Master Worlds Trip 2021 Part 1 Preparation and Training

I wanted to get my thoughts down about the experience of preparing and competing in IBJJF Master Worlds 2021.  While I've competed in this tournament 2 other times (2017 and 2019), this is the first time that I helped others prepare.  We went with a good size group this year.  This year Zac Davis and Josh Johnson signed up to compete as well.  I felt like it was on me to share my past experiences and to come up with a plan to help us all prepare.

Preparation

June 23rd Started Line Group: Used a messenger app that we could share all of the details of the tournament and plan our training.

August 8th: Sunday training started

November 11-13: Competition

My personal goals:

• Get better and more confident with stand-up
• Improve gas tank and aggression

Team goals:

• Develop game plans
• Familiarize everyone with the rules
• Describe the experience to help prepare for the chaos of a tournament
• Get to know teammates' personality and games
• Develop coaching relationships

Creating a warm-up

This is a factor of BJJ competition that I think is often overlooked.  With the adrenaline dump we can often go out on the mat and be strong, but it often leads to tightness during the match, muscle burnout, and make it difficult to catch your breath which can exhaust you for your next match.  I tried to emphasize to everyone to pick warm-up exercises that you can do by yourself with limited space.  Things like burpees, push-ups, airplane push-ups, jumping squats, etc.  You really want to get a sweat going before you get on the mat for your first match. 

Making Weight

Making weight was a huge part of the trip.  It's important to know if you can make the weight class that you enter under and if you can feel strong at that weight.  In Jiu-Jitsu you usually have to weigh in on the day if not right before you compete.  It doesn't pay to dehydrate yourself to make a weight class.  Months ahead I changed my diet to use intermittent fasting and that seems to work for me.  I was on weight a couple weeks before competing.  

Check out the rules for the tournament and figure out if you have to weigh with your gi on and how much time you need before you compete.  It can be a tough decision to determine if going down a weight class is worth it.  Competing is stressful enough but limiting calories can have an affect on the fighters mood as well as physical performance.

We all made weight easily, partly because I think their scales are like 5 lbs off at least. But it did cause some stress for each of us.

Sunday training:

For the Sunday training sessions we would start at 8:30 AM and train for a little over an hour.  I would try my best to figure out a theme for each session.  During the earlier sessions we would discuss our A game strategies.  The main topics being a Guard Pass, a Sweep, a Submission, and the Stand-Up strategy.  We did some sessions where we would drill these techniques and then do some rolling.

One of the drilling formats is the Best Case Scenario drill.  This is drilling your A game techniques from standing until submission.  For instance my A game path was to get grips cross collar and sleeve and throw tai otoshi, then go to knee on belly and setup a baseball bat choke.  That was my game plan if everything went according to plan.  

As the training sessions progressed I put a request out to see if others would join us so we could have fresh opponents for shark tank type training.  So Zac, Josh, and I would stay on the mat for 5 to 10 minute rounds while fresh people would cycle in.  I recorded a great deal of these sessions and would put them out on the google drive so everyone could review the training and look for things they needed to work on.

Another topic that we focused on was getting out of bad positions with positional sparring.  This would range from our 8 minute escape type drill to starting in other positions like front head lock and being down 2 points and having to work hard to make a come back.  With time as a factor we really had to learn when to turn it up and use energy when down on points.

Probably the drill that I loved and hated the most was the first to score drill.  We would start standing as if it were the beginning of a match and then go until the first person scored.  Whether that was by take down, sweep, guard pass, or submission.  This was the thing that I wanted to improve on the most.  I believe I've heard that statistically the first person to score is statistically the winner of the match.  I also feel like the more often we can drill the beginning of a match the more prepared we'd be for the adrenaline dump.

Questions  

If you helped us prepare or you have any oppinions on our training camp, please message these to me in Facebook or email me at HapkidoJosh@yahoo.com

What went well?

What would you change for future tournament camps?

Comments for Josh C:

Comments for Josh J:

Comments for Zac:

My Personal Thoughts 

What went well?

Establishing the line chat was helpful I think to keep everyone updated about the tournament and trainings.

I found a lot of benefit in recording the sessions although there was not always the best video angle for everyone.

The training partners that came and helped were awesome and I'm very thankful to have those volunteers.

I felt very prepared concerning my personal stand-up game

What would you change for the future tournament camps?

Nail down who can make it to the trainings each time to be able to better plan the session.  Need enough people to have fresh bodies for the competitors.

Figure out some more good solo warm-up routines for the bullpen

Stress that we'll all have good and bad days and that the training is to instill toughness and winning all of the time is unrealistic

Determining when to rest and take a day off was tough for me.  I trained in some capacity every day and avoided injuries, but could I have had better gains doing harder training and then resting a day?

Personal Goals going forward

• Judo Black
• Continue to stress the stand-up strategies
• More grip fighting
• Train more wrestling
• Guard passing, breaking guard, balance

Thank Yous!

Of course my wife Jennifer deserves a lot of credit for the support, helping me train, and helping me eat right.   I tried my best not to be too moody this time around.  Hopefully I didn't get on her nerves too much.  She's also improved with Jiu-Jitsu recently, I'm excited to see her get promoted to blue belt.

Huge shout out to Conan for traveling with us as our coach.  He was on board since the beginning and it was good having him around while we trained not only to teach us each technical Jiu-Jitsu but also to practice his coaching skills and get to know our personal games better.  He was there for each of us in the bullpen and when we competed.

Another shout out to Krista, Craig, Aaron, and Emily for also traveling with us and their support.  It's good to have a cheering section and people to go out walking, eating, and drinking with in Vegas.  Especially when you're trying to cut weight and they all send you pictures of their heavy lunches ;)  Leading up to competition can be a stressful time and having people to get you a water or sit with you before or after your match.  

For me personally I learned the most from rolling with Jerad and Mike.  They both played huge parts in keeping me sane during the covid shut down times and I gained a lot of skill by rolling with each of them day in and day out.

I was blown away by all of the people that were willing to help us train!  I did my best to figure out everyone that showed up on our Sunday trainings, hopefully I didn't miss anyone.  Conan, Jerad, Mike A, Craig, Aaron E, Hugh, Chris R, Tyler R, Bob, Mike W, Justin M, Cody, Dave M, Tanner, and Tony.  As well as the many rolls with people in classes and open mats.  I honestly felt support from the whole gym.

 

Masters Worlds 2017

Day 1

It was overwhelming to see so many people come together for Jiu-Jitsu.  Over 4500 competitors along with their coaches and family members came to Las Vegas in search of gold.  Myself, Conan, Jerad, Brian, and Telly included.   My wife, Jennifer was also there for support and we were able to make it into a vacation while the kids were at home with my parents.

After getting over the number of people and the 21 mats setup we went to watch Clark Gracie win his first match.   Which was funny because I had just saw him jog by me in a hoody warming up.  I was thinking he looked familiar but wasn't sure.  He won his first and second match with omoplata type submissions.  It ended up being difficult to see some matches as people stood at the barriers and the bleachers weren't high enough to see over them.  So you had to go to the top row or even stand on chairs in the bleachers.  Would have been cool if they could have raised the mats up kumite style.

We saw a couple of guys from Tinguinha HQ compete on each day and got to meet and connect with some of them.  I also saw some BJJ celebrities like Saolo and Xandi Ribero, Lavato Jr., Travis Stevens, Kurt Osiander, Buchecha, and I think Brian claimed to see Ryan Hall and Mayweather at one point.

Day 2

On the second day we finally had the first to compete from our school.  Telly dug deep to win all of his matches for the gold.  He got some pretty slick takedowns and stayed on top for all of his wins.  Conan did his best to encourage him between each match.  Now we have a world champion blue belt in our midst!  I plan on working with Telly a lot in the coming year to improve my takedowns.

About this time I was concerned with everything I ate.  I used the treadmill each morning and weighed myself and while I was right on target, in Vegas it's very easy to eat yourself into a food coma.  Being nervous did help with keeping the appetite down.

Day 3 (Competition Day)

I was the first to go, scheduled for 9:00.  Listening to some light music helped me relax a little bit while I watched the staff start to set things up and the judges have a morning meeting.  Eventually my division was called to the coral area to check our gis and weight.  I was 3 lbs under and felt like I had a ton of energy.

I tried to get myself warmed up by bouncing around a little bit and stretching but the walk over was a pretty good warm-up in itself.  I got called to my ring with my first opponent.  I watched the match before me end in a baseball bat choke from the bottom and then the ref signalled for us to come forward.

1st Match 
I shook the ref's hand and my opponent's and he made sure he had our names correctly compared to the scoreboard.  Once he told us to start I went for the grip I wanted and he grabbed my lapel with both hands and attempted a guard pull to deep half, but I was able to turn it into a quarter mount and keep him from getting to his position.  From there I felt strong and was able to keep a dominant position throughout.

At one point he turtled up and I saw my opportunity for crucifix, but he overdefended and I took the back instead.  Watching it, I should have put my foot on the floor and hip escaped at this point, but I was still able to secure hooks.  I fought hard for the collar grip and started working on a sliding lapel choke.  I felt like I had the choke and was going to finish but he wasn't tapping.  I knew not to burn myself out but I also wanted to finish. I believe that my choking hand grip wasn't high enough and I should have transitioned to the bow and arrow.  We went back and forth after that from back to mount and I tried to keep attacking throughout.  Final score was either 11 or 15 to 0.

2nd Match
My second match started out with a furious grip battle.  I attempted to get grips I wanted he did a good job of grabbing my sleeve and getting under my other arm.  I attempted a foot sweep and kept looking for an opportunity to do tai toshi.  Eventually I felt like my guard pull was there but when I attempted it I wasn't able to reach his leg to underhook it.  It went downhill from here and he eventually passed using a leg weave.  I had a collar grip and had a moment when I thought I could hit a loop choke but I didn't take the chance.  Once he reached knee on belly I was down 5 points and couldn't find a way to turn the tables.  Eventually time ran out.

So many should haves go through my head when I watch the match, but a consolation is that he ended up winning the gold in my division.

Jerad went soon after with similar results.  He won his first match with some dominating pressure passing and lost his second on points with some good attempts at butterfly sweeps.  Followed later in the day with a tough match for Brian who drew the winner of his division in the first round.  Conan took home the silver after winning 2 matches and losing on points in the last.

That night we stuffed our faces with good Italian and I got a decent night's sleep.  Jennifer and I stayed a few more days and did more eating, shopping, saw the show Ka, which I recommend, and walked about 7 miles each day.  I'm so happy and thankful that my wife suffered and supported me through this.  Not only on this trip but with my Jiu-Jitsu journey on a daily basis.

I'm happy to get back to training and am excited for the improvements that I'll make in the next year.

December 5th 2015 - Submission Challenge

The day finally came and it was a long day.  All of the anticipation and nervousness and it felt like it was over fairly quickly once I started rolling.  I weighed in right at 205 with all of my clothes on so I made it into the weight class that I hoped for.  However, I ended up being the only one in my division so I was bumped up to 206 and up anyway.  This isn't the first time this has happened after I've attempted to drop weight for a tournament but it's still discouraging every time.  Another downside was that I got put in a division with 2 of my teammates (Fuji and Bauer).  I can roll with them any given Saturday.

After we weighed in and attended the rules meeting a group of us went out for breakfast at Village Inn, where we discussed creating a Jiu-Jitsu system based around car terms.  We hurried back to catch Tyler and Chris's matches.

Tyler was bumped up to the adult division and he did great.  Won his first match with a cross collar choke but lost his second to an ezekiel choke.  Chris did well in his first tournament.  He was in a dominant position for the majority of both of his matches but eventually got put on the bottom and submitted.  I didn't see much of David's matches I think he might have lost 2 matches.  Bauer did no gi against Patrick (I think that was his name).  It was a fairly quick match that ended with Bauer getting caught with a toe hold.  Then our division finally started Fuji and Bauer faced each other but I didn't pay much attention.  I think Fuji caught him with something from side control. 

My first match was against Patrick.  I looked for him to grab my right sleeve and then went for my cross guard pull into omoplata.  I could have probably swept but I decided to go for the submission instead.  I was close with it but let his elbow get out of it too much.  I ended up on the back of turtle and then back mount and attempted some collar chokes and finally an armbar as he attempted to escape the position.  A toe hold presented itself so I went for that and we rolled around as he also went for a leg lock.  He ended up cinching up a straight footlock and turned over too his belly and got me to tap.  I'm happy with my performance I just wish I could have finished one of those sub attempts.

Fuji went up against Patrick next and worked his way into side control and finished with the brabo.  I faced Bauer for 3rd and we went the distance.  It seemed pretty even, I had some good positions and some submission attempts but I don't think I ever put him in real danger.  We went to the overtime round and he was able to escape my armbar and then armbar me on his turn.  Mike had a really fast paced technical no gi match with his purple belt opponent.  Mike ended up losing but they put on a good show. 

So no hardware to bring home this time.  My ankle is a little sore as I wasn't able to tap as quickly as I wanted to, but it's nothing serious.  I'm still trying to figure out what I need to focus on next.  I'll consult with Greg and see what he thinks, but here are a few thoughts:

• Work on finishing submissions
• Omoplata sweep and rolling to another omoplata
• Mount attacks
• Ankle Locks

Here's a video of my first match:

Second Match part 1

Second Match Part 2

January 18th 2014 - Circle of Iron Tournament

It was a long day and I have to thank my wonderful gorgeous wife for being cool with me competing.  Like most tournaments there was a lot of waiting and the most difficult part was figuring out when to warm-up.  Don't want to do it too early and risk getting cold, but you also don't want to wait too long and have your ring called without doing any kind of a warm-up.

They started off with the kids division.  I have to say I was impressed with several of the kids' movement and their tenacity.  The women went next as well as the lighter men divisions.  There was a break as well as a super fight between 2 brown belts that was quite entertaining.  They continued with the rest of the adult matches.  Our team won the trophy in the picture by winning the most medals.  Not bad for a school that is less than a year old.

My division ended up only being myself and a guy that I had faced in the last state games, Nolan.  We talked a little before and after our matches and he's a good guy.  At the last tournament he beat me decisively, so I was interested to see if anything had changed since then.  I went straight to my game plan in the first match.  I got the sleeve grip I wanted and pulled guard right into the omoplata cross guard position.  I was unable to sweep or submit and he eventually ended up in my guard.  A lot of the rest is kind of a blur.  I ended up sweeping and maintaining top for a while.  I had a farside armbar setup but when I went for it, I lost it and lost position.  That was it for my gas tank in this match, he took control and passed my guard and eventually had enough points to win the match. 

Match 2 went a lot better for me.  He pulled guard instead and I passed with an over/under.  I stayed in side control and attempted the safest submissions and maintain side control.  Kimura, north/south choke, to guillotine not really able to finish anything.  He got me into half guard several times and I passed back to side mount.  Finally he stood up on me and I attempted a guillotine but his head popped out.  He scored some points and almost caught up.  This was the only match I won for the day.

I didn't do much offensively in the 3rd match.  I pulled cross guard again but didn't do anything with it.  He passed my guard way too easily and then spent the rest of the match in side control trying to submit me.  I couldn't find a way to escape and lost on points.  Nolan and I talked after the match.  We both agreed that whoever ended up on top of that last match would take it, because both of us were pretty tired.  It happened that he ended up there today.

Several people dropped out of the blue belt open division leaving just 3 of us.  I ended up getting a bye due to my opponent dropping out, although I was a little worried because he was a very big boy.  I fought Kassius for first and second.  We stood up for a little while and I pulled guard.  The best thing I did in this match was get to butterfly and attempt a sweep.  I must not have controlled him enough because he was able to create enough space to escape and then get to side control.  He then worked to mount and submitted me from there.

I felt like I was in a weird mood after the tournament.  Not upset, but also not happy.  I was doing a lot of reflection.  I know I tried my best and gave it my all.  2 silver medals from 1 win and 3 losses.  Doesn't really seem right and I think that is what bothered me the most.  In reality, my performance probably shouldn't have earned me any medals.  After watching my matches on video again.

What should I improve on?  Cardio is the number 1.  Tournament matches are a lot different than rolling in the school.  Everything is faster and tighter and my opponents seem stronger than they normally would.  Side control escapes and not ending up on my side is number 2.  Number 3 maintaining open guard.  This is the most important thing to gain from a tournament experience.  It exposes my deficiencies and what I should spend my time trying to improve.

July 28th - Cornhusker State Games 2012 (Videos Included)

Me and my sons after my No-Gi Matches

I competed in the 2012 State Games, held at Lincoln High School, and I received my money's worth.  I weighed in at 196; I could have cut down to 189 if I thought it would have helped, but in the other tournaments when I've cut some weight it didn't matter and I ended up going against people that were bigger or smaller than me just to make a good division.  No worries that's just the way it goes.

Luckily the gym was air conditioned.  Rumors had been circulating that it might not be, so I was happy that my wife and boys could come and not be uncomfortable.  The tournament was run smoothly and once we had the rules meeting and the brackets had been created, the matches went non-stop.

David, Mike, Ken, Claire, Tate, James, and Fuji all fought yesterday and from what I saw everyone represented the school well.  However, I felt like I had a little bit of tunnel vision throughout the day and spent a lot of time focusing on my matches.

I was put into brackets of 3 in both of my no-gi and gi.  I won't go into too many details because you can see in the videos how I did.  I didn't catch everyone's name and I wish I would have.

No-Gi Highlights:
1st Match Win by points 7-2: I pulled off an arm drag to single leg.  After spending a little time on my back I got a reversal and finished the match on top trying for a north-south choke. 

2nd Match Loss by knee bar: It lasted less than 30 seconds.  He pulled deep half and then rolled to a knee bar and slapped me in the face.  I tapped as soon as I realized I was in big trouble. Inacio was his name and apparently he is a brown belt that competed in worlds

3rd Match Win by points 2-0: Same guy from match one.  The maintaining guard practice that I've been doing really paid off.  I was able to get the takedown and from there we had quite a few scrambles but he never passed my guard.

4th Match Loss by Armbar: Inacio again.  Lasted a little longer this time and I actually got takedown points and we had a nice little scramble. 

Gi Highlights:
1st Match Win by Darce: I was stuck in top half guard for 90% of the match which really injured my leg.  My leg still hurts.  The only way I found to get out of the lockdown was to slap the darce on.

2nd Match Loss by Anaconda Choke: I spent a good portion of this match in half guard and then went to deep half.  I almost got the reversal but he sprawled on me and the choke followed.

3rd Match Win by points 8-0: Tough match.  Same guy from gi match #1.  I spent most of the match hunting for his back.  I did not want to end up in his lock-down again.

4th Match Loss by Americana with the legs: I don't like watching this match.  There were a few times that I felt like quitting, especially when he had me in kesai gitama.  I let him pass my guard much too easily.

May 20th - No-Gi (Tournament Reflection and Videos)

Yesterday was a reflection day and not too formal.  Ray and I were the first ones and it seemed like maybe the only ones, but then Jerad, Adam, Bauer, and Claire showed up.  Just for me due to my performance Saturday, Ray decided to impart his half guard wisdom.  We got with a partner and would work on half guard and Ray would come around and help us.

The 2 things that I took away most from the session was that I need to affect and control their leg.  There were too many times during the tournament that I focused on upper body but did very little with the leg.  The second thing is that when I go for the sweep I need to shoot under their ankle or opposite leg to my shoulder instead of just to my elbow.  I need to try to take their place instead of try to pull them on top of me.  At the end of the class I still had some issues with when to shoot under and how to stop getting smashed.  But, I'll work on it.

The videos from the tournament are below.

May 19th - Battle on the Plains IV

I competed in my second Jiu-Jitsu tournament yesterday and I'd say it went pretty well.  It was hosted out of our school in Lincoln, NE and was a relatively small tournament.  Naturally I was worried that there wouldn't be anyone my size and skill level to compete against.  But, they ended up making a decent division of 4 for gi and 3 for no-gi.  Since there were fewer gi competitors and I think they had some trouble figuring out the no-gi brackets at first, they decided to run through the gi divisions right off the bat. 

I'm not going to try to do a play by play of all my matches as everything is a blur and I was able to take video of it and am working on converting them to youtube.  So, I'll post them soon and just give highlights.

In Gi I won 3 matches all by points.  My first and third matches were with the same guy, Alex I believe his name was.  He weighed quite a bit more than me and was also a blue belt.  I used my half guard skills a lot and then got reversal and knee on belly points when I could.  I was almost kimura'd by him several times.

My second match was against Will, which I dreaded.  Will beats me all of the time in open mat so why not in a tournament?  I ended up staying on top and passing his guard several times for points.

In no-gi it was Alex and another guy from his school (we'll call him wrestler cause I don't remember his name).  I rolled with wrestler first.  Aside from him getting the takedown and keeping me on the bottom for a good portion of the match, I was able to take his back and sink in a rear naked choke.

My final match was against Alex again.  He had a pretty good slamming takedown on me and pretty much dominated me from there.  I was able to get to half guard and I remember him saying something like "Oh shit."  He beat me by points and passed my guard several times.  I was gassed by the end of it.

Ray said that we'd be working on some half guard stuff today, and that he'd show me some stuff from his half guard game.  That will be a huge help because I really love half guard and feel comfortable there.

First Tournament - Cornhusker State Games 2011

I had quite a day yesterday.  I got up at 6:30 which wasn't difficult since I've been an early riser lately.  I got my bag together and some beverages and snacks for the day.  I wanted to be to the weigh ins early to I could start drinking water again.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't overweight (didn't really end up mattering).  I got there a little before 8 and there was maybe 15 people walking around doing various things with computers and setting up.  I weighed in at 209 which was 5 lbs less than Friday morning at the YMCA.  I started hydrating and had some fruit.  Finally the place started to get crowded around 9:30.

Around 10ish we got together for a rules meeting which was mostly the stuff I knew already from the past week's classes.  Some people asked some silly questions to make it go a little longer than it needed to but that was okay.

Then the fun began.  They started calling up all of the people that weren't matched with a good division by weight and rank and tried to put them into groups.  This took quite a while to get sorted out and I think they probably could have started the kids matches just to get something going, but I really don't know what was going on.  After the front table started to clear out I noticed that I was one of the first on the board to fight with a guy named Terrance (who I later found out was pretty cool).  However, I was soon put into another division with guys from my school.  Chris and Bauer are both guys from my school and their both beasts.  I was a little worried but I didn't really care I just wanted to go at this point.

I fought Chris first.  He pretty much dominated me from top position and then ended up submitting me with an arm triangle.  You can see the video below.

Chris and Bauer fought and Chris won again although I don't remember how and I should have had my dad record it.  After a trip to the desk again because they mixed us up I was put up against Bauer.  He and I went the distance.  From standing I tried a couple of wristlocks and then eventually we went down and I reversed and got on top in like a guillotine.  I stayed on top for a while but was eventually reversed and put on the bottom.  Apparently I was still ahead in points until 10 seconds at the very end where he worked really hard for mount.  I had no idea and didn't think to check the clock or the score.  So I lost by points to Bauer.  He and Chris went again and Chris won again.  Next tournament I'm going to record more of our guys' matches, I feel kind of bad that I didn't.  I took bronze in that division.

It ended up that the other no-gi division that I was originally in was still going to happen.  It was me and 2 other guys, Terrance and Chad I think.  Here is where Ray stepped in to be me coach and really helped me out.  Terrance was a lot taller than me and was able to keep me away from him.  I pretty much dominated them both from mount and side control once I got them down.  I submitted Terrance with a arm triangle and Chad with an armbar and won gold in that division.  Unfortunately I don't have the video of the second fight.

For my Gi match Terrance was the only one in my division.  He seemed a little bit more aggressive with the gi on and pulled guard really quickly in our first match, while I attempted a pass he got me on my back but I was able to regain guard.  He committed a no no though from my guard when he tried to cross choke me by straightening his arms and allowing me to armbar him.  Our second match I tried a shoulder throw but he ended up taking me down.  Eventually I got to side mount and put him into a darce choke.  I was a little worried about him after that because he just laid there like he was in pain.  I'm not sure if he went out or what.  Later he told me his neck was hurt a little bit.  Gold medal number 2.

While I wanted to stay it was getting pretty late in the day for me.  I know Ken had showed up to fight but didn't get  to because he had to go to work later.  I heard some other complaints about the disorganization and the computer bracket problems.  Personally I had a lot of fun and was able to test myself and get a feel for where I'm at.  I'll definitely compete again in the future.  Bauer and I might be a good match-up for a while to come.  I need to grow some muscle though.

I'd like to thank everyone at Roseberry's for helping me along, it's been quite an experience so far and I can see myself doing this for a long time to come.

 

July 21 - Tourney Prep 2 and the laws of nature went so wrong

Class started out similar to Monday night.  We were allowed to wear our rash guards or t-shirts and we started with some pointers for the competition and Conan had us ask some questions.  My question was about the bottom sprawl position since I seem to end up there a lot.  I'm still not completely comfortable with the sit-out but I got a couple of other ideas. 

Next we did some matches with coaches and reffing.  I went up against Matt, a guy that started not long after I did and is doing pretty good.  Once we started we felt each other out a bit and I was eventually able to get his back.  I pulled him down and put him into back mount.  From here I tried to be relaxed with both hooks in and just go with him.  We rolled around but I maintained the position for a while.  I was trying everything that was being yelled at me but I could not sink the choke in.  I was trying to conserve my energy as well so I wouldn't gas out like Monday.  At one point I think I heard people picking on Patrick (my coach) for not telling me what to do.  A lot of it I tuned out though and might have had some tunnel vision.  Eventually he Matt was escaping and I was able to try an armbar and then a omma-plata  which i must have been doing wrong because he was escaping that too.  Eventually...somehow...I got an armbar with the other arm and he tapped.  While I caught my breath Conan gave us some pointers on what either of us could have done differently.  I should have flattened him out or done a neck crank.  I hope that Matt isn't discouraged, I don't think he should be as I have quite a bit of experience for a white belt.  He did a good job of not getting submitted.

We did more matches.  I didn't feel like I was ready to try reffing or coaching, maybe for the next tournament I'll try it. There were some good pointers given to everyone and some good matches.

After we bowed out Ken appeared and we had another epic battle.  It went as usual.  Ken allowed me to dominate in the beginning and I tried taking his back several times and hold side control. There was a point when Ken was holding me in side control and my chest was being smashed.  I eventually escaped somehow.  Ray helped with some coaching and by telling me I'd have to write in my blog that I was Ken's bitch.  Eventually I got a dominant position again.  The only bad thing about coaching is that your opponent can hear what you are being told to do. Ray told me to take his back one time and Ken anticipated, the next time Ray told me to do it again I decided to use his coaching to my advantage and I went for an armbar instead and I got it.  Ken tapped.  I realize that 99 times out of 100 it would go the other way, but it's definitely a sign that I'm getting better.

Quote from Ken:

when you tap me out, is when i move on and walk off into the sunset. i'll find a high mountain top and contemplate how the laws of nature went so wrong.

July 18th - Tournament Prep

It turned out to be one of the hottest days yesterday, but luckily Conan had us wear t-shirts instead of gi's because we were mostly just going over tournament rules.  I think I understand the rules pretty well now.  The one thing that I'll have to remember is to maintain the positions for 3 seconds at a time so I can get the most points.  That seems like something that would easily be forgotten in the heat of battle. Next we went over some basic strategies and where some team members have made mistakes in the past. 

We did some mock matches where one person was the ref and two people would roll.  It looks like it's pretty difficult to be a ref, because not all positions are clean and there is a lot of tangling up and scrambling.  I ended up going against Jerad.  I started off dominating and getting top position.  However, I learned a valuable lesson because I worked the top for a while and eventually gassed out.  I took his back at one point and then he reversed and got on top.  At that point my energy was gone and I wasn't able to fight back as effectively.  He eventually tapped me with a Darce choke.

So how can I prevent this.  I think it mostly happened because I was nervous from everyone watching.  I also don't get the top position very often right now so I'm not as comfortable resting on top.  I'm glad it happened though because hopefully it will help me calm down a little bit more.

During open mat I rolled with David first.  There was one point where I was in his open guard and he was pushing me back.  I came back forward and we had a nasty headbutt.  We both stopped and I made sure I wasn't hurt.  It was forehead to forehead so it really stung but wasn't anything serious like getting hit in the eye or nose.  I can't recall how he submitted me, maybe an arm triangle.

Ken and I had an epic battle.  That took probably 10 minutes or more, of course it's hard to know how much time when you are rolling.  There was a lot of back and forth and some really cool sweeps and reversals.  At one point Ken was trying to pass my guard and I had him doing a hand stand vertically straight up.  Close to the end I told Ken that a month ago I probably would have given up earlier in the match from being gassed.  I know I've improved.  Ken, Jerad and I sat and talked for a while giving me some pointers for the tournament.  I just hope I can keep a good positive attitude for Sunday.

Rules I don't need no stinking rules

Yesterday's class was in preparation for the tournament coming up Saturday.  It was very interesting.  I'm sure all of the rules have their purpose most of them for safety so I do see their value in the competition setting.

Basically you score points for getting to and holding top positions like knee on stomach and mount.  Sidemount does not give any points but if you pass guard into side mount you get 3 points.  All of these require keeping the position for 3 seconds.  You can also reverse from bottom in guard or half guard to get 2 points.  If you give a good try at a reversal but don't make it you get an "advantage" which doesn't count for anything unless you are tied at the end of the match.

Then we discussed the several different illegal moves.  Because of the dangers of some of the techniques white belts can do less than blue belts; blue belts can do less than purple and above.  Mostly  centered around ankle locks and spinal locks.  No gi rules allowed for more of these techniques than gi.

While it is interesting it's also kind of off putting.  The stringent rules were why I didn't like Taekwondo tournaments.  Granted this is a completely different thing.  I'm still going to try to compete and see how I like it and give it a chance.  I'll make a goal that I cannot stop competing until I've at least won one match in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament.


After that there was open mat time where I rolled with 3 fellow Jiu-Jitsuists.  Each one had a different style.  One was very aggressive and strong but a little spastic.  Another was pretty new but had some Judo experience, he was also very strong but doesn't seem to know enough submissions yet to finish.  The last guy I rolled with was a blue belt, Ken.  He was very passive and let me try several things and almost gave me the sense that I could win then after I try and fail a bunch of things and I'm tired he finally submits me.  Beaten not only physically but also mentally.  I've had this happen to me before with higher ranks so it's no surprise.

Lately I've been thinking about personal style and how each person does Jiu-Jitsu at different ranks and with different body types or attributes.  How they figure out how to make it work for themselves through sparring and testing it.  I'm interested to see how my style will change as I figure things out.