Rolling With The White Belts

Had a great class on Saturday and stayed afterward to roll with some folks.  The fundamentals class was a repeat from earlier in the week about side control escapes and ended with a cool side-control sweep to use if they do manage to get a crossface on you (hooking their leg and bridging from underneath to reverse).  Lot of good rolling at the end of class with several blue belts in attendance.

After class I rolled for a while with our Muay Thai coach Dave, who is a talented blue belt, and managed to pull off that nice armbar from high guard that I've been trying to hit with more regularity recently.  Afterwards, with no one else to roll with for a while (other blues were busy), I took the chance to roll with a couple of white belts for a while. 

I think some of the blues in my school could do well to spend time rolling with the white belts like this, as they always have good questions and it's great to see them gaining confidence in exchanging positions, passing guard, etc.  Not only that, but really, both sides can benefit from this arrangement.  Basically, the way I roll with them is to just do positional exchanges and not hunt submissions, unless they just totally blow it and need to see why where they are is a really bad place to be.  For me, it's a great place to practice set-ups and sweeps.  I don't have to follow through with them, just threatening the sweeps or getting set up for a finish is enough, and I still end up with a lot of great interaction and the general lack of high pressure helps me practice the 'zero mind', as Professor Dudderar calls it.  For them, it's a chance to test their skills against a more-seasoned opponent and feel what it's like to make mistakes as well as feel what success is like when they advance position, etc.  I don't see them finish with subs a lot, but if they set anything up really well, I will go ahead and let them lock it in.  Generally, I figure they can practice subs with each other...what they can't get from each other is a sense of position exchanges that a long match is all about, which is what I try to give them. 

In my old school, not many purple belts would have stooped down to roll with the white belts, and I always felt that wasn't a good arrangement.  For one, there's a lot of benefit that can be gained for the purple/blue/brown/black that spends time with a lower-ranking BJJ player.  They can play around and not have to worry about practicing moves in a high-pressure environment.  They can drill and drill and drill the same sweeps they will use later against their peers, without worry of the other person capitalizing on minor mistakes.  For the lower-ranking belt, they get the experience of rolling with someone who has a much better notion of the possibilities and positions that are possible and, since the higher belt is not having to work hard to finish the fight, they get the benefit of rolling with someone who is not simply trying to finish them as quickly as possible.  I've gotten some odd looks from blue belts who were watching me roll with whites, but I think they'd do well to spend some time doing that themselves...they'd learn a lot more than they think about their own game.

Tired...short post!

Great classes today.  Worked on 'the chair' and more standing guard passes in the Intermediate/Advanced class and worked on side control escapes in the Fundamentals class.  

Notes to myself:

• On the X-pass, the hand on the hip is meant to keep them from turning into you.  Keep pressure on it.  
• There is a danger in 'the chair' if they fall off and you have your legs together, they can triangle them together easily.  Gotta remember this on top and bottom.

Rolled a bit after class, making it about a 2.5 hour day of BJJ.  This explains why I'm so tired! :)  Sleep now.