Yes, I trust my instructors to teach me, point out areas of weakness and issues that crop up, but in the back of my mind, I do feel like most men teaching women...especially those where women are in an already taxing environment, are prone to putting heavy emphasis on being encouraging (not that this isn't an essential part of any player's growth). This could all be in my head, but it's there nonetheless. The group I'm talking about has almost nothing invested in making me feel good...teenage boys. I've found they give very honest, no nonsense feedback and aren't too concerned with the feelings of the 30 year old woman that has a hard time with forward rolls.
So it hit me last night, that I don't know any good ways off the bottom of half guard. I get there and have zero options save holding on for dear life and trying to respond after it's passed. So tonight, I cracked open Jiu Jitsu University, confident I'd find some magical sweep to close my half guard hole. What did I find? I found out that I shouldn't be learning magical sweeps to close my half guard hole. I should be working on recovering full guard...great. That concept is rough for me. Sure, it's simple, but my mind has become very forward oriented. Once I'm in half, I start thinking of mount/side guard escapes and then getting to my knees/recovering guard. The idea of "backing up" into a better position just doesn't come naturally yet.
6 comments:
Forgive the funny name, but it's a classic. Look for the Old School sweep from bottom half.
Perfect Georgette! Because when they work to counter the Old School, they will give you plenty space to whip that leg out and recover full guard.
It is sad tho that the coach is not showering his teenage students (and you) with positive feedback! That's the fastest way to learn!
(I bet you were so relieved when I wrote "with positive feedback!" and not just ended the sentence :) )
Thanks Georgette! I'll check it out, and hopefully will try it out tonight.
Liam, the coaches definitely are praising everybody. Maybe I worded it badly, but I was trying to illustrate my surprise at the fact that I appreciate feedback from a group I wouldn't have expected it from.
I use to have a huge problem with half guard too. Learning it has been a true trial for me, especially trying to fit my long legs into smaller opponents spaces.
My instructor always tells me to get into horrible positions and get myself out. So when I started learning half guard I would just get crushed by everyone no matter the size. I started learning the old school sweep. And aslo started doing the circle shrimping excercise. It provides a good way of drilling to get back to full guard. hope that helps.
I think I live in half guard land! My legs are too short and stumpy for me to figure out what to do with them in full guard. Honestly, I've had a lot of success recovering full guard from the lockdown in half guard. When rolling, my opponents get so focused on breaking out of the lockdown, I can just let them out of it and pull full guard. It kind of surprises both of us, so neither of us are able to benefit from it. So, I guess I need to develop my full/open guard game some, even though I don't feel like it will be a strong suite for me in the future. I'm supposed to be a top guy, so I normally only worry about getting back there... but I digress!
As far as the half guard sweep goes, I have lots of success slapping on the lockdown, then using the "electric chair" submission/sweep (a.k.a.: "The Banana Split" at our school...) FYI, we don't teach 10th Planet JJ at our school, but some of us have picked it up in various places. My whip up isn't nearly as nice as Ari's!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pegu58bFyM
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