2012 By The Numbers

I've had 161 classes so far this year.

• I was on class #212 at the start of 2012. 
• On November 1, I participated in my 373rd class (overall).

I've competed in 2 tournaments so far.

• January 28, 2012 Michigan Jiu Jitsu Championship
• September 15, 2012 Elite Federation of Grapplers
• There is a good chance that I'll do one more this year.

I've attended 3 seminars so far.

• February 18, 2012 Eddie Bravo/Scott Epstein Seminar
• May 12, 2012 Big Don BJJ Seminar at Holly
• June 14, 2012 Myles Jury BJJ/MMA Seminar at Mash
• I will do at least one more this year.

I've gotten 2 stripes on my blue belt.

• April 14, 2012 - first stripe
• August 27, 2012 second stripe

I've had at least 15 privates so far.

• I will do a more in 2012.
  

Well.

I'm not quite Helio Gracie.  Figures.

So, I did this tournament, and I'm working on being positive.  So far; so good.  I didn't do what I wanted to do to my opponent.  I didn't even keep him from doing what he wanted to do to me.  I tapped; twice.

But, I accomplished my mission of staying calm.  I know it's crazy, but I actually don't feel bad with how the day went.  I was present for every moment of my matches.  You see,  in my other tournaments, things were moving so fast that I couldn't keep up--I wasn't fully aware of what was going on.  This time, I was calm with the stand up.  My opponent pulled guard (in both our matches).  I knew what was happening, and I knew what I wanted to do, and I did a lot of what I wanted to do.

In the end, I tapped to triangle choke.  (Both matches were almost a carbon copy of the other.)  I was close to passing his guard; then, things would have been totally different--I know it.  Props to the kid who won, but I feel fine with what I did.  I'm getting more comfortable with tournaments, and that's a good thing.

I can only win.

The alternate title for this post was, "I am Helio Gracie."  :)

I entered a small (I believe it to be small) tournament.  My official weight was 199.6 (without the gi).  Later this month, I want to compete at 195 (with the gi).

The thing is, I'm totally nervous.  I feel like I'm still competing against nerves, anxiety, and uncomfortableness.  In time, I'll transition to competing against actual people (I hope).  For now, though, I feel like I'm my own most daunting competition.

That got my thinking:  How can I practice positive self-talk?  I believe I've talked myself into this win-win situation:
-I do what I want to my opponent, and I win.
-I keep my opponent from doing what he wants to do (he doesn't submit me), and I win.
-Things don't go my way, but I have a nice time (in retrospect) and get some valuable experience, and I still win.  (This is my euphemism for, "I get tapped.")  :)

Now to just stay calm and positive!

Dis what's up.

Things seem to be going well with this hobby I'm obsessed about.  Here's what's up.

I'm come a long way in being more aggressive, but I need to do more.  Of course, I'm not talking about being a bully or jerk.  I just need to go in for the kill a bit more and stop being comfortable in bad spots.  My last tournament (which I've kinda put off talking about) was a bad display of passivity.  I was nervous standing up, so I tried to take the match down.  I ended up in bad spots and stayed there til I did something dumb (or the other guy did something good).  I went 0-2, and it didn't take much time, either.  Thank you very much for showing up.  Dumb me.  :(  

Since then, things are better; I say reservedly.  I'm still not a natural born killer; I probably still settle for bottom too much, but I'm aware of it and working on it. I'm starting more rolls from standing, and I've noticed that when I do so, I usually wind up in better positions.  Cool.

On a related note, I want to up the Judo practices and take the next step toward my next level.  I'm really only interested in Jiu Jitsu promotions, but I'll accept anything else along the way.  Spring and Summer 2012 will be a time of more focus on Judo while most of the world ignores it in the games.

A friend and I are walking through the Gracie Combatives course.  This is a pretty legit curriculum.  It's a good opportunity to cultivate love of Jiu Jitsu in someone who otherwise wouldn't be able to train.  Again, I'm only really interested in promotions at my home gym, but I'm game for whatever else is along the way. This surely isn't going to hurt me.  C'mon man, it's the Gracies!  We are a quarter of the way through it and enjoying the lessons and time together.

I recently attended a 10th Planet JJ seminar. What?  Don't hate.  Didn't you read the above!?  I would like to improve my nogi game, and I'm not turned off by Bravo's approach.  I signed up for his website, too, because dat's how 10 do.  And, it's really cheap.  ;)  I discovered a network of undergrounders who practice the 10th planet system, and they're close by.  I plan to pay them some visits off the grid.  My gym offers nogi classes, and I plan to step up my attendance of those and maybe even inquire about a private involving grappling with punches--small ones; very small.

The folks who hosted Bravo plan to have him back in a few months. We'll probably meet again.  

If I could just figure out a way to quit my job and double my income, I would be able to fund my mini fight quest.  Ohs well.  I'll just do the best I can.  By the way, I also want my daughter to stay steady with her BJJ. She's the future.

I love this stuff; that's what's up!

Judo Tournament Observations

I noticed the following from my recent Judo tournament.

1.  Judo posture is no joke.  Regular Judo players have a rigidity that other grapplers don't often see.

2.  The roll-with-the-flow mindset didn't help me.  (This may be a winning game plan for some, but it wasn't for me this time.)  I noticed more strength being used by average players.  Sure, the higher-level guys made it look effortless, but a good many players looked like they were exerting a lot of strength.  When my matches went to the ground, a lot of muscle was used by my opponents.  This seems to be the natural because Judo allows pins.  Knowing that victories could be awarded via pin, made being on bottom particularly stressful.  In a recent BJJ class, H talked to me about being on bottom.  "Top guy is not threatening; there is in no real danger.  Ride out the storm, and stay patient," he said.  While I need to be more active on bottom, this can serve me well in BJJ--but not Judo, obviously (unless, of course, I have my opponent in guard).

3.  Judo throws can be tough on ya.  I planned to use ouchi gari in my matches, but I got scared of what could put my leg in bad positions, so I abandoned that plan.  I saw some wicked seoi nages:  one lady landed on her face; one dude landed on his head/neck, twice.  (He actually got counted out, and the doctor wouldn't let him compete in any of his other matches.)  There were also a couple of folks whose shoulders got jacked up by seoi nage.  Yikes!  Now, most matches were conducted with no injury, but the ones that went array were scary.  There's no real worry, here.  I'm sure the same is true with BJ tourneys.

4.  I really had a blast.  My performance stunk, but I didn't have high expectations.  I watched a lot of matches; I enjoyed seeing the kids compete, and I would like my daughter who does BJJ to enter a Judo tournament.

BJJ Guy in a Judo Tournament

Well, I'm not entirely a BJJ guy.  Before training in BJJ, I did Judo work for a while and earned the rank of Yonkyu.  Also, my BJJ instructor is a Shodan, and we drill a good many Judo throws as a staple in our work.

I was lumped into an open division with older players of all sizes and experience levels.  That, of course, didn't bode well for me, but I was there for the experience points.  (Judo actually gives points for entering competitions, and such is a factor for promotion.)  Plus, this tournament was nearby and cheap, so Mission Experience and Takedown Focus was a go.

My first match was against a dude that I thought I was stronger than.  He was like a rock and surprised me with his Judo core strength.    (I was nervous, again, and hadn't adequately warmed up; blah, blah, blah.  No excuses, though.)  After a bit of grip fighting, we ended up on the ground as a result of no particular throw.  My opponent took North-South.  (This move has no real point value in BJJ, although passing the guard to get to this position would earn the passer some points, but my opponent did not start in my guard.)  I lost via pin.  It stunk, and I felt pretty badly.  My go-with-the-flow approach didn't work in this case.

My next match also ended in loss but was better.  I felt myself being more calm (not to mentioned warmed up after the first match).  We grip fought a bit, and my opponent (whom I know was a higher rank than I) managed to trip me up and gained top control.  Osaekomi was called, so I had about 25 seconds to escape.  I did so pretty easily and locked up guard on my opponent.  He hunkered down, and the ref stood us up.  I was feeling pretty comfortable on the ground, so I pulled guard and managed a decent scissor sweep, but my opponent based out, and we were soon stood up.

At this point, I felt like I should make more of an effort on my feet, and I put together my best stretch of offense of the whole day.  I went into the day thinking that I would limit my offense to a few basic moves:  ashi harai, ouchi gari, and o soto gari.  I told myself that I would do other throws as they presented themselves, but these would constitute my attacks.  As I watched the day's Judo, I got a little freaked out  with where I saw player's legs ending up.  I abandoned the idea of attacking with ouchi gari.  I feared shooting my leg in between my opponent's and being stuffed and pushed backward putting my knee in an awkward position.  (I'm going to write a separate post about general observations for my Judo experience.)  So, with kouchi gari off of my list, I attacked with a number of ashi harais, and I pushed and pulled nicely.

I pulled guard, but my opponent remained standing; I quickly stood and attempted a couple more attacks before before time ended.  My opponent won with a fractional point from the first trip.  I felt much better about this match.

First Post; First Tournament

I want to begin this blog with an outline of my first BJJ tournament.  In short, I took third place with a record of 2 and 1.

I'm a competitor in the masters division (30-40 years old), and I'm a super heavy weight (208-221 lbs).  There were 5 gents in my division, and I drew the first match with a fellow to whom I had spoken throughout the long day of waiting for the white belt matches.

The wait was long, and my nerves were flowing.  I passed time by watching matches (this tournament began with upper belts and worked down from there).  I calmed the nerves by talking to folks--people I knew; people I didn't know; even people in my division.  I met a fellow who would be competing in my division.  I struck up a conversation which seemed to calm both of us down a bit.  The dude was big and stocky which made we nervous as a someone who may be competing against him, and I became very jittery when I learned that he was a wrestler.

In my first match (the lead match in my division), I drew the big wrestler dude.  Looking back on it now, I know that I lost the match before even taking the mat.  I was nervous about the situation and scared of my opponent.  I pulled guard because he is a wrestler.  We struggled a bit; he passed my guard and slipped on a slick paper-cutted choke.  As it turns out, this guy had a nice choke and caught everyone with it and wound up winning 1st place.

After my first match, things started feeling like normal jiu jitsu.  I was awarded a win via withdrawal.  The other guy hurt himself in his first match.  I hated that it happened to him, but I was sure that I would have beaten the guy.  (I know him, and it totally would have happened.  He's okay by the way; just a tweek.)

By this point in the division things were taking shape, and I knew who I would be facing for 3rd place.  I told myself that I could still do well, and I entered the consolation match feeling great.  I won that match on points:  26 to 0 to be specific.  I was happy to execute such positional dominance, but I would have loved to finish my opponent.  I tried, but the fellow's defense was decent, and I was being cautious.

After my division was over, I was able to actually enjoy the tournament.  I  enjoyed seeing the jiu jitsu of my team mates paying off for them.  Seeing their hard work working for them encouraged me more than I thought it would.

During my long, nervous wait, I told myself that this would be my last tournament.  I must say, though, at the end of the day, I believe I will compete again.