1. Big Picture.
This past Saturday was the first competition of any kind in 2009. There will be still be four tournaments this year, and probably another two or three invitationals. So, all combined, some 7-8 events before the year is done. I have plenty of other chances in 2009 to do better than I did in the first event of the year and - truth told, it will be hard to do much worse.
2. Goal Planning.
The idea is to use the tournaments early in the year as building and learning opportunities for the final tournament of the year in November. While I'd like to do well in every event, the idea has been to focus everything toward a great performance in November.
3. Hole Fixing
My jiu jitsu is shaped like a donut. I have a giant gaping hole in the middle that represents my mediocre guard and guard passing game.
While there are still some fundamentals to be improved, the big problem is that I don't have a real gameplan from the guard or when passing the guard, nothing that I have trained and trained and trained to the point of feeling 100% confident with it. More than anything else, this is what is limiting my ability to improve and progress. Fixing this doughnut hole has to be my absolute top priority in 2009. Nothing is more important.
The good news is that I do have plenty of building blocks. But what has been lacking is the focus, the dedication to really understanding the guard from an attacking and a passing point of view. In the same way that I made the half guard understandable and familiar (both attacking and passing), I have to do the same with my guard game.
I can't overstate that point. It is absolutely critical to my development. In every single competition I've been in I either pass guard and win or don't pass guard and lose - often by submission. It might be the highest probability edge in my game.
Fighting Sauleh yesterday, when we were in the clinch I actually thought about pulling half guard so that I wouldn't have to deal with his guard. I hadn't expected him to keep it standing, so I thought I might throw him off guard by pulling guard. But I was indecisive and I think he ended up pulling guard instead. The rest is history.
My arm is still aching a bit. I bought a compression brace, one similar to what a lot of basketball players wear. I'll try it out tomorrow and see if it helps. I won't be doing any pushups or any pressing motions with my right arm for a little while. But if I can move around, hook and pull with it, then there shouldn't be any problem w/re2 competing in two weeks.
