Adults: Headquarters Passing
Warm-up
Handfighting Seated to Supine
Player A
Player A is the passer and is standing. The passer’s goal is to force the defender’s back to the mat using hand fighting.
Player B
Player B is the defender who is sitting in a seated guard. The defender’s goal is to stay seated as long as possible.
Win Condition(s)
Focus on the upper and lower body. If the seated player is posting their hands, they don’t have their feet protected. If they defend their feet, they don’t have posts to stop their upper body from being pushed back.
Switch when Player B’s back touches the mat.
Knee Pit Connection
Player A
Player A is standing and passing. The passer’s goal is to get three separate “touches” where their leg is in the defender’s knee pit. After the third successful touch, the passer wins by connecting their hands around the defender’s torso, between the hips and shoulders.
Player B
Player B has the option to put Player A’s hips, butt, or back on the mat OR wrestle up with a connection/grip.
Win Condition(s)
If Player A gets three touches and hands connected, that’s a win, switch. If Player B gets the hips, butt, or back to the mat OR wrestles up with a grip, that’s a win, switch.
Progression To Attack
Player A
Player A starts off in side control. Player A can win by getting a figure-4 grip with a kimura/americana, getting into mount with arms up to the head, or getting chest-to-back with a seatbelt.
Player B
Player B is on the bottom in side control and is looking to recover guard, wrestle up, or reverse the position.
Win Condition(s)
Main Class
Both Feet In Headquarters Entry + Simple Pass
What is the difference between a blue belt and a purple belt?
Headquarters is an effective passing position, because it simplifies our passing and forces our opponent to one side. We’re going to start with the person on the bottom having two feet on the inside. From here, we need to get into the headquarters position.
We’re going to use our hands on the outside of the knees to redirect the knees to one side, bringing one knee up in the middle and pushing the other down to the mat. Once we get this, we need to bring our foot on the side where the knee is on the mat, to the inside. We can do that with a simple step over or with a foot pummel.
From this position, we need to settle our hips. We are not pushing our hips toward the head. We are not pushing our hips down to the mat. We are pushing our hips down, at an angle, into their hips. We are trying to keep their foot attached to their butt.
From this position, have your partner move you around a little bit and see if they feel like you’re doing well with your pressure.
Finally, we are going to finish with a simple hip hike to pass to the mount. To do that, we’re going to connect our hands around their thigh with a gable grip, and then we’re going to bring our hips over their knee, as we pull the knee through and slide into mount.
Over/Under Transition Off Knee Hug
As a counter or response to heavy pressure, oftentimes opponents will pull their knee to their chest. This can sometimes pull the passer’s upper body closer for frames and allow them to start to get their feet back in the way. Now, we can’t hip hike, and we can’t tripod pass, because his knee and elbow are connected, which means we need to go around.
From here, we’re going to start to pass by flanking around the outside. We’re going to hug in, around the knee, and start stepping over to pass. While this does get us closer, he may turn and face us, framing against us, so that he can recover his guard. While we have pressure here, we don’t really have a connection, which means we don’t have control.
To get control, we’re going to move away from the frames and control the hips. So, we’re going to enter into a sort of over/under pass, where we’re already past the legs. The entire objective here is to turn their hips away. We’re going to walk back into their hips, shelfing and turning away.
To finish, as noted before, we need a connection with the upper body. We have two options here, but both lead to getting a same side underhook. For option one, we’re going to bring our elbow to their elbow and then circle into our underhook. From here, we bring our head to their head to finish the pass.
For option two, they might be framing heavy on our shoulders, which is fine. Like a boxer slipping punches, we’re going to slip the frames. I’m going to post a hand on the mat, and I’m going to turn my shoulders in the opposite direction to crush the frames. From here, because of my hand on the mat, I can bring my head to their head and dig my same-side underhook.