Why I shouldn't be a blue belt

[Stuarto66]

I feel much more responsible for representing the club now that I am purple.

But I also feel much more empowered. For example, when I was a blue belt, if Professor was talking to someone during warmups, I would often wait for permission to take over warm-ups, or at least ask. Now that I'm a purple belt, I feel comfortable just taking over.

Somehow, I missed your post. Huge congratulations on achieving your purple belt!!

 

[skribs103]

I may be a purple belt, but I'm not done with this thread!

Exhibit AZ
Yesterday we were doing pass/sweep from open guard. I'm working with an older no-stripe white belt woman that is about half my size. I shuffle left, she follows. I shuffle right, and completely lose my footing and fall over.

One of the Professors was coaching us at the time. So it was in full view of him.

Exhibit BA
We're into the B double digits now. Only 650 more entries before we hit AAA and I need to go back to white belt.

Rolling with one of the Professors (same one from Exhibit AZ), and I'm trying to do the armbar from inside back mount. I duck under the choking arm, set it on my shoulder, and he does some weird modified buggy choke and chokes me out.

I give him a hard time about using made-up BS moves against me. He says, "I'll show you after the roll."

He couldn't figure it out. It was such a dumb submission I got caught in that he couldn't even replicate it.

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BB
I banged my knee the other day, so I figured I'd play defensively until it's back to full strength. First round I go to pull guard. Opponent swats my leg. Right on the bum knee.

 

[drop bear105]

Exhibit BB
I banged my knee the other day, so I figured I'd play defensively until it's back to full strength. First round I go to pull guard. Opponent swats my leg. Right on the bum knee.

You need knee pads, wrestling shoes and boxing gloves. To cover for those times you get boo boos

 

[skribs103]

This one doesn't deserve an exhibit number, but is worth sharing. We were in competition class yesterday. The rule was to drill a pull guard entry or a take-down entry. I'm a guard puller, so I was drilling entries into setting up a tripod or ankle-pick type of sweep.

The next round we then had to chain our attack into a submission. Not a sweep into a pass into a submission (I asked, didn't work). Straight into a submission.

Rather than figure out how to use that guard for a submission, I just changed to a different guard.

 

[BorntoRaiseHell]

This one doesn't deserve an exhibit number, but is worth sharing. We were in competition class yesterday. The rule was to drill a pull guard entry or a take-down entry. I'm a guard puller, so I was drilling entries into setting up a tripod or ankle-pick type of sweep.

The next round we then had to chain our attack into a submission. Not a sweep into a pass into a submission (I asked, didn't work). Straight into a submission.

Rather than figure out how to use that guard for a submission, I just changed to a different guard.

have you ever used your many "skills" outside for real?
just curious

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BC
Yesterday, last round of the class. I had spent the entire class training with the 90-pound older white belt woman. My friend (a competitive blue belt 3 weight classes above me) had just gone back-to-back rounds with the tall, strong, young white belts; including one known for being incredibly spazzy, and the other that's just super long and strong.

I thought, "I've got this. I'm fresh, he's already cooked."

I misjudged the situation. It was actually: I'm cold, he's warm. And he's motivated to stay on top.

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BD, For the Defense:
I almost tapped my professor.

For the Prosecution:
Almost.

 

[drop bear105]

Exhibit BD, For the Defense:
I almost tapped my professor.

For the Prosecution:
Almost.

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BE
We have a couple of younger white belts around my size, ages 18 and 21. (For reference, I'm 37). This week, these two have given me a massive ego check, because they just would not stop moving and they kept getting the upper hand on me.

One specific example: one of them was trying to set up a dummy sweep, and I decided to pressure forward and stack him. Instead of stacking him, all I did was load myself up for him to leg-press me off the floor and then hit the dummy sweep while I was airborne. Think of it like a balloon sweep crossed with a dummy sweep.

My Professor pulled up the security camera footage and we watched it. It was even worse when he turned on the sound. When my butt hits the ground you hear, THUD, "oogghh". And everyone else stops their roll to turn to look at us.

 

[skribs103]

This one wasn't me, but it fits the theme of this thread.

Today, Professor was signing up a new student during warmups. Brown belt coach starts teaching technique. "Professor said open guard, so here's my favorite attack from open guard: the triangle choke."

5 minutes later, Professor comes out and teaches the next technique. He starts by explaining why we're working this technique. "When I was watching the tournament this past weekend, I noticed a lot of people -white, blue, even purple belts- struggled opening their opponents guard."

Brown belt: "Oh! Open guard. Open the guard."

 

[skribs103]

This one was included in the evidence, but rejected by the prosecution, so it does not have an Exhibit letter. However, it is worth noting for the record.

Today, I was rolling with a brown belt. Here was my thought process. Am I actually passing his guard? I think I'm passing his guard. Yep, definitely passing his guard. How did he get on my back?

It's a good thing I left this one in the record.

Exhibit BF, for the defense
Yesterday a white belt told me, "It's so frustrating to roll with you, because I'm thinking I'm just about to pass your guard, and next thing I know, I'm on my back."

It's a very weird experience when this happens. When white belts say the same thing about me that I've said about upper belts in the past. (It's happened at least once before, when I was a blue belt and the newest white belts went into rolls with me saying I was going to destroy them). Because when I made those comments, they were directed at people I held in very high regard (and still do). So it's weird to accidentally be compared to them.

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BG
Yesterday I was drilling with a very new white belt. I was working on remembering the orientation of the gable grip. Professor started to correct me, I changed my hand position. He said, "Oh, nevermind, you're just showing her the difference?"

"Yyyyeeeeeees."

 

[skribs103]

Exhibit BH

Chipped a tooth in class today...

During warmups...

Eating an altoid.

 

[drop bear105]

Exhibit BH

Chipped a tooth in class today...

During warmups...

Eating an altoid.

See. I told you to skip warm ups.

 

[skribs103]

This one's just mean. I accidentally gaslit a white belt.

Today I was rolling with a white belt. He's like half my age, in pretty good shape, and learning pretty quick. The move of the day is straight ankle lock, and our instructions during rolls was to just hunt submissions nonstop. So I let this white belt take my back, I grab his feet and cross them, then go for the straight ankle lock. I didn't quite get it.

The rest of class he was trying to figure out how he crossed ankles, because he knows better than to cross his ankles. At the end of class, I told Professor, "I let him take my back, grabbed his feet and crossed his ankles, and then went for the straight ankle lock.

The white belt heard me talking to Professor, he goes, "THAT'S how they got crossed! I thought I knew better than that!"

 

[skribs103]

This one doesn't really get an exhibit number. Just some funny bits from a JJWL tournament this weekend.

• My Mom cheering me on. "Go! Do what you're supposed to do!" (She really doesn't know anything about jiu-jitsu).
• I was standing up in my opponent's open guard. He had a collar grip and good frames with his feet, I had good pressure from a tripod position. My Professor yelled, "Step over the leg!" I wasn't sure which leg. But I couldn't see my Professor. So I turned me and my opponent around so I could see my Professor, then he shouted again and pointed where I was supposed to go.
• My first opponent was a guy I fought 3 weeks ago. I lost both times. Both times to a wristlock. Both times he apologized when I tapped. That last bit is getting on my nerves.
• I think my pattern in tournaments is L-W-L. In single elimination tournaments, I've lost first round every time. In double elimination tournaments, I've gone loss-win (in a 3-man round-robin bracket) and L-W-L (in a 5-man double elimination bracket). Right now my best option for W-L ratio is to go 50-50 doing 3-man round robins. In seriousness, this takes away any doubt I should be a purple belt, because I've beaten a purple belt in a competition match.

 

[HighKick]

This one doesn't really get an exhibit number. Just some funny bits from a JJWL tournament this weekend.

• My Mom cheering me on. "Go! Do what you're supposed to do!" (She really doesn't know anything about jiu-jitsu).
• I was standing up in my opponent's open guard. He had a collar grip and good frames with his feet, I had good pressure from a tripod position. My Professor yelled, "Step over the leg!" I wasn't sure which leg. But I couldn't see my Professor. So I turned me and my opponent around so I could see my Professor, then he shouted again and pointed where I was supposed to go.
• My first opponent was a guy I fought 3 weeks ago. I lost both times. Both times to a wristlock. Both times he apologized when I tapped. That last bit is getting on my nerves.
• I think my pattern in tournaments is L-W-L. In single elimination tournaments, I've lost first round every time. In double elimination tournaments, I've gone loss-win (in a 3-man round-robin bracket) and L-W-L (in a 5-man double elimination bracket). Right now my best option for W-L ratio is to go 50-50 doing 3-man round robins. In seriousness, this takes away any doubt I should be a purple belt, because I've beaten a purple belt in a competition match.

So, who won the match?

 

[skribs103]

So, who won the match?

Does it help if I do this?

• My first opponent was a guy I fought 3 weeks ago. I lost both times. Both times to a wristlock. Both times he apologized when I tapped. That last bit is getting on my nerves.
• I think my pattern in tournaments is L-W-L. In single elimination tournaments, I've lost first round every time. In double elimination tournaments, I've gone loss-win (in a 3-man round-robin bracket) and L-W-L (in a 5-man double elimination bracket). Right now my best option for W-L ratio is to go 50-50 doing 3-man round robins. In seriousness, this takes away any doubt I should be a purple belt, because I've beaten a purple belt in a competition match.

 

[HighKick]

Does it help if I do this?

No, not really. You talked about different single & double eliminations matches/tournaments. I appeared you have matched this guy previously in a double.