I've competed two other times so far while practicing jiu jitsu last year at the Florida BJJ state championships and a New Breed tournament. There is nothing quite like competing. There's the stress of cutting/making weight, sitting around all day waiting for your matches to start, the adrenaline of the actual matches, and all too quickly it's over. But, in that short 5-minute window, you get the opportunity to put everything you've learned in jiu jitsu into practice against an opponent who's planning on doing the same to you. There aren't many martial arts where you can spar live at 100% against an opponent. I think that's one of the reasons why I enjoy jiu jitsu so much.
You learn a lot about your jiu jitsu in the short time you compete at a tournament. Any weaknesses that you may have in your game will get a huge spotlight shone on them. It's also a time to develop the mental aspect of your game. Are you going to shoot for the takedown, or pull guard? If you end up on bottom, what sweeps can you use? If you get to a top position, how do you want to pass the guard and what submissions do you feel strong enough with to use. I'm still only a green belt, so these are all things I'm still working through, still trying to develop my game.
But, this in-house tournament was more of a stress free environment for competition. I knew a lot of the guys and there was no weighing in. There was still a lot of waiting before matches, but not the same stress and game planning that usually accompanies the waiting. I was also looking forward to seeing how I stacked up against green belts from the other schools. But, there was one problem. Only 5 green belts competed, and 4 of us were from the Oviedo school where I train at! There were a lot of white belts and blue belts and even more purple belts than green belts. That was a little disappointing.
When the green belts finally got called out to warm up, we were split into 2 groups. The other 3 green belts from Oviedo (Roberto, Matt, and Victor) would be competing against each other. And I was pitted against the lone green belt from the other school. Here's my match (thanks to Zach for recording this!):
I can't remember his name or which school he's from, but he was tough! I signed up for the 160-175 lb division, and I was just over 160 that morning. I found out afterward that my opponent weighed 200 lbs. I'm happy how I did against someone who had that much weight on me, technique does work! I lost the match by an advantage point, as we each had 2 points from sweeping each other. He got the advantage point early on when he flattened me out while I was in half guard. I didn't realize I would be giving up an advantage point in that situation, so I wasn't fighting too hard to keep my shoulders off the ground. Now, I know though, so I'll fight harder next time to stay on my hips.
I'm not usually very confident in my takedowns, so my plan was to pull half guard and work my sweep, which I finally get about halfway through the match. Unfortunately, I got pretty excited at that point and really wanted to pass his guard to continue to attack. I didn't have a very good base, and this video makes that very clear! I was leaning to my left and that's the side that he swept me on. I wish I had slowed down and made sure I had a strong base, but these are the things you learn by competing, and I will definitely be focusing on my base and posture in my future training.
That's pretty much it, after he swept me I was able to get back to full guard. But, by then there was only about 20-30 seconds left and I was trying frantically to hit an arm bar or triangle, or anything! Then time ran out. So, I got second place... out of 2 competitors. But, the important part was stepping on the mat in the first place. I never thought I'd be competing in jiu jitsu tournaments. But, I love it! Win or lose, of course I'd rather win, but there's always something to take away from the experience.
Overall, the tournament was a great experience and I had a great time with my teammates. I can't wait to compete again at next year's tournament. Even though that brings another set of problems, I'll be a blue belt by then and there were a lot of blue belts competing and they all looked super tough! Just gotta keep training. Thanks to all the black sheep at GBO Oviedo and my instructors Todd and Steven for making jiu jitsu such a fun and rewarding journey!
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| GBO Oviedo green belts bringin' home the gold! |
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