Blue Belt + 2

My second day on the mat after receiving my blue belt. Today we drilled the de la Riva to armbar and de la Riva to bow and arrow. I drilled with a slightly more senior blue belt that is shorter and lighter than me. He is also about 10 years younger.

After drilling for the first hour, Professor called me to the center of the mats with a senior blur belt in his 20's. He is taller and heavier that me, but probably by on 10-20 lbs. My back was hurting, so I did not go for the takedown, he shot in and grabbed my left leg. He drove forward and pulled me in to get the takedown, but I quickly reversed it to get to side control.

He scrambled to get out, but I ended up in North-South position. As I started to make my way back to side control, Professor called and end to our roll. He went through the roaster of people there pairing them up by what he felt would be a good match.

After that, he had us pair up and roll. I paired up with a younger white belt that is known to be a grinder. Right from the bump, he came at me hard and fast. I was able to get to side control, then moved to his back. He is one of those guys that does not like to tap. I moved from his back to a belly down armbar, but he was not tapping so I let it go and ended on my back with him in side control.

I was able to scramble out and get into an S-mount position. I came under his neck and grabbed the lapel. I through my bottom leg over his body and grabbed his pants by the knee with my left hand. I finished with the bow and arrow that we drilled earlier today.

We started going again whe Professor called time and had us find new partners. One of the purple belts that haven't been around for a while picked me. He flow rolled for what seemed to be a long time with me on top, then him on top, then back to me and then him again. I tried attacking his arms a few time, but we ended up in the 50/50 and he starting attacking my ankle. I went for an heel hook, but I let it go and just tapped because I didn't want to get hurt and I didn't know how to really finish the heel hook.

We went again and the same thing, a lot of back and forth. I was starting to think he was just flowing with me. He ended up catching me in another submission, but I don't recall what it was. We went again, and this time he turtled up and I was able to roll him onto his side and went for the arm bar. This time he tapped, and Professor just happened to be watching and called an end to class.

Professor told us to get a drink and circle up. He talked about a female that just received her blue belt earlier this week and me. He told the class about how proud of us he was. We both compete to push ourselves, and for our own reasons. I guess he was happy with what he saw of us today.

At the end of class, I rolled with another blue belt that can over from the Krav Maga school I trained at. A couple time I almost got hi, but he ended up getting the better of me. At the end he said I went harder than he wanted. Made me feel bad. When I am tired, I end up in a fight or flight mode and can not control my flow. That's something I will be working on. OSS