Review week – Half guard notes week 7

This week was used to review what we’ve covered so far and to ensure we understand what the key points are.

Key points:

• The main objective for the bottom player is to gain dominant head position.
• Control the centre of mass after obtaining head position.
• The main objective of the top player is to prevent the bottom player from gaining head position.

The bottom player must counter the top player’s defenses and gain head position. The main defenses of the top player that we have looked at so far are:

• using hand/arms to prevent the bottom player closing the gap to gain head position
• smashing pressure on the far deltoid
• sitting back on his heels to increase the gap the bottom player must cover.

It is important to understand that the top player will use these defenses in combination and will switch between them quickly. The bottom player must be able to quickly recognise how the top player is defending to be able to counter the defence and ultimately gain dominant head position.