Healing and high crotches

My finger is almost back to normal, meaning I can almost make a fist. I should probably wait until I can do so without pain to go back to sparring or I'll just re-tear the tendon, though I think if I can focus on kickboxing with 16 ounce gloves they'll stabilize the finger enough to avoid re-injury. Here's to hoping. Either way I don't plan to even try to spar until Monday night or later, based on how it feels.

Moving on, the wrestling class on Tuesday night was really small, which worked in my favor. The only other guy there had no wrestling experience either, so for about 30 minutes (when a couple solid wrestlers showed up) we had the coach to ourselves. Good thing too, because the high-crotch takedown is deceptively tricky.

The high-crotch is a pillar of wrestling. Along with single- and double-leg takedowns, the high-crotch is considered a fundamental opening that leads to dozens of finishes. The problem is it also shares the same other characteristic of those other "pillar" moves - you have to nail every single detail perfectly because it's so important. Not a big deal, but it takes work. Specifically it takes thousands of reps drilling to get it not just correct, but fast and fluid. I literally spent 45 minutes drilling the high-crotch (heh) Tuesday night and probably performed about 60 reps, all on a single side. I feel like I kind of get it. There's absolutely no way I'd shoot in for a high-crotch in sparring right now. After the fluidity and quickness in execution, you have to learn through hours on the mat where the move fits in your game. I.e. when to go for it.

So the move. We drilled it as beginners, so starting from a wrestling clinch. My right foot was forward, feet closer together than I'm used to as a striker, my right hand behind his neck pulling his head slightly down, my left hand cupping his right tricep, my torso hanging forward at the hips so I leaned against him somewhat. The first order of business was the level change. I dropped down to a crouch before shooting forward. I didn't have to go straight down and then straight forward at a 90-degree angle, but it was definitely a pronounced downward crouch to ensure that my momentum was moving forward as opposed to down. This has multiple repercussions. For one thing, if my opponent evades my shot I can recover because I'm moving forward and can scramble, versus going downward and kind of splatting into the mat or ground. More importantly, if I move forward my knee just lightly taps the mat. If my momentum is heading downward my knee smacks. Not super hard, but a lot harder. If I was to practice this wrong and keep that smacking up all night I would probably have to stop practicing the move long before I gained proficiency.

As I dropped down in the level change, I had to give his tricep a little upward push to get his arm up. This, along with the drop in level, helps me slip my head under his armpit and get behind his back. As his arm goes up and I go down, I twist my torso, leading with my right shoulder. My right hand comes down from behind his neck and my forearm shoots between his legs, with my right hand grabbing the back of his right thigh. My forearm is now high up in his crotch, leading to the unfortunate name of the move. At no point am I supposed to crack him in the balls.

If I've performed this correctly I'm now down on my right knee, with my left foot planted to the outside of his right foot, but a little bit in front of it. My left hand is still on his tricep after pushing it upward, the back of my head is arched against his tricep after having ducked under it, and my right hand is gripping the back of his right thigh. Now I need to turn the corner. I grab my right wrist with my left hand as I push myself up via my left foot, keeping a tight hold on his leg the entire time. If I get this I know there are tons of finishes, but I don't know many yet and this post is plenty long already.

Some common problems that I ran into:
- I tend to squat straight down. This is bad; it allows my opponent to just shove me backwards
- I need to keep constant pressure against his arm with my head. It prevents him from re-composing his arms around me in a defensive manner or doing some other nasty shit I don't know about yet
- When down on one knee, I need to lean into him. If my shoulder slips out he can shove his arm between himself and my armpit, underhooking me and ruining the move, maybe even turning it against me

So back to the mat tonight.