The schedule at the academy is changing in January. Part of that change will include some advanced classes for blue belts and above. I think that's a great idea.
Rodrigo said that it had been awhile since he'd done specific training with white belts. So tonight instead of drills we did guard/pass guard. All the blue, purple and brown belts were in the guard and the white belts rotated through as guard passers.
I did well on a pass/no pass basis, though the only sweeps I was able to get were from half guard. I did play some moth guard. But didn't really have my wind together and tended to play it safe. There was a moment when I almost went for butterfly guard. Growing pains between here and there in my training. Slowly opening my guard game up.
The tatame was good. Brock caught me with a keylock from side control. I completely forgot to straighten my arm and roll in the direction of the lock.
He was also doing a really good job in getting the underhook and using the knee-through pass against my half guard - just as he had when we were rolling no gi last week. I still don't have a go-to counter to that guard pass that I really feel comfortable with, though finding one that really feels right is a pretty high priority.
Weight was back in the reasonable range after training: 163 and small change. 160 or less after Thursday's training will be fine.
A nice group of advanced belts training tonight: Andrew, Casey, Stephen, Clint, Michael, Brock, Garcia, Shawn, Jesse, Jim, Megaton ...
