Immediate help with lockdown game (GI)

We in need of immediate help with the lockdown game in the GI. I know some of you out there do play in the Gi also, so please help us. We only have a few days to fine tune things for Kids World. Ok here is the situation. When playing her lockdown game, Cora do the usual attack. She would black mamba and get the 1/4 guard, but as soon as she swing to get the under hook on the far leg, they would drop to their knee or sprawl out hard to prevent her from getting the leg. Then they use collar grip to push on the collar to prevent her even coming close to their other leg. As Cora tries to fight for the lockdown, they continue to use the Gi collar grip to threaten the choke. How have you guys been able to play the lockdown game in the Gi? I'm hoping this is an isolated incident. But in any case, just a precaution, still need help with it. Thank you in advance.

Breathing comes first lol. I sometimes control their right knee with my right hand and defend the choke with the left. Practice swinging to deep half to give them another element to worry about. You can let them come on top and hit mini stomps. Plan B are easy if you can get a collar grip with your left hand. Even if you do nothing but hang on to that 1/4 and don't let it go for nothing they will eventually get impatient and give you what you want.

come up to dogfight

If they sprawl really hard as she is diving for the electric hook and she just can't get a good angle for the hook, don't forget about the whip down. If you can't get a good hook on anything else, turn into them and stiff arm the near armpit to get them loaded up and over. That far leg will be much closer with the other kids hips so far over Cora, making sprawling the leg back much less of an issue, and even if she can't get the leg loaded onto her shoulder for the electric chair, Five-0 control is right there, too.

Based on my experiences, playing quarter guard with the Gi is a losing battle.

There’s more to defending the Knee Slide Pass in the Gi than just the underhook. They’ll either grab same side or cross collar to keep you pinned while fishing for that sleeve to baseball slide through. The threat of the collar choke is there I guess, but it’s more so a bait to pass rather than finishing.

Lockdown is still extremely effective in the Gi, just a little harder to setup. How does her Dela Riva and Spider Guard game look?

Straight back to dog fight. Lockdown half is an option, not manditory;)

She has nice DLR and spider guard, but hasnt really work on it much lately as she been killing it with her lockdown game. I too am starting to think the same way as you about the 1/4 guard in the Gi. Maybe go back to the spider guard game. Or maybe these 2 boys are the exception as they have been training so much longer than her. We'll try to work something out and go back to see how she do this time. Just to let you know how good these 12 yr old boys are, while watching them berimbolo each other, it was like Mendes vs Cobrinha all over again, that is how good they are. And the pace they were moving was unreal.

You should ask Magnus Hansson. He is truly an expert with GI halfguard.

Maybe try to play little kneeshield z guard to get the distance. It is quite safe when rules don't allow toeholds. Waite for the moment to shoot deep with lockdown. Also for her it is good to find if there is option to take full guard and do her magic. Also if she has underhook go to the dog fight and transition to guard from there if the opponents are stronger. Well my 2 cents. Might be good advice or not. :D

Caution: white belt thinking follows:

can she just go to full guard? If they aren't blocking the inside leg with their leg (leaving it vulnerable to attack), can she just pull the inside leg up or shrimp out to get to guard?

Disclaimer: the idea above may be awful. ;)

Getting full guard on these top level kids are almost impossible. You have to try get that 1/4 guard first. Getting full guard is mot a luxury here, especially when they know her strong game is rubber guard.

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Originally Posted by Niko Rotko

Maybe try to play little kneeshield z guard to get the distance. It is quite safe when rules don't allow toeholds. Waite for the moment to shoot deep with lockdown. Also for her it is good to find if there is option to take full guard and do her magic. Also if she has underhook go to the dog fight and transition to guard from there if the opponents are stronger. Well my 2 cents. Might be good advice or not. :D

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Going from quarter guard to z guard sounds like bad juju. I don’t think it’s possible to shoot for the lockdown when the guy on top has his knee already planted on the floor

Not sure about the Dog fight recommendation. Those collar grips are equivalent to an underhook from top. It’s hard to swim for underhooks from the bottom when you’re pinned without any room to work with.

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Originally Posted by Royce Kim

Going from quarter guard to z guard sounds like bad juju. I don’t think it’s possible to shoot for the lockdown when the guy on top has his knee already planted on the floor

Not sure about the Dog fight recommendation. Those collar grips are equivalent to an underhook from top. It’s hard to swim for underhooks from the bottom when you’re pinned without any room to work with.

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I get to dogfight in the gi alot, either with the underhook, or failing that farside lapel around the back, or the belt. If I can't because of their grips for some reason I get as close to dogfight as I can, grab the belt pop a butterfly hook on the outside of their leg and sweep. Just beware the tricky chokes.

http://youtu.be/jaauZf5YbOU

Hey Bruce, this is my go to. You can play around with spiraling.

Edit: Check out the second defense also.

In my experience, you need to go really fast with offense when using lockdown or 1/4 guard in the gi. Basically, get that lockdown, rotate your body and get the electric underhooks FAST.

Once they have a hold of that collar and are threatening a choke, it has to be respected. With an over under clinch, squaring up to your opponent and stretching that lockdown fully downward (to pull your opponent lower down your body), you're pretty much safe from collar chokes. Note: DO NOT go for double unders if your opponent has one hand sunk in deep for the collar choke - you'll end up with no hands to defend your neck with the other hand comes around.

So - if there's a threat of a collar choke, stay safe by squaring up and utilising an over under (which your opponent will happily take), then once the threat is gone, work to get to either dogfight or electric underhooks FAST. Also, keep your head GLUED to your opponent's body at all times - that eliminates all lapel choke possibilities.

That's my experience with it anyway, I'm sure there's loads more that I haven't seen/felt/experienced yet!

Sorry, realised that I kinda read your question incorrectly (you were asking specifically around 1/4 guard).

Same concepts apply - underhook on near side + keep the far side arm away (to prevent the head grab + donkey kick pass - i.e. the "violent" knee slide).

Something to play around with - remember that you can use your near side arm to grab the back of your opponent's collar to keep them under control (a pretty useful alternative to getting the underhook, if you'd like to keep a little distance during this period). For the far side arm, you can grab the sleeve and pull it across - giving your opponent less balance (and making it less likely they'll use the super devastating donkey kick to pass the 1/4 guard).

Thanks for all the great advice guys. Now I have a few things to work on with cora and will test it out and report back to you.