Girl sighting October 1, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: escape, grrls, guillotine, mount, pressure
add a comment
The girl did actually come tonight. I was figuring she wasn’t, since it was already 7 and she wasn’t there, but she came a few minutes after; we were running late tonight, though, so it didn’t matter.
Before class, Brandon and I were goofing around on exercise balls. He tried flat-out jumping up on one; looked like a cartoon character: his feet bounced off and flew straight up, he fell to one side, bounced sideways on the ball again, and then hit the floor. Then we rolled for about fifteen minutes. I triangled myself once or twice; didn’t defend quite right when he tried for the double-armbar from guard. Wanted to work the floating from Tuesday, but only saw the top once. Mostly defending a slow set-up north/south kimura — he’d get the grip when I was still on my back, and then would try to pull me up and get his legs around, but that gave me too much space and time. Pointed that out afterward.
Small class; short warmup, though we repeated shrimping and single-legs a lot while Justin worked with the new girl. Both runs on squat jumps, though, and actually good jumps! On the second run, my legs even felt stronger than on the first. I think I was getting deeper and/or extending more. Or something.
Then to rolling. Justin put me with the new girl, but she doesn’t know anything at all yet. So I decided to just show her positions instead. After a few minutes of that, Justin looks over at me and asked what we were doing, then he switched with me and I went over to drill with Sundance. He had to have surgery on his finger (it’s been a long while ago now, too) for a tendon, and is out for another 4-6 weeks. Geez, and I spaz when I have to miss just 1 week. We worked a few armbars on his non-injured hand, and then he let me work D’Arce from half guard. He pointed out that once I suck their head in, I should let go of half guard and then sink my top hip. Practiced that a few times; he was tapping fast and said it was tight.
Justin continued working with the girl for the next round, so I got to roll with Buddy. Had some good things, like D’Arce defenses; triangled myself again, though. And then he caught some sneaky reverse triangle/double kimura thingy; even he said it was sneaky. Still on the bottom, though, or against his open guard.
Drilling was knee-elbow escape from mount. (I call this one the “scrape” version.) Bridge and get them down to your hips. Brace on one of their hips to turn to one side. The leg that’s closest to the ground stays flat; the other leg crosses over the bottom one and hooks on the outside of their leg on that side. Scrape their leg over your bottom leg so now their shin is on top of your bottom thigh. Use your bottom elbow for leverage on their knee while bringing the knee of the bottom leg under their leg and up to meet your elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Lock up half guard. Either start playing half guard or continue to full guard, which is what we did tonight. Elbow of the bottom arm leverages against their knee (now the opposite knee from before). Unlock the half guard and bring the bottom knee through to meet the bottom elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Circle that foot out and square up to guard.
I worked with the girl. Did it a couple of times on her so she could see it again and feel it and then let her work. Justin came around and helped walk her through it, too. Mostly just let her work.
More rolling. Started with the girl. Going super easy. Mostly just gently swept her and went to mount, then let her work the escape; when she got back to guard, broke the guard gently and did knee-through pass to mount again. After I’d passed a couple of times, she figured out the scissor sweep position all on her own (though she didn’t know what it was) to block my pass, so I’d move around for a different one and go back to mount. Afterward she was asking about the way I was always keeping some pressure somewhere on her while moving. (And I was using light pressure and only in a small place, like my forehead on her hip, and was keeping distance to make sure I wouldn’t accidentally hit her.)
Justin worked with her one more time while I went with the little 14 year old, so not much harder than the last round. Did tip him over, er, sweep him once and took mount; he started thrashing around. I finally clamped down on him and said, “We just drilled this.” “Oh. Right.” Little spazzy and needed some walking through it. He jumped away from guard and went for another no-chance guillotine. I came up in his guard at another point, and he was grabbing for arms and letting them go, half coming up for bump sweep then dropping down; I didn’t even have to defend anything because he was all over the place on his own. Afterwards, I told him that he needed to slow down when he rolled and to try to work the techniques that we drill in class, that they do work when you do them right and not when you try to rush through them. I also showed him the guillotine from guard, which I’d meant to do on Tuesday. He was very surprised that the correct position is from full guard; he’s tried it from every other position.
I was going to hang around to talk to the girl, but she went over to join Perry’s Krav class. (I do think she may have gotten the impression that jiu-jitsu is indeed the “gentle art” from working with just me and Justin. She mentioned something at one point about it being so much slower than she expected… So she may be back, but with expectations that aren’t going to be met for much longer. Hrrrmm…)
Spin-the-Wheel Pizza after. Brandon and I were both one space away from a free pizza; Justin and Guillaume both won zeppolis. My heros 
(But with two of them on the table, we couldn’t finish it all!)
Tournament: US Grappling Submission Only IV, gi July 19, 2009
Posted by leslie in Tournaments.Tags: ankle lock, armbar, choke, escape, gi, grrls, kimura, pass, pressure, RNC, submission, takedowns, technique, triangle, US Grappling
2 comments
Today we were back for gi at USG Sub Only IV. Update: all results are posted on the NHBGear forums.
The women’s divisions, which all started on one mat, got started a little late because our ref was first fighting in his division. But not a problem. The gym was again very hot, and of course the gi made it even hotter.
Ryan Hall and Seph Smith ended up against each other in their division’s finals. They just played around for a few minutes, rolling lightly.
Found out early that there were 3 girls in the White Belt and 3 girls in Absolute. But, there were no girls in my weight class, so they bumped me up to the 130-145, though both girls were on the smaller side of it anyway.
A big Thank you to all the folks who helped me out from the sidelines in my two matches today. I don’t even know who you all were, but I really appreciate it.
They started with purple belt girls and worked down. Finally got to me and Lo, who I’d met at the Open Mat in Richmond last month and had rolled with several times then. I knew she’d be tough, and she didn’t disappoint.
I don’t remember much of it. 
She pulled guard, I tried to posture up; she tried to cross-collar choke me, I somehow got out. I got under mount (doh!); she tried to cross-collar choke me. I eventually got out, though it was short-lived, and I was back under mount again; she tried to cross-collar choke me. I think I must’ve escaped again, and she tried to cross-collar choke me again. (Anyone else seeing a pattern? I sure was — but I was considering that she was really trying to set something else up, so I tried not to overcommit to defending my neck too much.)
I kicked her across the face once on accident while trying to walk up to a higher guard; she got me back with an inadvertent eye punch later. I might even get a little black there. 
I think I got a hook or two in a time or two, but nothing seemed to be really effective, and I’d wind up back under mount again, defending my neck. At one point, she got my ankle and went back for the straight ankle lock; she had her top knee across my hips so I couldn’t posture in to her. A girl on the side finally called out to turn my heel into her ribs and to grab her lapel — no, her other lapel — and pull myself in. (I’m not sure who you were, but thanks!) Eventually got enough leverage to get around and out.
Not sure I ever got to top with Lo; I think I was fighting off my back most of the time. Did wind up back in her guard a time or two more, though I wasn’t getting anywhere trying to break it. At one point, probably when I was back under mount again, I remember thinking, “One of us needs to get a submission soon, or I’ll have to tap from being so tired!” Kept fighting, though, and I think my hips did a few good things that I totally wasn’t expecting them to do. Nice job, hips! I think I had a north/south kimura escape to turtle, but couldn’t grab a leg; she may have had or nearly had my back, but I somehow got away from that.
But finally, back in her guard again, she caught that cross-collar choke and got the angle real sharp, and I couldn’t defend it. Started tapping, but my hand was on the far side of her face and the ref wasn’t watching there (and she wasn’t letting go until he saw); I finally croaked out, “Taaaaaap!” and the ref stopped us. Ref had to pick me up; I was tired — that match was 13 minutes long! Felt so much longer.
I got a break for a little while and watched a few more girls’ matches go. Too soon, though, they called me to go against the third girl in our division, Trish. I thought I was okay; I felt fine.
We started, and I got a double-leg takedown. A takedown, I got a real live takedown!! Sweet! Didn’t secure the position quickly enough on the bottom, and she got back to guard. She started fighting for the cross-collar choke. Hey, wait a second, I just lost on that. Nyuh-uh, you can’t have it, too — only one per day. I think she swept me or opened her guard or something; I somehow ended up on my back, playing from guard and open guard. She was fiesty (probably trying to overwhelm me and finish me off quick, since I’d just had a long match), and I quickly realized that I was still tired. No gas in the tank. Crap.
Somehow, I don’t know how, I survived that initial onslaught. I thought I was done several times. She could hit nearly any sweep at will as I didn’t have much defense for them. My hips were working on their own, though, which was good — my brain had no clue what we were doing. She had an armbar from mount, which I managed to follow up and stack. I think I followed that with a double-under pass, maybe; that was in there somewhere, though I couldn’t manage to secure the position afterward. She had a few other armbar attempts from mount, but I think her weight dropped on her legs first, so I had space to shrimp out the back door. I don’t know how I escaped sometimes; my body was working on its own.
My brain started asking if I wanted to tap from exhaustion. Then another little voice said that Tim and Justin and Adam would probably never speak to me again if I did. Darn it, have to keep fighting. And then I heard a number of girls on the side giving me advice and encouragement (and Fred and Sundance in there, too), so I plunged back in.
We had to reset at one point since we were rolling off into the middle of some other matches. She started crawling back. Finally realized that she seemed nearly as exhausted as I was, and this was only her first match. Alright, I can do this. Keep fighting, chica.
I’d been catching several triangle-to-armbar transitions, but she’d escaped from the first few; I just couldn’t hold on. Also, I think my hips weren’t quite deep enough. Saw another one and shot my legs up for the triangle; she postured, so I switched to the armbar. This time, someone yelled to roll, so I rolled toward my stomach. Couldn’t quite get over because she’d grabbed my lapel and was pulling for all she was worth. Somehow, finally, her grip broke and I got all the way over. My legs were burning, I couldn’t breathe, my arms were going numb. But I heard Sundance say to arch my hips and Liz, I think, to pinch my heels, and other girls calling other things, so I held on and held on and arched and pinched and just when my brain started saying that my body was about to just give in and collapse I heard the ref say, “Tap! She tapped!”
Oh thank goodness… I did collapse then, belly down, and just laid on the mat and smelled that new mat smell. I didn’t even know where we were on the mat or even which way was up. I finally poked the ref’s foot and asked him to help me up. He said, “What, again?” I said, “Yes, please.” So he pulled me up — and propped me up for a minute — and then raised my hand. Ah, I do like that part.
That match was over 9 minutes. I couldn’t feel my arms. I couldn’t think straight. I stumbled over to Fred and Sundance on the side and then collapsed on top of Sundance.
Done, I was done. Couldn’t even talk. I finally got Fred to go tell Chrissy that I wasn’t going to do the Absolute, that I had nothing left. She made fun of me , but then did take me out. (And she gave me an arm massage. Hurts so good… and I could feel my arms again afterward.) I know I could’ve gone and laid there and tapped and gotten a 3rd-place medal, but I didn’t want to do it if I wasn’t going to make a fight of it. And I knew I had no energy available. So Lo and the other girl (not Trish, a different girl) had a single match in the Absolute, which Lo won in a few minutes by RNC.
And in our division, because Lo beat me and I beat Trish, then Lo beat Trish by the transitive property, so Lo was 1st, I was 2nd, and Trish was 3rd. We’d all forgotten to get our medals, though, so they had to track us down later and give them to us. I talked to Trish and one of her coaches for a little while; one of their teammates is heading to Tech this fall, so he should be coming over to train with us.
Sundance was originally bumped up in weight (from 150-159.9 to 160-169.9), but another 159 guy showed up, so he went against that guy. I don’t know how long it was, maybe 6 minutes?, and the other guy finally caught a guillotine that Sundance couldn’t get out of. He also tore open his ear, which had been cut in class last week, so he decided not to compete in the Absolute, either. He and his girlfriend left after that. I hung around a bit longer to drink Gatorade and energy drinks until I felt like I was able to drive home. I figured if I stopped at my aunt’s first for a shower and nap that I’d never get back on the road.
While I was hanging around, I met a ninja. (This blog thing is sometimes weird, because people you’ve never met know who you are. And you know who other people are, and you can point them out at tournaments and think, “I know who that is.”) Sorry I couldn’t take you up on the food; we’ll try next time.
In summary, this weekend I
- saw lots of people I’d met
- met lots of people I’d seen
- collected several bruises of unknown origin
- earned 3 hard-fought medals with four matches that I’m proud of
I’m still taking next week off. I’ve already raided the library for a stack of books, and I intend to catch up my Techniques page again. So, see ya in a week!
I got beat by a girl! June 13, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: Barbie, belts, flow, gi, grrls, pressure, Richmond, strength, triangle, weight
6 comments
And
it
was
awesome
!!!
I got beat by quite a few girls, actually, both white and blue. (Blue belts — real girl blue belts!) Sweet!
Women’s Open Mat, Richmond BJJ. Girls came from Philly, from Northern Virginia, from Virginia Beach. Alaina Hardie even came from Toronto!
My friend lives west of Richmond, so I left about an hour and a half early to make sure I had enough time to get there. Glad I did: the Richmond high schools were having graduation today at the Siegel Center at VCU, which is right down the block from Richmond BJJ, so there were cops everywhere directing traffic, streets were closed, and there were tons of pedestrians. I kept missing seeing the school because of all the traffic and pedestrians. Drove around for about 30 minutes trying to find the school and then find parking. Finally saw it, got parked about a block away, and walked over.
There was a class from 12 – 2, before the open mat. I had really thought about going, but am also really trying to take my June = recovery seriously. So, I got there about 1:30 to watch the end of the class. Eric Burdo was just finishing up teaching; I met Liz and signed in as they started rolling.
I was so nervous! Silly, but I was. My hands were shaking so badly when I signed in. Most of the other girls had gone to the class and were already on the mat. As they got toward the end of class time and rolling, one of the girls, Lisa, asked if I wanted to roll.
She was strong! (They all were. And quick and had tremendous pressure! Holy moly!) Just trying to move and feel her out. Found myself in the first few rolls under side control and mount a lot. Huh. Same place I end up in my classes. Hmm. So, there must be something that I’m doing wrong — especially, probably, when starting off — that backs me up until I let myself be put under side control and mount. Very interesting…
Several rolls — maybe 5 or 6? I lost count — with more girls than I can remember. (So hot in there, though: tired so quickly. But kept going ). Rolled with one blue, Thea, who showed me a sweep from under scarf hold — set your feet out to the open side and then do a sit-up in to them. Feet out of the way is important; otherwise, you stuff your own situp. And then she showed me a half-guard escape, and by “showed me” I mean she put more shoulder pressure in my jaw than Tim ever has. Whoa. And she was everywhere, fast and tight, and sliding through tiny openings.
Saw a lot of things in my rolling that I need to fix. Some stuff that Tim has pointed out; others, that I’d noticed. Mostly, I seem to have started assuming that I’m going to get steamrolled by the guys and have started playing very passive and really not even trying anything. Haven’t been using any pressure or intensity, because that usually gets a more severe backlash from my partners. … And yet all the girls today were rolling with pressure and intensity and intent. I wanna roll like that. And I bet they didn’t get to there by rolling like I’ve been rolling recently and only rolling up with girls.
But, oh, my goodness, so much fun. Got to talk to a lot of the girls, too. As I’ve learned many times before and learned once again, I’m not unusual; they’re all going through the same things as I am. We talked about tournaments, sandbagging, how to get and keep girls, finding gis that fit, hemp gis, and I forget what else. Lots of girl bonding stuff, which I usually don’t get to do, even outside of class. I had fun. 
And I got a new gi! A black one, which is what I was missing. Chrissy Linzy had a black Lucky gi that had shrunk, so I bought it off her. Fits perfect. 
Won’t be able to wear it to class for a while because Justin is still enjoying his new Lucky gi’s shiny invincibility aura. And the pants are more faded (lovely charcoal!) than the jacket, so I’ll have to start washing the jacket quite a bit to get a uniform color. By the time it’s faded, Justin’s gi may not mind the company.
There’s another Open Mat, co-ed, tomorrow afternoon at Revolution BJJ. Since I now have a clean gi to wear , I’m gonna go there before heading home.
