Open Mat

I went to the open mat that Shawn has on Sundays.  There were 7 of us there.  I was the only chick of course but the guys there today were all people I like to work with so it didn't really matter.

I got to roll for about an hour and a half.  I rolled a few times with Nick.  He's a pro fighter and he has a really good ground game so I really like rolling with him.  He catches me with stuff that I don't usually see. It's good to change it up and roll with someone who isn't a jiu jitsu practitioner.  He hasn't spent too much time in the gi.  He still knows so much that I know I will get tapped a number of times whenever we roll.  I feel like I learn a lot every time we roll.

I also got to roll with Anthony a couple of times.  He's one of the other amateur fighters at the gym.  He's gearing up for a tournament in Dec. that's taking place here in KC.  He wants to get his blue belt so he's working pretty hard.  I like rolling with him because we have trained together for long enough that he knows pretty much exactly how rough he can be with me, without hurting me but giving me a really tough time.

There were two newer people there that I rolled with.  It's nice to work with the newer guys, as long as they don't just try to crush me, because I get to see which moves I am really proficient at and which ones I have to drill some more before I can try them on a more advanced person.

I am still up in the air about whether or not I am going to participate in the KC Grappling Challenge.  It's the tournament that Anthony is going to do.  It's on Dec. 4.  I am not sure if I want to pay $60 for probably 2 grappling matches.  1 in the gi and 1 no-gi.  I think it will be good to have as many people there representing our school as possible but $60 smackers is a little steep for me right now.  We will see.  I'm just going to keep training.  I like being back in the swing of things.