Tonight a pretty healthy sized class. We worked on standing guard passes, two techniques really, for passing the knees.
Standing in front of the guy, you grab the pants by the knees. You will hold this grip throughout the move. Step up with your outside leg to place your foot at the level of his hip, using your shin to keep that leg from moving outward.
From here, take a backstep that send your other leg back behind and to the side. It's easier to do that to describe. Basically, your legs will be somewhat crossed and your shoulders will run parallel to his body.
The last part of this move has you slide the leg-trapping leg down toward his feet as you lower your upperbody on top of his into what I'll call "south-facing side control." From there, you can switch to regular side control.
The second technique shows what to do if the guy rolls into you as you try to pass. You begin with the above technique. But when he rolls over into your leg, instead of trying to drop into "south-facing side control" you step over his legs with your "backstep" leg (remember to keep the grip on the pant legs by the knee and to use that grip for balance) and then backstep with the other leg and lower yourself into "south-facing side control" from the other side.
Apparently a lot of guys were having trouble with this technique. At least it sounded that way when Rodrigo stopped us a few times to show us the move again. I think I got it pretty well, though. I was working with Mario and, as I told him, sometimes it pays to be low to the ground in the first place!
Sparring was okay. I was a little disappointed with my performance at first. But the more I thought about it, the better I felt. I rolled with Tommy and got man-handled (I think I tapped three times in five minutes), then rolled with this new guy Scott who was a little smaller than me. After struggling from within his guard for awhile, I managed to pass using the Saulo Ribeiro ground pass and eventually work from side control to mount. From there I (eventually) managed to secure Saulo Ribeiro's "katagatame." It felt like the first time I'd gotten a submission in months!
After that I rolled with Joe, who was pretty gassed from doing three sessions in a row. I had top position for most of the time, but Joe does a really good job of replacing the guard--something that will be a goal of mine, especially when rolling with guys like Tommy and ...
Jesse the Blue, who I finished the night with. Not too much to say about that: Jesse is bigger, stronger, and much, much better technically. He caught me in a couple of armbars and a choke.
Five months in, I'm starting to figure out what I want to do in training. I think I've got a top game worked out, I just need to figure out some plays from the bottom. When rolling with guys like Tommy and both Jesses, my goal has to be survival--preferably by gettting them in my guard and (often) replacing the guard when they look like they are about to pass.
Kid Peligro makes a good point in his book, The Essential Guard that if you develop good skills at replacing the guard, then you can be more aggressive in your attack because you know that if you make a mistake, you can retreat to your guard game, reset, and go back on the offensive. Makes a lot of sense to me.
