Nothing earth-shattering to report, but it was good of him to respond and his comments to get at something I've suspected about developing your skills and talents to the maximum.
Here's what I wrote:
Excellent work on the latest video. Keep ‘em coming as fast as you can put them up. I find it incredibly helpful as I study BJJ (about 14 months now) to listen to you describe what you are trying to do in the moment. I’ve done okay in local tournaments (4-3 with one first place finish in four events), but my biggest problem is “getting lost” in the middle of a match. Listening to you narrate your matches helps show me how to “think through” what I want to do when I’m competing. I even modelled a gameplan after one of the sample ones of yours that Master Lloyd provided in a e-mail.
Here’s my question. Your gameplan seems long and very detailed. It is possible–especially at my level–to use a much smaller, more truncated gameplan focusing on a few techniques and still be effective?
Keep up the great work. You’ve got a fan in Seattle.
And here's Ryan's response:
Thanks for posting, and I’m glad that you’re finding the blog helpful.
In terms of using a more truncated gameplan successfully, I would say with 100% confidence that it will work for you. The gameplan that was initially sent out via the e-mail list was not my first crack at a gameplan, and that one is nowhere near as detailed as my current one. Each incarnation of your gameplan will be increasingly detailed and specific. That said, nothing starts out complex, and even a basic outline of how you will structure your training and competition is extremely useful. One thing to keep in mind is that, even once your gameplan becomes more flesched out, you don’t need 15 techniques from every position. You need only a couple that you can successfully use on almost anyone. It doesn’t matter if I think you only have a loop choke from your open guard as long as you can set it up in a variety of ways and you catch me with it anyway. Mariano Rivera (Yankees closer, and greatest postseaon closer in baseball history) has two pitches, and everyone knows about them. Hit them if you can.
If you can develp a true “A-game” that can be used on anyone, you will be immediately successful in competition. You will always have a goal from each position and situation (even if that goal is only to get back to a position from which you can begin to launch your “A-game” offense again), and you will not be prone to freezing in pressure situation. If you can triangle black belts as a blue belt, you can triangle anyone that you might match up against. Everyone except the very best will have to be so paranoid about your #1 attacks, that all of your follow-ups will come more easily.
Hope that helps. Thanks again for posting.
A lot of that was my suspicion. If you develop a technique or two (a submission technique) and become very, very good at it, then that allows you to hang with others whose all-around game might be much better. Not only that, but it also allows you to have a gameplan to rely on, while working on other areas of your game that (a) aren't as strong and (b) aren't what your opponent is looking for. In Ryan's case, his triangle choke attack keeps him in just about every match he's going to be in, even if he ends up winning the fight with another submission (i.e., the heel hook in his last open weight match as a blue belt.)
Since I'm such a big Ryan Hall fan and an even bigger fan of Lloyd Irvin's "project" to show us how Ryan Hall progresses, I want to post his note on his blog that talks about his recent earning of his purple belt. I like reading this kind of thing from time to time. So this will have it here at the ready the next time I'm in a mood for inspiration.
Ryan Hall Comments on Getting the Purple Belt
