Separate Partners

There was no chance.

On Saturday Madeline and I finished the first big part of our Jiu-Jitsu exams. We then moved into prep for the second part. It needs to be finished a week after the last one.

We both have weak spots in the material we're covering, and need to memorize the sequence of the 61 techniques. The coming deadline did not feel comfortable at all.

We made plans to meet on the mat Monday, and would be at class for several hours together on Tuesday. My medical thing will keep me away Wednesday and Thursday. We'll be working together again on Friday...and then it's already Saturday and test time.

Clearly we would have to put in tons of effort when separate. We'd have to get ourselves ready, and then use the time together to weave our movements together.

I put in the effort reviewing at home on the weekend, and we got together Monday. It went well, but it also became clear how big the task actually is.

Today it's Tuesday, and I just got home after the last training we'll have together until Friday. It really seemed to come together. There is still a ways to go, but I feel much better about the entire situation.

Lots of solo review still to do, and then we'll work together Friday. I wouldn't be surprised if we're feeling so good about our readiness that we record an attempt that evening. Saturday for sure.

We'll get it done on time, and then there's only one big test segment to do the next week.

It's a long road.

Another Gender Issue

There are an awful lot of MMA fighters that I don't think very highly of, and my new least-favorite is Fallon Fox.

She's a 145 pounder, and is 38 years of age. She only started fighting last year. This is darn ancient to be starting out in any sport, let alone a combat one. You'd think I'd be rooting for her, but I'm not.

She was born with the name Boyd Burton. Back then she was a he. Boyd knew he was either transgender, or possibly gay when he was young, but still married a girl when he was 19. He promptly fathered a son who is now in his late teens. In 2006 Boyd Burton underwent surgery to alter his physical gender.

None of this is my business, and if Fallon were a private citizen I would have no opinion to express about it. I also wouldn't mind if she were a public person if her chosen career were something like acting, politics, or music. It is, however, sport.

And not just any sport. While a transgender athlete may or may not have an advantage in say, tennis. There would be no danger to the opposing participants. She actually chose to enter the world of MMA.

I don't know of anybody who advocates women and men of the same size fighting one another. In the recent season of the show The Ultimate Fighter the participants are of both genders and all in the 135 pound category. The men and women only fight within their gender, but they train side by side. As skillful and hard hitting as the women are, the men are just as talented and pack more muscle and bone.

I don't think transgender people should fight in the women's divisions, but maybe I'm wrong. The rules currently state that the transformation cannot be merely surgical, but must also be accompanied by a minimum of two years of hormone therapy. Maybe this evens things out.

I decided to watch Fallon Fox's three MMA fights if I could find them online. The first of these she won by TKO in the first round. I couldn't find video of this one, or even a write up.

In the second match, she looked awkward as her opponent outclassed her in skill. Then, 39 seconds into the match she grabbed her opponent's head with both of her hands, pushed down hard and drove up her knee. The other girl dropped like a stone. A valid technique, but a strength-based one.

In her third fight, it went almost three full rounds. The two participants seemed evenly matched overall, with the skill advantage NOT in Fallon's corner. Finally, Fallon got on top of her opponent, put her knee on the other girl's neck, and crushed. A tap-out victory, again with a strength technique. I have never seen that same crush ever applied in MMA before.

So Fallon Fox, the 38 year-old fighter with male DNA, finally got major air time this month at an event held in Coral Gables, Florida for some rinky-dink “World Title”. She would be facing Ashlee Evans-Smith, a 26 year-old fighter with a 1-0 professional record. (Evans-Smith also has an amateur record of 5-4; even less inspiring than her tiny pro record)

The betting line had Evans-Smith a 5-1 underdog.

Turns out that Ashlee Evans-Smith comes from a wrestling background and trained with a male team. She would be quite used to going all out with her wrestling teammates and most of them would have been double her size and strength. Her punching is also top notch and highly trained.

In skill, she made Fallon Fox look like a joke. Fallon's strength-based take downs were useless against Evans-Smith. While nowhere near as skilled as Evans-Smith in striking, she was clearly still able to hit much harder. This made the first round fairly even.

The second round was perfect.

Evans-Smith dominated the first minute. Fox tries to muscle her down, but can't, and Evans-Smith is beating her up. Then Evans-Smith takes Fallon to the canvas with an adroitly applied trip. Fox is on her back for a long time. At first she is unable to get up, and then unwilling. Finally she gets up and Evans-Smith blitzes her with a barrage of punches. Fallon grabs Evans-Smith in headlock, and manages to bull her over with a hip toss....which Evans-Smith turns into a re-roll and ends up on top. Evans-Smith is in total control for the remainder of the fight. Things with Evans-Smith sitting on Fallon Fox's chest landing punch after punch. The ref stops it. Everybody thinks it's a TKO, but the crowd was going so crazy that neither the fighters nor the ref could hear the timekeeper banging like a madman on the bell. The round had already ended, so the fight wasn't over.

Round three

Fox seems to have recovered, and takes Ashlee-Smith down, and then dominates in the clinch when they are back on their feet. Ashlee-Smith then takes Fallon down with a beautiful technique, and then has to avoid a heal hook. She gets on top again and pounds away at Fallon Fox's head and body. She lands about a billion unanswered strikes until the ref stops the action....again.

TKO. Both in the fight and likely to Fallon Fox's career as well.

What if a seriously skilled fighter who is male, and who isn't already an old man, changes his gender?

Should he/she be permitted to fight as a woman?

One Down

Part one is done for both Madeline and for me. The video still has to checked by our instructor, but he says it looks good.

Now we have to polish up the harder second part of our Jiu-Jitsu exams. Not only is this one harder overall, we haven't yet worked on it all that much. We've been focused on part one.

We plan on getting together to train Monday.

Tuesday we'll both be at class, stealing minutes when the White Belts are working on their stuff. We also grab every minute between the White and Blue classes.

Wednesday and Thursday I won't be able to attend class. I have a medical thing at the hospital and will be out of action. No practice for those two days.

Friday there is a chunk of time available before the Hapkido class takes over the mat. I assume we'll be hard at it every second.

Monday will be an hour or so of training time, Tuesday half as much, and Friday will be an hour and a half. That's only three hours total. That won't be enough make us really smooth.

On Saturday we both want to test.

Maddie might be ready by then. She's gifted at Jiu-Jitsu.

I am not, and will need a lot more work.

Let's see. I could put in an hour on my basement mat each day. None on my medical days, of course. That would give me maybe five hours more review.

That might be just enough to get my second 15-minute test section ready.

Progress?

So how is the testing all going?

Well, Madeline did two of her sparring sections this week and both were good. I had three of mine videod, but only one is worth keeping.

Today, Madeline started started on her first technical section.

About ten minutes in, Madeline's partner made a small error which confused her and brought everything to a halt.

After a short break, she went again. This time she went for about 15 minutes, and was only a couple of movements from the end before her partner screwed up again.

I felt like crap as I was her partner.

That was all the time we had, as a class was about to start on the mat.

We meet again tomorrow for her third attempt. If successful, I then try and do the same exam part with her as my partner. She won't screw up for me at all, and I don't mind if I mess up on my own test.

Then we have to get ready to do the whole thing two more times in the next two weeks. This week's stuff is the material we are both the most confident with. The rest will take a ton of work to get ready. We will also be much more likely to make errors.

I've decided not to the last two sparring segments until after all the hard parts of the test are complete. The sparring is pretty intense, and there is a small chance of injury. Injury could interfere with either practice or with being able to test. Gonna do them last. I won't roll in class either, at least not with any intensity at all.

This coming week I'll be short two training days as I am getting a routine colonoscopy. How much fun does that sound?

Tiny Test

I've done a lot of exams in my life. None has ever been anywhere near as difficult

as the one I'm in right now.

University math, physics, history, or even Karate exams; nothing is even close.

What makes it so hard?

Let's look at the first part of it. There are 51 items to perform. Each is a sequence of movements. There can be no hesitation; every body part must perform exactly as required. There is also a partner to perform everything on. The candidate’s movements must correctly interpret their partner's movements, even if they are out of place.

In theory, the maximum time to perform part one is 15 minutes. In reality, it is more like 14 as there is a bunch of mandatory audio that has to be included. That works out to about 15 seconds to perform each of the 51 items. It is doable, but there is no lolling about or thinking time at all.

The second test part has more material to perform, and the third slightly less.

In all of this, the candidate is permitted a maximum of 20 demerits. The smallest hesitation, wrong grip, hand angle, or anything else draws a demerit.

At my Shotokan Karate Black Belt exam, there were three parts with pauses in between during which the candidate would stand waiting, and resting. Adding together all of the moving time, and it was maybe 15 minutes, tops; and there were two rest pauses of about 30 seconds when recovery was possible.

Each of the Jiu-Jitsu exam's first three parts is just as physically intense and draining as my entire Black Belt exam.

I don't know if it all requites more brain power than a university exam, but try doing calculus with somebody on top of you, as you squirm side-to-side, with the intensity of a footrace.

That covers the first three parts.

The final three section are blessedly only five minutes each. They involve sparring. With a weak opponent the expectation on the candidate is much higher. With a tough opponent, more leeway is given. The opponent is expected to do their best. These are marked on a pass/fail basis depending on the candidate’s use of appropriate technique.

These are much easier.

Each of the 6 sections is recorded, and bundled off to the Gracie University website for evaluation.

The only thing that makes it possible is that the sections can be performed as many times as desired until the candidate and their instructor is content with the result. This was all taken into consideration when the system was set up. This is why only 20 demerits are permitted.

I hate the bloody thing.

17 or less

Last night I started my Jiu-Jitsu exam. There are six parts, and one is over.

That means I'm 17% done. That sounds like a significant chunk to me.

Unless you don't count it as one part done out of six, but rather 5 minutes finished out of 60. The test parts are not all of the same length. That means I'm only 8% complete. That's a lot less.

Unless you consider that the part I've finished is not only one of the short parts, it's also only half as difficult to perform as the longer sections. Rating it and the other sparring sections as only half as significant per minute of performance, I'm under 5% done.

Over 95% to go.

That sucks.

Three Week Testing Trap

There is a trap waiting to spring on Madeline and I in our Gracie Jiu-Jitsu exams.

To get it finished before our instructor is unavailable is an important goal. It wouldn't be impossible to perform the exam without him, but much harder.

To get done in time, we have to finish the six exam segments in the next three weeks. That seems so easy. Three fifteen-minute technical drills, and three five-minute sparring demonstrations. We will be starting on the sparring this week.

The danger is in testing too slowly. Let's say Madeline and I get the first of the sparring sessions done. Let's say each of us need three attempts to get good recordings. That's 30 minutes of sparring time each. Add in breaks, and discussion, and setup, and it's easily a full hour. We will be exhausted by the end, and have eaten up a lot of mat time that is normally used for other training.

There is a very good chance that we'll all be happy with having completed that much for the week.

There's the trap. One test segment per week isn't enough. We must complete a minimum of two, especially if they are sparring segments. The sparring segments only take five minutes per attempt, and are marked on a pass/fail basis. The technical sections are fifteen minutes long per attempt and are precisely marked on all movements. As a result they will likely require more do-overs to be as perfect as we can make them.

In my previous example, a sparring segment was completed with one hour of effort. Getting a technical segment done with only three attempts each would burn three times as much effort and time. They are an entirely different kind of beast.

This is where the trap turns grizzly-bear deadly; with steel teeth dipped in poison.

Actually, even if we completed all three of the sparring segments this week we will have already fallen behind.

If we each do three sparring segments this week, and a technical one next week, and another technical one the week after, we will run out of time with one technical segment left to go.

I'd say we must beat down a technical segment every week to get this done. The sparring is almost insignificant. We could knock of one of those each week as well, or even do them all this week. In terms of difficulty, effort and time they are relatively trivial.

Must bang off a technical section every week to finish on time.