Early Thoughts on Hiatus

On March 9, I determined I could no longer train, even at my hobbyist intervals, and still support my son's participation in travel baseball to the extent I desire.  His already demanding schedule grew even more robust following the switch from off-season to pre-season. 

And then we went to Arizona for his first tournament of the year; one in which his team coalesced and he played quite well.  Although the team was out of the winners' bracket after Day 1, they competed well, played some decent team baseball, and my boy pitched, hit, and defended with a robust competitive vigor that made me very proud.

Knowing this trip was on the horizon, as are tuition payments for the high school he'll begin attending next fall, I called James and asked him to suspend my membership agreement until the baseball schedule wanes this summer.  Now, almost three weeks later, I am detrained and I miss the mat.   I miss the new and old friends in class.  I miss getting punched in the face.

I knew I would, but I also knew that I would start beating myself up about missing classes if I couldn't maintain a sort of dual motivations (to train and to be there for my son).  So I temporarily sacrificed one for the other. 

In the mean time, I've found short intervals of time in which I can train on my own.  I lift and stretch.  I do some BJJ drilling.  The latter is almost essential to maintaining some kind of tangential attachment to the mat and the movements that can be so demanding to novice grapplers, but which come so naturally with constant training.

Flipping a switch and then...?

I've been training a little bit less than my already spare typical three classes a week.  The reasons for this are documented in previous posts; my son's baseball year has shifted from off-season to preseason.  His practice schedule shifted from indoors to outside (when our Seattle end-of-winter weather permitted), and the baseball schedule has been hard to reconcile with class schedule. 

Despite training less, my last few classes were progressively better.  As of the last class, my rolls with higher belts and the toughest fellow-white belts have dramatically improved.  The most prominent personal win was in my perception of pressure exerted by the big kids and dealing with it.  I'm still getting dominated, making the same mistakes, and getting tapped readily.  But my survival skill is very improved and I am actually rolling.  Most importantly, I am beginning to feel like I can handle working from underneath without panic and I am tapping exclusively to authentic finishes (many of which seem advanced or even exotic to me).

Overcoming claustrophobia is an essential survival attribute for new grapplers (or even experienced ones uncomfortable working while underneath).  Hip and shoulder angles, bridging, and creating decent frames are skills I've been developing with James and my partners, and I couldn't be more excited about my progress, hobbyist though I may be.

Which brings me back to the open of this post.  My son is now working on HIS game seven days a week including his cage work, bullpens, strength and conditioning, and team practices.  All the while, he is gearing up for the start of his season which begins next week with five days in Arizona for tournament play.  Once we get our game schedule for league season, I'll know how to structure my BJJ training for the next four months.  (I already know which weekends I can't train because of the six other travel tournaments we'll be attending through July.)

So for the next few months, that's my focus; his game and his sports lifestyle.  My training takes a back seat.  But BJJ will not go away completely; I've come too far and really enjoy our school community too much to leave it completely yet again.  But I will take a hiatus from this blog except to chime in now and then on my son's exploits.  And to report on whether I've really broken through my personal BJJ block.  Thanks for sticking with this blog.