This is the first blog post that isn't a report on a tournament! How strange. I'll be competing this weekend at the IBJJF Montreal Open, So expect a report on that when I get home. anyway....
As you may or may not know, my 2nd job is working for the Ontario athletic commission as an official at mma events. This is a great job, I love it. It doesn't give me that many opportunities to work which is a mixed blessing. Last weekend at the Score fighting Series they announced their next ontario event. Oct 19th. The weekend of the OJA Ottawa Open!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I've been planning on attending that tournament since It was announced. They are giving away a bunch of trips and I've heard good reports about the event last year. Not to mention, it's a tournament, and I am addicted to tournaments. I know I would have some good competition at this event to, because it's in Ottawa, and there is a lot of super tough girls in the area(Alpha MMA, BTT, other girls from Montreal and Quebec).
This wouldn't be so bad if the event was somewhere not ridiculous, but it's in Sarnia, about as far away as you can get from ottawa without being in northern ontario! There really isn't a realistic way for me to do both things and I am super bummed about it. This will be the first OJA event in 2012 that I will be missing, or I have to miss an opportunity work work for the commission, which isn't a great option because there have only been a few events this year.
Next scheduling drama. The NYC Abu Dhabi Pro Trials announced there event date. Oct 27th. Last year it was 2 weeks after the Montreal trials which was perfect and my whole life plan/ schedule revolved around that being the same. Now what do I do? Make the plans to go to NYC in October and spend a freaking fortune in that expensive city? or skip it, counting on winning in Montreal in the winter? If that doesn't work out, there isn't really any trials after it that I could get to. The other thing they've changed is instead of it being on a Sunday, it's on a Saturday. Which means I'll have to take Friday off work, again. I only have so many vacation days, and they are running out pretty quickly!
I have a couple team mates who want to go to new york too. We could all share a room, but it's still expensive to get there, either gas, or bus tickets, or plane tickets. Then there is subway, taxi, food. It'll probably add up to like $500 / person + tournaments fees and food. Anyone out there looking to sponsor some BJJ athletes? Seriously? We need cold hard cash. or just the plane tix. either way. I'll put your brand all over my blog, I'll share it on facebook and twitter. I'll mention you and put your logo in the highlight video I'm working on. I'll be eternally grateful.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Zombies....arrrrgggg....brains...subs...
The Zombie House is a completely unique approach to competition. It borders on almost not being competition due to the rule set, environment, and ultimate goals. It's been branding and run as an "Arte Suave Submission League" and has been going on since Oct 2010! They took some time off and had their first event back just this past weekend on August 18th.
This past weekend was my first exposure to the zombie house and I had a great time! Stephen and I made the trip to Inner City MMA (in downtown toronto). We left mega early because you never know what the state of the 403/qew/gardiner is going to be. Good thing to, because it turns out, spadina was closed, which was very inconvenient. We were one of the first people there, even though we were a few minutes after the time they had suggested everyone be there by! shame on you people who strolled in after the official match start time. you know who you are!
So we signed our lives away, paid the fee (only $25!) ,got changed and chilled till everyone arrived. Once we were all mostly there we went over the rules / guidelines for the event.
Basically, in my words:
1. Subs only. and if you tap, you restart.
2. Roll hard, but don't be a dick
3. No Refs, but "life guards" who will do their best to keep you in your space, and will call a sub if they think your being stupid by not tapping.
4. 5 minute rounds.
5. All belts fight each other, but are handicapped by points, and subs allowed.
6. 4 weight classes, round robin, You fight 5 guys/girls in your division.
7. Girls and Guys fight together!
So that's that. We got the day rolling. 4 fights went at a time. Using a single timer. so it all ran very smoothly. A few times we had to pause the timer but it all ran very smoothly!
Unfortunately gringo had to leave early, and took a few of his guys with him, including my 5th fight! but i still got 4 great matches.
#1 - Caitlin! Yay a girl! was nice to fight a girl after the weekend before at montreal grappling. Even better, we were pretty much the same size! Outstanding! We had a great roll, she almost caught me in a triangle, and i got 2 arm bars. very back and forth.
#2. Gregg King - I had watch Gregg at montreal grappling (he fought my team mate twice). He should just be renamed Triangle King. Man were they slick! and tight! we had a pretty good roll. He caught me in 4 subs, I almost got an armbar at the end, but i think he decided to take it easy hahah. all in all I learned I need to work on my posture a bit to avoid those pesky triangles.
#3 Nihad (from gringos). Another Great roll! Nihan is mega technical, and strong, felt a bit stronger then Greg, but maybe that's just their styles. He caught me 4X as well, and I didn't really launch much of an offense, to busy trying to keep my head out of his triangle and my arms attached haha!
#4 Andy (from gringos) Andy's a white belt, with a couple stripes, but he rolls really really well! We had a great back and forth match. He has really good back attacks that kept me defending steadily. We ended up going 0-0.
That was my day. I ended up with a score of -6. which.. isn't so great, but I had a lot of fun, and would definitely go back.
They are working on putting together a Ladies Zombie House! I can't wait for something like that. It'll be amazing. Keep your eyes open for it ladies. It's a great way to get some experience, and try new things, and see how your game is coming along in a safe, cheap, and friendly environment.
Here's the website for the zombie house: http://zombiehousebjj.com/
That's basically it. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone looking for some extra mat time, or looking to try out some new setups and subs without having to worry about the other person stalling or loosing on points, or getting subbed.
Thanks to the whole Inner City MMA / Shah Franco Team for hosting and putting on a great event. and thanks to everyone who came out for the great rolls, support, and fun. Oh and Stephen, for coming along I LOVE having team mates that come to tournaments and compete with me!
This past weekend was my first exposure to the zombie house and I had a great time! Stephen and I made the trip to Inner City MMA (in downtown toronto). We left mega early because you never know what the state of the 403/qew/gardiner is going to be. Good thing to, because it turns out, spadina was closed, which was very inconvenient. We were one of the first people there, even though we were a few minutes after the time they had suggested everyone be there by! shame on you people who strolled in after the official match start time. you know who you are!
So we signed our lives away, paid the fee (only $25!) ,got changed and chilled till everyone arrived. Once we were all mostly there we went over the rules / guidelines for the event.
Basically, in my words:
1. Subs only. and if you tap, you restart.
2. Roll hard, but don't be a dick
3. No Refs, but "life guards" who will do their best to keep you in your space, and will call a sub if they think your being stupid by not tapping.
4. 5 minute rounds.
5. All belts fight each other, but are handicapped by points, and subs allowed.
6. 4 weight classes, round robin, You fight 5 guys/girls in your division.
7. Girls and Guys fight together!
So that's that. We got the day rolling. 4 fights went at a time. Using a single timer. so it all ran very smoothly. A few times we had to pause the timer but it all ran very smoothly!
Unfortunately gringo had to leave early, and took a few of his guys with him, including my 5th fight! but i still got 4 great matches.
#1 - Caitlin! Yay a girl! was nice to fight a girl after the weekend before at montreal grappling. Even better, we were pretty much the same size! Outstanding! We had a great roll, she almost caught me in a triangle, and i got 2 arm bars. very back and forth.
#2. Gregg King - I had watch Gregg at montreal grappling (he fought my team mate twice). He should just be renamed Triangle King. Man were they slick! and tight! we had a pretty good roll. He caught me in 4 subs, I almost got an armbar at the end, but i think he decided to take it easy hahah. all in all I learned I need to work on my posture a bit to avoid those pesky triangles.
#3 Nihad (from gringos). Another Great roll! Nihan is mega technical, and strong, felt a bit stronger then Greg, but maybe that's just their styles. He caught me 4X as well, and I didn't really launch much of an offense, to busy trying to keep my head out of his triangle and my arms attached haha!
#4 Andy (from gringos) Andy's a white belt, with a couple stripes, but he rolls really really well! We had a great back and forth match. He has really good back attacks that kept me defending steadily. We ended up going 0-0.
That was my day. I ended up with a score of -6. which.. isn't so great, but I had a lot of fun, and would definitely go back.
They are working on putting together a Ladies Zombie House! I can't wait for something like that. It'll be amazing. Keep your eyes open for it ladies. It's a great way to get some experience, and try new things, and see how your game is coming along in a safe, cheap, and friendly environment.
Here's the website for the zombie house: http://zombiehousebjj.com/
That's basically it. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone looking for some extra mat time, or looking to try out some new setups and subs without having to worry about the other person stalling or loosing on points, or getting subbed.
Thanks to the whole Inner City MMA / Shah Franco Team for hosting and putting on a great event. and thanks to everyone who came out for the great rolls, support, and fun. Oh and Stephen, for coming along I LOVE having team mates that come to tournaments and compete with me!
Monday, 20 August 2012
My First Montreal Grappling Tournament
2 weeks after the New York Pro Trials we made the road trip down to Montreal once again. This time it was Jon, Andre and I. The Competition was the Montreal Grappling Experience (March 24th). I don't remember how exactly we came across these competitions, I think someone on the team, maybe Brad, or Alasdair came across it first, but scheduling kept them from going.
This tournament format, which I talked about earlier, is probably my favourite. It could use a few tweaks here and there, but they are working on it, and it is amazing. Guaranteed 4 fights (if there is 5 people in your division or more, which is quite likely because there is a limited number of weight classes). Then the top people out of the round robin fight in a final, or semi final/final to determine a winner. I think this could be improved that if only 1 person wins all their fights then they should win first place, and only use the semi/final system if there are ties.
2 other blue and up girls girls registered for the event which is pretty sweet, because let's be serious, to have more then 1 other girl in your division is kind of a rare thing. These two are super tough, amazing bjj girls to! Melissa Biscardi made the trip all the way from Toronto, and Melissa Hebert is more of a local, but she's a trooper and loves competing as much as I do i think! The only down side is at the time, I think I had 50 or 60 lbs on each of them. I give them mad props for fighting me still. If I was tiny like them, I'm not sure how I'd feel fighting a fatty like I was then (and I'm still much bigger, but it's not really my fault i'm 5'10, whatever, that's not what we are talking about here).
Melissa and Melissa fought first, and had a great fight that ended with Biscardi ahead on points I believe. I then fought Biscardi and managed to sneak ahead on points, barely. She's got an amazing guard that gave me a tonne of trouble to pass! Nice guard pulling skills to, I didn't get a chance to use any judo... I so rarely do anymore :( next I fought Hebert, and man, is she tough for someone so small! In Both these fights I was trying hard to be technical and not just through my fat around to crush them. I had to use some strength to keep Hebert from escaping everything though, she's so explosive! I was very impressed. I ended up catching her in a ugly modified bow and arrow type choke that wasn't very pretty, or nice. Because they always have a final, Melissa B and I fought again. I came out ahead on points again, and it was an even closer match then the first! I think if I fight her again, now that I am about 30lbs lighter then I was then, It's going to be a great match! (not that these weren't but I think it will be interesting to see what my decreased size, but increased fitness will add to the mix)
After our division was done, I had an exhibition match against a girl who didn't get there in time to register. Her name was Mariana or Marina or something like that. I wish I could remember! I felt so bad that she missed registration and couldn't fight! Melissa B and I both did an exhibition fight with her so she didn't go home without any experience. She was smaller then me, but bigger then the Melissas. She had a great guard and super strong grips, but I managed to keep my base and eventually pass and somehow get an arm bar. I don't remember exactly how.
All in all it was a great tournament. Well run, and loved the format. I was disappointed when i couldn't make it out to the next one, but made it out to the last one, and fought the boys, which you've probably already read about.
I wish more girls would come out and compete. I know your out their ladies! Someone has to make the first step and register, or no one else will. I've been trying! As of this past weekend, I have competed in 11 events, and registered for 12. There was absolutely no one for me to fight in Niagara. Competing is one of the fastest ways to improve, it's a great way to meet new friends, and like Tyler Durden says 'How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?'
Here's a link to the next montreal grappling event. I strongly recommend you make the trip. It's a great atmosphere and a great way to get more experience: http://grapplingco.com/grandprixmg.html
This tournament format, which I talked about earlier, is probably my favourite. It could use a few tweaks here and there, but they are working on it, and it is amazing. Guaranteed 4 fights (if there is 5 people in your division or more, which is quite likely because there is a limited number of weight classes). Then the top people out of the round robin fight in a final, or semi final/final to determine a winner. I think this could be improved that if only 1 person wins all their fights then they should win first place, and only use the semi/final system if there are ties.
2 other blue and up girls girls registered for the event which is pretty sweet, because let's be serious, to have more then 1 other girl in your division is kind of a rare thing. These two are super tough, amazing bjj girls to! Melissa Biscardi made the trip all the way from Toronto, and Melissa Hebert is more of a local, but she's a trooper and loves competing as much as I do i think! The only down side is at the time, I think I had 50 or 60 lbs on each of them. I give them mad props for fighting me still. If I was tiny like them, I'm not sure how I'd feel fighting a fatty like I was then (and I'm still much bigger, but it's not really my fault i'm 5'10, whatever, that's not what we are talking about here).
Melissa and Melissa fought first, and had a great fight that ended with Biscardi ahead on points I believe. I then fought Biscardi and managed to sneak ahead on points, barely. She's got an amazing guard that gave me a tonne of trouble to pass! Nice guard pulling skills to, I didn't get a chance to use any judo... I so rarely do anymore :( next I fought Hebert, and man, is she tough for someone so small! In Both these fights I was trying hard to be technical and not just through my fat around to crush them. I had to use some strength to keep Hebert from escaping everything though, she's so explosive! I was very impressed. I ended up catching her in a ugly modified bow and arrow type choke that wasn't very pretty, or nice. Because they always have a final, Melissa B and I fought again. I came out ahead on points again, and it was an even closer match then the first! I think if I fight her again, now that I am about 30lbs lighter then I was then, It's going to be a great match! (not that these weren't but I think it will be interesting to see what my decreased size, but increased fitness will add to the mix)
After our division was done, I had an exhibition match against a girl who didn't get there in time to register. Her name was Mariana or Marina or something like that. I wish I could remember! I felt so bad that she missed registration and couldn't fight! Melissa B and I both did an exhibition fight with her so she didn't go home without any experience. She was smaller then me, but bigger then the Melissas. She had a great guard and super strong grips, but I managed to keep my base and eventually pass and somehow get an arm bar. I don't remember exactly how.
All in all it was a great tournament. Well run, and loved the format. I was disappointed when i couldn't make it out to the next one, but made it out to the last one, and fought the boys, which you've probably already read about.
I wish more girls would come out and compete. I know your out their ladies! Someone has to make the first step and register, or no one else will. I've been trying! As of this past weekend, I have competed in 11 events, and registered for 12. There was absolutely no one for me to fight in Niagara. Competing is one of the fastest ways to improve, it's a great way to meet new friends, and like Tyler Durden says 'How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?'
Here's a link to the next montreal grappling event. I strongly recommend you make the trip. It's a great atmosphere and a great way to get more experience: http://grapplingco.com/grandprixmg.html
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
I really wanted to win a trip to Abu Dhabi
After the Ascension tournament, I had my confidence back. I felt like I had gotten most of the rust off from my long time off and I was back into the swing of things. So I registered for the Montreal Abu Dhabi Pro Trials.
We had a pretty decent size team head out to Montreal for the event, which was pretty cool. Weigh Ins were the day before, which was great, for those on the team who weren't in an open weight class. Unfortunately, for the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials, there is only 2 weight classes for women. and I'd likely have to cut off a leg to make the lower one. The weigh ins all went fine, hopefully next year they bring in some more staff, or find a way to stream line the process because it wasn't to quick, and the line up filled up the entire hotel lobby for much of the afternoon/evening.
The venue for this tournament is the BEST venue in Canada for grappling competitions. The
We had a pretty decent size team head out to Montreal for the event, which was pretty cool. Weigh Ins were the day before, which was great, for those on the team who weren't in an open weight class. Unfortunately, for the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials, there is only 2 weight classes for women. and I'd likely have to cut off a leg to make the lower one. The weigh ins all went fine, hopefully next year they bring in some more staff, or find a way to stream line the process because it wasn't to quick, and the line up filled up the entire hotel lobby for much of the afternoon/evening.
The venue for this tournament is the BEST venue in Canada for grappling competitions. The
Centre Pierre-Charbonneau is a great venue, It has seating all around the "arena" and the arena is sunk in, it's almost pretty square, so there isn't really a bad angle from anywhere. I've got some good memories at this place from judo tournaments back in the day and that familiarity helped me be focused and get into the zone so to speak.
So my fight was the only (or maybe 1 of 2) fights in the first round. which means, unlike 90% of my division, I didn't automatically qualify for the absolute, which was the division that the winner gets the trip for. I'm sure by the tone of this post already you can guess how my match went. I lost. It wasn't a terrible match, It was very close on points, but then i got frustrated, and left my arm out, and tapped. The worst part is, my arm wasn't in trouble, before I had even tapped the first tap it was free. I think in my head, I had given up because I was down on points and there was very little time left. I quit fighting, and that's the worst thing in the world.
After the match, I managed to mostly hold myself together until I got away from people, but I was so mad at myself, and disappointed with myself that I couldn't hold back the tears. Once I got myself back together (mostly) I headed back up to my team to cheer them on and whatnot. As long as I didn't think or talk about my match I was fine. It's funny, even now, like 6 months later, if i think about it I get angry at myself and If I dwell on it to long I'll get on the verge of tears. I hate being a girl sometimes!!
Sadly, none of the team was able to win the finals of the absolutes to win a trip. At least we got to go some early sunday instead of having to wait around for someone to fight in the final. There's always a silver lining, or something like that!
On the way home, my team mate Alasdair (who also really wanted to win a trip) asked me if I wanted to go to NYC in two weeks to try to win the trip there. I don't think he was serious at first, but the more we thought about it, the more it seemed like a great idea. So we registered, booked a hotel, and bought some overnight bus tickets. Sadly, Alasdair ended up separating his shoulder in a super fight at sub x. and we scrambled to replace him, so Kyle came along instead, which was fine by me! I just didn't want to be in NYC by myself!
We got to the bus station in Buffalo early, so ended up on an earlier, express bus, which put us in New York at 3 or 4 am. We found a cab and got to our hotel. (which has a checkin time of 4pm.) Thankfully, No one was in our room that night/morning so they allowed us to checkin! I'm so glad they did, we were exhausted and I have no idea what we would have done otherwise.
On Saturday we wandered to time square and did a bit of shopping and site seeing. Then weighed in. Nothing to exciting or unusual. We got some food after, and I spent the evening relaxing in the hotel and Kyle wandered NYC. We had a great breakfast at the breakfast diner across the road from the hotel, checked out, and took a cab to the venue.
I think by the end of the weekend we ended up spending at least 100 bucks on cab fairs! But it was convenient and got us where we needed to be. We had some adventures trying to get a hotel back to NYC proper after the event, but it all worked out in the end.
On to the event! I got a better draw this time around, sort of, At least if I lost the first round, I could still get into the absolute! Good thing to, because I lost on points, to the eventual division winner Nicole Whissel. It was a close match but her wrestling and tight guard prevailed. I won't get into details, but the timing for this tournament was bad, and I was probably at about 50% strength, which, when dealing with wrestlers, isn't so good, but even at 100% I think I would/will have trouble against Nichole. She's one tough chick! I had some trouble convincing the tournament people that I still qualified, They thought it was only semi finalists, not quarter finalists. But once they saw their own tournament flyer It was all sorted out.
In the absolute, they had some pretty crazy draws. The first place people from the two divisions ended up facing each other in the first round! and losers like me had byes! I wasn't going to complain, I needed all the help I could get. There was a lot of draws that day that had much bigger problems. (like people having 2 or 3 rounds of byes straight into the semi finals, in a division of 16 ish). Anyway.... In the Quarter finals, I faced Rita Floyd in a good match. I ended up winning by arm bar!
Then in the Semi's I fought Hana Fisher. We had some good stand up back and forth ness, and then I pulled guard, I should have trusted in my Judo more, but I didn't see any good openings, and didn't want to waste to much energy and time on it. She ended up passing my terrible guard and we had some scrambles and back and forths and I ended up in kimura somewhere in there. Now, I have a bit of a past with kimura's I've been in a few to many and my shoulders really don't like them. So i tapped fast and that was the end up my day. Hana ended up winning the trip, so I at least lost to the champ. She medaled in Abu Dhabi and also placed 2nd at worlds. So I don't feel terrible losing to her at all. Hana and Nichole had a crazy crazy crazy close match for the final. I felt sad for Nichole because she, like me, had competed in Montreal with less then the desired results!
I think the level of competition in NYC was actually higher then Montreal. Hana came all the way from Texas, and there were girls from all over. In the end I was bummed about not winning the trip (again), but Not nearly as devastated as I was in Montreal. I don't really know why. What I do know is that next year, I am going to win a trip. I have been training and competing like a crazy person and no one is going to stop me from getting to Abu Dhabi.
Monday, 13 August 2012
Boys are strong!
This past weekend we made the long road trip out to Montreal for the Montreal Grappling Grand Prix. If you've never heard of these events, you must live under a rock.
They are pretty much the best bang for your buck for Jiu Jitsu competitions. $50 gets you 4 fights in a round robin division, for only $20 more you can do Gi AND No Gi. This is, of course, assuming there is at least 5 people in your division. Which is generally the case because they currently have only 4 weight classes, which still works out pretty well.
These tournaments run smooth, and the competitors are all very friendly. It's a great atmosphere for new and experienced competitors alike. On top of the great experience, and the cheap rate, they are giving out trips to tournaments like the worlds and pans!
OK, enough going on about the tournament and how much I love it. Back to talking about ME!
No girls registered for this tournament. I don't know why. So often I see and hear girls complaining about small divisions, and not getting enough fights and blah blah blah. Then when they have an opportunity like these tournaments to get lots of fights and experience, NO ONE SHOWS UP! I guess the fact that there is no weight classes for women can be pretty intimidating for the smaller girls. But they would add weight classes if enough girls showed up. Maybe it's a chicken and egg situation, I don't know. But it's pretty disappointing and frustrating for me.
So what do you do when there are no girls to fight? FIGHT THE BOYS! or at least try to anyway. What an experience. First off, all the guys were super cool about having a girl in the divisions and I am so thankful for that. There could have been some serious drama. Like: "This is the MENS division" "I don't want cooties" "I'm not comfortable fighting a girl" but there was none of this. Apparently there was a few "There's a girl in our division??" questions, but no drama and no complaints that I know of.
So I had 4 no gi matches in the -170 intermediate division. They were all pretty fun, the first one not so much, because I gave up my back and had my jaw squeezed to the point I thought it was going to dislocate. I probably should have tapped sooner, but I didn't want to tap to something that wasn't actually choking. The guy had pretty decent back control, and scary squeezing power. I lost the 2nd by RNC as well. The third fight was against a younger, more reasonably sized/strength guy. We had a great back and forth match and I won on points (barely). I really enjoyed this fight because I felt like we were more evenly matched strength wise. My last fight I lost on points. I almost had an arm bar, but couldn't quite extend enough, and I couldn't break his posture to get the triangle locked in either. It was a pretty good fight to.
I realize I'm going on about strength a lot, and BJJ is supposed to be about technique, I know it is, but let's be honest, when technique and skill are equal, strength wins. and when technique and skill are close, strength wins. I know I made a lot of mistakes, and when the fights are posted on you tube I will be watching them and reviewing what I could do differently. I know I need to focus more during my matches, I was in a weird mind set and didn't react quickly to a lot of things I should have.
In Gi, I only got 2 matches, b/c due to some back luck, I ended up drawing the 2 guys who didn't show! I enjoyed the Gi matches more then the no gi. I think partially because I actually train in a gi, and partially because having something to grip allowed me to control them a bit more and stuff. Either way, I lost both these matches by Sub to. The first by head and arm choke and the 2nd by Kimura. But, I did get a chance to play a little DLR and guard work which was fun.
I think, in the future, I might only do GI against the guys. Fighting guys is a lot more exhausting and I really don't train no gi so I'm bad at it!
Thanks to David and Matt from Montreal Grappling for allowing me to compete with the guys, and thanks to the guys for not being dicks about it! Also, thanks to my team mates for pushing me hard enough in training so that I wasn't completely outgunned by the guys. And thanks to the tournament sponsors for the rashguard and gi :)
That's all for now! See you at the Zombie House Tournament on Saturday!
They are pretty much the best bang for your buck for Jiu Jitsu competitions. $50 gets you 4 fights in a round robin division, for only $20 more you can do Gi AND No Gi. This is, of course, assuming there is at least 5 people in your division. Which is generally the case because they currently have only 4 weight classes, which still works out pretty well.
These tournaments run smooth, and the competitors are all very friendly. It's a great atmosphere for new and experienced competitors alike. On top of the great experience, and the cheap rate, they are giving out trips to tournaments like the worlds and pans!
OK, enough going on about the tournament and how much I love it. Back to talking about ME!
No girls registered for this tournament. I don't know why. So often I see and hear girls complaining about small divisions, and not getting enough fights and blah blah blah. Then when they have an opportunity like these tournaments to get lots of fights and experience, NO ONE SHOWS UP! I guess the fact that there is no weight classes for women can be pretty intimidating for the smaller girls. But they would add weight classes if enough girls showed up. Maybe it's a chicken and egg situation, I don't know. But it's pretty disappointing and frustrating for me.
So what do you do when there are no girls to fight? FIGHT THE BOYS! or at least try to anyway. What an experience. First off, all the guys were super cool about having a girl in the divisions and I am so thankful for that. There could have been some serious drama. Like: "This is the MENS division" "I don't want cooties" "I'm not comfortable fighting a girl" but there was none of this. Apparently there was a few "There's a girl in our division??" questions, but no drama and no complaints that I know of.
So I had 4 no gi matches in the -170 intermediate division. They were all pretty fun, the first one not so much, because I gave up my back and had my jaw squeezed to the point I thought it was going to dislocate. I probably should have tapped sooner, but I didn't want to tap to something that wasn't actually choking. The guy had pretty decent back control, and scary squeezing power. I lost the 2nd by RNC as well. The third fight was against a younger, more reasonably sized/strength guy. We had a great back and forth match and I won on points (barely). I really enjoyed this fight because I felt like we were more evenly matched strength wise. My last fight I lost on points. I almost had an arm bar, but couldn't quite extend enough, and I couldn't break his posture to get the triangle locked in either. It was a pretty good fight to.
I realize I'm going on about strength a lot, and BJJ is supposed to be about technique, I know it is, but let's be honest, when technique and skill are equal, strength wins. and when technique and skill are close, strength wins. I know I made a lot of mistakes, and when the fights are posted on you tube I will be watching them and reviewing what I could do differently. I know I need to focus more during my matches, I was in a weird mind set and didn't react quickly to a lot of things I should have.
In Gi, I only got 2 matches, b/c due to some back luck, I ended up drawing the 2 guys who didn't show! I enjoyed the Gi matches more then the no gi. I think partially because I actually train in a gi, and partially because having something to grip allowed me to control them a bit more and stuff. Either way, I lost both these matches by Sub to. The first by head and arm choke and the 2nd by Kimura. But, I did get a chance to play a little DLR and guard work which was fun.
I think, in the future, I might only do GI against the guys. Fighting guys is a lot more exhausting and I really don't train no gi so I'm bad at it!
Thanks to David and Matt from Montreal Grappling for allowing me to compete with the guys, and thanks to the guys for not being dicks about it! Also, thanks to my team mates for pushing me hard enough in training so that I wasn't completely outgunned by the guys. And thanks to the tournament sponsors for the rashguard and gi :)
That's all for now! See you at the Zombie House Tournament on Saturday!
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Ascension Feb 2012
So after my embarrassing performance at the Michigan tournament (I go squashed, and could do nothing about it), I hit the mats the very next day and was determined to not have that happen again, or at least, not so badly. I worked hard on getting the underhook from bottom 1/2 guard and keeping from being flattened out. Fast forward a couple weeks and it's time for the Ascension tournament.
This is kind of the unofficial start to tournament season in Ontario. Omar Salvosa runs a great event. Like most tournaments in Ontario, it started a bit late, but ran fairly smoothly once it got going. I think the highlight for me was the amazing rendition of O Canada to open up the tournament. It was something else! I wonder if anyone has video / audio of it. I'd like to see/hear it again sometime.
The girls divisions here were a decent size, and by decent size I mean the existed. In Heavy (163+) we had myself, and Sam Curtis. Jane Poulin ended up joining us after medium heavy turned up empty. A problem I have since remedied by un-fattening myself. Of course, Jane is usually in middle, so It seems medium heavy is quite sparse after all. But that's a problem for another day.
So Jane and Sam fought first, with Jane coming out ahead.
Now, a 3 person division, in the OJA tournaments has a kind of strange setup. the first two people fight. then the loser fights the fresh person, and the winner of that fights the winner of the first. Sometimes, if the loser of the first fight wins that second fight, they just get silver, they don't get a second change at gold. It's a very strange system, but it kind of works. I'm a firm believer in having round robin for a division of 3. I think it's the most fair and will produce the most accurate winner. But, I don't run tournaments, so It's not up to me.
Ok, back to the event. I then fought Sam, and won by arm bar, It was a good match to follow up the atrocity that was Michigan. I even used what I had worked on since then! I love it when I can actually use the stuff I drill. Next up was me Vs Jane. She is so tough and feisty! We had a great match, and I ended up pulling off an arm bar late in the match. I've gotta give major props to Jane for coming up to Heavy weight and fighting my fat ass. I was really heavy back in January!! I think without my big weight advantage, the match would have been even closer!!
I was feeling pretty good, but decided not to do the absolute. I'm really not sure why. I think I was tired, my conditioning wasn't to good, having still been on the comeback trail. My confidence wasn't to high either. I didn't want to ruin my good day by being smashed by people smaller then me. What a horrible attitude. I've since remedied this attitude. there is nothing wrong with losing to smaller people, It's all experience on the road to becoming a better fighter.
One other good thing that came from this event was it began my serious effort into getting back into shape. After seeing some pictures of myself from this fight, and how gigantic my butt looked... man, it wasn't pretty! No more pizza and ice cream 4 or 5 days a week for me haha. I wish I could find those pics to link to here, just for motivation, but I think I un-tagged myself so I wouldn't be embarrassed.
The end.
This is kind of the unofficial start to tournament season in Ontario. Omar Salvosa runs a great event. Like most tournaments in Ontario, it started a bit late, but ran fairly smoothly once it got going. I think the highlight for me was the amazing rendition of O Canada to open up the tournament. It was something else! I wonder if anyone has video / audio of it. I'd like to see/hear it again sometime.
The girls divisions here were a decent size, and by decent size I mean the existed. In Heavy (163+) we had myself, and Sam Curtis. Jane Poulin ended up joining us after medium heavy turned up empty. A problem I have since remedied by un-fattening myself. Of course, Jane is usually in middle, so It seems medium heavy is quite sparse after all. But that's a problem for another day.
So Jane and Sam fought first, with Jane coming out ahead.
Now, a 3 person division, in the OJA tournaments has a kind of strange setup. the first two people fight. then the loser fights the fresh person, and the winner of that fights the winner of the first. Sometimes, if the loser of the first fight wins that second fight, they just get silver, they don't get a second change at gold. It's a very strange system, but it kind of works. I'm a firm believer in having round robin for a division of 3. I think it's the most fair and will produce the most accurate winner. But, I don't run tournaments, so It's not up to me.
Ok, back to the event. I then fought Sam, and won by arm bar, It was a good match to follow up the atrocity that was Michigan. I even used what I had worked on since then! I love it when I can actually use the stuff I drill. Next up was me Vs Jane. She is so tough and feisty! We had a great match, and I ended up pulling off an arm bar late in the match. I've gotta give major props to Jane for coming up to Heavy weight and fighting my fat ass. I was really heavy back in January!! I think without my big weight advantage, the match would have been even closer!!
I was feeling pretty good, but decided not to do the absolute. I'm really not sure why. I think I was tired, my conditioning wasn't to good, having still been on the comeback trail. My confidence wasn't to high either. I didn't want to ruin my good day by being smashed by people smaller then me. What a horrible attitude. I've since remedied this attitude. there is nothing wrong with losing to smaller people, It's all experience on the road to becoming a better fighter.
One other good thing that came from this event was it began my serious effort into getting back into shape. After seeing some pictures of myself from this fight, and how gigantic my butt looked... man, it wasn't pretty! No more pizza and ice cream 4 or 5 days a week for me haha. I wish I could find those pics to link to here, just for motivation, but I think I un-tagged myself so I wouldn't be embarrassed.
The end.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
An interesting adventure for the first tournament back.
Let's go waaaaaay back, to January and my first tournament back after a long time off due to injuries, lack of motivation, and a school change. It was only 8 months ago, but seems like a lifetime. I feel like my Jiu Jitsu game has completely changed since then and it's probably a good thing, because I looked terrible.
The tournament in question is the Michigan Open. Now, there are a couple different tournaments that are run in the Detroit Michigan area. Apparently there are some that aren't terrible, that are run by a completely different group of people. I haven't been to one of theirs yet.
We had a lovely drive to the hotel, which turned out to be AMAZING! In case your ever in the dearborn/detroit area, I highly recommend "The Henry". It's full of art and is classy. The rooms were nice and breakfast was delicious and reasonably priced. The only thing is, the ceilings are a bit low for jumping on the beds.
We should have known we were in for a treat when the tournament "start" time came and went with not even a hint of something starting soon. About 1.5 - 2 hours after the scheduled start time the super fights started. Now, this is something that was actually pretty cool. They had 7 or 8 black belt super fights! Now, if only 1/2 those black belts stayed around the whole day to ref, we would have probably had a much better day.
There was no weigh ins. Nope, you didn't read that wrong. They had a scale there, but not a single person was asked to step on it. There was no gi inspections, there was only the honour system. Which is a nice thought, or a complete lack of caring, hard to say. This didn't really matter to me, I was in the open weight class anyway, but 2 of my team mates were pretty close to the top of theirs, so were dieting and eating accordingly. Seems like we were the only ones who didn't get the memo, because it seemed like an awful lot of people were to big for the divisions.
I mentioned the reffing earlier, It started out ok, the refs were focused, and doing a decent job. But, in my first match, I had the girl in an arm bar, at the edge, by the table, and it was stopped, and we were stood back up. We weren't in an "Unstable" position and I didn't get any points for it. In the end it didn't actually matter because I got her in another one, but that's not the point is it?
A couple hours later, the tournament is crawling along, more times then not there is only 1 or two matches going and it seems that there is only a couple refs left, who, more seem really interested in the other match(s) going on, or their children running on the mats, while a fight is going. I think at the end of the day, there was only 2 refs left!
By the time the absolute came around, about 75% of the people who had signed up had left. The only ones sticking around where the people who travelled to get there. Someone not associated with the tournament took over the draw because it was such a disaster. They did an ok job, but forgot to account for needing 2-4-8-16-32 style rounds to end up with a fair draw. No one really cared anymore at this point. So it got the job done.
One good thing about this event was the level of competition. A lot of tough guys showed up and the guys divisions were well attended. As usual very few girls showed up to play. which you'll see is a recurring theme on here.
I can't imagine going back to this tournament. It was far to under staffed and under organized to make the drive and stay in a hotel and have all those extra expenses. If it was local, we might give it another chance. If you happen to go next year, let me know how it is, but don't say I didn't warn you!
The tournament in question is the Michigan Open. Now, there are a couple different tournaments that are run in the Detroit Michigan area. Apparently there are some that aren't terrible, that are run by a completely different group of people. I haven't been to one of theirs yet.
We had a lovely drive to the hotel, which turned out to be AMAZING! In case your ever in the dearborn/detroit area, I highly recommend "The Henry". It's full of art and is classy. The rooms were nice and breakfast was delicious and reasonably priced. The only thing is, the ceilings are a bit low for jumping on the beds.
We should have known we were in for a treat when the tournament "start" time came and went with not even a hint of something starting soon. About 1.5 - 2 hours after the scheduled start time the super fights started. Now, this is something that was actually pretty cool. They had 7 or 8 black belt super fights! Now, if only 1/2 those black belts stayed around the whole day to ref, we would have probably had a much better day.
There was no weigh ins. Nope, you didn't read that wrong. They had a scale there, but not a single person was asked to step on it. There was no gi inspections, there was only the honour system. Which is a nice thought, or a complete lack of caring, hard to say. This didn't really matter to me, I was in the open weight class anyway, but 2 of my team mates were pretty close to the top of theirs, so were dieting and eating accordingly. Seems like we were the only ones who didn't get the memo, because it seemed like an awful lot of people were to big for the divisions.
I mentioned the reffing earlier, It started out ok, the refs were focused, and doing a decent job. But, in my first match, I had the girl in an arm bar, at the edge, by the table, and it was stopped, and we were stood back up. We weren't in an "Unstable" position and I didn't get any points for it. In the end it didn't actually matter because I got her in another one, but that's not the point is it?
A couple hours later, the tournament is crawling along, more times then not there is only 1 or two matches going and it seems that there is only a couple refs left, who, more seem really interested in the other match(s) going on, or their children running on the mats, while a fight is going. I think at the end of the day, there was only 2 refs left!
By the time the absolute came around, about 75% of the people who had signed up had left. The only ones sticking around where the people who travelled to get there. Someone not associated with the tournament took over the draw because it was such a disaster. They did an ok job, but forgot to account for needing 2-4-8-16-32 style rounds to end up with a fair draw. No one really cared anymore at this point. So it got the job done.
One good thing about this event was the level of competition. A lot of tough guys showed up and the guys divisions were well attended. As usual very few girls showed up to play. which you'll see is a recurring theme on here.
I can't imagine going back to this tournament. It was far to under staffed and under organized to make the drive and stay in a hotel and have all those extra expenses. If it was local, we might give it another chance. If you happen to go next year, let me know how it is, but don't say I didn't warn you!
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Hello, My name is Patricia and I am a tournament addict.
Welcome to my blog!
Here I will rant and ramble and talk and discuss and complain, and compliment and generally go on about the tournaments I go to and all things related to them.
But first, a little bit about myself.
Name: Patricia VanderMeer
Belt: Blue (2 stripes)
School: Pura BJJ
Affiliation: Mendes Bros / Art of Jiu Jitsu
Job: Web Programmer
Other Martial Arts I've done: Judo, Japanese Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA
Family: I've got a big family. They are very supportive of my obsessions, except when it makes scheduling family events difficult, which is fairly often. Thankfully my husband trains with me, so I don't have to worry about him ;)
Now you know everything there is to know about me.
Here's a video of me getting beat up by Tiffany Bayliss from last weekend! For someone in 2 weight classes below me she sure is strong and has great arm bar defense, and scary triangles. I'll admit, I was almost out there in the middle of that triangle. If I had known I was ahead, and that there was 30 seconds left, I might not have tapped. But, chances are I would have gone out, so I'm not sure what's worse. Either way, lessons learned and all that.
Looking forward to hitting the mats and working on my terrible triangle defense!
My next few posts will likely be about some of the 9 tournaments I have competed in (or maybe the Niagara Open, where I had no one to play with, but still went to support my team). See you on the competition floor!
Here I will rant and ramble and talk and discuss and complain, and compliment and generally go on about the tournaments I go to and all things related to them.
But first, a little bit about myself.
Name: Patricia VanderMeer
Belt: Blue (2 stripes)
School: Pura BJJ
Affiliation: Mendes Bros / Art of Jiu Jitsu
Job: Web Programmer
Other Martial Arts I've done: Judo, Japanese Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA
Family: I've got a big family. They are very supportive of my obsessions, except when it makes scheduling family events difficult, which is fairly often. Thankfully my husband trains with me, so I don't have to worry about him ;)
Now you know everything there is to know about me.
Looking forward to hitting the mats and working on my terrible triangle defense!
My next few posts will likely be about some of the 9 tournaments I have competed in (or maybe the Niagara Open, where I had no one to play with, but still went to support my team). See you on the competition floor!
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