Training with your competitor

So today we got invited to go train at one of our other gym location. They want to gather all the kids that are going to the Pan AMs together and prepare them. There were about 5 kids that are in Cora's division. Those 5 kids are probably the top 5 kids in the Houston area for their division. Cora was the only one with less than 3 years experience. They roll hard with each other and for some reason one of the boy that Cora had went against in the local competition, the boy who's dad was the one that invited us. Well he usually do his take downs, but this time, he does nothing but pull guard. He didn't allow Cora to pull guard on him. It got me thinking about this on the way back home. I asked Cora what was going on? THe kid had told Cora that he's been watching Cora vids and he knows about her Rubber Guard and he was determined not to get in it....:) All the other kids that got in the Rubber Guard never had a chance. It was a great workout for Cora and she got to taste what a berimbolo is. There is a kid that is 12 years old that used to train at AOJ with the Mendez bros, he use the berimbolo and confused the heck out of Cora, took her back and put her in a triangle, she defend it well but he went after the free arm instead and did a nice tricky armbar crush instead. I love this, these guys will help her improve so much. So do you guys train with other location and compete against each other at local tournament also? Do you find it hard to go all out on each other now that you have train together?

ANd also, aren't you afraid they will know all your moves?

Don't be afraid of what a competitors knows about you, be afraid of what you don't know about them.

let them fear her RG and let them pull guard. She should then just pass, mount,and finish, right??? After she does that a few times, they will be in a pickle as what to do!!

Greg: its easier said then done. These boys out experience her so much that their guard game is top notch. She did tried many passing, but their guard was really good. For kids that are not so good as them, she pass quite easily. This lead me to ask this questions to everyone.

When a person pull guard on you because they don't want to be the victim of your rubber guard, what passing do you use that is VERY effective when they are holding one of your leg? Videos will help greatly, but if not I will try to visualize it. Thank you

This was bound to happen and is for the best. Exposing the weak points in your game is the greatest gift a competitor can give you. She needs to be as confident with guard breaks and passing as she is off her back.

When someone wants to pull guard on you, hide your belly from them. Squat above your base and bring your lead elbow to your lead knee and keep it there. Also keep your head the same level or lower than theirs with a straight spine.

They can plop down, but not be able to close guard. Ben Askren and Johnny Hendrix teach this.

If you put vids of your matches on the net, that will make it harder for you to pull guard if you’re a guard player :) That’s probably the biggest piece of information people have pulled from my vids that they’ve told me about. I wouldn’t pass up on training for fear of someone learning my game. I think what Greg was talking about was the long run shaping of her game. By the way, if you mean by “if someone has your leg” the “sit-up guard”, I prefer to capoeta pass that, but that may not be for her, I haven’t really seen her top game. Best of luck and just enjoy the journey.

The pass I was talking about is the De La Riva Pass. We worked on that all day today. She has a tournament coming up this Sat. and all the boys that she just roll with are in her division. Its going to be a great fight between the 3-4 of them. During the practice drill, none really got anything over one another. One kid got a good north south control of cora. Then Cora pays him back when she finally found a way to put him in her guard and put him in the rubber guard. By this time she was so tired that she too can't finish him, no strenght to hold him down. THe other boys battle hard with cora. I think if they all started fresh, she would come out on top on a couple of them. This was a 2.5 hours workout and before they started to roll, they did about 30 minutes of warm up drills and about an hour of technique drills. On top of that, before we went to that gym, she worked out an hour with me at home. This whole week her coach work her out the most as he knows she is preparing for 2 tournaments. She compete the most out of all the kids at the gym. So each day, she is tired when she begin to spar. I just can't imagine how she will be when she is fresh...:)