Old School Sweep

What it is

The old school sweep is a half-guard sweep where you come up on your side, grab the far ankle under their body and drive forward so they fall over the trapped foot. It depends on the underhook and on getting off your back. It is the most basic sweep of a half guard game and the first one to learn.

When to use it

• You are in bottom half guard with an underhook and your head on their chest.
• They sit up or kneel high in half guard, leaving space under their hips.
• They put weight on the far foot and leave it close enough to reach.

How to do it

1. From bottom half guard, win the underhook and get onto your side with your head tucked under their chin.
2. Come up onto your elbow, then your hand, so your hips move under them.
3. Reach under their body with your free hand and grab the far ankle or the back of the far foot.
4. Drive your head and shoulder forward and pull the ankle in toward you.
5. They fall toward the controlled foot and onto their back or side.
6. Keep the leg, come up over it and settle into top half guard or side control.

Key details

• Get on your side first. The sweep does not exist from flat on your back.
• The head drives forward and the ankle pulls toward you, in the same direction.
• Your knee shield or hooked leg stays locked so they cannot step over to stop it.
• Keep the foot after the sweep. It is their base and their guard retention.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: reaching for the ankle while flat on your back, so they crossface you and flatten you out.
• Mistake: letting them get the whizzer before you move, so your drive turns into their sweep.
• Mistake: letting go of the leg as they fall, so they recover guard.

What they will try

• They whizzer your underhook arm and pull their foot back out of reach.
• They sprawl the far leg back and drive the crossface to put you flat again.

Gi and no-gi

Grip the ankle or heel directly instead of the trouser leg, and expect the whizzer to come faster because the underhook is harder to hold.