Passing the guard

     Lately I've been experimenting with my top game since it's lacking compared to my guard game. I rememeber the torreando pass that Felipe showed me so that was where I decided to start. I have a hard time making myself pass guard because I feel so comfortable on the bottom playing an open guard. It's nice to be able to play defense and offense all that once but it's making me a one dimensional player and that is a disadvantage when I compete with someone possessing a better guard game than mine. I need to be able to switch it up depending on my opponent. My friend Danny is a purple belt who is able to pass my guard with relative ease. I have developed an okay guard but he just smashes right through it like it's nothing. These sessions of getting smashed have finally provided an insight into my holes. I am getting tired because he keeps driving and since I am on the bottom I am working against gravity from the power of his drive on top. It's not rocket science and I feel like a retard for taking so long to realize this.

     Anyways when attempting to pass my opponent's guard with the torreando pass I focused on  getting a good grip on the inside of their pants and leaning my weight over while punching down on the ground to  keep their legs grounded. I then proceed to tripod and drive my shoulder into my opponent to keep him from moving his upper body. The problem I ran into was everytime I tried this the opponent blocks me with his two hands and that's where my attempt to pass stopped and I'd try again. In the past week I have realized in order to pass you have to commit to it 100%, just like you would for a takedown. If you half heartedly commit to it then more likely than not you will not succeed. What I have come to realize is that  not only do I have to commit to the drive, I now realize it is also better to get low and drive your entire weight into your opponent pushing off on your toes. This forces the opponent to work harder because you are increasing your drive power and using gravity to assist you. After realizing this I had a little more success passing the guard when the opponent became tired fighting against gravity and my drive. I asked my teammates Ian and Danny more about passing since they do it well and they told me to not fight against my opponent if he is pushing me with his arms when I am passing but instead to switch my hips and slide into like a kessa katame position while getting the farside underhook,  or I can walk around to the other side and work from there, or bring my outer knee in and use it to remove the opponent's arm closest to mine by bring it inside his arm forcing his arm away from me. This eliminates one arm making it easier for me to pass. I am having a lot of fun learning how to pass and I'll continue to experiment with it.