Crazy but Awesome

Jorge Gurgel came and left our school, and it was one exciting long weekend. A week removed from his presence we now have just 7 days to prepare for our team's association tournament in Cincinnati, OH next Saturday.

Here is a summary of what I got to work on with Jorge-
Thurs:
Jorge just dropped into class and worked out with us, doing all the drills, sprints, etc that we were doing.

Fri:
Jorge showed us proper technique for re-guarding a standing guard pass. Turn away from the man to a fetal position, and roll across your shoulders with your butt in the air coming back towards your opponent. You want to reach for his ankle asap in the roll.

He then showed a sweep series from sitting up guard. We went through a leg sweep and a underhook/rollover as well as seeing a glance of a couple fancier moves. We finished up with a neat half guard pass from the post sweep position you end up in.

After class a bunch of us went to Big Dawg and Momma Crabs house. They had a bonfire going and we got to learn Jorge's views on a lot of subjects and watch teammates dress up in pageant attire.

Sat:
This was a smaller, but awesome class. We worked on "technical mount" which is a small variation on "s" mount. You have your far foot block his hip instead of under the enemy's armpit. We drilled getting into the position until everyone had it down, and then learned a chain of submissions off of this sweet position.

After class we went to Van Andel Arena downtown to watch Big Dawgs daughter win the NATIONAL CHEER CHAMPIONSHIP! This girl has talent! We had a bunch of BJJ guys getting rowdy in the stands! It was a fun time.

Sun:
First I got a 3 man semi-private lesson with two of my teammates. We went over passing half guard. It was stuff I had seen before from Big Dawg, but it was a great refresh and I picked up a couple new details I didn't remember. You first figure four your legs around the guys knee and push your hips in to lock him down. You then use your far side underhook to pull his far shoulder towards you. You then change your leg position and move your top leg to the outside. Move his chin with your hands/elbows. Replace hands/elbows with the top of your head. Make him look away from you and brutalize. If done correctly he wants you to pass the gwuard.

After my private we went right into the regular class. We drilled some of the movements we learned on the previous days, then went into the "6-point" open guard. This is where you have both sleeves and play open gwuard, placing your feet in two of six positions (hooked behind both knees, on both hips, and in both biceps). We drilled moving throughout the different positions and then learned two sweeps and two submissions out of the dozens available from the positions. We did a lot of drilling, which was a theme I noticed of Jorges. There was really no playing around time, which was good. We drilled each move he showed dozens of times which really helped get it down.

Finally on Sunday it was promotion time. I was honored to watch 4 of my teammates get belt upgrades. Ninja Bunny was awarded a well deserved purple belt, and the trio of MVT, Crazy Eyes, and Bukowski got their well earned blue belts. Jorge also gave out a bunch of stripes on non-white belts. I was fortunate enough to earn one from him on my blue belt. Stripes don't really mean much in the scheme of things, but it is nice to be recognized for your skill and progress. It's a long journey to purple, and I'm excited I get to follow my path every day with my awesome team.

It was back to reality the rest of the week, as we gear up for the tournament next Saturday. Classes are getting more intense and we are focusing on drilling and rolling, rather then learning new stuff.

My hand still hurts like crazy, and I have been wrapping it during class. It is definitely a hindrance, and I don't think it's gonna heal for a while. We will see how it goes.