Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/06/2016
Nathan Adamson showed me a few tweaks to the knee shield pass when I took a private lesson with him at the 2016 BJJ Globetrotter Camp in Leuven. Mainly that was in the grips, particularly his initial grip, low on the knee-shielding leg. Grab right down near the bottom of the trouser leg, knuckles down. Your other hand grips their same side collar, while you also have your free leg up and based out. From this strong base, straighten out your trouser gripping arm, until it is straight. To do that, you will probably angle your torso away from the leg: make sure you stay low as you do that. From there, you do a big twist, whacking your outside hip right into their stomach. That puts you into a standard hip switch pass position.
From here, ideally you want to apply a heavy cross-face: this will make the pass much easier. Without a solid cross face, they will be able to turn towards you, perhaps even getting a reversal. Having said that, the arm gripping their collar should already be acting as a cross-face, keeping it straight so the 'bar' of your arm prevents them turning towards you. You will also need to be careful of your weight distribution. If you are leaning too far over their body, they can roll you over the top. If you aren't on the sides of your feet pushing into them, they could roll you backwards. You are effectively sitting down next to them, while still staying tight and pressing your weight into them. 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.
To complete the pass, it will help to insert your bottom shin onto their bottom thigh. Shift back slightly, in order to make some space in front of their bottom leg. Do not raise up: that will give them space to bring their leg in for defence, perhaps even start their escape. Using either your knee or your shin, wedge that against their lower leg leg. Change your trouser grip from their shin to by their knee, then yank it towards you. This should 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: The turnout on Monday was really small due to the England vs Iceland football match (hence why it was a Venezuelan, a Norwegian, a Turk - me - and one English person), so I thought I'd repeat for the Wednesday class. I made sure the emphasise the turn this time, which I think helped. I also showed the people who were there on Monday (all three came back tonight: dedication!) a slight variation on the pass, where you cut your knee across. The tweaks from Nathan Adamson have been really useful. I'll be returning to his material from both the private lesson and group class next month, as he had some good stuff on passing as well as open guard.
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