Back to the Grind

Classes start Monday.  And though my classroom hours are pretty light this semester, I have plenty of other school-related projects that will suck my time away from me.  Can't wait.

I went to class Thursday night, open mat Friday night for an hour, and class Saturday afternoon.  It is always a little reassuring to watch Klint wreck purple belts.  Usually, the highest rank at class is a blue, and I haven't seen Klint work with one of them for a while.  Saturday, Casey (a cop who trains at Damian's) came to Klint's class, and they rolled for a while afterwards.  Even though Casey can make me look and feel like I've never done jiu jitsu before in my life, Klint caught him with the same things that he always uses to catch us.  So yes, while part of the chasm between Klint and the rest of us is that we are white belts to his black, the other part is that he is freakishly good.

Open mat was pretty good, I think.  I got to roll with two purples (Brady and Mike), a blue (Josh), and a white (Jason, I think).  Came away having done pretty well against Brady, warmed up and worked a bit of light rolling with Josh, and trading positions with Jason.  Mike was the capper for the evening, and he is far beyond what I am able to comprehend right now.  He's been rolling for years, and understands movement and control in ways that I hope I one day will.  But he has years on me, so it wasn't embarrassing.  He's also exceptionally wiling to teach and take on the mentor role in the middle of a roll.  For that reason alone, working with him is rewarding in ways that working with others is not.

Regretting that I've not posted here as regularly as I would like, I will post a link to another blog that I regularly read.  Zen Mojo has posted a piece on Rules for Newbies.  It is great.  If you read it after training for a few months, it will be very very good.  Having trained almost a year now, I know that even if I had read it months ago, it would not have the same impact and effect that it does now.  Even year-long veterans are still newbies.  So mosey on over and give it a read.  It's worth the time.