Gracie Combatives – Writing and Martial Arts

We knew the day was coming, but knowing in advance didn’t make its arrival any easier.

The New Girls, Blonde and Brunette, officially joined Master Cycle. That meant Instructor split Her Royal Highness and me up to partner with the lower belts.

That I should be considered a “higher belt” is ironic, but here we are.

I was with Brunette for what was her first MC class, and it went fine, from my perspective. The challenges are old hat to me, but later I got a text from her saying she wanted to cry after class.

And so I talked her down, much like HRH had done for me, telling her it would all be okay, eventually.

Being the elegant lady that I am, I described it thus: “I know it’s rough going from top dog in Combatives to little puppy not yet potty trained in Master Cycle” and explained it’s tough for all of us, but everyone is so kind and helpful.

And so the Ilsa has become the HRH, though I don’t think Her Royal Highness has ever wet the mat.

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More on Master Cycle–which has nothing to do with bikes

In another Master Cycle class (my apologies to those I confused about that), I partnered with The Combatives Belt Kid. He started by congratulating me on the new belt. What a polite young man.

Then I uppercut him in the jaw.

To be fair, it was an ACCIDENT! And it was rather light. His braces didn’t cut his mouth or anything.

I apologized, he smiled, said “It’s okay,” then, “Would you like to try again?”

So that time I DID make him bleed.

Kidding, kidding. I did the move properly, no blood involved.

When we switched partners, he told “Pink” I had punched him. She said to me, “That’s okay. I’ve frequently made his nose bleed.”

See? I’m a lamb!

Also while rolling with The Combatives Belt Kid (CBK, anyone?), I tried a cross choke.

“I feel really bad that I’m actively trying to hurt you,” I said. It seriously felt wrong. But he got away by rolling over his head somehow. It was rather impressive.

“You almost got me, though,” he was kind enough to tell me. “It was really close. [Long pause.] I need a minute.” We waited for the flow of blood to return to his brain.

Why aren’t more people into this stuff???

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