My tournament this past weekend (vids included!)
Hi Dojo readers!
So those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter probably knew that I have been training for a Jiujitsu tournament all January. This past weekend was go time at the Monster Cup here in Charlotte.
Thanks…
I want to first give a big thanks and shout out to Joe Hurst, the tournament organizer, for giving Disciple Dojo a booth from which to sell my artwork…
It was great exposure for me within the martial arts community and helped raise awareness for IJM as well. I only sold less than a dozen prints, but gave out a lot of cards and connected with a number of martial artists from all over the place. One of them, in fact, was UFC veteran and multiple grappling champion, Jeff “The Snowman” Monson. He stopped by and picked up a print of his buddy Pablo Popovitch (my latest charity portrait subject). Jeff was a very nice and soft-spoken guy…which most people wouldn’t assume a heavily-tattooed cage fighter with muscles the size of my head to be! But he was indeed and it was an honor having him stop by and appreciate my artwork…
Remember, all my martial arts portraits are available for sale and proceeds go to supporting Disciple Dojo, as well as charities like IJM! You can see them and order prints or enlargements HERE.
I also want to thank my roommate, Nick Dusenbury (who also writes EXCELLENT financial counseling advice columns which you should TOTALLY check out!) for taking his Saturday to come sit at my booth and help me sell prints and give out business cards. I honestly owe more to Nick than probably anyone else in my life when it comes to Disciple Dojo surviving this long on my own and I pray that I can one day repay him in full! If you’d like to help me do so, PLEASE consider making a donation or purchasing some resources!
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The competition…
My biggest competition was actually against the scale!
Over the holidays, I was walking around at about 176lbs. My ideal weight is around 165 and my competition weight is 155. That means I had about 3 weeks to drop 20 lbs!
So most of January consisted of salads with chicken and/or egg whites for lunch, and soup, grits, or oatmeal for dinner. Sodas were out and in the week leading up to weigh-ins, so was sugar in general, including sweet tea (which, thanks to Panera’s new addition of Acai tea, wasn’t too horrible!). By Friday morning, I was 156 according to my bathroom scale…
The only problem, which I found out when I got to weigh-ins, was that my bathroom scale is 2 lbs off! I weighed in at 157.8. Thankfully, I brought my sweat gear with me in the car. After peddling on the stationary bike and then running about a mile around the parking lot, followed by sitting in my car with the heat on full blast and a towel on my head in a sauna suit, I finally weighed in at 156.0 on the dot (you’re allowed to be within 1lb of your target weight).
Let me tell you, after cutting weight for a month, NOTHING is better than Momma’s Pancake Breakfast at Cracker Barrel! I had been fantasizing about pancakes and biscuits all week…and I was not disappointed!
The actual matches…
I was competing in two divisions this year. Masters (which is for those 30 years old and up) Blue Belt (in the gi, or Jiujitsu uniform…you know, the pajama looking suits with colored belts!) and Masters Advanced (for those with 3+ years of training) in the no-gi event.
First up was no-gi. Since our division was small, they combined Advanced and Expert. This meant that my opponent would be a black belt!
For those that don’t know, there are 5 belts in adult Brazilian Jiujitsu: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, and Black. Progress between belts is often extremely slow. For instance, though I am a 2nd degree black belt in our general martial arts program at LMA, in our BJJ program, I’m only a blue belt…and I’ve been training for 6 years now! Most BJJ black belts have trained for a MINIMUM of 10 years, and many for much, much longer!
So honestly, I did not expect to win this match…my goal was to survive! And that is exactly what I did! Thanks to my instructor, Derek “TC” Richardson, constantly tapping me out in practice over the past 6 years, and thanks to some on the spot coaching by my friend (and area Black Belt who runs Great Grappling over in nearby Fort Mill, SC) Jeremy “Gerbil” Arel, I ended up going the full round without getting submitted…
Side note: I want to congratulate my instructor and friend, Derek Richardson, on LMA becoming the Renzo Gracie Affiliate school in NC! This is a HUGE honor and I’m thrilled that we are part of the Renzo Gracie family!! If you haven’t already, be sure to read my series of blog posts on my time with Derek and another student, Chase, last Summer getting to go train at RGA in Manhattan for a week. It was the highlight of my 2011 by far!
After my no-gi match, I had to wait around for about 4 hrs before my division in gi was called. This time, I was matched against fellow blue belts (whew!). I hadn’t eaten all day since breakfast, so I was starving and ready to go home by now. My first opponent and I squared off…
I ended up winning with the same move that I got choked unconscious with in a previous tournament (which you can read about and watch HERE! haha!). It was a quick victory and I was glad to have won a match.
However, my next opponent ended up getting past my guard in a scramble and then hunkered down on top of me in North-South position for the entirety of the round, attempting various chokes while his instructor hovered inches away on the mat yelling out instructions in Portuguese. It was an incredibly boring match so I didn’t upload the video of it.
I don’t mind losing. It’s not my favorite thing, but as long as I do my best and my opponent is genuinely better than me, I don’t have a problem with it. But this loss bugged me because I honestly believe that I could’ve beat my opponent and that once he got a dominant position, he played it safe (and smart!) and just rode out a points victory. Hats off to him and no disrespect intended, but I hope I get to compete against him again in the future because I really do think I can do much better than I did that match.
Our LMA team…
One really cool thing about this tournament was seeing a number of LMA students compete for the first time. There were a few errors by the refs and some bad organizing of divisions, but they all competed like champs and everyone walked away with at least one medal!
Big congrats to Mike, Jose, Darius and Cameron. And thanks to Brooke and Chase for coaching/filming/water-supplying duties!!
I can’t wait to get back to LMA for training this week and continuing to improve as both a martial artist and an instructor. I’m also looking forward to next weekend, when I’ll be in GA visiting my parents–and will also be able to attend a seminar by Jiujitsu icon Gustavo Machado, which is being hosted by my friend Ken Hudson at Americus Martial Arts Academy!
Martial Arts is a never ending journey and I will be a lifelong student, always seeking to improve and help others improve along the way…
…kinda like being a Disciple of Jesus, in fact!
😉
Blessings to all and thanks for the support…and now…I gotta go get something to eat!
JM
Categories: Blog, Martial Arts