Roll 8

With spazzy white belt, but I don't hate.  I might have been there before, too.  (I say that to be nice.  I know that I was never as spastic as this dude.)

*Slap*Pump*

*Punch*

Yep, that's right--a punch.  Mr. Spaz came thundering forward to yank me into his guard.  In the process, I get a stiff lil punch to the face.  (Might I insert a suggestion here?  If you want me to be in your guard, just ask:  "Hey, man, will you start in my guard?".  It happens all the time, and most folk--including myself--are totally cool with it, but I digress.)

So, I'm in spazzy's guard, and I hunker down:  hands on his biceps; elbows tight; head tucked down.  This allows me time to ponder things.  I think about the punch.  I think about being a white belt.  I think about karma--I kinda avoided partnering with this dude for class.  Now I'm caught in his spaz trap; karma's probably having a nice chuckle at my expense.

I stay hunkered down for a while...an uncomfortably long amount of time.  My opponent is gassing out from all his spaztastic attempts at crazy stuff.  He attempts chokes and a lot of other power plays.  Soon enough, I decide to join the party, and I open and pass his guard.

I hold him in side control for a  while.  I, then, bare some of my own weight.  My opponent crawls away as if it's a scene from Friday the 13th. He lunges on my back and flops back pulling me down with him.  My man isn't even calm when he's got my back.  Whew.  I defend all his flails.

Time is up, and karma releases me from its hold.



Bonus Round:
I'll include a review of another roll from this day.   This roll was with a nice, advanced blue dude.  From the start, I get out of position, and I'm playing catch up the entire roll.  My opponent threatened with legit stuff. My shields were up, though.  I defended stuff that I usually don't (or can't) defend.   He attempted a few clock chokes, and they weren't bad.  I just managed to get wrist control and ride out the storm.

We changed positions a bit, but he was in control the whole match.  I was defending chokes and armbars galore.  I was totally dominated.  At one point, it felt like my opponent was bouncing on my back.  Not real sure what happened or why.

Of course,  I knew that I was getting out-pointed, but I also knew that I was surviving.  That gave me confidence.  Lately, I've been thinking  bit more about the Gracie way.  The ability to survive (and in the event of the spazzy white belt, conserve my energy as he runs through his) is a key to winning an actual altercation.

I'll remember these rolls for different reasons.  My jiu-jitsu journey continues.