Returns and the ABC drill

(Azman's back on the right)

At the BJJ program we are happy to see the return of Mr. Azman, one of the first groups of blue belts awarded by Sam. It has taken some discipline to commit to a 2x weekly training schedule so I'm writing about it here to acknowledge his zeal and desire for continual improvement. Great to have you back on the mats.


On the CMD side, the class is going well with the members showing great improvements on all fronts. It's a slow, growing process but we are all slowly creeping to a better game and having fun along the way.

We're in the sparring phase of the month, with the next two weeks dedicated to sparring, boxing and MMA. One of the drills introduced is the ABC drill.

In groups of 3, each person is allocated an alphabet, eg. person 1 = A, person 2 = B, etc. in any random order.

In a group of 6, the sequence is repeated as above, so you have 2 people = A, 2 people = B, etc.

Everyone pairs up in a random order and spars as normal. When the coach calls out an alphabet, that person becomes the target and everyone can group up to spar with him. Eg. If I call out "B", everyone can go and spar "B" at the same time, even the other "B" person.

It's a lot of fun! When "Time" is called, the group separates back to their original partners for normal sparring.

This drill not only takes the serious edge off the sparring but it requires people to be mindful, remembering who is which alphabet, multiple opponent sparring, etc.