Randori last week.

Wanted to post on my experiences in Randori last week (2/21) to get it put into words and really think about it. I hadn't been to any Randoris for 2.5 weeks prior to that one and, honestly, I was pretty apprehensive about it. I was feeling sick (still am really) and didn't want to go, but some part of me said 'you need to go' and I think I understand what that part of me was trying to say. Even after just 2.5 weeks, I'd started to feel out of practice with the details of the techniques. I'd begun to loose some confidence in my abilities in general too, so that the thought of going to Randori at all had sort of an intimidating air to it. I felt weakened from 2.5 weeks of being sick, the 12 shots of antibiotics (and days of oral antibiotics) I had from 2/5 to 2/10 for the staph infection on my leg (which I am still getting over), for the cough I had, from a shoulder injury I've been nursing since the end of January that still hurts, and in general, from not working out, not running, and from not thinking about BJJ for almost 3 weeks. Indeed I -was- weak...after the Randori on Wednesday, it took me a full 3 days to recover completely from the soreness, and it set back my flu recovery I'm sure. Still, I had to go. Some part of me was screaming at me to go, get back into this thing that I love. Amal is always saying to train when you are feeling your worst. Well, I couldn't do it when I was feeling my worst, but it was like the worse I felt, the louder that voice became inside my head.

So I went. I went and had a -blast-! I was playing with a lot of side control from the top, scarf holds, and in generally playing with knee-on-belly and other dominant position techniques that were -not- mount. I really am starting to feel like mount is somewhat overrated in a situation where you are not in a fist fight. Don't get me wrong, it's clearly a great position to work from, but if you are rolling for submissions rather than trying to get to a position to strike from, mount seems to me to give up a lot of options and leave you much more vulnerable to sweeps than side-mount positions. I can hold side-mount on almost any white belt and most blue belts in my class for a very long time, and if they start escaping, I switch to scarf hold, or if I run out of attack options because of their good side mount defense, I can switch to knee-on-belly. From knee, I can drop into side mount in an instant again, or drop to scarf, or even switch sides, depending on where they go. Also from knee-on-belly, I have a whole range of new attacks, if they roll towards me, it's easy to switch sides and either attack or maintain side control. Plus, my brain was really ready to attack and to switch from position to position quickly, and not just sit there.

So my take-away from all this was a few things:
1. Most people do not defend side control and scarf hold very well...this can be exploited.
2. I don't defend side control very well...need to work on this.
3. Stay on the move, don't get stagnant.

#3 is always hard, but it's getting easier now as I get more fluid with changing positions.
#2 is something I am going to work on. I have trouble recognizing when side control is coming and setting up escapes and starting them early enough to be really effective. I have devised a plan. :)

My plan is simple, start letting people take side control, whether they can or can't normally take it. Let everyone take side control on me and the whole time I'm rolling, try to get people to get side control on me. Then work on recognizing when side control is coming and start working on escapes before they have settled in, or, worst case, after they have settled in. Either way, basically the rule is going to be to make myself give up side control, a lot, and work on technique to a. keep the position from getting worse, and b. escape.

Anyway, I really felt like I had a good game last Wednesday and it just goes to show how much this stuff stays with you and why you should go train, even when you don't feel like it. I'm going to try to work on not just training when I feel strong more often.