Volunteer Co-Instructor

6:10-6:30p: Stretched. A lot. Felt great. A friend from Howlin' Wolf's Den showed. He trains stand up / striking and some no gi BJJ at another academy. Introduced him to Professor Matthias before class started.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. 6 minute abs.... Bleh. Did more push ups than normal, but more likely because I didn't want my visitor friend to see me doing "girl" push-ups. Lame, I know. I'm human.

6:50-7p: Sweep / Pass the guard. Got swept by a Purple after an improvised response to De la Riva. Passed a White's guard with more weight than technique. Got a nice x-guard sweep on a Green, but only after a healthy struggle. Prediction? Green will be a Blue soon. Gave up the spot to the Green for the excellent effort.

7-7:30p: We had four new students. Professor asked for a couple volunteers to work with them while he taught the advanced class. Another Blue and I volunteered. It was an interesting experience. Never taught a technique portion of class before. We showed a front gi choke, basic posture break techniques, guard break techniques, and I threw in a technique to frustrate an opponent employing a basic guard break technique. Lagniappe. I really enjoy working with newbies. instructing is definitely a separate skill set and I look forward to more opportunities to hone those skillz.

7:30-8p: Rolls. Worked with two of the new guys, including Wolf's Den buddy, Went really well. Wolf's Den buddy's no gi and MMA experience showed. He wasn't spazzy at all. Didn't know a lot of gi techniques, but still adapted very well for the first day in a gi. The other new guy is a very talented kick boxer. I worked with him a bit a few months back when taking kickboxing after BJJ. I really hope he comes back because I think he has a bright future if he commits to the sport.

8-8:05p: Rolled with my co-instructor, a fellow Blue. Fun roll. At one point he took my back and I recall cursing myself for letting him sink in the hooks. I thought I could escape from a modified turtle position but his transition was tight and I didn't have a way out. Managed a couple butterfly variation sweeps and finished a foot lock (while he had my back) and an arm bar that started from technical mount, but not only after a good struggle (including a couple rolls).