Running Georges and Gordon through their guard retention/counter offense drills: Remember this always – there are ten thousand possible skills from guard – all of them can be effective in their own way – BUT NONE OF THEM WILL BE EFFECTIVE IF YOU CANNOT EXHIBIT THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT SKILL OF ALL GUARD PLAY – THE ABILITY TO HOLD/RETAIN GUARD LONG ENOUGH TO BE EFFECTIVE. Make retention your first skill in building your guard game and you will create a firm foundation upon which you can build the kind of devastating attacking guard game you see my students employ and which you can learn. Guard retention may not be the most exciting guard skill to learn, but it’s the most important because it’s the one that all the other other skills of guard play depend upon.