The 'Old School' is a high percentage sweep from Half Guard, which is traditionally used following a successful Whip Up. It’s another technique popularised by Eddie Bravo, though he states in his book ‘Mastering the Rubber Guard’ that he’s heard of someone named ‘Gordo’ that had been using it successfully before him (“...since the dawn of time”).
The sweep is ideally performed using the momentum of the Whip Up – as you whip up to your side, weave your inside arm to latch onto your opponent's faraway foot around the toes. The Lockdown remains tight through to this point. Next, pulling his foot inwards towards you, release the Lockdown and slide around his body to establish Side Control (or if you’re quick, the Mount). Here is a video clip of the guys at Submissions 101 going through it during a class:
Key Points to Remember:
- Keep the Lockdown held tight until you’ve grabbed your opponent’s foot and are transitioning into the sweep.
- Make sure to keep your outside under hook – the grip is ideally just above your opponent’s hip.
- Be sure to grab your opponent’s foot around his toes – not his ankle, or leg/trouser leg.
- The Old School Sweep can be worked relatively easily against much larger opponents but only as long as you keep it tight! Work on keeping every part of your body as tight as possible to your opponent's whilst performing the sweep.
Should your opponent predict the sweep (as your training partners definitely will...eventually), it is likely that he/she will extend his/her leg preventing you from gripping the foot. In such a scenario, establishing a butterfly hook is pretty easy; you could also simply use the extra space to establish Full Guard.
Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet system actually lays out an intricate Half Guard game with a myriad of different options detailed in ‘Mastering the Rubber Guard’ – a book that I will no doubt review in due course!
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