Slippery

It was an outstanding night at Jiu-Jitsu.

The White Belt class was well-attended, and there was a new student, but that wasn't it.

The advanced class went well and we covered a lot, but that wasn't it.

At the end of the night, it was sparring time. No-gi, which I don't prefer, but what can you do. A couple of injured folks headed off, leaving 8 of us on the mat.

The buzzer was set for three-minute rounds, with a 15 second break in between. After each roll, we switched to new partners. This all went so smoothly, that we all ended up rolling with everybody else there.

So we began.

I've rolled with tons of people over the years, especially down in Los Angeles where there are unlimited numbers of potential partners. Out of all the many partners I've had, about a half roll with their egos switched on.

They really want to get a submission, and to avoid them at all cost. This isn't a bad thing, but it seriously messes up a nice roll. Pairs seem to get stuck, clenched in place, unwilling or unable to move on.

There was none of that last night, not with anyone. Move morphed into move, and submission attempt into counter, and back again. By the end of the second match-up, we were all dripping with sweat. The wetter we got, the slicker we were, and the faster we could move.

It was a total of 21 minutes of non-stop, high-speed movement before it was over.

I loved it.

I want to do it again, but wearing gi.

It would be quite different, due to the ease of gripping and even the fabric friction, but it would still be outstanding.