Alias · Guard Passing
Shield pass
Also known as Knee Shield Break — the canonical term used on this site.
Training background: informal — names the outcome rather than the break
Informal — passing past the knee shield
Shield pass is a colloquial name for the knee shield break — abbreviating “knee shield” to “shield” and naming the pass by the obstacle it clears.
Etymology. “Shield” is gym shorthand for the knee shield, the shin braced as a defensive barrier; “pass” names the objective. The clipped term is informal spoken vocabulary, used where the full knee-shield terminology is understood.
Mechanics. Clearing the shield is a rotational problem: rather than fight the shin head-on, the passer rotates around it — circling the hips or the lead leg past the braced line — so the shield is bypassed around a fixed point instead of overpowered.
Cross-reference. “Z-guard break,” “Knee shield neutralisation,” and “Half-guard shield break” are sibling aliases. Full mechanical coverage on Knee Shield Break.