Day 16: Nogi Bear

Today was a pretty informal no-gi session that was nevertheless very productive. Jess, one of the few women currently at the school, was doing tournament training and had a fair portion of the mat and Kahlil's attentions. That left the rest of the class mainly to our own devices. Kahlil shooed me over to the other white belts for some drilling.

Bill, Bobby and I worked escapes, which seem to be in high demand at this stage of my training. Bill showed me a gem of an escape from mount. Extend your left leg and turn to your left side. Hook his right leg with your right heel, pulling it over your extended left which gives you half guard as you immediately turn onto your right side. You can then even try the overhook with your left arm, and after feinting right, with his pushback you can underhook his left leg with your right arm and sweep his to your left. Slick.

I rolled with Damon a few times after we drilled. I had some good rolls and felt very mobile without the gi. I missed the kimono's mystery, its bottomless array of sneaky sleeves and lapels, but I did not miss the friction or the bevy of points for my opponent to grab me. As Damon and I were sparring he threw me, and my knee smacked hard into Bill's head. It hurt my knee, and I was wearing kneepads, so his noggin must not have been feeling so good. He sat there, stunned, for a few minutes until Kahlil brought him an icepack. I felt bad.

I played some closed guard with Damon and felt reasonably comfortable. For a short time I was able to control his head and/or arms, but was unable (or afraid) to attempt any offense. As he opened my guard I thought about sweeping, but he just grabbed my leg and flipped me over. Boo.

When Damon and I finished Del invited me to go a few rounds. He has not been so friendly up to now, but I suspect it's just his reaction to n00bs. The dude is absolutely ripped, very big and very strong. He threw me around a little bit (as he later explained, I came in way too high), but I was able to work a little position (I got half guard from mount with the move Bill just showed me) but that's about it. He sank some RNCs on me with apparent relish, as well as hit a Kimura that I would rather not experience again. Perhaps I passed his hazing, as he came over and we chatted a bit after the roll and he seemed to loosen up.

I also took my nightly ass-beating at Jack's hands. Nothing new to report there.

I'm feeling frisky-- maybe I will try the Saturday session tomorrow as Booka needs to work.