Waiting and Watching

Before open mat started up, I was having a conversation with Tim and someone else. The gist of it was that I already knew enough techniques. What separates me (and everyone else) from being black level is the application of those techniques. Which to use when, how to set it up, how to time it, and knowing what comes next.

In that vein, I’ve started trying to spend my off rounds more productively, watching others in action. What would I do if I were them? How does that compare to what they actually do?

I had rounds on Saturday with Harris (twice), Rob, Corey, Caleb, Nick (twice), Wade and then Charlie. The last two were particularly fun. JR kept score when I was going with Wade, and called dibs on who ever was the “winner”. Wade passed and was super tight in his side control and paper cutter choke. I had zero room to effect an escape. We restarted and I hit a nice sweep, passed, Wade got back to guard, but I had a kimura grip on his far arm. Ran out of time before being able to finish him with it though. We sat up and there were probably 10 people watching our round.

For my last round, I grabbed Charlie. I was doing well, but he was defending and being squirmy. I had a decent arm triangle attack going, but had my ankle trapped and couldn’t finish it. I let go, and noticed Damian watching, so I re-adjusted my grip and kept attacking, but never did get it. Right at the buzzer I did the Ryan Hall rolling back take, but Charlie stiff armed me and prevented me from completing it. Again, we sat up and 10 people were watching. Damian walked by and gave me a playful wack with his belt.