Learning to Spar, Part 3

Sparring

I didn’t know anything at all about sparring when it came to jiu jitsu at the beginning. What are you supposed to do if you can’t punch anybody? I didn’t know anything about guard, mount, getting out of mount, or what any of my objectives were. Thankfully, some of the higher belts were pretty nice in explaining how it works in jiu jitsu to me.

         This one brown belt, Cora, went over what mount and guard is with me during sparring. Basically, mount is a powerful position to be in. That’s where you’re sitting on top of your opponent’s stomach with both legs on either side. Guard is where your opponent’s legs are wrapped around your back, and they’re sitting on the ground. Their objective is to try to submit you while in guard. Meanwhile, your objective is to break out of their guard and submit them.

          There are many ways to get out of guard, and there are many ways to submit your opponent from guard, and that’s what jiu jitsu is all about.

          A fundamental tactic is shrimping out of your opponent’s grip. If they’re on top of you, you can put your hands on their knee and try to scooch your bottom out from under them. Then you do the same thing to the other side. It’s not easy because you’re fighting against your opponent’s strength, and they’re not going to easily let go.

The People

         I didn’t really expect to make friends, but I like the people at the studio a lot.

         When one of the women, Zoe, noticed that I’d been coming for several weeks, she offered me one of her old gis and folded it beautifully for me, which was really special. I had been using my old karate gi. It was super nice of her to notice my effort and help me out without even having been asked. She’s also been a wonderful teacher when it comes to sparring, and she’ll give me tips on what I’m doing wrong.

       Grace and I also became friends. She was one of two other white belts, so we practiced a lot together. She’s a couple decades older than me, but age doesn’t matter at the dojo. The other white belt is Naomi, and she was actually born outside the States in Europe. Both of them are shorter than me, but it sure doesn’t matter in sparring.

The Other Students’ Day Jobs

         There are quite a few people I would not have pegged as martial arts practitioners. There’s a schoolteacher, a few engineers, a tradesman, a comedian, a game designer, an accountant, and so on and so forth. Some of them look athletic and intimidating, but others look like everyday people. They probably think that I don’t look like a jiu jitsu person either.

         The Women

There are a handful of women in their twenties, thirties, and forties. A couple of them are about five-feet tall (as previously mentioned), but they’re very strong. Most of the other women are tall and athletic. I asked one of them, Claire, if she was in the military (she looks like a poster child for a military woman). She said she’s been asked that before, but she’s actually an engineer.

During training, we will usually talk about what’s going on in our lives. Work, dating, birthdays, etc. I’m guessing that the men probably don’t chit chat during drills.

The Men

Probably about 90% of the students are men. They are between their teen years and 50 or so, and they come from all different walks of life. They are blue collar, family men, anime lovers, etc. None of them have ever given the women a hard time. I do feel better with one of the owners being as talented as she is, but even then, I don’t think any of them would be disrespectful.