November 5, 2009 - Thursday

Went to the BJJ open mat. Small turnout and had little hope for much. I started with ramundo (god help me). He has gotten a little better, but ultimately his problem remains that he seems afraid of training. He refuses to engage actively and is constantly pawing at your grips. every time I swept him he would just try to scramble away back to his knees. I let hom a few times and then just smashed him daown. He is so helpless, I feel a little guilty until the irritation overcomes my guilt and i wipe him out.  Rolled with the blue belt Zack, who is pretty good. Not that big but scrappy and tries things. Quite a change from the prior set. He went over easy for a few sweeps and couldn't take the Uke Gatame very well. i caught him from there with a stangle, and then armlocked him from the same position the next set. The following set I was lazy and he got behind me and attacked my back very effectively. I had to avoid the choke for several minutes.. If I would have made a mistake he would have caught me. I finally got back inside his guard passed him and caught him. Next set swept and rolled Oma Plata, he tried to roll so I blocked him, but did it lazily and he got the Oma Plata position back on me. I paused and got ready to smash him for taking advantage of my laziness. He went rigth for the wrist lock on my trapped hand and almost caught me. It was a smart move and I will remember it. I finally got away but kept the Oma Plata, so I then wrist locked him back as payback. I congratulates him on the smart play and we talked strategy about attacking bigger slower guys with speed and subs rather butting heads. He came at me hard the next set and scrambled so I had to bail. He took my back and worked to the top corner choke position when I turned the wrong way and almost put me to sleep.Told him it was the first time I had been caught by a blue belt in years. We rolled one more so I turned it up mounted and did a particularly punishing Uke gatame and then caught him.. Probably 30 minutes of training. It was fun as something new happened. he was appreciative of the coaching and I think he took some of my suggestions to heart. Good for me to have to pay attaention and stop being lazy and over confident.