Tonight, for the first time ever, I try a windmill sweep during regular sparring. Not a particularly good windmill sweep in set-up or execution, mind you. But a windmill sweep is where I was headed.
And for the second time ever, a crossover sweep. Better done than the windmill sweep, but it was a second time ...
There were a few other gems from tonight's training, but the gestalt of the deal is that I've had two really good practices Wednesday and Thursday. I've done a better job of trying to use the techniques I learned that night. And I've tried to do more things when rolling: different escapes, sweeps, even submissions. That's what I've set out to do after the Copa and, like a dieter two days into a New Year's resolution, I'm pretty happy that, so far, no chocolate cake.
Well, not a lot of cake. I'm getting good enough with the lockdown from half-guard that I've already started to lean on it too hard, clamping down like a monster grapevine instead of letting the lockdown give me a base from which to attack with a sweep. And I kept Jeff the White far too long in my closed guard--open up the guard and roll!--when I should have switched into something more interesting like butterfly guard that would have opened things up (or even the half-guard ... a transition I did a bit of Wednesday night).
So, not perfect ... but I like the petrol that has obviously fueled me since the tournament. I won't pretend that my own performance (or, rather, the reward of my performance ... I was no Leo Viera out there ...) wasn't great. But it was such a fun day seeing so many of us compete--to say nothing of Jason's armbars, Chris's overtime sweep, Griff's keylock and triangle escape ... Even the losses were exciting matches (though, truth told, many of those losses had Gracie Barra Seattle up on points until the very last minute).
I do believe that the first three or four weeks after a tournament are the most important weeks if you're competing regularly. That's the time to build the foundation for what you are going to really work on in that last three or four weeks before the next competition. Building good habits, you could say.
For some reason, that Werdum v. Lindland ADCC match is really sticking with me. I almost feel as if I've got it memorized. I hadn't seen Werdum fight before, and Lindland is Lindland (he's probably a much better grappler now). But tonight I tried to do some of the specific things Werdum did--except for the "judo armbar". The windmill sweep, the kimura/crossover sweep ... It wasn't much ... but it was nice.
Even as a little guy, I've got a big guy's jiu jitsu game. That's the age and the relative stiffness--I rarely feel overpowered by anybody my size (George the Blue is one exception) and though my hip movement is still a weak spot, I'm not getting out-quicked by other 155-pound white belts.
So maybe that's why guys like Saulo Ribeiro, Roger Gracie, Nog and, now, Fabricio Werdum appeal to me so much. There's a little smash in my game, but not really as much as I thought. It's really just a slow methodical position-uber-alles jiu jitsu, whether I want it or not.
