journeyjjbluebelt

This was new.  Before we actually sparred, Professor Gui had a talk with us informally in a circle.  He explained that in his training in Brazil, sparring wasn’t as aggressive as we were doing it.  In Brazil, after sparring, fellow students weren’t leaving the mat to go to a business meeting with a busted up face or black eye.  He advised not to do knee on belly with full weight or incorrectly positioned. He advised not to crush people with the fore arm on the face, wrists, elbow into spine. Keep it clean. He didn’t want us to do an eye for eye.

Before we started sparring, I told privately to each sparring partner to keep it playful.  What did that mean?  Keep it safe.  Friendly.  Tap before you get injuried or even before. Try to work something or if they wanted to work on a move. I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s injury or be injured myself.  Don’t assume people you know or never seen before will behave correctly. Talk to your sparring partner.

This week in  jiu jitsu, I sparred against an American blue belt, re tired US Army, a Haitian, a new blue belt, he spassed a little bit, and a purple belt 2 striped Brazillian. The last time I sparred was in July.  Over all, I was pleased with the sparring because I passed the guard three times on two of the opponents.

The ex Army sparring partner had a strategy which tapped me out right away.  I couldn’t recall what he did. Next time I see him, I will ask.  I was setup and I didn’t counter when I should have countered.  It was obvious that he had been doing some thinking about sparring.  That move would work well in a street fight.  Good to know something like that.  Another time, he used a little bit of force to catch me in an Americana. He peeled my arm off my chest and put it on the floor. I couldn’t pull free.   Was that correct or incorrect?  I wasn’t clear.  Technique verses a little bit of power.

The Brazillan jiu jitsu player, purple 2 striped, made sparring much more relaxed. We sparred then talked about the technique. Gentle but also strong. Mindful. I felt that I was improving my jiu jitsu. This was what jiu jitsu should be like. I had let go of the ego. I wasn’t worried. Flow. The other players were all about tapping out. In this match, I wasn’t battling for survival.