What was I thinking?

Tonight I did something that is very uncharacteristic, stupid, and certainly way above my skill level. When rolling with one of the Blue belts, Jason, starting from stand up I grabbed his right arm, jumped up, put my right shin in his armpit, and kicked my left leg over his head; I tried a flying arm bar. And here is the strange thing; I had never practiced it and only seen it applied a few times in videos. A very reckless mistake on my part.

I do not know how or why it happened, it just did. And the thing that broke the "almost" lock is when gravity slammed me into the ground and I blanked out for a second. Not to mention that Jason came crashing down onto me and I took a nice unintentional elbow to the nose and mouth causing me to blank out for a moment or two. For the rest of my roll, I was in a dazed auto pilot.

For the past few weeks I have been stepping up my training for my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament this Sunday. This is my last class before my final physical and mental preparation. I am feeling a little bit of pressure, I admit. But it is more excitement to compete with the unknown than anything else. I know I have been training hard and all the tools for success have been given to me. My biggest concern is that my adrenaline will take over and I become clumsy or reckless with my technique; like I did tonight. Guess what I will be thinking about for the next few days... ;)

And, will I try a flying arm bar again? Of course because it is a slick submission! But there are a lot of other things I need to work on first. I am deeply ashamed for losing my head like that and doing something that could have caused a team mate or my self an injury. I am also thankful that Jason is freakishly tough. The only good thing is, I learn from my mistakes. And the bigger the mistake, the more of an impact the lesson will have on me.

Ous.

P.S. Damn Mikey, how the hell did you get my back again?