comp tomorrow!

I have been so busy with work for uni and a plethora of other things (mainly farm and horses), that I honestly have hardly had time to think about the comp. I don't know if that's good or bad :-)

I had a class on Monday night. We basically did our last lot of rolling before the comp. Some rounds from standing, some rounds from knees. I had a couple of very long rolls and one where I caught some weird surprise sub on one of the blue belts. I wanted an omoplata but he got his leg across my body. Yet, I hung on to his arm and managed a shoulder lock. Has us both scatching our heads ;-)

Wednesday lunchtime, there were only three of us, including a total newbie. The instructor had a cold and wanted to not share it with us, which I found commendable. So there was no rolling with him, or even demos, it was instruction by distance. The other senior guy and I took turns working with the new guy, teaching him basis stuff. Otherwise, we basically talked strategy with the instructor, and had a chance to troubleshoot a couple of small things in our respective games. We then practised them on one another while the newbie guy did some stuff on his own (hip escapes etc). So I went over how to use my whole body to effect an arm drag. I need that set up for the armbar, to get the back or to sweep. Lately, I've had trouble getting their arm across because they know what I'm up to and they'll muscle their way out of it. But as the instructor said: firstly, that's a good thing, if they worry so much about it they resort to muscle. Secondly, they may expose something else, like the other arm, so afte the comp we'll work on what might lead off that.... Goody.

So that was a really useful session for me. Both from a motivational and a technical point of view.

I missed the Wednesday night class because I needed to finish off two assignments for uni.

Thursday night, I did go to open mat. Not a big turnout. And mainly guys who are not going to the comp. I worked for a bit with one of the blue belts, who was all happy to help me with whatever. So I suggested flow rolling, simply to move and get position. Got stuck in half guard bottom. Had lockdown, but because he was across my upper body, found I couldn't do my usual stuff. And then remembered that this had puzzled me before. So he showed me a way to trap the foot, get a hook under his thigh and then lift him to get full guard or sweep. I'm sure I've been shown those things before, but they must have fallen out of the sieve...

So that was very useful to me. We did roll lightly for a bit more, which was also good.

Then I had several rolls with my heavy white belt friend. He held right back on squashing hard, and he toned down how much muscle he used, giving me a chance to work, work. Good, lots of effective escapes, mainly getting back to guard. He knows I like to work from guard, so he worked in with that. Didn't give me anything, but sort of saw to it that I had lots of chance to try. And things were happening.

Then we sort of had an idea exchange about armbars from guard, armdrags, the setup I've been working on. He showed me a good armdrag with a hand in the collar which sets up a choke, and if they manage to get their arm out, and are busy thinking of it, getting the second hand in for a choke is easy. I showed him a couple of things I was experimenting with and we both played with different ways to get to the setup and then the subs that would come off it. Very useful for both of us.

I had a good workout without going too hard and with the help of the guys, a couple more little pennies dropped.

I'm going to the Will-Machado Nationals in Melbourne tomorrow. I had a call asking if I'll got against a heavier girl in the absolute. For sure! Apperently, there is only one other girl in my weight division. So that means I'll get two fights. That sounds good to me. The draw isn't up yet, so this could be on any time tomorrow. The comp starts at 10am. That's an early start for me, as it's nearly 2 hours drive to the place.