What You can do High, You can do Low

In our version of silat, there is a move called "biset." This is a foot-drag takedown. While a sweep (sapu) usually moves toward the centerline of the person doing it, the biset generally moves away. The latter can be done along a straight line or an arc, and it can be done standing up or on the ground.

We do a lot of groundwork in Sera. Not as much as the Harimau folks, and it doesn't look like the ju jutsu guys, but we do spend a fair amount of time rolling around on the floor, or in the sand pit. One of the Sera principles is that what you can do left, you can do right; what you can do high, you can do low. And that there may come a time when you have to do it lying down.

Big sweeps and foot-drags are by their nature slower than small ones, and dropping to the ground and doing a sweep or drag is a low-percentage move for most of us. However, timed right, it can be really surprising to an opponent who hasn't had to deal with such a critter before. Plus the mechanics of it can easily be altered to change it to a kick or other kind of takedown.