First tournament

[shamster]

I had my first tournament on Saturday. Lost my first and only match by an advantage. Score was 0-0 but ref gave him an advantage.

At the start, after only a few seconds of going for the gis, I immediatly pulled him down into my closed guard. I then attacked pretty agressively for his collar, but he was holding on to my arms, and both of us were fighting for control pretty hard. This is usually not my style, as I usually stay relaxed and take my time, but I guess I was pretty pumped up from all the waiting I did earlier. Plus in the matches before me, some guys were getting armbarred pretty bad, and I was determined not to let that happen to me. Anyhow, we were doing this for another minute. He tried to keylock me, but of course it's hard for him to pull of inside my guard so no real problem for me. At one point, I almost did get his back, but he managed to prevent that b4 I could get completely over. Then I was going to go for the scissors sweep, but I hesitated for a second, which was a mistake. Because I opened my legs a second too long, he managed to get one leg over, and then I locked him in my half guard. It was at that point where I realized I went a little too fast at first, and that's when I felt a bit gassed. Almost recovered guard a few times but still stuck in half guard. He tried to pass his leg through for either the full mount or side control, but I had his foot trapped pretty tight. He went for an ezekiel, but I felt it coming, so I prevented that. He then tried to choke me with the skirt of my gi, but I moved around enough to stop that as well. Then he got a bit to my side and tried to collar choke me, but I just repositioned and kept my chin under the collar. It was pretty uncomfortable, but I knew I was safe from an actual choke. The ref then gave him an advantage...I suppose for the submission attempt(s) and for putting me more on the defensive. After that, we were both pretty tired, and I started working on recovering guard again. Almost got it once or twice, then time ran out. He won by advantage.

Although I lost, it was a great experience overall. I learned some important lessons. For one thing, I shouldn't really change my game plan. Even though I do want to be at least a little more aggressive than when I roll with classmates, I don't wanna go all out if I'm not used to it. I had at least 2 good chances to get out of the half guard, but I couldn't due to being gassed. Second, I realize that I should take it a bit slower and actually think. With all the adrenaline going through my body and my desire to put up a good fight, everything happened so fast that I actually went through the first half of the fight without much thinking. I instinctively attacked his collar a lot, but I didn't utilize any other tools I knew. And third, I know to commit to a move if I plan to use it. My hesitation while debating for a sweep allowed him to go to half guard, where he held me the rest of the match.

There are things I'm disappointed in myself for not doing, but I'm at least happy that I didn't give him any points or a submission. I even told others before the match that I may lose the match, but I promise that the guy is going to have to work hard for the win. Which he did...he later told me that our match tired him out to the point he had little left for his next match, which he lost.

Also, to add...I'm glad I spent some time rolling with the higher belts in class. Even though I got my ass handed to me over and over, and I wondered what the point was at times, it did pay off. Rolling with them really upped my defense and gave me a better sense of what to look out for as far as the opponent's submission attempts. I'm pretty sure if not for that, I probably would've been choked out while I had him in my half guard.

Anyhow, any comments/suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

[muaythaiguy15]

Well, good job! Ive personally never been in a BJJ tournament but it sounds like you didnt too bad. Ive been doing no gi BJJ for about 6 months now and did a bit of wrestling back in the day.

From what I know about wrestling, most people lose thier first time. Keep your head up, most people dont have the guts to even go out there!

[OmaPlata]

Good job. It takes balls to compete. Most guys wont do it. They say theyre scared of getting injured blah blah blah. The best way to learn is to compete really. You remember every detail of the match and learn from those details. One match is like 20 classes of knowledge it seems.

[cakegirl]

Congratulations on your first tournament!

[shamster]

Thanks guys (and gal)! I definitely did learn a lot in that one match. In retrospect, I feel that I need to stick with the stuff I do well, and take my time with it. A few things I rushed through, and it ended up costing me the match. Such as when I almost took his back. Had I taken my time to really tighten my hold on him and worm my way around him methodically instead of trying to rush there and lose it, I would've put myself in a potentially winning position.

[shamster]

Oops, double tap...

[mfpd]

hey bud..I understand. I just had my first tournament a couple of weeks ago. I have only been training for about 3.5 months, but wanted to try it. I ended up losing on points as well. We struggled with takedowns for about the 1st minute, then I pulled him to closed guard. I was trying for a collar choke, then going for an arm-bar and triangle. I had seen a couple gets before me get submitted and I was determined not to let it happen. Finally, it was getting to less than a minute and the score was 0-0. I opened my guard for a sweep or something to get the points, and my opponent passed guard to side control. That was all he needed to win on points. That happened with about 20 seconds left in the match.

BUT, I learned a lot from that tournament and can't wait until the next one!!!

[mfpd]

sorry...sent it twice as well