After this, the class split up with white belts on one side and blue belts and up on the other, and we sparred like that for a bit.  Then in the last half hour, we sparred as usual.  I got a lot of matches, including one with Coach Foster which was awesome, and a good mix of white belts and upper belts.

As much as possible, I started from Turtle and worked to get back to guard.  I was able to get the ninja roll back to guard a few times (that is, roll back to guard as shown in my last post).  I also had some success working for the single leg.  Bing gave me a valuable tip for getting back to guard when someone is sprawled more toward north/south.  I’m always looking to defend the d’arce or the guillotine form here.

A new female came in to roll yesterday.  She’s a blue belt who hasn’t trained in about a year, she said.  My first impression is that she is nice and will be a great addition to the crew if she sticks around.  We have several women who train with us, but most are pretty new.  Amy is a purple belt, but she hasn’t been training regularly in a while, so I believe it will be really cool for the female white belts to have a colored belt around.

I got a chance to roll with her and she seems competent.  So I crushed her.  I used my weight and strength to take advantage of her mat rust and totally pwned her.  Of course, I’m kidding.  I pulled guard and worked to stay open and loose.  She was a constant threat to pass.  Basically,I spent the entire time getting her in my open guard,  working to get a de la riva hook or spider guard, where I’d pretty much get passed right away, shrimping back to regain my half guard, rinse and repeat.  It was a good roll for me, and a different attack than I’m used to. 

I’m looking forward to class tomorrow.