My First BJJ Competition –Video

In November 2010 I joined my first BJJ competition.  It was the 2010 Indonesian Submission Championships in Jakarta.  It was a good looking event with roughly 100 fighters; some of which originated from other countries (Greece, Singapore, Brazil, USA, Poland, France).  Competitors were separated by weight classes; there were no belt or age divisions.

It was an interesting experience for me as I don’t usually take part in sports competitions.  Something about it turns me into a nervous overcompensating-trash-talking idiot :)  Surprisingly I was able to calm my nerves and relax.  When I got nervous I ran around the venue or did some light rolling to get the energy out; which were great ways of staying warmed up.  Another thing that helped my nerves was that I didn’t put any pressure on myself to win.  I was mainly there for the experience.

It pains me to watch it but here is the footage of my match (warning: boring :P).  I think the match was 8.5 minutes long.  I lost in overtime when my opponent mounted me and I couldn’t escape within three seconds.  It pains me not because I lost but because of the obvious mistakes I can see in hindsight.

Things I’m actively working on to correct:

• Finishing the arm-in guillotine.  My technique was horrible, I was flat on my back and I was sending all my energy into his armpit instead of his trachea –WRONG! 
• Staying on top no matter what.  I shouldn’t have jumped guard on that retarded guillotine attempt.  I should have just sprawled him to the ground and tried another submission that I was more familiar with.  In all positions I should be more aggressive about staying on top.  Fighting from the bottom sucks, eff dat yo.
• Defending from bottom side control.  Work in progress for months now and still improving.  I want to be nearly impossible to submit in this position.
• Escaping side control.  I have a weeeak bridge and shrimp.  I’m focussing on correcting this every roll.  I’m doing isolation drills with full resistance to get the escape strategies and techniques down.  I’d prefer to get back on top instead of getting full guard.  I’m going to focus on this for the next three to six months!

Competing was a fun experience that I’d like to repeat.  For now, it’s back to the mat to drill drill drill.  Thanks to my teammates & coach, gf & my dad for their support :)

The Man in the Arena

Cool excerpt I saw in a documentary movie about Renzo Gracie.  The speech was made by Theodore Roosevelt and sounded really cool when Renzo was reading it.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Full speech is here