1. Facebook will eventually become self-aware and take over the world. Seriously. It already knows all our secrets. It's only a matter of time.
2. Purple belts and brown belts can make whatever jokes they want because no one can do anything to stop them (lol!).
3. Women are not allowed to talk in conversations unless they are called upon. And it is our fault that the Adam ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
Ok, none of those were serious. Well, maybe the Facebook thing. But I DID actually learn some things at last night's class.
We worked a roll-out from butterfly guard that I really like. You're holding your opponent's sleeves and then you pull one sleeve down, tucking it under your knee. You cross that same leg under your other leg, hooking your opponent's opposite knee with your foot. Then, you roll inverted toward your opponent's trapped arm, using your feet hooks to help you come around. You end up either hugging their side or back, with both of their arms captured. The important thing when doing the inverted roll is to move your head out of the way. Otherwise, you won't be able to go all the way around. I have no idea if that was a coherent explanation. Not very good at explaining moves.
I have been having a dry spell lately with rolling. I'm either unable or unwilling to finish submissions. Part of that is because I roll with one of two extremes: Very new girls who I don't want to submit or experienced blues, purples and browns who mock my feeble attempts at submission. ;) That's not entirely true. There are some people "at my level" who I roll with, but I haven't been catching them either. I go for things, but rarely finish.
Also, I have noticed that there are some major bad habits with a few of my submissions that I need to fix. I keep forgetting to squeeze my knees in armbars and triangles. I know. BJJ 101. Don't kill me, Ben. I don't know why I've gotten into that bad habit, but I'm working toward correcting that.
Another thing I need to work on is something one of the purple belts, Brian Morgan (a.k.a. "PP" :) ) said to me last night after our roll. I go for moves 100% when I'm on defense, but then when I move to offense, I hesitate for a second before moving between positions. He said I need to trust my instincts more and just go for it. I've noticed the same thing. Part of it is me being unsure of what to do. I'm thinking to much. As Brian said, I need to let my offense be a little more reactionary. Trust what I've learned and go for it.
Will do, Mr. Morgan. Will do.
Lastly, I am debating about whether or not to compete in the Florida State BJJ Championship coming up on the 22nd. I have to decide by the 19th because that's the last day to register. Here's my conundrum. I am a baby blue. I will get creamed. This is pretty much a given. BUT I always learn a lot in competitions and I haven't competed since last summer. I know a lot of you die-hard competitors will say, "Just go for fun." But I fail at the "go for fun" mentality. I get all freaked out and go nuts trying to "prepare". Then I stress about making weight and about take-downs and about losing in my first match. I usually don't relax until the tournament is over. This time I haven't done any of my normal obsessive-compulsive preparations. And I really don't have the time left to be as anal retentive as I normally would be.
And that might be all the more reason why I should compete. Just go in. See where I'm at. No pressure. (Riiiiight.)
I dunno. Mulling it all over. That's all for now. I'm going to go scare myself to death by watching Sci-Trek episode about killer contagions. OMG MRSA!!!!
Things are really, really bad.
2 months ago
5 comments:
You know what I'm going to say. :)
1. So what if you're a baby blue? Blue is blue. You earned that belt, and you know you can represent it.
2. If you go into it thinking you're going to get killed, you will.
3. My Coach told me that typically the people that compete and do well at one belt typically do well competing at all the belts. Big frigging deal if someone's got a blue belt so beat up it looks purple, or they have like 8 stripes. Whoop-de-doo. They never fought you.
4. Just from my own experience, I fought at the US Open a week after getting my blue. I was scared shitless, and I went into it thinking that I had no pressure, because everyone there was better than me. You know what I learned? My Coach was right - he wouldn't have promoted me if I couldn't hang with them. And at the end of it, your coach is right - he wouldn't have promoted you if you couldn't hang with the blue belts.
5. If you wait until you're "ready" to compete as a blue, all those other blues will have that much more experience too. So you're not really gaining anything. There's no better time than right now.
And if you get creamed, so what? No one wins everything. You take it and learn from it. Play your game, and if it doesn't work, well, you just learned what you need to work on. And you wouldn't have learned it if you DIDN'T compete.
Bottom line, you should do it. Just my $.02.
Damn it sucks reading a blog after Dev does, because he says it all (and so much better) and I'm left doing something like this:
"Ditto!"
But I will add one thing... pick something you want to work on (takedowns? your guard? a sweep?) and make that the "theme" of your competition. Narrowing your focus might help you stress less and might make the tournament more productive for you, regardless of how well you perform over all.
Just a thought! But you know I do exactly what you do, so I feel you :)
I disagree a little with the "blue is a blue" comment Dev. People's style and capability will vary a lot within the belts and sometimes even across. I think I know where you're coming from but I just wanted to mention that.
Having said that, I think it's the exact reason why you SHOULD compete. Not to just for fun, but to go really really hard against people in a competition where you have NOTHING to prove. You're a baby blue and they're more likely than not expereienced.
Georgette recommeded picking something to work on for this comp. Great idea. Why not let that thing be Letting go of attacking inhibitions and really just going for the kill. It IS something you have mentioned in a few posts (like this one!).
I say, pack your bag and go. Make it your goal and mission to face who you are on that mat and really leave your all in those 5 minutes. If you win one match, or even get an advantage and maybe lose on points, it will be the sweetest achievement ever, coz it changed YOU. Isn't that what the game is all about?
That was beautiful. I'm going for lunch.
I won't add much to these comments, but the fact that you have less time to panic/prepare might do you good. Go and have fun!
Thanks for the encouragement guys! I am having a private lesson on either Friday or Monday and I am going to decide then whether or not I have the guts to go out there. And, as an aside note, I talked to my instructor and he said all of the same things you guys said. I find it annoying when you all gang up on me like that. Stop being so right, please. ;)
Post a Comment