BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Thibault Olivier, Leuven, Belgium, 09/07/2018
After an overnight FlixBus from the UK, travelling under the sea in a train, I arrived at the promised land: Leuven 2018! It's fitting that my 1000th class of BJJ is at the Leuven BJJ Globetrotters Camp. They've been a massive part of my BJJ training since 2015, when I attended my first camp, which was also the first iteration of the Leuven Camp. That's grown to the biggest of all the BJJ Globetrotters Camps, a major event in the international BJJ calendar. I now build my whole year around the Leuven Camp, something I intend to attend annually.
It's also helped inspire me to try and set up my own mini-camps, so try and reduce that Post Camp Blues: I'm thinking April and October would tide me over, though my first 'test' camp is going to be August 25th and 26th. If anyone reading this is interested in popping down to Bristol for 8 hours of training with 6 black belts (including Seymour 'Meerkatsu' Yang), click here. ;D
Olivier presented a useful overview of the main sweeps from x guard. He does it further apart than I'm used to, with one leg hooking right up by the hip, the other behind the knee. You can tip them backwards, push into their leg and technical stand. If you combine a push with a backwards tilt, you might get their foot off the floor, which you can then grab to drive and knock them over.
To pass, Olivier suggested pulling up on the arm, thrusting your hips forward. With your other hand, grab behind their knee, then do a quick rotate inside with your leg to remove their hook. That leg then immediately kicks back, so you can slide down and move into a pass.
