Hopefully, in the first half of the season, you have worked hard to get your handfighting and setups down, and you are getting to the leg and finishing shots. As the season goes on, and the competition gets better, finishes become harder to come by. That means it is time to focus more on this important part of your offense. Let's take the high crotch, or head outside single, as some call it.

The first skill you have to have is being able to knee slide when the opponent sprawls. You take your power leg (non-attacking leg), and push off it, while sliding your attack knee back underneath the opponent. Then, you proceed to step up the power leg, drive with your head and finish the shot.

Next, your opponent may drape over you to try and grab ankles. As soon as you feel him over top of you, you want to look up and lift him up, getting his feet off the mat. If you are able to finish to a double, that's what you want to do. If not, snake your arm underneath and catch his ankle, then bring it across your body and control it with your other arm, and post your hand across his body. Another, more complicated, position, is the Crackdown position, or "Sit and Scoot." We will look at this in another newsletter in the near future.