PACKED MATS!
This week saw the two biggest classes we’ve ever seen at Sanctuary Jiu-Jitsu! On Monday we had 40 people in attendance, including 6 people who were trying Jiu-Jitsu for the first time. On Wednesday, class was nearly as big with 37 people. This is a dream come true for us. Bigger classes pose certain challenges, but our goal has always been to reach as many people with Jiu-Jitsu as possible. Bigger classes also have such great energy, and the more training partners you have the better you will be. However, at the end of class during positional sparring, please be cognizant of the people around you. There may be times where some people might have to rotate out so everyone can train safely, but we aren’t quite at that number yet. In the meantime, just keep training safely and be aware of your surroundings. We don’t have a hard-and-fast rule regarding this, but it’s generally seen as proper etiquette to move out of the way of pairs that have an upper belt rolling. However, if you’re an upper belt, this doesn’t mean you can smash into a pair of White Belts with abandon. Do your best to respect everyone and also ensure that we have a safe training environment overall.
I just wanted to extend a huge thank you to everyone that chooses to train at Sanctuary. You all make it such a special and unique place. Our culture is formed and cultivated by every single person on our mats, and all of you matter and mean so much to the academy. Thanks for being a part of it and giving us the opportunity to share Jiu-Jitsu with you and our community.
GRAPPLING INDUSTRIES
A reminder that on May 27th, Grappling Industries will be coming to Wisconsin Dells! We’d like to make this a team event and get as many people signed up to compete as we can and gather a large group of people to come out and support. If you’re not interested in competing, that’s totally fine! We’d love for you to come, hang out, watch some Jiu-Jitsu, and support your teammates that are competing. If you’re interested in competing you can sign up for the event here. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready, or if you have questions or concerns about competing, please send me an email or text and we can discuss!
COMPETITION CLASS
In the lead up to this tournament we will be opening a Competition Class for competitors, those interested in competing, and the merely curious! What this means is that everyone is welcome! However, the training will be very structured, challenging, and quite different from what you’re used to in a normal Jiu-Jitsu class. I do recommend everyone check it out, though. Competition class will be in lieu of Wednesday and Friday 7 P.M. Advanced and No Gi class. However, the Friday Competition class will be No Gi.
JIU-JITSU IN THE PARK
We will be hosting our very first Jiu-Jitsu in the Park event at Warner Park on Memorial Day (May 29th). Weather permitting, we will have mats, so this will be a members-only Open Mat. Bring your Gi (or No Gi!) and get ready to roll! We will also have food and beverages! We’ll be announcing this event and more details in the coming weeks during class and on social media, so keep an eye out! We’d love to see all of you there and make this an event to remember (and repeat!).
Fundamentals: continuing our foray into Side Control, this week we studied how to switch our base towards the head and attack the arm by stepping over, and how to attack the armlock when our partner defends the initial attack. We also learned the Papercutter (aka Bread-and-Butter) choke from Side Control and how to attack the Spinning Armlock. We will continue with Side Control next week, with an emphasis on escapes.
Advanced: In Advanced class we continued our study of the De La Riva Guard. We reviewed the concepts of off-balancing and placing our partners’ hips on the mat in order to sweep or berimbolo. We took a particular look at the berimbolo this week, studying how to get ourselves underneath our partners so we can force their back to the mat to take Mount, or elevate their hips and take control of their back. We also learned a variation of the berimbolo entry that doesn’t require inversion.
No Gi: in No Gi this week, we took a look at transitioning from side-to-side in the Underhook De La Riva position to X-Guard and technical stand-up, transitioning from the Underhook DLR to Waiter and Waiter X, and adding in a really gnarly Aoki lock compliments of Professor Caio Terra.
In Kids’ Class, we continued our Side Control journey this week. We focused on improving our position from bottom and practiced the key lock submission and arm bars from top. We also studied the proper form for holding Knee on Belly and repped switching from side to side smoothly. We played one of our favorite games, “Red light, green light, SPRAWL!” to emphasize having quick reaction time.
The kids have been very impressive with independently lining up and focusing themselves at the start and end of class. It is great to see their increased self-control and confidence!
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
