Seminar Wrap Up

This past weekend, I drove to Virginia to teach a Jiu-Jitsu seminar in Appomattox at John Kennedy Martial Arts.

As is usual with my good friend, John, he invited several other schools to join in the fun. We trained for several hours Saturday, and had a picnic style lunch.

There were nearly forty attendees, ranging in age from age 7 to 50+. My student, Sarah, helped to teach and demonstrate the movements, as well as helped to coach the folks as they practiced. Sarah is about a foot shorter and 90 pounds lighter than I am, so the visual image of seeing a smaller person performing the movement on a larger, stronger opponent is stunning.

Sarah recounts to me that her favorite part is being approached by the mother of two young teenage girls who were in attendance (Megan and Allison - two really sweet girls). The mom told Sarah how much she inspired those girls to want to continue with the martial arts and train jiu-jitsu specifically. Sarah is also a mother of two (though they are not yet teenagers!), so this was especially touching.

I really enjoyed seeing people do a lot of things they enjoyed, as well as getting to see them demonstrate their karate for me after the fact. It was enlightening and entertaining. It was good to see some legitimate black belts in karate do their kata with such proficiency.

Syllabus:

1. Take down
- double leg take down

2. Mount 
- side to side stabilize
- opponent pushes straight up stabilize
- opponent rolls stabilize

3. Back Mount 
- seat belt & leg hooks stabilize

4. Side position
- roll away stabilize
- roll towards stabilize

5. Guard pass
- "crazy legs" type pass

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lunch
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6. Mount escape
A) Trap arm
B) Trap leg (same side)
C) Lift hip
D) Roll

- "snake bite" variation: grab wrist and "coke-can" hold at elbow
- "shark bite" variation: encircle arm
- gable grip variation

7. Arm bar (juji gatame)
- standard set up: opponent pushes up
- forearm in throat set up
- opponent half rolls set up


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