Rollin' rollin' rollin'

I've been working my sweeps in sparring recently. I don't know what it is but somethig has recently clicked and I've managed to get a higher percentage rate of sweeps than before. My current favourites are ones where I get right underneath my opponent, like in half guard or x-guard, and play with the leverage and balance opportunities. I just love doing them - but so much so that I've been caught admiring my own work and, before I know it, my opponent has returned fire with a hefty attack of his own. So of course my next stage is to follow up the sweep with a steady mount and then a good submission attempt. Which is easier said than done!
I've worked out that Wednesday class seems to be the best one to attend at Mill Hill. From 7:30pm there is a judo stand-up session, then at 8:30 is a normal class. There seems to be a great vibe on Wednesdays plus, we don't have to put the mats away!

Yesterday's class we went over some cool attacks you can while you are trapping your opponents arm under your armpit. It stops him posturing up and defending on one side of his body. Nick showed us a variety of chokes, omoplatas, kimuras and armbars from this one position. I love cheeky BJJ moves like that. After that, sparred with some real big guys. We're talking 30-40 kilos heavier and you know what? I loved it. Big Nigel, just let me attack him from all angles. I tried from mount but my little knees could not touch the ground when in this position, pah, tried a sort of S-mount, which was a little better. It was good to see Oliver Bruh back on the mats. Not seen him around for a while, but he was there with his new purple belt. Man, Oli always schools me and takes no prisoners! However, back on the sweeps theme, I did manage one sweep. can't remember the details, but it rocked Oli and even he looked surprised...until he continued his brutal breakdown of my guard.

Some RGA news, it was sad to hear that Jude Samuels, a long standing instructor from the RGA team has decided to leave the association. It was rather an abrupt departure and left a lot of guys a bit shocked. But I'm sure it's not the last we'll be seeing of Jude as Nick said he might be popping down to Mill Hill every now and then.

I'm currently hearing on the grapevine how our boys are doing at the Mundials. It's possibly not great news for Daniel Strauss, although still not clear how he did. I think the purples fight today, so more on that later...