we went over maintaining N/S and refining escapes. I tried the over/under top position and didn't like it very much. When I'm rolling I feel like I ought to be able to pull off the escapes but people are too good about not letting me get the space to work them. Gary and I did discover that an advantage to fishtailing your legs around to get to half-guard (or even to do the roll-to-the-back) is that if your opponent blocks one side, you have the momentum to go to the other and they probably won't be able to get there fast enough. Will have to try it out during rolls to see how it works.
We rolled for a bit, really good back and forth. I tried to work triangles, arm-bars and omoplatas while he caught me repeatedly with a leg that was way out of position. Fun to roll with him, it's been awhile.
Fun to roll in general. I feel like a lot of pressure is off, and if I get crushed this week it's not going to feel like crushing. At least that's the hope. Just take it as a learning experience, and try to do as much as I can between now and Pan Ams to have a solid game plan and the skills to implement it.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Gold
2/2 NW BJJ Regional Championship
Traveled to Portland, Oregon for the tournament with the team. First travel with this team and had an absolute blast. Left on Friday, arrived in the evening. I think we had 6 people in a 2 bedroom hotel suite on Friday night and 6 people in a single on Saturday night. We travel cozy (and inexpensive).
Food was an issue, primarily b/c I didn't give much thought to it until I was hungry and not in a position to obtain nutrients. I brought a light lunch/dinner for Friday and that was it. I wasn't trying to cut weight, but just making sure that I could maintain safely at several pounds under. I thought we'd all go out to breakfast on Saturday morning, but a bunch of teammates were cutting and we were cutting it close with scheduling, so some instant oatmeal and banana was it. For 12hrs.
Also didn't handle water very well, in that I probably drank half a glass of water all weekend.
That said, we got to the tournament and I ended up with one person in my bracket that was a weight class above me. She was also a white belt. Gar. Of course, I find this out before the rest of my bracket is even called to the bullpen, and I was not ready nor warmed up. I got called up, they explained what was going on, and then we were hitting the mat. Best two out of three matches wins the bracket. I don't think she was much heavier than I was...20lb, if that. We had talked game plans the day before on the drive over, and mine was this: pull guard, work submissions, sweep, mount, submit. So I executed my plan...I pulled guard, I worked a triangle which I couldn't finish (gaaaaaaaarrrr), then transitioned to an arm-bar which I was able to finish. I felt pretty happy with the arm-bar b/c the way we were positioned, I couldn't really see what I had but it felt legit, so I went for it (gently).
Second match, she comes out and pulls guard right away (it's called coaching adjustments, and she had a good coach) and went for a collar choke. She did a great job of breaking my posture. The collar choke got very tight, and had I been in class I would have tapped. However, I let ego get in the way and really did not want to tap to a white belt in competition. So I rode it out, and eventually I think her grip got tired and I was able to survive. Finally got posture, passed her guard, got to side control, then mount, then finished with a fog choke. I don't remember many of the details, I hope someone got it on video.
Gold.
I'm happy for it, but don't really feel like I deserve it. I'm not knocking my opponent in any way...she almost got me with the collar choke and was a good match. Just want to feel like I really earned a gold at the blue belt level, and I don't.
In any case, I missed the call for absolutes, so my chance to roll with other blue belts was wasted. Pretty sad about that.
The team celebrated that night by going out and (eventually) finding a place to eat. Had a little food and a lot of drinks, then went to Voodoo Donuts to get some really funky pastries.
Woke up with a hangover for the first time in probably a year, walked down to Powell's books in flip flops (I left my shoes at the gym where the tournament was held, and still don't have them back) and spent part of a paycheck buying awesome books. Drove home, and ate like a pig and slept like a baby.
Traveled to Portland, Oregon for the tournament with the team. First travel with this team and had an absolute blast. Left on Friday, arrived in the evening. I think we had 6 people in a 2 bedroom hotel suite on Friday night and 6 people in a single on Saturday night. We travel cozy (and inexpensive).
Food was an issue, primarily b/c I didn't give much thought to it until I was hungry and not in a position to obtain nutrients. I brought a light lunch/dinner for Friday and that was it. I wasn't trying to cut weight, but just making sure that I could maintain safely at several pounds under. I thought we'd all go out to breakfast on Saturday morning, but a bunch of teammates were cutting and we were cutting it close with scheduling, so some instant oatmeal and banana was it. For 12hrs.
Also didn't handle water very well, in that I probably drank half a glass of water all weekend.
That said, we got to the tournament and I ended up with one person in my bracket that was a weight class above me. She was also a white belt. Gar. Of course, I find this out before the rest of my bracket is even called to the bullpen, and I was not ready nor warmed up. I got called up, they explained what was going on, and then we were hitting the mat. Best two out of three matches wins the bracket. I don't think she was much heavier than I was...20lb, if that. We had talked game plans the day before on the drive over, and mine was this: pull guard, work submissions, sweep, mount, submit. So I executed my plan...I pulled guard, I worked a triangle which I couldn't finish (gaaaaaaaarrrr), then transitioned to an arm-bar which I was able to finish. I felt pretty happy with the arm-bar b/c the way we were positioned, I couldn't really see what I had but it felt legit, so I went for it (gently).
Second match, she comes out and pulls guard right away (it's called coaching adjustments, and she had a good coach) and went for a collar choke. She did a great job of breaking my posture. The collar choke got very tight, and had I been in class I would have tapped. However, I let ego get in the way and really did not want to tap to a white belt in competition. So I rode it out, and eventually I think her grip got tired and I was able to survive. Finally got posture, passed her guard, got to side control, then mount, then finished with a fog choke. I don't remember many of the details, I hope someone got it on video.
Gold.
I'm happy for it, but don't really feel like I deserve it. I'm not knocking my opponent in any way...she almost got me with the collar choke and was a good match. Just want to feel like I really earned a gold at the blue belt level, and I don't.
In any case, I missed the call for absolutes, so my chance to roll with other blue belts was wasted. Pretty sad about that.
The team celebrated that night by going out and (eventually) finding a place to eat. Had a little food and a lot of drinks, then went to Voodoo Donuts to get some really funky pastries.
Woke up with a hangover for the first time in probably a year, walked down to Powell's books in flip flops (I left my shoes at the gym where the tournament was held, and still don't have them back) and spent part of a paycheck buying awesome books. Drove home, and ate like a pig and slept like a baby.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Night Before
It's the night before a regional tournament, and I'm feeling pretty good. Long drive, but good companions. Settled in the hotel, everyone else is out eating. I brought my lunch and dinner for the day, and lucky for me the room had a microwave so I didn't have to eat my meatloaf and sweet potato cold.
Earlier today I went to class with the instructor and one other person (someone else joined halfway through) and we went over random techniques. No warm-ups, more of a discussion with some show-and-practice but very light. Learned a new wrinkle on the arm-bar and triangle. Hips up on the arm-bar earlier to keep them from stacking you. If they posture in the middle of your triangle, drop your legs around their torso and trapped hand, break their posture toward you by holding the back of their head, get your shoulders back, foot on hip and ankle in FRONT of the knee, then knee over the ankle.
Feeling strangely empty about tomorrow...maybe empty isn't the right word. I'm not too focused on stressing out, I guess would be more apt. I had to move from senior to adult b/c there weren't enough competitors, and I think there are either 3 total or 4 total in my weight class at adult. That's all I know, and that's plenty. On the ride over we talked game plans a bit... mine is to pull guard, attempt subs, if that doesn't work, sweep, pass, mount, submit. I don't think I'm nervous, although I typically don't get too bent out of shape the night before. I think traveling with other competitors really helps in this regard. Most everyone is fairly calm about everything except food. Every billboard along the way that touted food was brief torture. Even the McDonald's 40 nuggets. I wouldn't eat at McD's for any reason, but when you are trying to make a weight class, every damn bad thing sounds good. Speaking of weight, I'm 2lb under fully dressed, and weight is w/o gi, so I should be in excellent shape.
So we'll see what tomorrow brings!
Earlier today I went to class with the instructor and one other person (someone else joined halfway through) and we went over random techniques. No warm-ups, more of a discussion with some show-and-practice but very light. Learned a new wrinkle on the arm-bar and triangle. Hips up on the arm-bar earlier to keep them from stacking you. If they posture in the middle of your triangle, drop your legs around their torso and trapped hand, break their posture toward you by holding the back of their head, get your shoulders back, foot on hip and ankle in FRONT of the knee, then knee over the ankle.
Feeling strangely empty about tomorrow...maybe empty isn't the right word. I'm not too focused on stressing out, I guess would be more apt. I had to move from senior to adult b/c there weren't enough competitors, and I think there are either 3 total or 4 total in my weight class at adult. That's all I know, and that's plenty. On the ride over we talked game plans a bit... mine is to pull guard, attempt subs, if that doesn't work, sweep, pass, mount, submit. I don't think I'm nervous, although I typically don't get too bent out of shape the night before. I think traveling with other competitors really helps in this regard. Most everyone is fairly calm about everything except food. Every billboard along the way that touted food was brief torture. Even the McDonald's 40 nuggets. I wouldn't eat at McD's for any reason, but when you are trying to make a weight class, every damn bad thing sounds good. Speaking of weight, I'm 2lb under fully dressed, and weight is w/o gi, so I should be in excellent shape.
So we'll see what tomorrow brings!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)