Guard passing in submission grappling: Quite often I am asked whether I emphasize the skill of guard passing among my students. After all, in most of the tournaments in which my students take part, no points are awarded for passing an opponent's guard. Given that guard passing on a talented opponent can be very hard work and that it scores nothing, and that my students are strong in leg attacks – many people ask the question – do you people even bother passing guard? The answer is absolutely yes. Indeed, visitors to the academy are often shocked at how much time we invest in guard passing skills – EVEN WHEN WE ARE ARE PREPARING FOR TOURNAMENTS WHERE WE KNOW IT WILL SCORE ZERO POINTS. Even in this context, guard passing has great value – for it allows you to ATTACK THE whole body. The moment you start limiting your attacks to one part of your opponents body, you become predictable and defense for your opponent becomes easier. Our ideal is to attack our opponents whole body – legs, arms and neck. Guard passing makes upper body attacks possible. Without it you would be limited to leg attacks – only 50% of your opponents body. So in training, we often look quite traditional in our constant practice of passing work. The only difference is our MOTIVATION. We are not motivated to pass guard by points, but by the ability to attack the upper body with submissions. Thus we value guard passing as highly as anyone, just for slightly different reasons. Here Eddie Cummings does a good job of nullifying my guard attacks to work to a stronger passing position in training before an EBI event, where ironically, he knows guard passing will bring no points reward.
