What I tell lower belts when this happens when they are rolling with me is something I've always heard, "Position before Submission". Over the years, I've modified it (with some influence from Saulo Ribiero's philosophy) into this idea of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Continuum. The Continuum looks something like this:
Safety <--------------------- Position ------------------> Submission
I tell people to think about their game and rolls and reflect on where they are on this continuum, especially in relation to where to person they are rolling with is. If they are in danger, they should be working in the "Safety" portion of the continuum. Once "Safety" has been established, "Position" usually follows. An armbar escape, for instance, often establishes you in a position to pass guard. At the very least, once Safety is established, Position becomes a contestable. But until Safety is established, working for Position is quite dangerous. At the other end of the spectrum is the old axiom and it usually holds true; don't work on Submission until you've established Position and once your Position is solidified, Submission usually comes next. There are exceptions to these rules (e.g., submissions from the bottom), but that's really just what they are, exceptions. Generally speaking, if the guy you're rolling with is working on a submission, and you are working on establishing position, your safety is going to be compromised.
The funny thing was, this is exactly how I was rolling with Professor Dudderar; putting myself in danger by working submissions without any positional dominance. Working for positions when I was in danger of being submitted. Worse, he was baiting me to make these jumps. From good positioning, he would offer up submissions, knowing that if I lost focus on the positional battle, he could advance up the continuum right into submissionland, while I would be -forced- back to trying to re-establish safety. Going forward, I've resolved to forget about the submission portion of the continuum when rolling with higher belts and only even think about them when (if ever) I manage to secure some positional dominance. My victory point has to be flexible if I want to learn from higher belts. I have to move it back from it's ultimate resting spot at the submission end of the spectrum down into more realistic goals, like simply getting good position. Getting any good position on a black belt isn't anything anyone will give me a high-five over, it doesn't sound as cool as a submission, it isn't a match-ending technique (if anything, it will just make it harder for me as the black belt starts to use their considerable escaping and positioning skills in earnest), but it is where I should be focusing on right now.
On Tuesday I went in to take Fundamentals class and then, as I was recovering from being ill over the weekend, to find some white belts to roll with during the advanced class. That was working fine until my friend Evan showed up and wanted to roll about midway through the advanced class and we ended up rolling for about an hour at a pretty hard pace.
Evan's a blue belt who takes a lot of privates with Professor Jubera and he's quite good, probably nearly a purple belt really, and has a lot of great habits. In fact, he caught me sleeping a couple of times and managed to get underhooks and head wraps on me and make me really work from the bottom more than once. It again reinforced my notions of paying closer attention to good habits, BASIC habits, like fighting for underhooks and protecting against head wraps.
Wednesday's advanced gi class was great. Matt watched Evan and I roll and had some good advice for us both about working on these basic habits and Wednesday's class had a special section devoted to protecting against the underhook ("just for you Badger!" said Matt. :)
Good habits. On the mat, as in life, it's all about establishing them early and getting them programmed and automatic. Every day is an opportunity to do just that.
