Skill Drop

So far this week I've rolled 4 times. Only one of my partners was chosen by me.

That was the first roll, while training in North Vancouver. Elizabeth was my partner during class, and we stayed together for the first roll. She is fast, and clever, and we are of a similar skill level.

When we roll, I try and use similar strength, and to not emphasise my larger mass. If I do that, I need hold back in no other way. We were actually supposed to be doing a swapping type of roll where the partners take turns going for submissions, but it just kind of slipped into being a regular free-roll.

Against all of my other partners, I had to hold back on something other than just size and strength.

For the second roll, the instructor put me with with a young gentleman who was attending his very first advanced class. It was officially free-roll time, but he didn't even know what that meant. He asked me whose turn it would be first and I replied by explaining what was really going on.

I didn't have to concern myself with not over-powering him, or out-sizing him. However, it would be all too simple to over-awe him with technique and experience. Therefore, I brought my level down to something similar to his own, and away we went.

For my third roll, the instructor put me with a young lady. Compared to my previous partner, her rolling level was much higher as she'd been in the advanced class for several months. As when I'm with Elizabeth, I minimised my strength and size advantage, and like the young gentleman earlier, I restricted my trickiness, just not as much.

Roll four was back on the home mat yesterday with my friend Michael. He is also of limited experience, and so again I matched myself to his level, more or less.

So what do they get when I play below my best game, and what does it do for me?

They get to try things, and to do so with some chance of success. The better they perform, the better their opponent becomes.

I let them get me into bad positions, which is good practice for them, and even better practice for me. They get my back, and can attempt to control me there while attempting to gain a submission. I get an opportunity to practice defending the choke, and eventually will perform an escape. They get to defend against the escape at a low level, and then again if they succeed as I take it up a notch, until they can hold me no more, or just perhaps I can't get out at all.

I end up in a great number of horrible positions that I have to survive, or maybe I don't. Likewise, they end up in some bad spots, but ones they might manage to survive, and also to experience and practice gaining the upper hand. In every case, I tapped more than did my partner.

It is also a heck of a lot more fun. I enjoyed every one of these rolls. Each of my partners finished with a big smile on their face.

This is how I like it to be when I am faced with higher-skilled opponents.