Be Small

So let's say in a given week I manage to spar with everybody in our advanced group at least once. That's about 10-12 people.

There are three people who can definitely out muscle me. This isn't all that big of a deal, unless the stronger person is also significantly larger. If they are both stronger, and bigger, it is easy for them to use that to neutralize moves and to generally dominate things.

Only two of the strong guys are also significantly larger than me.

Rolling with them is pretty predictable. I end up defending from the bottom most of the time. I wait for a mistake, or sometimes initiate a reversal. Everything that works for me has to be skill-based and works either by getting around strength and gravity, or by redirecting it.

How would I feel if I were a whole lot smaller?

It wouldn't be two guys out of a dozen that I'd be the smaller guy for. What would it be like to be the smallest in the class; out muscled and out massed in every, single roll?

I would almost always be on the bottom, getting crushed. Almost all my moves would be neutralized by the shear, oppresive bulk of my opponnets.

I weigh about 180. The biggest guy we've got is about 150% of that. Luckily for me, he's new to the advanced class. Even so, I have to get everything right, and to do it quickly and in an unpredictable fashion.

Facing the same guy, our smallest person isn't facing somebody 150% their size, but rather one of 225%. How do you work with that?

That's like me having to face an adult, silverback, mountain gorilla. (do the math and look it up)

Granted, not everybody is that much larger than our smallest person, but how would you feel?

Against the people who move, and use technique, there is no problem. If the opponent is trying to learn and improve, they would be pretending they had no size advantage and acting acordingly.

What about those who just shut things down with strength and crushing size? Clearly, the crusher isn't learning anything, and neither is the crushie. One of our smallest people told me recently that she gets so frustrated that she has fits of rage that are difficult to control.

I learn as much from rolling with a smaller person as with a bigger, stronger one. I try to use technique, the same as if I have no advantage. I'm sure I slip up on this, but I do try. If I rolled like a bigger person whenever I actually am larger, I'd be wasting most of my practice time. I'm one of the bigger guys here.

That way when I ended up rolling with giants down in Los Angeles I was ready. If I'd spent most of my time at home practicing being the larger, stronger person I'd have been crushed big time. As I try to always assume everybody is at least my size and strength, I was ready for bigger people.

When I first stepped onto the mat in LA, I already had about 300 rolls under my belt. I can't say I never acted as the larger person, but I think I always tried to treat smaller people as if they were at least my size. Instead of having experienced only about 30 matches as the smaller guy, I had simulated it for most of the remaining 270.

I did pretty well against the big, California guys, even if they tried to squish and dominate. I remember one in particular that happened within the first week of my arrival, and before I was feeling confident.

My partner was a really big guy. He looked like he'd been cast by Hollywood for the role of; “terrifying, big fighter”. He was well over half a foot taller than me, and outweighed me by well over 70 pounds. He was mostly muscle, with arms as big as my thighs, and a shaved head, and wore the same colour belt that I did. He was facing a little, old, grey-haired man.

I choked him out almost immediately, and continued to dominate him throughout our time together. I guess I was a bit of a dick, but it was just so cool. At the end we shook hands, and he asked me how long I'd been a Blue Belt. When I answered that I'd been in rank for two years, he said, “it shows”.

Evidence that minimizing use of size and strength not is not only good for the smaller partner, it is perhaps even more beneficial for the larger guy.