Another weekend has come and gone. And with the closing of another weekend, another set of grappling tournaments have concluded. And even though those tournaments are in different locations throughout the world, they have things in common: competitors that are willing to take the challenge by going out to test their skills against one another (which is very admirable of them). They also have something else that I don’t understand…competitors that lack any takedown skills.
Now, I really struggle with this because I just don’t understand how “jumping” or “sitting” into guard can be the first takedown option for lots of grapplers. And the more I think about it, I still can’t come up with an answer that acceptable to me. I don’t think “jumping” or “sitting” into the guard is a bad thing when it is an option for a grappler and part of a strategy. It should NEVER be the first option for a beginner grappler, in my opinion. When I see a beginner/intermediate grappler jumping guard, that tells me they’ve probably spent too much time drilling the “fun” positions (i.e. ½ guard, mount, etc.) and consider mastering those positions more valuable than perfecting their takedowns, even though securing a takedown can give you a point advantage (as well as psychological one.). And the reason that grapplers continue to do it is because the weakness of having no takedowns hasn’t been exposed in a match in the past and feel that sitting (or jumping) to their guard is all they need to get to the mat during a match.
But what happens if they’re going against someone that thinks the same as they do? Have you ever seen a match between two guard jumpers? I have and I gotta tell you that the first minutes of the match has the potential to be boring if both are trying to get into position to jump and neither knows how to execute a good takedown. A few years ago, I coached one of my teammates against a competitor that I had noticed jumping guard in the two previous matches before meeting my guy in the semi-finals. Since our guy was good at doing a double leg takedown (as well as jumping guard), the strategy was to defend against the guard jump and jump guard on him instead. I figured that a guy that seemed so anxious to jump guard probably wasn’t used to having the script flipped on him and I was right because the strategy worked beautifully! My teammate blocked his opponent’s guard jump, did the guard jump on him (to his opponent’s surprise), and finished him with an armbar from the guard.
What lessons should the opponent have picked up from that match about his grappling game?
- He had no takedowns
- He had no clue what to do if unable to jump guard
- He didn’t know how to stop someone from jumping guard on him
- He had never considered what strategy to use if grappling against
an opponent who had a style similar to his own
I can’t help but wonder if he actually (or his coach) recognized the problems and they did something to correct them…or did they just consider it a bad day and continue to jump guard in every tournament after that day. If I had to bet my mortgage on it, I’ll go with the having a bad day to explain his performance.
Drilling takedowns may not be as “fun” drilling submissions, but they’re a vital part of every grappler’s arsenal. No grappler should consider takedowns as something that they only work on the week before a tourney, but must be put into the drilling schedule just like you would an armbar or triangle. There’s no guarantee that jumping guard will work and I haven’t seen a match outside of training start on the knees yet.
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Paul M. Greenhill, “The Wise Grappler”, is the creator of The Wise Grappler System and author of The Wise Grappler Ezine, a weekly ezine that provides grappling and mental mindset training tips for the older (over 35) and non-traditional/non-competitive martial artists. To learn more about “The Wise Grappler” and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit his site at www.ihateyoungpunks.com or paul@thewisegrappler.com.
