Many months had passed since the last time sparring. The biggest concern was getting an injury. I was rusty. Strategy, ” keep it playful”, talk to the sparring partner, be conscious of energy use. Go half power. I didn’t attack, defense. Be comfortable on back. Tap early. Reset. Keep going.
I sparred with a newbie blue belt, a friend, and first timer to sparring, 50 to 60 lbs weight difference over my body weight. The instructor told me to go easy on the guy. Actually, I was hoping to avoid a big weight mismatch all together, but no such luck. The new blue belt had that look of must win, ego. Three minutes in, he was in the mounted position and I was on my back, guard. As he grew tired, his technique became quite frantic. He looked exhausted. A little bit selfish of me, I should have tapped earlier, but I wanted to handle someone that would spass which he did. I made no attempt at an attack. I was comfortable on my back. I probably should have done an elbow escape. I was near a wall. I could have continued sparring but I tapped so as to reset.. No big deal. Perhaps that would boost his ego. After I tapped to reset, he didn’t want to keep going out of exhaustion. I was calm, uninjured, and had plenty of energy.
Later on in the locker room, he said that he was close to throwing up on the mat, or on me. I hope he keeps going. He took the sparring to serious, ” Keep it playful!”
Also, this was the first time wearing a mouth guard during sparring. The last time at the dentist, there were places on the top of the teeth that were missing enamel. I was grinding off teeth enamel by clinching the teeth at night and possibly at GJJ. This will lead to rapid tooth decay and expensive dental bills. So, I’m wearing a dental mouth guard at bed time and another type of mouth guard for protection during sparring/throwing class, to prevent losing a tooth from a strike, chipping a tooth, clinching the teeth, biting the tongue. The mouth guard forces breathing through nose, and protects the jaw bone. Before wearing the night guard, I had jaw pain but the mouth guard realigned the bones and the pain went away.
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