Top Game Blues

6-7p: Private with Gavin. Reviewed survival/escapes. Turtle, back, mount, triangle, and omoplata. Also reviewed half guard sweep to use if opponent flattens you out with a cross face. Then we rolled. About 10 minutes. I felt like it was a bit sloppy, but Gavin said it was a good roll. Said I need to be more aggressive with attacks. Apparently he gave me an arm bar to see what I'd do. I didn't know why he was exposing his arm like a rookie so I gave him a strange look and moved on. Apparently I was supposed to attack. ;-) Next time.

7-7:20p: Warm-up / standard drills. Rusty (Brown) led. Included push-up trivia. Hold push-up position while he asked trivia questions. Monty Python, history, geography, etc. Never done that before. I cheated on the push-ups. Too much shoulder pressure.

7:20-7:30p: Sweep / pass the guard. Passed guard (4-stripe Blue) with the pass Matthias showed me last week. The only top game positive note of the night. Got a few sweeps from bottom, including ground de la riva (Blue), sweep off a pass (White), and half guard (Blue).

7:30-8p: Technique. Half guard transition to x-guard. Drilled that a bit then added the x-guard sweep. Never seen x-guard before.

8-8:30p: Rolls. 5 or 6 minute rounds. Got Mr. Steve (4-stripe Blue), Richard (Blue), Rusty (Brown), and Ricky (White). Been feeling that my guard game is progressing at a much quicker rate than my top game so I worked top every opportunity. Start of rolls and after getting submitted. Posture was horrendous on every roll.

Mr. Steve caught me in a gator roll (or d'arce...still trying to figure out which is which), omo plata (did my best to implement Gavin's survival/escape technique), arm lock from guard via whizzer, and I think an arm bar from technical mount. Humbling experience. Steve, Richard and Rusty put on a north-south clinic. I suppose that's good because side control defense forced them into north-south, but I couldn't execute any technical escapes. Just had to wait for an opportunity to mix up the back.

Ricky got an arm drag right at the start of our roll and took my back. Spent the entire roll defending back attacks. Almost escaped via standard Saulo scoop, but no go. Ricky almost had a choke, but didn't quite have the angle. Burned a lot of energy trying though. I almost got an arm lock when he reached over for the RNC. Not sure what I did wrong. Thought I had the leverage.

Oh...Got kneed in the eye when I dove in for deep half during one of the rolls. Blurry vision. Sore. Not black...yet.

8:30-8:45p: Worked with Ricky after class. Spider guard, sweep off a pass, spider escapes, and transitions from spider to knee push, tripod, and de la riva. Good time.