Another Tourney in the Bag: Kombat Arts Classic 2011.

It's obvious at this point that I'm not a consistent blogger. I won't make excuses, or promises I can't keep about it. I've never been under the impression that the things I write here are worth anything, outside of contemplating things that would go unnoticed otherwise.

One thing is for certain, I won't blog when I have nothing to say and I won't blog when there are more pressing issues. That being said, There are a lot of pressing issues at the moment. Followers of Ash's blog know that we have relocated to Thunder Bay. That's chewed up the bulk of my daylight for the last 6 weeks.

Thunder Bay, more or less.

We're on the ground now though. Ash is napping and I've nowhere else to be. I wanted to talk about the last tournament. It was full of firsts, and an interesting experience all around.

I showed up and started talking with the familiar tourney guys. Max, the guy I fight at every tourney, initially moved up a division to fight some new faces. He had to move back down when it became apparent that there wasn't a very good showing in that weight class.

In talking with people and warming up, it became obvious that there were a lot of guys from a certain school who had simply not shown. No idea what had happened here.

Needless to say, the first two fights I had were guys from this school, so I won two matches by forfeit. Very lame. I had to wait a long ass time in the pit.

So guess who's my first match? It's my pal Max. (I say pal in a tongue and cheek manner, but we are pals. You simply can't fight someone as much as we have and still have distaste for each other.) I was certain that I would be able to get him this time. It was always a single move that determined our matches. It was always chess. I could come out on top.

Well, I didn't this time either. I went for a throw that I've been trying a lot. It occurs to me to be fairly low risk (either I get the throw or I land guarded) so I tried it out. I didn't get the takedown, but I've got guard. I've been working a ton of Lasso guard, and went with that this time. I didn't manage to make it work. I was well aware from our previous fights that Max is well versed at dealing with Lasso, regardless, It's my sharpest guard and i felt compelled to use it. Max managed a pass and got the win.

As this is the format where the semi final losers fight to determine third place, I've still got a fight left.

This fight was peculiar. At the start, my opponent reaches out to clap & pound. I'm no stiff, so I do similar. As we pound, he grabs this arm and jumps guard. Dirty damn pool. You do not offer to clap/pound or shake again, or whatever, and then use it as a way to close the distance. Needless to say, I was pissed right off.

I smash passed him. I mean: I smashed his guard open, crushed him into the mats and took mount. I got him to turn and I used the bow and arrow choke. This choke is bad enough when you do it in a friendly way. I was practically trying to dead lift his collar. I was out of my mind. Needless to say, he tapped. I think the whole thing lasted a furious 30 seconds, tops.

I got up, shaking my head and frowning angrily. The ref raises my hand. I've no patience for this guy, so I'm just leaving. I've got no time for pleasantries after that. His coach starts yelling at me, asking me what my problem was. I went over and told him. He had trained this guy to think that being a poor sport and a cheat was acceptable. I explained this to him. Much to my surprise, the coach sort of apologized, or at least granted that I was right to be angry. I hope he has explained to this student that some people won't accept this sort of trickery. I am very beatable, but it will have to be legitimately done.

I will also grant that in hindsight, I wasn't proud that I got that angry. That's also not tremendous sportsmanship. Perhaps I should have kept it cooler when the match was done.
On the other hand, someone tried to cheat me, and he paid with his neck.

The next fight played into a pattern of people trying to disrupt me mentally. Some one needs to tell people that it doesn't work on me. This non-sense just makes the victories better.

So I've got third at weight (by rather unimpressive methods.) I'm just excited that I can fight in the absolute. I like the absolute. It's like you've already got what you paid for, you probably fought a bunch of guys you've seen in past tourneys. Now you get (literally) more than you had bargained for. Different people, different sizes.

More Importantly, My beard will benefit from the experience.

Any hoo. First fight in absolute. I'm fighting this guy who weighs ~190. He's not much bigger. I go for the same Takedown as above, but it doesn't pan out. I've got guard. Buddy is trying to pass. I'm re guarding and he is becoming frustrated. His coach is trying to mess with me, I can hear him yelling: “You're bigger than him, you can control him!” Wrong. Regardless of his size, if you can't pass a guard, you can't win. If you don't have technique, all you have is piss and vinegar. The “Piss and Vinegar” types have become the easiest to control for me. Stall them, confuse them, annoy them, tire them, beat them.

Shortly after that remark I tapped him with an inverted armbar.

I've noticed a trend in this post, and in my imaginings and re-tellings of tournaments generally. Anyone who I fight that demonstrates goodwill, and valour; guys who showed through themselves and their coaches that they are good people, I wouldn't dare speak bad of. People like these last two competitors, guys who cheat, guys whose coaches try to play mental games with people, I don't have a fleck of patience or pity for.

Learn to play the game. Be cool, and people will respect you. It's always the guys who can't hack it who are out there playing the dirty games of pool.

Max, for instance, is a shining example. Consistent medal winner. No beefs and no ego.

The next fight was also with a guy who was weird. His team (same team as the guy who pulled guard cheaply) was calling him “Crazy.” So great. More piss and vinegar.

This went exactly as anticipated. He was playing the “Crazy Card” hoping that his frantic movements would tire me or mess with my head enough for him to win. No dice. He wasn't actually all that bad. If he wasn't so frantic, he'd be able to fight intelligently. He had some solid escapes and managed to get out of a few chokes and out of a few bad positions. Despite this. I had him beat. I won 13-2.

The problem with fighting this crazy guy, was that I was actually very tired after this fight. I was light headed, and not really able to think clearly or move well. I had tunnel vision. I thought I was having an embolism or something. I lied on the ground and sort of rolled around all out of it, for about ten minutes.

The guy who was organizing the Open division cut me some serious slack. He saw me on the ground, rolling around and trying to figure out where I was. He said to me that he was going to put in a couple of other divisions before my next fight. I don't think I could have fought if he hadn't have done that.

The next fight I was fighting a guy that I knew to an extent. He's a cool guy. We'd met a few times before and we talked after our fight. Nice fella.

I managed to get myself DQ'd in this match. That was a first. Basically, he pulls guard and is working a sort of DLR where he is trying to go around the outside towards the back. My leg is tangled funny. It was an interesting guard. I wasn't able to come up with an intelligent pass for it. It seemed to me that he was looking for my back, and that he wants me to pass attempt as a bait. I figured, I will sweep myself and work from the bottom. Not an ideal strategy, but I'm not in an ideal position.

As we come up, my leg is entangled so that it is in the 'reap' position. I didn't notice this in time. The ref notes it and I move my foot so that it is on the side of his hip. This was apparently not done quickly enough. The ref stops us and disqualifies me. The ref is actually a friend of mine from way back when I started. I told the ref (less politely than I should have) that his decision was unreasonable. I said that he could have told me and I would have moved my foot. Apparently, according to the rules this is the sole job of the fighter and their coach. IF the ref notes it, it's game over. I don't think this is fair. I didn't have the luxury of having a coach at this particular event.

My opponent was very gracious about it. We both legitimately wanted to fight it out.

I also apologized to the ref. I disagree with the rule and the administration of it. Despite this, I apologized for getting worked up. The ref was cool about it. Like I say, we go back a few years, and he competes a lot. The same thing has happened to him.

So now I've got to fight and try to win third. I'm gassed at this point.

I'm fighting this bigger guy. Maybe a lean 190 or 200. It was sorta ok. We were both standing and interested in a bit of a judo fight. This was cool. I tried a tai otoshi and a collar side seio. No dice though. My opponent managed to get the take down. From here it was me trying my best to get something on this fella. I couldn't pull it off. He's got the td points, and he's got the win.

So, decent tournament. I got third at weight and fourth in the absolute. I was pretty happy to have done well in the absolute. In the past I had gone out in the first round.

It's also great just to get tourney experience, and this day was rich in it. I got 6 fights in a single day. Nice.

The lesson was that I need to pick up better standing game. Lakehead U has a good wrestling team, so I should have good opportunities to improve this.

While I do prefer Judo throws, I feel that Judo as a stand alone sport has gone in a weird direction with the 'No leg attack' business. I would like to continue to learn judo, but I simply can't ignore the legs altogether. That's not feasible for BJJ. Wrestling has high attacks as well as leg attacks. Most judo style throws anticipate a high standing posture and can be largely stifled with a low wrestling posture. This is also the height I need to be at to meet guys who are pulling to an open guard. Thus, wrestling instead of Judo as a side hobby for now. It has a larger ROI.

I'd change the name of the blog to reflect the above, but I think only Ashley reads this. Possibly also Slidey, but he is as prolific of a reader as Micheal Valentine Smith.

Also of note, Lasso guard has lost some lustre. It's a good guard, but it was stifled by Max and by the last guy I fought. I have been working on transitioning to another guard from Lasso. I had tried to do this against the last opponent but failed. This transition will be key to the utility of my guard game in the future.

You Should Compete

Yes, you.

If you want to know when, the answer is now. Not once you have gotten to a certain level, not once you are a blue belt, not once your cardio is in line. Go Compete. And do it now.

Today is the day of Champions, Tomorrow is a day late.

I’ve competed 16 (or 17, not sure) times now. I’m still a beginner at it. My reasons are individual (namely, I’m bad at it and this challenges me.) Tournaments have done a number of good things for me...It’s been a profound education for me that has extended into day to day life more so than any other aspect.

As rolling on the mats is a learning tool, competing is a whole other realm of education.

Do it because:

It scares you.
Competing isn’t easy. It can be nerve wracking. Things that provoke fear in you need to be beaten. Don’t take the easy path. If you don’t already know, the best way to defeat something is to embrace it first. Then choke it good.

I change my mind; competing is easy. It’s training for life, it’s a small example of how to live and do enormous things while you are scared. Life? Life is hard! A BJJ tournament is going to teach you about fear and what motivates you. How best to face challenges, and how your guts and forearms might go haywire while you do it.

You will win.
You’re going to learn some fantastic things about victory. You will begin to grasp that you are capable; and that your power, and the power of the individual, can surmount any obstacle. You’ll take this back to everyday life.

Can I do this? Just watch.

You will lose.
...and how you react is going to reveal a lot about you. I sense that this is where the real fear lies in competing:

What happens when you put your all into something and you fail? What will happen to you?

This will be a good test of your spirit. Can you fight, lose, and try again? Or are you going to slap your hands on the mats in anger, and never come back again? Will your losses make you stronger? Or will you crumble?

I tell you, you’re already on the mats, working hard. Loses make you better, smarter. This is what BJJ is, and this is what life is.

You will be a better BJJ’er for it.
I’ve already beat down the important ways that competing makes you better; the mental ways. You’ve also got the fact that training for tournaments will make you grow as an athlete. You will have to get into the gym more and work harder when it’s time to roll. The addition of a goal, the end result, will give you something to work towards. Pick up a barbell, develop a “game,” learn your strengths.

There is a subtle yet undeniable difference between competitors and rec players. Respect for anyone on the mats, but competitors have pushed their limits and seek to push them further. They know a comp will test them from top to bottom. They know that how hard they work right now will determine their success in the future

It will guide you
Everyone you fight in a tournament is going to do things differently. Every time you face someone, you’re going to learn something. Whether you’ve fought before or not.

In your club, everyone knows your game and they know how to react. You also know their games.

When you get called on to the mat at a tourney, you look over and see the guy you’re about to fight. You know that he’s a black box. What does he do well? What are his weaknesses? It’s a truer litmus test of your Jiu-Jits. Will you react correctly? Do you just not have an answer? Either way, there’s something he’ll do that you’re not completely familiar with. You will learn about how your game reacts against someone who doesn’t know it, and how you will react to theirs. It’s a whole new bag of hammers.

You will not be hurt
Well, I guess I can’t say that definitively. People get hurt at tournaments. These are physical pursuits. Regardless, people don’t get hurt very often at all. I routinely see more injuries in a week of club rolling than I would at a Tournament. It just doesn’t happen that much.
Either way, I don’t ever see someone injured due to someone else’s malice. If people get hurt, same as in the club, it’s usually rolling the wrong way, or just an unlucky scramble

It’s fun
When we’re not trying to beat each other on the mats, competitors are great people. I’ve made a few hundred friends from academies other than mine. These people have invited me out for dinner after, these people have helped coach me when I showed up without a team. That is camaraderie. It’s honestly a fantastic and beautiful brotherhood, in ways that you wouldn’t believe. You’re going to show up, fight people, and make friends for life. Are there better things to do in a day? No, there are not.

Start right now
Competing does get easier. The fights never do, but the time spent before hand does. You should start now, as soon as you can. Get your feet wet. Experience will eventually make it easier, and the more you have the better. Go sign up.

Do you compete? Tell me why, or why not.

Interesting, I found this post on Starting Strength that basically says the same things. Different sport, same ideas. Cool.

Ontario BJJ Championship Dec 4, 2010

I managed to get another competition under my belt this weekend. I was very happy with it.

(I plan on writing a whole post on why everyone should compete, and (possibly another post) on some tips and tricks for competing. It will be tricky for me to outline why I enjoyed this tournament so much without going on tangents about why competing is awesome, but I’ll give it my best.)

I’m living in Ottawa right now (I will be until January.) I had heard about a tournament about 2.5 weeks before the date. Apparently there were some problems with finding a venue, thus they couldn’t advertise it. I found this odd. They could have mentioned it anyways so that people who are far afield could at least plan the time off of work, get a hotel, etc. I guess though the organizer had some notion of how pissed off people would be if they had to cancel. All the people from afar would have to beg and plead with their hotels for the deposit back, recommit to work, etc.

I guess, either way it’s a mess. No biggy for me anyway, I’ve got things to do in that neck of the woods.

I dropped by the Girl’s in Kingston to spend the night. I left around 7 in the morning. I was a little sleep deprived, but pretty chipper regardless. That’s a handy thing about mild tournament anxiety; you can stay awake pretty easily.

I rolled in around 1030, my division was supposed to start at 11. I didn’t actually expect this to happen though. Tournaments are always late. It’s a bother, but frankly, once you’ve been to enough of these events, you have people you can walk around and talk to. I’ve gained an insight into who knows how the tournament is running. You see these people at every tournament, running the show. I asked around a bit, talked to the guy running the scales, and found that the tourney was 1-1.5 hours late. This is par for the course, and of no concern.

Despite the fact that I have in fact been to a tournament that ran on time, I still plan on being at a Tourney all day. You can’t really ever make specific appointments later on in the day, there’s no point. Someone there will want you to go have dinner with them anyway. So, if you’re lucky (I was) the venue will have Astro-turf, and you can just hang out on the plastic grass.  

I changed into Gi pants around Noon, and was wandering around, watching matches and meeting old BJJ “brothers-in-arms.” I bumped into a really good friend of mine. Accomplished grappler and MMA fighter, Rory MacDonnell. I’d done quite a bit of rolling with Rory in Hamilton, and we’re the type of friends who are always trying to make cutting remarks to each-other. Generally speaking, the best friends are the ones you respect enough to make fun of.

Rory is a surprisingly smart guy. I suppose if you take a university grad with a double major, anything that person teaches will be well explained. He’s also done some cornering work for people. Summarily: Good teacher, Good coach, Ugly.

Anyways, Rory trains his grappling at PuraBJJ in Hamilton. Despite the fact that I’ve never been a member here, Pura Guys are at every tournament and they are always willing to and volunteering to help me. As previously mentioned, I used to train with The Pura Patriarch, PJ.

I have pretty much always been a lone wolf at these tournaments. Even when I was with Joslins, the turn out from our guys was not tremendous, and the people who did go usually (attempted to) coach each other. Now that I train far afield from most tourneys, I can’t really expect someone to come down and coach me.

Rory happily volunteered to help out with this. He even helped me warm up by flow rolling. I’d explained to Rory that my strategy involved being equally concerned with points and the sub. I could do without the sub, but I prefer it. The sub is pure. The sub is unequivocal victory. There is no better way to win than by having your opponent concede that you’ve beat him.

Rory and I arranged that he’d be calling out points (whether I was up or down) and when i had held an intermediary position long enough to score, so that I could continue and gain the most from the progression. This worked great.

I’m going to try to analyse my matches...I’d like to point out that I tend to roll opportunistically, and seldom have a good recollection of how it actually went. As always, I will do my best.

First Match: I fought a guy I’ve never seen before. Keil...or something like that. We started, and he got the take-down. He shot single. I had thought about maybe countering this with the Uchi, but I could tell from his grip that I would not be able to turn for it. I’m also crap with the Uchi Mata. I sat out of the takedown. This concedes him the points, but I *sort of* land guard-ishly. Damage control. He has points, I’ve kept a good position. I swept and got to the top. I’m not sure what sweep or to what position. I think it was half. I passed to Side and held until I heard Rory say “points.” Then Knee on belly, “Points” then mount “Points” then took back. He got out and the whole thing started all over again. I looked at the score at one point, 22-4....Good margin. It got down to the last 30 seconds. I was now up 30-4. I humoured the notion of stalling, I could hear my opponents coach insinuating that I was tired. Opponent was struggling like crazy. Despite the point lead, he still had spirit in him. Good man!  I decided that I still hate the notion of stalling, the sub is a better victory than a points one by any margin, and that I was not at all tired. I worked a bit harder, secured the collar, and bow and arrow choked for the win.

Second Match: I fought this guy named Jamie. Jamie is one of these guys that I see at every tournament, but have somehow never fought. There’s only a few left of these people. I attempted to Tomoe Nage him, but he was wise to it and it didn’t work. I landed with my back to the ground. Jamie had his weight back. I swung my free leg over his head and attempted to armbar. I couldn’t make enough space to extend the arm, and the Opponent worked his way out of this. Jamie worked his way into My open guard. I swept and mounted. I worked for a while holding him in S-mount and trying to armbar and choke. No dice, excellent defense. Opponent worked his way out and was now in my guard. He tried hard to work the pass, but I prevented as time lapsed. My Win, 6-0.

Third Match: Max, the other guy who I see all the time and have still never fought.
Max has a good strategy. I had seen him do it earlier in the tourney. He pulls guard, moves to De La Riva, and sweeps. He gets the top, but doesn’t work tremendously hard to advance. He doesn’t quite stall per-see, but he doesn’t fully engage when he has a lead. Fair enough, I guess. This isn’t a strategy I’d adopt anytime soon. It’s effective (He won the tourney at weight,) but I just don’t find that mentality fun.
I felt confident that I could pass his De La Riva. I couldn’t, as it turned out. I almost prevented the sweep, and then I almost had a bunch of other sweeps work out. Almost doesn’t cut it at tourneys. Max’s Win, 2-0.

After this fight, the refs asked Jamie and I if we wanted to fight again, for third. This would normally not happen. You would nto typically have to fight a person twice. People who accrued enough points in competition during the rest of the year competed at this tourney for free, and were placed automatically in the semi final round. This messed up the brackets so that Jamie and I would have to battle for third. Jamie said it was my choice. I know that we can tie and both take third. I chose this option because:
A) We’ve already fought
B) We can both qualify for the Absolute (I’ve never fought absolute)
C) If we fight for third, the loser will be disqualified from the Absolute, and the winner will be more tired than he would be other wise.

Jamie seemed disappointed. I don’t blame him. He’s a skilled competitor, and another match between us would be a total toss up. He in fact beat Max (champion at our weight) during the absolute and managed to come in third.

Absolute: This was fun. I have never been in an absolute before, so I was super stoked to take part. The atmosphere is even more chill than the tournament at weight is. In an amusing twist of fate, I ended up fighting Reid. The coincidence here is that I went to high school with Reid ages and ages ago. Then randomly, at a Team training event at Joslin’s, he showed up. He had started training with the guys from Dragan’s, our sister club in Kitchener. People were remarking even then at how he had progressed technically and at his remarkable strength.

I wasn’t expecting this to go very well. Aside from the fact that he’s become quite skilled, he’s alo 55 lbs heavier than me. I wasn’t being defeatist about it, but it was going to be a heck of an uphill battle. Anyways, I lost. I played it wrong from the start. I pulled guard (or tried to Tomoe Nage...not sure) and ended up with him in my open. He passed masterfully, and moved to North/South. He went for kimura. I defended well and came out on top. He still had the armbar, and he made it work. Good for him.

It was very cool to fight absolute, against a former high-school acquaintance and Team-mate, no less.

All in all, I had a great day. I really enjoyed this. It’s always a pile of fun to compete. I made a ton of new friends, Max and Jamie among them (you always seem to find friends in the people you fight.) I was also able to pleasantly bump into lots of old friends. Tournaments are the shiznat. They are central to BJJ culture. If you’re not experiencing this, you are missing out.


Any interesting Tourney experiences out there among the readership? Do you hate it? Love it? Lets hear!