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:
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!
