Monday, November 03, 2008

Thank you Stephan and Donald, a.k.a. Achilles Heaven

Ahhhh... the sweet, sweet taste of victory.

Today I got an ankle lock on my friend Tom. Imagine the biggest grin on my face, that's about half how I felt :) I am so happy because this time part of it wasn't a gift. I think I surprised us both. I was certainly surprised! It was like my body knew what to do without consulting my brain!

The title pays homage to the two men responsible for my ankle lock-- Stephan Kesting and Donald, a brown at the Relson Gracie school here in Austin. I was all psyched up to use Phil's easy-peasy open guard pass but Tom stayed on his knees the whole time. He likes to shove my head down because I don't fight off his neck control, and eventually takes my back. Eventually I turn into him (need to remember to turn into him and go under the arm!) and end up in guard. He opens guard immediately, but I generally wrestle around with legs ineffectually, his feet clinging to me like prehensile little pains in the ass.

Today, I scooped up under his ankle that was around my hip and going towards my back. I got the outside, underneath leg angled properly, with my heel in his hip and ball of the foot down on the mat-- got my inside, top leg right with the shin against his privates, instep under his bum-- laid down on my side, arched and looked away... I think, looking back, that I probably didn't surprise him at all, but I was thoroughly surprised that my body seemed to identify what I needed to do without me thinking it through in words, for once.

The rest of the roll: I need to work on takedowns from the clinch. I have to try to go for more triangles. Screwed up my armbar counter to side control-- instead of mindlessly trying to regain guard, when their head is up high, frame on the jaw, catch the head with your leg. I also need to work on triangle counters and armbar counters.

Tonight, I have Gracie class from 5-8; the Atama Open is this Saturday and it's my second tournament. I'm feeling pretty excited... no pressure no pressure I keep telling myself.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on Achilles Heaven! :P It's always nice to work on something and then get it for reals.