Great training today on Saturday. Being the sentimental type, I couldn't resist training on the final day of Gracie Barra Seattle 2.0, the late great "treehouse" on Airport Way, and managed to get in some great sessions with Clint, Ron, "Buscape" and a couple of other folks. The priority right now is to get my half guard game back on a real 1-2-3 reset/transition 1-2-3 track, as well as returning to a "prime directive" attitude when it comes to the underhook.
For almost a year and a half I've gotten into the bad habit of not making the underhook priority #1 when I'm in the half guard bottom. A lot of this has been laziness on my part and taking advantage of the fact that most folks don't really have a go-to half guard pass. Of course, every now and then I'd run across someone who would just slash through my half guard if given the underhook. But because I was able to get away with it against most folks, I continued to let the bad habit continue knowing that still, more often than not, I would not get passed and eventually get a sweep or full guard recovery.
Without getting into the long and short of it, it's clear that I've got to fix this and go back to the basics. As I've said before, it is fascinating how learning a new guard offense shows me what has been lacking about the old one and, fortunately, how I might be able to reinvigorate that old offense into something that can once again put points on the board.
A lot of good things to take away from today's training in a general sense. There is nothing better than training on a Saturday morning, as far as I'm concerned. And it was a great way to send off "the treehouse".
Still planning on getting in some training next week for the Seattle Open. I've wavered a little bit, considering taking a powder on the first shot at competition at the brown belt level, but how in the world can I miss the opportunity to compete in the FIRST EVER Seattle Open?
