While others spent the day complaining about the Monday blues we at Scranton MMA rejoiced in the Monday black ‘n blues! The afternoon began with 10 of Scranton MMA’s instructors gathering for the instructors only training session, a weekly closed door 90 minute session for the instruction staff of Scranton MMA. 4pm the first bell rings, the sparring begins, and doesn’t stop for 90 minutes. Standing and ground, gi and no-gi, every instructor pushing to drive one another to the next level. At the end of the session the instructors take the time to analyze and critique each others game.
Following the instructors training was Street Essentials, a beginner level course designed to strip Gracie Jiu Jitsu down to its core; technique. Today Essentials focused on using the Upa, or trap and roll, to escape the mounted position. The class was attended by first time students as well as 20 of our hard working white belts. Even several of the blues, purples, and browns attended this class because they know of the absolute necessity to be able to escape the mount with perfect efficiency. The Upa can never be practiced enough! Along with the basic mechanics of the escape we worked on a few “what ifs” before taking time at the end to drill the mount position with one practitioner maintaining the mount while the other attempted to escape. On a side note here, it was great to see the strong presence of women in this class: 6 females working hard on their jits today!
Following Street Essentials was Advanced BJJ. The advanced class is for students of the rank of blue belt and higher. Tonight’s class took a break from the normal high level drilling of advanced techniques and instead entered a Q&A format. With Royce’s visit looming, the advanced ranks wanted to be sure their games are tight. the 16 bjj students sparred 5 rounds against one another before time was called and the floor was opened. Question after question was asked and answered and at the end of the hour session every student came away with just a bit more knowledge than when they started.
Thanks to everyone that made Monday a great day! See you the rest of the week…on the mats!