And the award for the World's Worst Jiu-Jitsu Teacher goes to...Gina "Ginger" Ethridge!I can't believe I won! Actually, that's a lie, I knew I was going to win because no one deserves this more than I do, and I have no one to thank but myself. Since this is probably the only Jiu-Jitsu award I will ever win, I would like to take this opportunity to say nana nana boo boo, I suck at teaching more than you do!
Amy flew off to Hawaii and left us without a teacher for Ethridge Jiu-Jitsu class yesterday, so I tried to fill her shoes, and I failed miserably! I should've had a better idea of what I wanted to do. At first my plan mainly consisted of slow rolling, so that I could help Joe work on some of the details, but I almost lost my student about ten minutes into class, when I became super frustrated because he couldn't understand what I was trying to show him. I knew what he was supposed to do, but when he asked me why he was supposed to do it that way, I didn't know the answer. So I stole Ray away from the no gi class and enlisted his help for a couple of minutes, which was very beneficial to both Joe and I. Teaching is hard! Teaching your husband is even harder!! Teaching when you still don't have a clear understanding of all the details is the hardest of all!!!
Then a little while later Conan was kind enough to offer us his assistance, and he recommended that we just work on a particular drill where we took turns escaping side control. Things went smoother after that, and we got some good work in. I also showed Joe a drill we had done earlier this week where you escape mount to guard, and then scissor sweep to mount, setting the next person up to do the drill. Those kind of exercises are always good practice, because you don't stop moving, and it really helps build muscle memory.
I originally told Joe that my plan for class yesterday was that I was going to submit him in every way I could think of, and he was not allowed to defend, but for some reason he didn't think that was a good idea. I would have aced that class! I suppose what we did end up doing was much more mutually beneficial, but it took all of the fun out of being in charge! ;)