Always forward

Something I realized just now is that playing a guard game against larger opponents isn't always the best strategy in a competition.

Of all the ways to score points in a tournament (passing the guard, holding side control, holding KOS, holding mount, taking the back with hooks, sweeps), 4 out of 6 can only be accomplished from being on top.

The importance of position is amplified in a competition, and I suspect that positional dominance might actually be more important than being able to execute successful submissions. Of course, most of my powerful set ups come from top control anyways, so positional dominance opens windows for submissions.

My tendency in training is to play guard 70% of the time, unless the opponent just decides to pull guard.

I'm going to focus on a more aggressive approach- to always be pushing forward into my opponent from the tie up. This should give me a more well balanced game, and ultimately should be my mode of operation in a tournament setting.