Scissor sweep seminar - part deux.....

Sweeps. I love 'em. Can't get enough of 'em. As a BJJ blue belt going through the path to purple belt, I wanted to know every sweep that ever existed, the flashier the better; the lowest percentage, hell yea let me have 'em all, bring them to me! At purple belt, I seemed to calm down a little and returned to the 'old school' sweeps as it were, which as you'd probably guess are the high percentage sweeps. Sweeps that work a hell of a lot against grapplers of all belts and ages. Sweep to mount, six points please!

One sweep in particular is the scissor sweep and happens to be my all time favourite sweep; my Traditional Jiu Jitsu instructor, the legendary Trevor Roberts put me onto this technique way way back in the mists of time in 1994, when I attended a week long Budo camp in Herne Bay. The Budo camp was organised my Martin Clarke and has now been running for 30+ years and during that week, my addiction to sweeps began.

I've since used the scissor sweep in both gi and no gi comps, the last time was at the Hereford Open earlier this year as a purple belt; it's a quick fire way of changing your position to a more dominant attacking position and everyone knows the scissor sweep, so there's nothing better for me than catching people with an old skool sweep time and time again.


So it was with much excitement to once again host Darren and Helen Currie (http://www.combatsport.co.uk) at the club to deliver the second part of the scissor sweep seminar, the first one being held at Runcorn in June this year. This session was built upon ways to smash the sweep from the start and then showing ways to pass the opponents guard.

The session started with some specific BJJ and grappling drills to get the blood flowing and a quick overview of the sweep followed and once everyone was au fait with the sweep, the fun began. Darren demonstrated a number of easy ways to stuff the sweep, before showing a few ways to pass the guard from the initial tie up, which mirrored some of the moves from the Training Day in September, albeit from a different position at the start.

From there, a number of grappling and jiu jitsu concepts were shown and really made the students to think outside the box, as the saying goes and one of the best parts of the seminar was for the guy that had just been swept. Instead of accepting the sweep and lying there like a damp cloth, Darren showed what to do to get yourselves out of the brown stuff; instead of letting the guy mount you quickly, Darren showed a number of ways to get back into attack mode, via sweeps and guard passes.

This really impressed me in its simplicity and echoes the teaching that I have been doing at the club the last few months. Don't be content with being passed or swept. In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition rules you have a three second window before your opponent gets their points, plenty of time to start your defence and turn it back into a sweep and follow up with a guard pass.

This part of the seminar was your get-out-of-jail-card for when you get caught with the scissor sweep and there are many many more of these cards waiting for you from all the sweeps and guards passes you get hit with, as well as all the other attacks and subs that are out there on the mats with your name on it.

Once again, a sterling seminar, packed full of tips and concepts and technical know how that we've come to expect from Darren and Helen this year and I'd like to thank Mark 'Spenna' Spencer (BJJ brown belt) for supporting the event, as well as all my students, without you guys there would be no seminars.