GTA Classic Sept 21st 2013 Recap

Last Saturday was the Annual GTA Classic. This is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. They have been hosting it in mid September or years and it's one I know a lot of people look forward to to kick of the back to school season. It's an OJA tournament, which meas it's consistent with a lot of the other tournaments in Ontario as far as weight classes, age divisions, and allowed submissions.

 It also means they use the Mata Leao software to do the draws which is pretty sweet software. On two of the mats they had the new scoreboards running which use giant tv's and a laptop instead of the normal electronic scoreboards. It also recorded all the matches automatically. The one downside to this system was that is really slowed down the progress of the matches. It seemed like the table workers had to enter the names and division into the computer from the paper draw for every match which doesn't sound like it would take a long time, but it certainly delayed things since it had to be done in between each match.

 The Acai Cafe was in attendance again. This was their second event and they have stepped up their game! They brought in a small size, which was great for kids, or weirdos who don't like a lot of acai and they brought in hemp seeds, cacao nibs, and shredded coconut. These added toppings were amazing and make the cafe even more amazing. They had to set up outside of the gym, which made them less visible, so I hope they still made lots of sales. You can check them out on facebook and suggest they add peanut butter for their next event :)

 The tournament was scheduled to start at 9:30 and started around 9:50, not bad at all, considering they re-work all the kids brackets that morning because parents don't know how much their kids weigh and they never dq a kid for being over weight. I think that this is a great policy and I can totally forgive them for not starting on time because of this.

 The kids turnout for this competition was great! I think, other then the ontario open, it was probably one of the biggest turnout for kids I have seen all year. The GTA classic does round robin for the kids, so they tend to get 3 or 4 fights. They also don't allow any subs for the younger ones, and progressively add subs as the kids get older and higher ranked. It's a bit complicated as a referee or coach, or even athlete to keep it all straight on what's allowed for which kid, but it generally keeps the kids safe while allowing them to do jiu jitsu. It ran a bit behind, but it was running solid throughout the day. There wasn't many times, that I saw, where nothing was going on on the mats.

 There was a break around 1:00pm for a special presentation. Professor Scott Shilling was presented with his third degree by Mestre Sylvio da Matta Behring which was pretty cool to see. Scott has been a very active member of the community and has produced some top notch competitors as well. You can watch the video of the presentation on youtube.

I was refereeing at this event, and was pretty focused on that for the entire time I was there.  I reffed a pretty wide variety of matches from 7 year old white belts to coloured belt kids, to masters white and blue belts.  It was kind of nice to have such a variety.   I stopped a few kids fights for armbars before they tapped on Saturday.  Every single one was pretty upset about it, "I didn't tap", but the look on pretty much every single coaches face was that of understanding and appreciation for me keeping their students arms safe.  I had one kid in a triangle/armbar and It very much looked like they tapped, but when I stopped it, they said that they did not tap.  Everyone else seemed to think there was a tap as well, so I stood by that decision to stop the fight.

I got to work with the usual skilled crew of Ontario referees, including Ontario's newest black belt Jason Chin-Leung who is a really great referee.  New to the team was Matthew Isaacs who is quite young but has been around jiu jitsu for a few years now.  I didn't get to watch him to closely, but when ever I had a minute and looked over, he seemed to be handling himself very well.   I'm looking forward to watching him develop as a referee.

While I was refereeing, one of the other res came around to give me a break so I could get some snacks, but he told me it was all cookies and sweats, so I passed.  I really appreciate a tournament that provides snacks and water and drinks throughout the day.  It helps us out a lot, it just happens to be that I follow a very low carb "diet" right now and can't eat any of that.  Then, the most amazing thing happened around lunch time.  Tony came to my mat with a giant caesar salad with chicken!   He remembered from past events that I try not to eat pizza and crap when I am not being a fat /depressed/glutton and made sure I got one of the salads!!  Man,  nothing makes you feel more appreciated then that!  It's seemingly small gestures like that that make all the nonsense that we as referees have to put up with a lot more tolerable.

The GTA classic had pretty nice event t-shirts, which they gave to the first 50 people registered, I think they even extended that to everyone registered before a certain date.  They also had sweet prizes for the absolute winners: Samurai swords, and tournament hoodies.  They were really nice hoodies to,  well built and great looking style wise.  I wish I could have competed and won them!  That sounds like I think I would have won them if I competed, which is not what I mean.  There were some very tough looking purple belts that I watched for a bit between reffing and I think I would have had some very excellent matches if I had been up to competing.

On a semi related note... A whole bunch of new purple belts have just been promoted!  I hope they all come out to compete soon!   You know who you are ladies!!  We need to work together and compete together to help grow the scene.  The purple belt ladies divisions in Ontario could be realy interesting very soon!  There are some matchups I really want to see  like Caitlin vs Tiffany and Tushara vs Kaitlyn.    Someone make this happen!

I had to leave at 3:00 to go work at the UFC event at the ACC.  I didn't need to be there till 5:00, but with the Gardiner being closed, I wanted to give myself some extra time.  It's a good thing to, what google mats said should take 50 minutes, took just over 2 hours, before I gave up and parked and walked the last 2.5KM.  My plan was to take the 401 to the DVP and take that down to whatever road that was before it hits the gardiner, but when it was stop and go at Eglington I abandon ship and took the streets all the way down.  I was on queen st for over an hour!

The UFC was a pretty great experience, as working MMA events usually is.  I did not get an opportunity to judge, but since reading all the shit people have been saying online about my colleagues, I am actually happy that I did not.    It's so infuriating to see people who have NO IDEA what the are talking about saying people were robbed and going on about controversy or blind judges.

Here is what I say to all of you.  You sit through a 24 hour course,  pass a 3 part 6 hour test that you need (IIRC) 85% on to pass, and judge a 5 round barn burner of a fight that you cannot get a single round wrong on.  Then, shadow a judge for a few fight cards, and then actually sit in the judges seat and THEN, and only THEN can you say ANYTHING about how a fight was judged.  Hearing people say things like round 4 should have been a 10-8 and that Gufstason CLEARLY won the first 3 is as maddening as spectators or coaches asking for points for back control when there are no hooks or when they get made when adults do ankle locks.

OK, enough about that. It isn't really jiu jitsu related, but I know a lot of people who follow jiu jitsu follow MMA so I had to get that out there.  There was no controversy in the title fight on Saturday.  NONE.  The most controversial thing was Jon Jones corner trying to sneak Greg Jackson in as a 4th corner when the Ontario Commission only allows 4.

The Ontario Provincial Championship was announced this week!  It's going down November 30th, in St. Catherines.  I am undecided on wheter I like that it is in St. Catherines or not.  I was quite looking forward to Kingston, which was the tentative location announced at the beginning of the year.  I think that St Catherines is a very very long drive for anyone east of Toronto and I fear it will be the south western Ontario regional event with a few americans mixed in, instead of a true provincially attended event.   That being said, it's a much shorter drive for me then Kingston, so I won't have to blow money on a hotel, which is always nice.  They are giving away 4 trips to California, for the IBJJ Pans.  That, in theory, should bring out some bodies!  I'm a bit said it's 3 trips for the guys and only 1 for the ladies, but the numbers can justify it.  Sort of.  I think that there will be just as many blue belt girls and brown/black belt men and they should get their own trip, instead of being lumped with the purple/brown/black women.

This Saturday is the Return o the Zombie House!!!  This is a great little event that is a completely different format from anything else out there.  It's friendly but competitive and a great way to spend the afternoon.   You can read about the event on their website, and on the facebook event.  I am planing on heading down to body of our to check it out!

Grappling Industries has at least 2 more events on the Horizon.  Montreal on October 5th, and Toronto on Oct 26th.  In Montreal they are giving away 8 trips down the 401 to the big event on Oct 26th, where trips to California will once again be on the line.  I won't be going to Montreal (firt One i've missed this year I think!) because I am getting in some much needed nature time with my sister.  I will be at the Toronto event on October 26th and you should be to!

That's all for now!  See you on the mats!

GTA Classic and Upcoming stuff

Saturday Sept 22nd was the Annual GTA Classic!   The OJA is stepping things up and I like it!  

They had 8 mats running, pretty smoothly for most of the day I was there.   The reffing was decent, I saw a few interesting calls, but not enough, and not that bad that I would say the reffing was bad.  It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst by a long shot.

      All the staff was friendly and efficient, and put up with me trying to rush them along as much as I was.    I'm normally really patient at tournaments and don't care if they run late or whatever, but I had to head to work and I felt like such an ass when I was asking about my division start time 10 minutes after it was scheduled to start.  The only reason it didn't start on time was because there was a bit of a discussion with the light weight blue division that needed to be sorted out before we could do the absolute.

The tournament was really well attended on the kids, masters, and adult men's side of things, but the ladies division were super sparse!  There was 10 registered, but only 8 competed.   that is so sad.   It's not the tournaments fault, like I talked about in a previous post, it's a weird situation and we need to work together to find a solution!!  

I enjoyed watching the kids competed,  Pura had 3 kids registered, and they all had really tough competition!  I was really impressed with the level of jiu jitsu that was happening in the kids divisions.  Some people were complaining that the kids divisions don't have subs, but to me I think that is the way it should be.  Kids don't have the degree of control that adults do, and if their arms get hyper extended or something else bad they could do serious damage that will affect them for their entire life! 

I didn't get to see a lot of the adult competition, but from what I saw, competition was fierce!  I caught a few of the purple belt matches and was really impressed.  There was more purple belts there then I've seen at a lot of tournaments lately, It's cool to see that many come and compete.   BJJ in Ontario is growing like crazy and its good to see that the higher up guys are able to compete at the local tournaments now.

I only got to compete in the absolute because there was no one in my division (medium heavy) and no one in heavy to move up to.  I was pretty bummed, and tried to cut weight early in the week to move down to middle, but my body was not co-operating, so I was stupid in medium heavy.  I plan on being in Middle for Provincials, or ascension at the very latest.

   I was super stoked that everyone who competed registered for the absolute,  that made for a 5 person division!   I was even happier when I saw that I was the only fight in the first round!  More matches!   I was a little bummed it was against my friend Melissa, since we have fought in the past, and I would have rather fought someone who I hadn't fought yet, and had a chance to fight Melissa later in the rounds.   But that's the way the cookies crumble, so we went out and had a great match.   Melissa is crazy strong and very explosive for someone her size and it's a challenge to catch her in submissions.    Her guard is really strong and I had to bait a sub to get past it!   Dangerous, I know, but it gets the job done more often then not.  I ended up eventually catching her with an arm bar and moving on to the next round.

Next up was Terri,  who I had competed against at the IBJJF Montreal absolute a few weeks ago,  I think it's great that she made the road trip all the way down from Montreal for the tournament. I wish more girls would do that!  Last time we fought Terri had really good gripping early on the match and pulled guard quickly, so I was ready for it this time and was looking for the pass before she even hit the ground.  This worked out pretty well, and I spent a good portion of the match in side control looking for subs.  I eventually was able to isolate an arm and setup a kimura.  I don't do a lot of kimura's but they are a cool sub, and I like them.

In the final, I fought Jodi,   she's got a killer guard and I tried to pull guard before her, but she beat me to it!   I spent a good amount of time working to pass her guard,  once again, I baited a sub to get her guard open and passed.  This is probably a bad habit, and I think I should spend some time drilling breaking the guard and passing. 

Goofing around on the podium with my sword!

I'm the right height now! I'm to tall for this sport!

Heather and I with our sweet samurai swords!

I had a great time competing and chatting with all the girls that came out.  We need to work on building more of a community amongst ourselves and carving out a space for ourselves at these events! 


I have to give a shout out to my team mate Heather!    She won her division and the white belt absolute!  She's a killer and I absolutely love having another girl who loves to compete on the team!

Thanks again to all my amazing team mates at Pura BJJ for helping me get ready and supporting me at the tournament It means so much to me to be part of this great team.


Next up for me is Toronto Grappling.  I am really looking forward to this event.  It will be nice not to have to drive all the way to Montreal for this round robin format!  I heard their is already some tough girls registered and I am looking forward to the challenge!  There are 4 trips to the IBJJF Pans on the line at this event for some of the absolute winners, including one for the ladies!   I can't really say enough good things about this tournament.  It's perfect for anyone looking to get more experience, new and experienced competitors alike!

Also coming up is the NYC Pro Trials.  I'm have been and will  continue working my ass off to get ready for this event.  I had a not so great time trying to qualify for abu dhabi last year, and I am hungry for another shot.  I am heading to that tournament with only one goal in mind, I will be winning a trip to abu dhabi.  To me, It's not an option.   This will be the the culmination of a year of hard work and dedication and I can only accept one outcome from that tournament.

 See you all on the mats!

Sad state of women's Bjj in Ontario and cutting weight sucks

So  my last post I was all excited about the number of girls who competed at the montreal grappling.  This week I'm ranting about the lack of girls at the GTA classic.

There is no purple belts, and I am the only blue in medium heavy or heavy,  there are I think 7 blues in medium and below, which isn't bad, but its weird that my division and heavy are empty. They are often the most populace divisions!

The white belt situation is dismal at best, my team mate Heather is in light, and has to fight all the way up to medium heavy to have a fight! She will he giving up about 30 lbs.   She's awesome and will be fine, but its crazy that there isn't anyone else in light or middle!   There are only a couple girls all together in white.  It's sad.  Those girls are the future of jiu jitsu in Ontario and there isn't very many.  Statistically speaking there isn't going to be anyone left if a year or two!

The GTA classic isn't to blame. They are doing all the can to get girls on the Mats.  Discounted registration, good abosolute prizes and separating the belts so people arnt intimidated by the prospect of fighting more experienced girls.   What else can they do?  I would like to see an absolute for the white belts, even if there are no extra prizes,  just so that they have a better opportunity for matches.  Other then that, they are doing a great job.

So who's responsible for this sadness?  Is it the clubs? The coaches? The tram mates?  Are girls not being encouraged to compete like the guys are? Or are they to discouraged by not being able to roll competitively against there male team mates that they think they aren't ready to compete?     Is there names on the list that are scaring people away? I've heard this talked about but I personally love to have a tough fight so I find this difficult to believe.  

It doesn't matter who is to blame,  we need to fix it.   I think I will start a facebook group or fan page for the ladies of Ontario who do Jiu jitsu so we can talk about tournaments and encourage each other.  

I think one problem is, no one wants to register and then have no one to fight,  so you wait and wait till someone else registers, meanwhile,  they are waiting for you!  So ladies,  just sign up!! Worst case senarjo, at most events, you'll get your money back and you might even get to still compete in the absolute.   

In a few weeks the best opportunity on the planet to get good competition experience will land in the GTA.  The toronto grappling grand prix.   Round robin.  White separate from blue and up,  and let's not forget, a trip to worlds for the blue and up absolute winner!    I have been attending the montreal tournaments for the past year and the atmosphere and conradarie at these events is amazing.   I encourage every one of you to register.  Don't wait for a competitor list, register, and inspire others to do the same.

So, the 2nd part of this.   Cutting weight sucks.  As you may or may not know, I used to be kind of fat.  Well, I was skinny, then I git injuries and got fat.  I was pushing 200 lbs at this time last year.  I hid it well because of my height and build but it was bad.    I've since worked my way down to comfortably making medium heavy, which is -163.5 with my gi on.   As you now know, there is no one in this class, so on Monday I decided to try to cut to middle.   Middle weight is -152.5 with my gi.   This will he the lights I've been since I fought MMA in 2009.  My body doesn't like being much smaller the. 155, so this is pretty rough.    I have until tonight at midnight to let the organisers know if I am moving down or not.   Last night, with my gi on, I was 6 lbs over, after class.   It made me realize how dehydrated I will have to be to pull this off.    Is it worth it? Should I just stay and only do the absolute and hope that it will be early enough in the day that I will be there for it?  
The worst part is, my team mates can cut this kind of weight no problem. They eat clean for a day or two and bam, they are down 7 lbs.   Guys can cut weight so much More easily then girls.  There is science to it and its rather unfortunate. 

So, that's what's on my mind right now!  Do you have any ideas on how to get girls out? Any weight cutting tips tricks? stories? 

See you on the mats!