SATURDAY, 30 JANUARY 2016

Today's class had me, Jason, John, Ryan, Tony, Cody, and Rebecca.

The first order of business was covering de ashi harai. I firmly believe that BJJ folks are suckers for foot sweeps, and I want to make sure that my students can do them and, more importantly, know when they are being set up.




On the ground, we covered a couple of mount escapes before live rolling for about twenty minutes. Interestingly, two students were put to sleep thanks to the clock choke. To one...welcome to the club. To the other...I did not feel the tap and apologize.

NEWBREED NEW YEAR OPEN TOURNAMENT

Saturday, 16 January 2016

Though only two members of Wolfpack BJJ Orange Park competed, they each took two medals in their respective divisions.

Ryan G. won bronze in no-gi intermediate and gold in gi (blue belt). Tony won gold in no-gi and gi.

SATURDAY, 16 JANUARY 2016

Today's class was small, consisting of me, Jason, John, and Cody. Two folks, Ryan and Tony, competed in the local tournament (see above).

We went over two mount escapes and a couple of guard openings before rolling.

AGNES DEAN: 7 MAY 1929 - 6 JANUARY 2016

I traveled to Alabama on Friday, 8 January, met with some BJJ folks for a bit, spent the night with my Nanny, and met with my sister and her husband on Saturday morning. The entire purpose of the trip, however, was to offer support to the extended family on my dad's side by being there for Agnes' funeral in the Troy area.

Agnes, who is my grandfather's baby sister, will always be the "crazy" great aunt. Though completely sane, she was able to say what was real about events without being crude, rude, or insensitive. She made me laugh at the funeral home for my grandmother (her sister-in-law) with a well-timed joke that only she and I could hear, called and talked to me for extended periods following two painful/stressful life events (first brain surgery; daughter's premature birth and stay in the NICU), and thanked me for remembering her with Christmas cards.

The posted picture, according to Agnes' daughter, is her favorite. I think it is fitting and is how I will choose to remember her.


http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Agnes-Dean&lc=1507&pid=177180339&mid=6747021

FRIDAY, 8 JANUARY 2016

On a family-related trip in which I drove up to northern Alabama to see my grandmother (see previous post), I was able to stop for a couple of hours and train/hang out with Cole D., Meghan S., and Ashley C. I appreciate them helping me break the monotony of eight hours in the car. I also hope that they were able to get a nugget or two to add to their BJJ games in the process.

Apparently, surveillance footage shows me being evil to Ashley and hitting her with a mean de ashi harai.

SATURDAY, 2 JANUARY 2016

In addition to promoting John to purple belt, we had a regular class. One of the original members of Orange Park Wolfpack, Ethan E., is on leave from the Navy, attended today, contributed to the class, and has now trained with us twice. As always, I am happy to have him in town and training like "the old days." In case I forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ethan on Monday (4 January.

We went over "palm-up/palm-down" chokes from the guard, a cross-collar choke using the bottom of the lapel into a "palm-up/palm-down" choke, a transition to an arm triangle from the previous choke, and threw in a smash guard pass variation.

NEW PURPLE BELT!!!

After nearly two years of training with me, I promoted John J. to purple belt in BJJ this morning. If you ask me, purple belt is the toughest BJJ belt, so while being halfway to black belt is a great thing, it is also rough since everyone guns for you (white and blue come at you full blast; brown and black do not go easy).