17/02/2016 - Teaching | Half Guard | Hip Switch Pass

Teaching #464
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2016

Start by flattening out your opponent, driving your free knee into their hip, then walking your trapped leg across. Apply a heavy cross-face: this is absolutely central to the technique. Without a solid cross face, they will be able to turn towards you, perhaps even getting a reversal. If they manage to get an underhook, you'll still need to be wary of getting rolled over: hooking an arm by their leg should block it.

Once you've got that cross-face firmly locked in, raise your hips slightly. This is in order to switch your hips, bringing your free knee up by their hip (sliding underneath your trapped leg). Shift back slightly, in order to make some space in front of their bottom leg. Using either the knee or your shin, wedge that against their lower leg leg. With your free arm, grasp their trouser leg and yank it towards you, in order to open up enough space to free your leg. Ideally you also want to keep your head low and turned towards their legs, to make it harder for them to push into your throat.
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Teaching Notes: I think this all went ok, though again I'm writing this a while after the class. I have been trying to avoid looking at my phone after 9pm, as I think that messes up my sleep, but that also means there is too much of a delay when I write some of these classes up (especially Wednesday sessions, as I'm at my office job on Thursdays and Fridays). I think I'll start getting into the habit of quickly scribbling something on my phone before I cycle home, to jog my memory. :)

Anyway, I do remember that next time the thing to emphasise is getting that bottom knee in front of their knee, without raising it off the ground and disrupting your base. Keeping the cross face solid is important too. I think this is definitely an easier pass than the opposite side option I'm teaching tomorrow, so next time half guard month comes around, I'll focus the passing on the lower Saulo pressure pass and this one. The opposite side pass is still decent, but perhaps not as useful for beginners, because it can go very wrong if you mess it up. ;)