I was supposed to be competing at the Brighton Open. Unfortunately, my ribs are still healing and a recurring knee injury is flaring up, so I went along to support my team-mates and do a bit of a recce to see what the competition was like.
My friends did very well. One blue belt pal looked pretty unstoppable in both go and no-gi, while a white belt colleague won all three of his fights to win his division pretty comprehensively.
I watched the fighters in the age and weight category that I compete in and a few of them looked very good, very calm, very experienced and technically very solid. But I felt, if fully fit, I could have worked as hard as they did and have been as dynamic, which would give me a decent chance of at least not getting totally ruined against them.
It also made me realise that If I want to compete and do well I have to train, eat and rest properly before an event. Preparation may not be the key to winning against a more skilled fighter, but it will give me a better chance of success.
I saw two brilliant things at the Brighton Open, though.
The first was a young lad in a wheelchair, who had lost the use of the bottom half of his body, fighting in the event. He won a massive round of applause for both his fights and rightfully so. Getting caught up with winning and losing can sometimes make you forget that just competing and learning and improving should be enough when you're doing a martial art. It was a good lesson in humility.
The second was a young girl of about six competing. She already looked quite fluid but everyone else was just so much bigger than her. It was impressive to see, though, and again quite humbling.
But it was a good day. Competing would have been better, but a bit of supporting and the chance to do a recce wasn't a bad second place option.
The key tactical things I took from the day were: fighting and driving for position and securing a stronger position; and never accepting an inferior position.
A tentative return to the mats while still recovering from an injury. I basically went to see what condition my condition was in, and the upshot is I'm still a few weeks away from resuming full training.
On the plus side, I did some drilling on guard breaking and passing and I could sort of move OK with this. It was also just nice to pop into the school and remind myself that I am actually quite comfortable there…
Things to remember: You can always train something.
An open mat session and some sparring with a much better white belt, two very good blue belts and a smaller but also much better white belt.
Both the blue belts were hugely strong so I defended a lot and got battered. One good thing, though, was I ended up in a very deep head and arm choke and I managed to defend it by bringing my hand to my ear on the choking side, then I got both my feet in his belt and managed to pry him off so he had to let it go.
It was a fun session until I twisted to escape an arm bar and something went pop in my floating ribs. It's a on occurrence of last year's rib injury. It's nowhere near as bad but I t may mean a rest for a few weeks.
And this may be a problem because I have a grading at another martial art and a BJJ competition coming up. Bugger...
Things to remember: Foot in belt and prying opponent off can be a good last-ditch tactic.
A private class and more work on the fundamentals I'm trying to get a grip n.
The mechanics of the armbar, omoplata and leg triangle combination are getting cleaner, and the chokes are getting tighter. Everything obviously still needs work, though.
We did some work on guard breaking and guard passing, too, with the focus on two breaks that move into combat base, before using the same pass. The key was one knee up and one knee under in combat base with elbows connecting to knees. One knee slides over the opponent's knee to pin the opponent's leg, the arm on the same side sweeps under the opponent's head to exert shoulder pressure. Meanwhile, the other knee goes vertical and connects to your arm to trap the opponent's other leg. Once shoulder pressure is exerted, the other leg kicks over and you move into side control.
There were two exercises to drill the basics of guard passing. These were as follows:
Knee up/down walking exercise across mat; sag to side for head control.
Base switch exercise: face down on all fours; foot stamp on floor, with head control.
We also did some introductory work on foot locks from the leg trapped position in combat base. The entry is the same for both a foot lock and an achilles lock.
Things to remember: Sliding leg down to trap opponent's leg, followed by other knee up connecting to arm to trap opponent's other leg. Knee up, knee down.
A dinner-time class with 20 minutes of specific technique drilling, followed by specific sparring, then sparring.
I worked on a kimura drill and a leg triangle from an arm overbook in the technique drilling, and sort of did OK in the specific sparring bits, which focused on either attacking from guard or retaining guard.
I also got the chance to roll with a purple belt who managed to continually stuff one of my arms so I couldn't use it to defend his attacks. It was a good technique. I shall employ this myself.
Things to remember: Keep drilling.
