Positional Game · GAME-RET-02
Rebuilding Behind a Frame
A guard-retention rung. The bottom player starts supine with an elbow-and-knee frame and the passer still in front of their limbs, and has to turn that frame into a meaningful connected guard or an entanglement before it collapses.
Start position
POS-GRD-SUPINE
Round length
2:30 rounds
Reset rule
Reset when the bottom player forms a connected guard or entanglement, or the top player confirms the pin. Role rotates after each reset.
Top wins by
Pass the frame to a pin — chest-to-chest or chest-to-back control held for three continuous seconds without the guard re-formed.
Bottom wins by
Build a meaningful connected guard — one that engages and threatens the passer — or a confirmed leg entanglement.
Game Description
Further down the ladder the guard player no longer has an attacking connection — only a defensive one. They start supine with a sound elbow-and-knee frame and the passer still in front of their limbs, not yet around them. The frame is holding, but holding is not retention; the rung asks them to convert it into a guard that actually engages, or into an entanglement. This is where most retention is won or lost — a frame buys a beat, and the beat has to be spent building connection, not just surviving.
How to Run This Game
Setup: Bottom player supine with an elbow-and-knee frame established, the passer’s weight in front of the framing limbs. Top player engaged, working to beat the frame.
Bottom wins by building a meaningful connected guard — one that engages and threatens, not just a limb in the way — or a confirmed entanglement. The frame is the elbow connection that controls the passer’s weight; the recovery is driven by the hips.
Top wins by passing the frame to a pin — three-second chest-to-chest or chest-to-back — before the guard re-forms.
Score: One point per win condition. Role rotates each reset.
Coaching Notes
Watch what the bottom player does with the frame. The common error is to treat it as the goal — bracing in place until it is crushed — rather than as the platform for the next connection. Reward guards that re-engage the legs and face the passer; penalise framing that only delays the pass. Elevated tier: an entanglement is a live option here, so confirm tap-release reliability before running it.
Progressions
The hardest rung removes the frame and the engagement together: recovering from flat, supine with the passer off to the side and out of reach. For the full ladder, see reverse phase progression.