Numbers were reasonable for the summer hols, a lot of the new guys have stuck around so it's a good bunch of regulars we've got coming now. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Steve Keen, long time Bjj Purple Belt who hasn't really trained Gi for quite a while. Steve says he's interested in taking it up again and getting a bit fitter for it. I truly hope that Steve does stick around because his game is pretty awesome and we could all benefit from sparring with him.
Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, Uk
Instructor: Ian Rossiter (Black Belt)
Warm Up:
The usual laps of the mat with arm wind milling, knee ups, butt kicks and side steps. Then on to arm, neck and shoulder stretching, Squat (4 x 10), push ups (4 x 10) and sit ups (4 x 10). We finished up with some leg stretching.
Techniques:
(I will describe the techniques from the side I initially learnt them on for ease of description).
Ian went straight into a Butterfly Sweep to start with. It's the standard one from seated Butterfly, where you have your left arm underhooking his the opponent's right, your other arm is grabbing his left arm on the outside and forcing it in tight to your torso. You need to keep your head low and driven forward into his left shoulder to avoid him getting HIS head underneath and driving you off balance. From here you fall out to your right, taking him with you. As you get to the ground you kick you left butterfly hook high up, sweeping the opponent over on to his back with you coming up into top control. What top control you land in depends on the scramble but the highest percentage is side control or kesa gatame. You can try for mount but you run the great risk of getting caught in his half guard.
I trained with Marcus for this one last time. We were joined by a newly promoted Tom who arrived late and stepped in with us. We all found this fairly easy and played about with a couple of other techniques in between drilling this move.
The next move was Arm Drag to Back from Butterfly Guard. The move works on the premise that you're in seated butterfly guard and your opponent is trying to pass by standing off and grabbing you gi pants at the ankles. Utilising the idea that your legs will nearly always be stronger than his arms you step your left leg out to the side (taking his controlling arm with it), leaving room for you to thrust your right arm under his right arm and grab the back of his triceps or his shoulder. Now you canthrow your right leg through between the guys legs while pulling back hard on his arm and turning in toward him at the same time. The opponent should shoot right past you and land on his front, opting to turtle before he's completely flattened out (you handily have your right hook in at this point). While he's in he's getting his turtle, you should harness grip around his waist/high chest and put pressure on his back to keep him down. Then you can work your way low down on his back so your left leg can be moved up in position to thread in to it's hook slot. If he's closed up at this point a quick jerk upwards with your harness grip should make enough space. Now you have both hooks in and the harness grip you can tip you body over and fall on your side taking the opponent with you. You have now taken his back a broken down his turtle.
Good quality sweep and transition to back. Very tasty. I shall be trying to use it more often.
Ian changed the focus around now to the guy who had just had his back taken. The next move was the rear mounted guys reaction with a Rear Mount Escape to side control. The guys just pulled you over to the side to get the hooks in for the rear mount. You need to sit up so the opponent is forced into a seated rear mount position. From there you bend forward to reach your ankles and lean back down to the right. Now you can use your hands to push the guys right leg (the one under you) away to release his hook. You can now escape your hips out to your right, turning toward the opponent as you do. Now pull your left leg out so you can turn onto your front and force him down onto his back. You will be left with your right leg in a loose half guard here but as you come over you can reach your right arm under his left leg and lift it forward while flattening him, leaving you open to easily bring the other leg out and gain side control. Very nice escape which I found myself enjoying. I like arm under touch at the to get to side control. Very good.
The last technique Ian gave us was an old favourite of his. A basic Gi Choke from Side Control where you have the guy secure around the neck with your left arm and you grip his collar with that hand. With your other hand you reach down and grab a handful of the guy's gi jacket at about the underarm area (quite near to the floor though) whilst ensuring you keep an adequate amount of weight down on his torso to block any escapes. Now you open your left elbow out so that arm can pass around his head, then bring it back in and down across the upper chest/neck (you are still gripping his collar here). To finish this move you start pushing your elbow out into his neck/throat whilst keeping him from moving with your bodyweight and your grip on his gi with your right hand.
Rolling:
I rolled with Marcus first. Last roll for some time I imagine. We did a bit of back and forth, top and bottom play. I eventually managed to tap him out with a kimura from half guard top, just for old times sake :o).
Next up was Steve the purple belt. And I really had a fantastic roll with him. Exchnaging position and control. Steve's fluidity in his rolling was really good. I only even once felt close to threatening with a sub attempt. On the plus side (although I'll attribute it to him being rusty) Steve didn't threaten me with anything either although he was able to pass my guard right at the end. I recovered to half guard as the buzzer went. A great roll and I really hope Steve sticks around to train more with us.
Next up was Tom. I went with mostly top control in this one but was very impressed with how well Tom's guard game has improved. I did manage to pass his guard a couple of times, getting to mount on him twice but Tom escaped well for one and I gave up the other trying to bow and arrow his from technical mount. Tom managed to survive everything I threw at him in the end which is good.
My last roll was with Ian and his new Black Belt. It was a brilliant roll. Ian tried to straight leg lock me at one point which I was able to stand into easily to resist. Other than that, neither of us really threatened a sub, just went back and forth with positions. Ian ended up with top control just before the buzzer.
It was a great session with some cool sparring at the end. We all said our hearty goodbyes to Marcus. He certainly will be missed by all. A great guy, a good friend and a phenomenal training/sparring partner. I wish him well in everything he tries and I hope Southampton turns out well for him and Aneta. He'll be welcomed back any time he wishes.
¬m/
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