It's my third birthday in jiu jitsu. My first day on the mat was August 18, 2005.
First Day of BJJ
A lot of things to reflect on three years later. The most obvious, of course, is the fact that many of the people I began training with years ago are no longer training. Mario, Andrew, Big Mike, Joe, Jeff ...
I wonder if people like Rodrigo and Cindy, who've been around for years and seen people come and go, had a sense of who might still be training after three years ... who might still be training after another three years.
All told, I'm happy with where I am after three years: slowly coming into feeling like a "solid blue belt" ... maybe a year or a year and a half of solid, 3 times a week training from purple. I'm at the point where I clearly recognize the difference that mat time makes, and am able to take advantage of my training better and better.
I'm trying to train a little harder in class. All the great fighters do. Rodrigo runs class at a nice fast tempo, so it is easy to do when he teaches. But it is something I want to get more and more in the habit of doing.
I'm definitely starting to see my jiu jitsu game develop, like a shape beneath a block of marble. From the bottom, I'm all about sweeps - especially from the half guard. From the top, mount increasingly seems like my best position, though I'm still struggling to find a finishing technique that works well for me from the mount. (Katagatame? Double attack?)
So far so good in any event. I'm still struggling to balance work and training - the fact that I spent my anniversary off the mat tonight is a testament to that continued battle. But I'm doing a better job of getting my tatame time in. May that be the case for the next three years.
