Outliers: RJJA affiliate in Santee, CA

Made the trek out to Outliers, an RJJA affiliate located about 25 miles east of my house.  Jeremy Barden (Brown) is the head instructor.  Jeremy and his son, world champ Angelo (Blue), went to Brazil for the camp and Rio Open / International Master-Senior comp.  I know a few others from Outliers well so I didn't feel like a total visitor.

The academy is very nice.  Extremely clean with good mat space, a changing/locker room, office/store area, and restrooms for both men and women.  I arrived half way through kids class.  Counted about 12 kids with four adult instructors.  The 1:3 instructor/student ratio allowed Jeremy to keep firm control of the class while still making sure the kids had fun.  Especially since there were a few kids that were aged 3-6!

The adult class started with a typical warm-up.  Jeremy taught some of the half-guard techniques shown by Professor Rodrigo Pagani in Brazil.  It was good to see them again because I'd already forgotten.  First was an underhook bait to calf-slicer finish.  Second was a pass to side control when opponent releases half-guard to prevent the calf-slicer.  Third was a sweep from bottom half to pass when opponent changes position in response to your goose-neck defense of the cross face.   Training was great.  Rolled with Jeremy the first round.  No time.  After 10-15mins (maybe 20mins?) of careful, technical training he caught me in a triangle.  Great roll, but I really need to learn to stop falling into triangles.   I also need to work harder to prevent the guard passes.  He passed my guard many times.

Got another Brown for the second round.  This time we had a clock.  6 min.  I passed his guard once.  Got swept several times.  He had an arm bar, but let it go in favor of a strange choke from back that I'd never seen before.  I tried to put my back on the ground on the side his hand was pointing to, but that seemed to make the choke tighter.  Odd.  Worked with a smaller female Blue for the last round.  She's fantastic.  One of the most technically sound Blues I've trained with in a long time.  I must outweigh her by 70lbs, but she's tough as nails.  Replaced guard like we were just playing.  I wasn't playing.  I was smashing.  Smashing hard.  But she didn't care.  Wow.  She just graduated high school and is heading to Cal Poly SLO in a month.  Chris, Mallory, and the rest of the team at Paragon SLO are very lucky to get her.

I'm really glad I made the trip to Santee.  I've been meaning to visit, but it's hard enough to make an evening class at UNIJJ, which is located only 5mins from my doorstep.  I'd hoped to make a Sunday open mat by now, but I seem to either find myself out of town or tied up with family activities.  I hope to make it back soon.