The face?

Back again! I’ve been out of town for a week—that plus the two weeks spent taking care of a friend who had surgery and moving equals too much time away. Jonathan wants the entire school to train for tournaments in August and September; I’ll try to go more regularly in the coming months. Skipped today only because of an intense need to hermit (introverts will understand me).

I am really looking forward to class on Wednesday. Jonathan’s teaching a women’s self-defense seminar next week and has asked me to help him work some stuff out tomorrow. As the gym’s resident girl, I of course said yes. I’m excited; I originally got into martial arts for self-defense and am sure I (and the girls we’ll be teaching) will learn a lot. Jonathan probably has some stuff planned already but I’ll bring some questions/suggestions just in case. Any ideas, BJJ bloggers/readers (especially my fellow chicks)?

Class

I got to class and our video guru, Blake, greeted me by saying he’s going to make me the face of the school. On the one hand, it’d look great—tiny chick throwing large men around and showing that jiujitsu is effective. This could be a good idea. On the other hand: camera-shy! Introvert! Need I say more!

Not much to say about Monday’s class. We drilled a few techniques but spent the rest of the time rolling, and I bugged out before no-gi to go check on my friend.

Rolling

We rolled a lot with few breaks—the kind where you stand around and pant for 10-15 seconds before someone gives you the nod across the room. I rolled with Trey, Steven, Cody, and Jonathan. Got that flow-y feeling from time to time but didn’t do much with it.

Don’t remember much of my roll with Trey, who I think is a returning student. Tried for the kimura with him in my guard. His arm locked straight and I didn’t know what to do from there. Played around with it some and then tried again. Was about to give up when he said, “No, you’ve got it,” and let me finish it.

Cody and I rolled next. I tried spider guard at one point but it didn’t last. We ended up in some weird half-sitting position, which neither of us knew how to deal with; we just shrugged and restarted. Later I stood up in his guard (?) and he attempted to triangle me. I somehow stacked him and passed to side control. Did it too quickly and didn’t have the pressure right; he wiggled out of it.

Steven just got back after over a month of absence due to surgery, though he’s been sitting and watching class as much as possible. He was a rolling machine tonight. He stymied me with butterfly guard and then spun me around quite a bit. Had an embarrassing moment when I was trying to escape his omoplata (or something) and managed to wristlock myself against the back of his leg. I’m talented like that.

Jonathan called me out after Steven finished with me. I can’t remember much of that roll except that I didn’t think I did well—and then he and Chris, who’d been watching, said I was getting better. I think they meant “Yeah, you kind of sucked just then, but you’re improving generally” but that could just be my perfectionism talking.

Blake asked me at the end how I was doing and what I needed to work on. As usual, it’s basic submissions—armbars, kimuras, triangles—and maintaining side control. For the latter, he suggested I always drop my far leg, like we worked on in the guillotine defense.