Grappling Industries: Montreal Sub Only Feb 1st 2014

This was supposed to be the 2nd sub only event of the year for us, but The OJA one in Kitchener got shut down by the snowmagendonpocalyse that was a minor snow storm. It was pretty disapointing for everyone involved, but there was nothing the OJA could do, the venue shut them down. But, this post isn't about that It's about last weekends road trip to Montreal.

It started out like a typical drive to Montreal, so that means horrible traffic from Mississagua to Whitby.  We headed out around 3pm, and got to our hotel at around 10:00pm.  Which isn't actually that bad, we made great time past whitby, and only took 1 gas/food/pee stop.

We stayed at the Novotel near the Mirabel airport. It was only $100+tax per night, and had free parking and wifi.  The parking and wifi are two of the biggest factors when I pick a hotel.  It's great that a hotel is like 75 or 80 per night, but if parking is 15 bucks (or 20 or 25, or even 35) and there is a fee for the wifi, suddenly $100 looks a lot better.  The room was quite nice, the headboards had cool lights built into them, that we didn't discover until we were heading out in the morning. We couldn't hear people in the hall, the beds were comfy, the room was big enough, and the bathroom was quite nice.   The pillows were kind of flat, and there was only 2 on each bed, so that kind of sucked, but if that is the worst thing about a hotel, I'll stay again.  The bathroom doors were weird, and there wa s a gap in them, which meant zero sound proofing. I swear, this is the one thing hotels can't get right.  We DON'T want to hear everything that is going on in the bathroom!

Anyway... We did our ussual morning routine for these events, go weigh in for the very start of weighins, then head to Cora's for breakfast and back to the venue intime to digest, relax, and get ready to fight.  Cora's is a bit pricey, but it's realiable, never very busy, and pretty close to the venue.

The event started with a 20 minute sub only super fight between Gabe Sagman and Steve Shipinkas.  It was a pretty entertaining match and ended in a draw.  Steve did get a penalty, which the reff used to award Gabe the win, but that was changed right away, since it was only 1 penalty, and it was sub-only, ect.  Neither guy dominated enough to be declared the winner so a draw was a fair outcome.

Next up after the super fight was the GI Super Absolute. This was IBJJF ruleset, open belt, open weight, open gender and it was an extra $10 to enter.  I admit, some of the match ups that happened were pretty interesting, but I am not a huge fan of the concept, especially the guys vs girls thing.   I'll be the first to say that women should be allowed to compete in men's divisions if there is no one in theirs, but to hae the potential for a 120lbs white belt women to fight a 250lbs purple belt guy,  It's just asking for injuries.  There were quite a few girls in the nogi version, and none of them made it out of the first round (that I saw). I admire them for giving it a go, but It's not something I will ever do.  Toronto's Sub only coming up in March has the trips as prizes for the super absolutes and I am pretty disapointed about it.

Anyway... The format for the tournament was round robin, where you get 4 (ish) fights, and then there may or may not be tie breakers. A win by sub got you 3 points, decision got you 2 points, and a tie got you 1.  This worked pretty well, but got a bit tricky when you ran into people who didn't show, and people who dropped out to injury. These were treated as decision wins, and got the "winner" 2 points.  I think, down the road, they would be better of re-doing the draws after weighins closed so that no-shows were eliminated and everyone got a fair shot at getting the full 12 points for 4 sub wins.    After the round robin, if there was  a tie, we did tie breaker matches.  If, after the first 5 minutes, there was no clear winner, they fought another 5 minutes, and another 5 after that if there was still no clear winner.  I only had a few of these come up, and almost all of them had subs in the second 5 minutes, or were clear cut after that 5 minutes.  I don't think anyone ended up in the 2nd overtime.

I reffed for the first 1/2 of the morning, while switching off and watching a couple of new(er) referees.  The I competed in my division (blue+ open weight) and went straight back to refereeing till the end of the day.  My second fight was a real eye opener for me.  I fought Ashten, and she is really tough!  It made me see that I really need to tighten up my game and never give an inch. it was a really good match, and I look forward to competing with her again down the road.

As you probably know, grappling industries uses really small mat areas. It's something I've complained about as a competitor and a referee on many occasions.  I know mats are expensive, and they have limited venue space, blah blah blah blah, but it is DANGEROUS to have such small areas, with such limited safety areas between them.  Especially with inexperienced referees who cannot control the fighters they are refereeing.  On Saturday, I saw fighters repeatedly ending up on the mat beside them, and even once, on the mat beside that.  This is ridiculous.  The referees need to be more assertive, and have better positioning,  the fighters need to have better awareness of where they are, and the tournament needs to have bigger areas and/or bigger saftely areas between them.

This issue was highlighted by a situation that happened to me, while refereeing min-afternoon.  I was standing at the edge of my mat area, keeping myself between the fighters I was refereeing, and the mat behind me, focused on those fighters, when, out of the blue I got full on taken out from behind.   Thankfully, my fighters were still standing, were paying attention, and stopped and waited, while the fighters from the mat behind me climbed off me me (while i was pretty much face planted) and I dragged myself up.  I rolled my ankle and got some pretty awesome bruises from the whole ordeal, which isn't to bad, all things considered, but it could have been MUCH worse and should NOT have happened.

On to happier things.  Pura had a pretty great day, we had 4 people competing:  Steve, Jon, Andrew and myself, and took home 6 medals.   Steve won gold in gi and nogi,  Andrew won gold in gi and bronze in nogi, Jon won Bronze in gi (did not compete in nogi) and I won gold in gi (did not compete in nogi).  Steve was on fire, subbing all his opponents handily.  Jon had a bit of a rough day, he'd been sick for over a week and was still quite under the weather, but he still managed to put a guy to sleep.  Andrew dominated his gi division and looked good in his nogi division as well.  His gi final was a tie breaker that he won after overtime by decision.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but the gi absolutes for the guys just didn't happen.  My division was already combined, so I didn't have one.  Since there were supposed to be "Season Passes" for the winners of the absolutes, Andrew and Steve were suposed to compete for them.  They both ended up getting a seasons pass, I guess because they were the only ones that followed up about it, or they gave all the winners one, I don't know.  I also earned a seasons pass by winning my division (which was, in reality, an absolute).  Having the season pass will be a nice cost saver for us, since we attend so many competitions and they add up quick.

As the day was winding down, some mats finished way before others,  the mat I ended up refereeing at for most of the afternoon somehow had way way way more matches then the others, so I pawned a few off on 2 other mats.  Then I ended up being done before one of those mats (the other still finished ahead), so I got some of them back.   The guys were giving me "can we go yet" faces for about an hour and a half, so I found one of the other referees who had not started till later in the day, and got him to take over for me.  Thank You for that!  It made me get home at 2am instead of 3 or 4 am!

Yea,  2 am.  We left the venue around 5pm, and it was snowing. Surprise, a snow storm, when we are on a road trip to Montreal.  If we are going to Montreal, between Oct and May, there WILL be a snow storm. It's a fact, it's science, and it cannot be disputed.  The 401 was snow covered and kind of drifty from Montreal to Kingston, where there was a bit of a break, then again from just past Kingston to about Ajax and sporatically on the outskirts of Toronto. Once we hit Toronto proper it was just went so we could make decent time.  In the snow covered bits, we varied between about 60-80km/h.  We saw a bunch of cars in the ditches, and a plow that looked ot be stuck as well, which is kind of hilarious.  I was having flashbacks to last february's nightmare trip TO Montreal, but the good news is, my car handled the snow fine. It stayed out of my air filter, so I am confident we are going to get to the trials without any car trouble this year.

The event Photographer did a really great job taking pictures.  He got a good mix of the mat areas, and got some great shots. You can see the album here on facebook.  As ussual, there are plenty of pictures of me looking stupid while refereeing.  I swear, not a single picture exists of my refereeing where I don't have a stupid look on my face, or am in an awkward position, or am just generally looking stupid or fat or something.  I might have to open up a bounty for event photographers: First one to get a good, flattering, not ugly picture of me refereeing will get a prize.


That's about all I have to say,  overall it was a pretty good event.  It ran surprising quickly considering the format, but I would like to see longer matches, I think it would end up with less draws, but, then we need more mats, more refs, more staff, more space, or we would be there all night.  I'm looking forward to their Toronto Event on March 29th.

Coming up next for me is the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials in Montreal on Feb 22nd.  I'm attempting to cut to the -145lbs weight class, and let me tell you, my body is not a fan.  It's not a fan of middle weight, let alone 145 with a gi on, but I think I will make it.  I SHOULD be able to given what my scale says my body fat is, but who knows, time will tell.   We have a pretty good size crew from Pura heading out for that Trip, so it will be a fun weekend!

Also coming up, just confirmed, announced, registration opened. Is Ascension on March 1st.  This is one of my favourite tournaments of the year.  Omar puts on a great event.  I think I wil just be refereeing though, since Pans is only 2 weeks later, and last time (Ontario Open last year) I competed that close to a major event, it didn't quite work out my way, and thousands of dollars were wasted.  Wasted might be a bit harsh, but I ended up on the sideline for months, wasn't able to compete at worlds, and wasted over a week of vacation time on the trip.

See you on the Mats!

Grappling Industries: Montreal (NoGI Worlds Edition) August 17th 2013

What the heck blogger? Why didn't you save the 98% finished post I wrote two days ago??? 

I hate re-writing stuff. So now I don't even feel like writing about this event.  But alas, there were some things I liked and did not like and whatnot, like with all tournaments. 

Starting off, we almost didn't go, and our carload ended up being just Alasdair and I.  Jon messed up his shoulder when Rick from AOJ  was here so he stayed home and worked on the renos to our entryway that he started 3 or 4 years ago.   Anyway, we were going to bail and just stay home and rest our weary bones, but I had committed to refereeing and they had some people cancel, so like good little sponsored athletes, we made the trek down.

It was a pretty terrible drive there. Nothing like the great blizzard and car failure of February(I think it was Feb anyway) but 3+ hours to get through Toronto is pretty awful.  Once we were past Pickering it was smooth sailing though.  The drive home was almost perfect. 6 hours door to door, with one quick gas / food / bathroom break at the first service center in Ontario.  We only took one break each way, which really does cut down on the time spent, but also makes for pretty stiff joints and a sore butt.

Our hotel was pretty sweet. I think it was either very new, or recently completely renovated.  It didn't quite have the new smell, but everything from the carpets, to the tables, walls, and TVs seemed new.
It had a pretty good location to,  close to one of the airports(I don't know which one), and also very close to a bunch of shops, a theatre and other entertainment type stuff.  Good for a 2 day event.  Free parking and WiFi is also pretty sweet and helps keep the costs of a trip down, especially for me and Jon, who are on wind, so we don't have data in Montreal.  Lastly, the hotel had a decent breakfast, for a reasonable fee, buffet was 14 bucks, or a standard omelet or eggs with bacon coffee, toast and whatnot was 11.50.   Buffet is great for events with day before weighin, not so great for ibjjf style events.

Anyway, it's a good thing we did show up because one of the other referrers canceled on Friday night, and a table worker or two no-showed!  We started at 9 am pretty much on the button, and ran steady till 530ish, with a bit of a break on some mats between the transition from nogi to gi.  This went more smoothly then at some past events because it seemed like they put divisions that would likely be the same.between gi and nogi on the same mats. 

For example: mat 1 was the light weight classes of nogi advanced, and then the purple belt lighter weight classes.  So there was less trouble with not being able to start a gi division because competitors were still finishing nogi on  another mat.  Of course, this doesn't always work, because if it is one of the really big divisions, having both gi and nogi run on the same mat, would lead to that mat running much later then other mats.  This did happen on the weekend as well, but I think it was only about half hour or so, once I was.able to pass a few matches off onto a done mat. 

So, refereeing was an experience, as always.  I got called "bush-league" which turns out to mean bad.  It's a new term for me, but I suppose it could be worse.  He did say "with all do respect" first.  I'm not sure how that is respectful, but whatever.  He didn't like how I stopped fights before a takedown was complete on it's way out of bounds, and how I didn't stop it when they weren't heading towards the edge and the other guy got a takedown.  Sadly, with the small mat areas, and small(ish, well pretty standard which i find small) safety area, you have to stop things more often then on say, IBJJF size mat areas (which also vary from event to event, fun fact there).  

One other thing, that has kind of got me stewing about refereeing and my brain, was that after one match, the ended up being 3-1 advantages, the coach of the guy who lost was asking me about the advantages.  He was certain it should have been 2-2, and I couldn't recall what the advantages were given for. This was like, right after the match.  I felt bad, because I should be able to remember, it was 30 seconds ago, max 5 minutes total.  I am still confident I scored it right.  I believe the videos are already up so feel free to dig it up and prove me wrong.  But, I couldn't defend the calls I made.  That being said, I probably shouldn't even acknowledge people who want to question my refereeing, but he is a well respected member of the community and I could have been a good opportunity to learn perhaps.  

Anyway, the fact that my brain is working this substandardly makes me question my ability to referee.   I have always, for as long as I can remember had an iffy memory, I can re-watch a movie like 6 months after I watch it, and forget the dialog and whatnot. The general plot I can mostly remember but details are all lost.  Same with reading, I can re-read a book a year apart and it'll be new again.   It has definitely gotten worse since the last 2 concussions (one from sparring back in 2009 or so) ad the most recent one last December.

Another thing that was quite frustrating as a referee was the number of competitors reaping knees and not even knowing they are doing it.  Instructors/Professors/Coaches:  If you are going to teach DLR, and/or ankle locks please make sure your students know where they can and cannot put their feet, and which way they can turn!  Thankfully, with the new rules, I don't have to DQ instantly, but it's bad form.   I had 2 guys in intermediate going after ankle locks, and they were reaping like crazy. I stopped it and said "you can't do that", and they were both like "do what???".  I can only shake my head and hope they remember or next time.  I gave them a penalty, explained, un-reaped the legs and started them up again.   Here's a picture of it, in-case your are wondering if I'm crazy.

Last thing about refereeing that drives me crazy, is when competitors don't know the commands.  Again, coaches, if you are going to allow your students to compete, PLEASE make sure they know the basics like start,stop, and what tapping means.  Seriously.  I had a guys elbow get pretty jacked b/c the competitor didn't stop cranking when the guy tapped, and also didn't stop when I said Pa-row.   To me, that is one of the most disrespectful things you can do in competition (next to walking around with no shoes off the mat).   Even if you just hold, but don't apply anymore pressure until you are sure the referee has seen the tap, that would be ok.  

Alright, I am done ranting about refereeing.  Let's talk about the other thing that I was not a fan of this time around.  The medic situation was not good.  There was a medic, but he didn't have a table or area set up.  He was ill-equiped (no sports tape) and he didn't handle some injuries very well.  He was also not always easily found (since he didn't have a specific area).   I sent a guy to get his foot that was bleeding from mat burn taped up. He came back with a bandaid and a strip of clear tape on it.  The tape wasn't even wrapped around his foot. Needless to say, it lasted about 10 seconds.  A friend of mine who's elbow got jacked when to see him.  The medic asked if it hurt, and he said yes,  so he gave him some ice.  He didn't inspect it or try to diagnose it or anything.  While I don't expect the medics to be orthopedic surgeons,  I do expect them to be aware of the sport, and the special needs that come with working at it.

I didn't get a lot of free time to observe the tournament in general,  weigh ins went smoothly.  They have a really nice, very accurate scale and people were going through the weigh ins quickly.    I am a huge fan of doing weighins in the morning.  Maybe I am partial to it because that is how it is done for most judo tournaments (there are some that do day before, but never matside).  But I like how smooth it makes the rest of the day.   The one thing I am not a huge fan of that Grappling Industries still does, is use the IBJJF GI weight classes, but allow people to weighin without their gi.   The Gi weight classes have a pretty significant weight allowance built into them to accommodate people wearing a gi. So they should be using the NOGI weight classes if they let ppl weigh in without their gi.

I did get a few minutes to sit down and watch my friend Quincy referee.  She is a pretty new referee, but she controlled the action well and I didn't see any glaring issues or problems.  She handled the small space well, and did a good job positioning herself to see the action.  All the other referees were fairly experienced.  I do feel a bit bad for them, compared to the GTA, they don't have nearly as many opportunities to referee and stay sharp.

True North BJJ was there snapping pictures.  I think Scott took probably 700 or so.  He was all over the place and didn't rest all day. I don't know how he did it, especially with his bum knee.   You can check out their photo galleries on facebook by liking their fanpage. Here is a shortcut to one of the three albums.  True North BJJ is a new media/information/whatever outlet for the Jiu Jitsu community In Ontario and Canada.  It focuses more on the information and events and less on the memes and douchbaggary that seem to be becoming more and more popular around the interwebs.

This tournament has out-grown it's current venue.  With 5 mat areas there wasn't a lot of spectator room, and the gym got very very hot and stuffy by mid-afternoon.  This is great for the promoters and for the scene in Montreal in general, but they may have to start looking for a mid-size venue to accommodate the growth.  Being able to it 6 mat areas, with ample safety room and spectator room would make for a shorter day and would be more comfortable for everyone.  I do congratulate Grappling Industries on the growth though, it's great to see more and more competitors coming out to events in Montreal.  It seems like Montreal has a very different scene then Toronto, and I am not sure why.  Montreal is  huge city, and there are other cities in driving distance that also have pretty good BJJ clubs in them (Ottawa for one).  There certainly is a lot more MMA and Judo guys coming out to these events then any events in the GTA.

Alasdair had a pretty decent day, especially if you take into consideration that he doesn't really like nogi,  has a hyper extended elbow, and wasn't feeling well.  None of that stopped him from going 4-0 in the round robin, with 3 slick subs, and one win by points.  Unfortunately it all caught up with him, and he didn't exactly perform to his full potential in the final against fellow Grappling Industries sponsored competitor Maxime Poulin.  To be fair, Maxime is an absolute beast and destroyed pretty much everyone he fought!  You can read up a bit more on Maxime on the Grappling Industries website.

There were a few competitors that I refereed that really stood out in mind mind.

Starting of with Scott Jutras, he placed 2nd in the -195 nogi advanced division.  He's a 10th planet guy and had a bunch of very quick, slick subs.  I was impressed with his composure when he got taken down (straight to a guillotine) and his transitions were very smooth.  

In the big guys category, 2 competitors stood out: Eric Chibuluzo, who is actually only a white belt, and is a super athlete with an insane will to win. He shut down the game of much more experienced competitors.   He is going to be a force to be reckoned with when he has a few years of experience under his belt.  Also standing out was Jeff Muir,  had never seen Jeff compete before, and his style was so relaxed and controlled.  He was also ridiculously friendly, having a chat mid-match on at least one occasion.  He didn't win medal, but he just stood out as a great competitor.

Of course, no grappling industries is complete without the ankle lock king, Jon-Taine Hall.  Everyone knows it's coming, and no-one can stop it.   In one match, he was down on points, and there was less the 30 seconds left and he pulled an ankle lock out of nowhere to get the tap!    Jon-Taine is a super humble competitor as well, and he always(from what I've seen anyway)  gives guys a chance to tap before he really puts the pressure on.

Well, I'm pretty sure this version of the post is entirely different then the original, but that's what you get when my phone craps out on me.   I apologize for taking so long to get it finished, It's pretty un-motivating to have 2 hours of work disappear.  I guess it's not safe to assume the mobile app auto-saves as anally as the web interface.

So, coming up next:

Sept 7th: Grappling Industries: Sunshine Boulevard Toronto. There will be trips to Miami and NOGI worlds to be won.  Also, I think the brand new amazing podium made by Gabrielle will be debuted!

Sept 21st:  The GTA Classic  This OJA event is one of my favourite events of the year. It's like the back to school tournament. It's GI only, and they are working on some pretty cool prizes.  There will be samuri swords for absolute winners which is pretty badass.

Oct 5th:  Grappling Industries:  HWY 401 Edition: Montreal.  They are giving away a 8 trips to Toronto for the next Grappling Industries event in Toronto.  I think this is a pretty cool concept, and I hope it helps kind of bridge the gap between the two scenes.  It's also cool that they are giving away 8 trips, so almost everyone will be able to get a chance at one.  If you are from the GTA, you will, of course, be able to cash-out the trip.

Oct 12th  SAU 3 In Montreal.  These guys are kind of new to the scene, but have put on 2 events in the past.  I have never been able to make it out to one because of scheduling, but I have heard good things.  They do sub-only and double elimination, so it's a little different then the everyone else, so check it out.

Oct 19th: OJA Ottawa BJJ Open. Not to much information out about this one yet.  I get my ottawa events mixed up. There is two each year.  They are a good chance to test your skills against the Ottawa competitors because they come out in full force.

That's enough upcoming events for today!  There are more, like another Grappling Industries Toronto,  OJA provincials, and the IBJJF Montreal Open.  But this is long enough, and there will be plenty of posts to write about them as they approach.

Finally:  I haven't talked about my shoulder much.  It's now been 3 months and a couple weeks since it was injured. I had an MRI (A), got the results, talked to my sports doctor, and picked up the MRI cd.  I am now waiting for an appointment with a surgeon.   There was some talk of not doing surgery, because the tears (labrum and bicep tendon)  are small, but because of where they are, they are still affecting my day to day (sleeping, driving, typing, laundry), they are going to fix it.   Dr. Levy was confident I would be able to see the surgeon in a couple weeks (it's been two since i saw him, I should probably check up on that), and have the surgery before the end of the year.   I haven't bee training or using it really the last few weeks, so it feels not to bad.  Next week I am going to train, and teach, so we shall see how that goes.  It will probably go poorly, and I will end up having to take advil for a week again. Whatever.

Alright, this really is the end.  Thanks for reading and see you on the mats (or side lines, or wherever).

Montreal Grappling: April 28th 2013

This past Saturday we made the short (well, relatively short, compared to Chicago and New York) trip down the 401 to Montreal for the Grappling Industries Montreal: Mundials edition.  It was a lovely trip, traffic was pretty much perfect and we made great time.

The day started off with a trip to the dentist, which is never very fun, but a semi-necessary evil.  I didn't go to the dentist for the longest time because I had no coverage and was a poor student, then house poor, then jiu jitsu poor. Now, my work, and Jon's work both have coverage, and we are DINKS, so the dentist is a-ok.  Anyway... everything was fine at the dentist, no cavities! Yay!

So we picked up Stephen around 11:15 and hit the road.  We made great time out of Toronto, and the 401 was smooth sailing all along.  We stopped for gas at the Odessa service center (just before Kingston) and carried on straight to the hotel.  

We stayed at the A Loft hotel, by the airport.   It's a weird hotel.  It's right on the airport property, so we had to pay $10 parking, but compared to the downtown hotels, that's nothing.  The hotel had a strange vibe.  Hipster, modern, but loft-like - so tall, rough ceilings, and weird use of space.  The front desk lady was very friendly and helpful, and had excellent English.  The room was nice and large, but only had a shower, and the bathroom door was a sliding door, that didn't really seal or sound proof too well.  I swear that is my most common complaint when it comes to hotel rooms.  When you’re staying at a hotel, with 3 or 4 or 5 people, you don't really need or want to hear them all do their business.  The room had 2 queen beds, and a little couch/bench thing, that someone could sleep on in a pinch.   It also had a very large desk, and a very nice TV.   The really neat thing was that the TV had a box with a bunch of different plugins that hooked straight to the TV.  The hotel also had cables to lend out, but they had run out when we asked. 

We got directions to Amir (which is a Middle Eastern chain in the area) from the front desk lady, and Jon and I headed out for some food.  Stephen was a fatty, so he stayed at the hotel watches streams of people playing video games.  I don't understand this phenomenon, but apparently it's quite popular, 100’s of thousands of people were watching it.  Weird.  We picked up some tasty food and then wanted to go to Wal-Mart to pick up a cable, and maybe some drinks and snacks, and it was closed.   Walmart closed at 6:00pm on a Saturday.  What is wrong with Dorval?  Anyway... some interesting traffic circles and construction later and we were back at the hotel.

The food was tasty, I asked for chicken shawarma, but got beef, but that's ok.  I enjoyed it anyway.   We streamed the fights on my netbook for a while, and then on Stephan's laptop after he fell asleep.  Some decent fights, but some very strange calls!  Like the instant stoppage for the eye poke.  Wrong call by the referee. He should have had the doctor come in and check him out, give him a chance to recover a bit, and keep fighting.  I fell asleep during the first fight of the main card, and still haven't watched the rest.  I did see the clip of Jon Bone's toe going all crazy. Ewww, that is freaky.    While we were watching some of the fights, Stephan the Fatty took a super super hot shower, and turned the entire bathroom into a sauna pretty much,  to sweat out a few lbs.   Not ideal, but the best we could come up with without a tub, and no Sauna in the hotel.

In the morning, we checked out, and headed to weigh in.   Jon weighed in at a whopping 162lbs with all his clothes on.  That boy needs to move down to feather weight.  He is too small for lightweight. But he likes candy and pizza more than fighting people his own size so whatever.   Stephan squeaked by right on the 1lb allowance of 169, wearing much less the Jon.    I weighed in at 152, with ALL my clothes on, except my shoes.  Hello Middle weight, it’ll be nice to see you at the Ontario Open.  It didn't really matter how much I weighed because the division is +141. 

After weighing in, we headed to our traditional breakfast place for the Montreal Grappling tournaments, Cora (previously known, and always for me known as Cora's, calling it just Cora is awkward and dumb).  We like to go here because it's just down the road, and has a lovely selection, and, there is almost always someone with us who is cutting the weight closes and starving by the time weigh ins come around.  They are pretty quick and, unlike the ones around here, it's not very busy.  Jon got the maple latte, which was disappointing, so, don't bother with that if you are in there.  It sounds so promising, but does not deliver.

Back to the tournament.... I had 3 matches with my friend Sissi.  She's a ridiculously good blue belt from BTT Canada.   We fought once before at the Toronto IBJJF tournament and I won by armbar.  That was when we were both in medium heavy.  I believe she has been fighting in Heavy for the last couple tournaments, but barely, so the weight difference isn't really enough to be a factor.    I'll be honest, I underestimated her.  I came in expecting the Sissi I competed against in Toronto, and got a version about 5x better!   Man, she has gotten good! 

I won our first match on points; I believe the score was 3-10 or so.  I can't remember exactly.  I got a pass, a sweep, and maybe mount?  She definitely got a pass, but that may have been it.  In our second fight, she came out more aggressive, and scored early.  At one point, with about 1 min left, I was in her guard, and she went for a hip bump/kimura/sit up sweep, and her elbow caught me in the side of the head and eye.  I panicked.  It was bad. My brain was like "Ahhhh I’ve got a concussion, ahhh panic, ahhhh you can't fight anymore ahhh ahhhh ahhhh” I completely stopped fighting and she got to mount and I'm still panicking.   I tapped and it took me a while to re-compose myself.  I wasn't actually hurt, but I clearly have some mental shit to get over still.  After the match I told the match setter I couldn't fight anymore, and sat down.   I thought about it for a bit, calmed down, and realized, it was all in my head, and I was actually fine.  So I asked to do the 3rd fight, Sissi was all for it, and David and Mathieu were fine with it as well.   So, third fight, she was super aggressive again, and I was trying to play the new stuff I was working on, with DLR, and rolling to recover my guard and inverting and whatnot.  It worked OK at some points, but eventually I ended up flattened out on my stomach, with her hooks in.  For like 3 minutes.  Throughout the match she had racked up a few stalling penalties and was 1 call from being disqualified.  She kept busy enough to avoid the DQ, but didn't really go for anything.  It was pretty frustrating to be stuck on the bottom like that, but it gave me motivation to tidy up my game and not get stuck like that again!

Jon's second opponent forgot his pants.  How do you go to a tournament without pants?  I always bring 2 full sets of gear for a tournament, gis, shorts, rashguard, sports bra.  Two of each.  You never know what could happen, and this way, if anything does, I've got it covered.   Did he not have a teammate he could borrow pants from? Or buy a pair or a gi from the gi hive, who was there pimping some wares.  They actually had some really nice stuff, cheap Redstar gis, Tatami gis, and scramble rashguards. Also, Gi Soap, which isn't for washing your gi, it's for washing your body, after doing gi things. 

Jon went 1-2 in his matches.  He scored his first points in almost a year and first points at blue belt.   Jon has a weird style; He pretty much doesn't pay attention to the score and constantly tries to sub people.  It works, sometimes, but he tends to lose on points if it gets to the end.   His last guy was a judo guy, and it was insanely obvious. He had no idea what the rules were, and almost got disqualified for stalling, in the first minute and a half.  He sat in side control doing NOTHING for almost 2 minutes.  Then, moved to mount, and did the same thing.  The only reason he wasn't disqualified was because Jon was squirming so much it made him look busy.    I love to see the judo guys come out and compete, but know the rules, and play the game.  You don't see basketball players trying to play soccer and carrying the ball or dribbling it down the field, do you? 

Stephan went 1-3 in his fights.   He had some tough guys, and the weight cut really affected his stamina and power.  He gave the guys a hard time though, and got a chance to work his DLR guard a bit.  We are working on the mental side of the game together for the next few weeks and He is going to ruin people’s day at the Ontario Open and Worlds.    Oh, the fight he won, it was with a beautiful loop choke.  It was nicely set up, and the guy didn't see it coming. 

One competitor that stood out to me on Sunday was Kieran from Lin martial arts.   I've seen him compete before I think, with mixed results.  I noticed him warming up with a team mate and was really impressed with the flow of their roll and the level of skill they were showing.   In all the matches except one he showed some really nice open guard stuff and pretty much dominated the division.   He fought the judo guy Jon fought and got stalled out with the guy in his guard not trying to pass or do anything.  It was a shame to see, but I think it was a great lesson for him.  I'm really looking forward to watching him compete in the future.

We didn't stick around for much after we were done fighting.  We were looking at a 6.5 hours (ish) drive home and work early in the morning.  We stuck around long enough to be able to give Mike B a ride home, and took off.  Mike went 3-1 for the day, and, probably should have been 4-0, but I didn't see the entire match he lost, so I cannot say for sure.

The drive home was pretty uneventful as well.  There was this one van, who insisted on staying in the fast lane, and not driving very fast.   They would go 105 for a while, then 110, then 115, then 105, then 125 for a while.  It drove me crazy.  They were causing all sorts of traffic headaches, and people kept tailgating me because, you know, by tailgating the person in front of you, it gets the car, 10 cars up, that is the reason for the slowdown, to go faster.  

It started raining around Oshawa, which caused some traffic slowdowns, but nothing major, with the detour to Brampton, and dropping of Stephan, it was about 7 hours all together to get home.  Not bad at all. Considering last time we went to Montreal it took us 19 hours to get there and about 9 to get home.  I love summer road trips, except ones that start on Friday afternoon, and involve going through Toronto traffic.

The tournament itself was smooth, as usual. The mats were cleared at 9:55am and matches were being called right at 10:00am.   Things went smooth all day, except when the few guys who registered and didn't show up were called.  That caused a bit of a delay, but nothing Major.  In the future, Grappling Industries will be giving refunds, instead of no-pay for people who earn a free entry to their events.  I think this will help keep people honest, and hopefully keep the now-shows to a minimum.    What they should have done, was cross reference the weighin list, or the check-in at the door list, with the draw sheets, before handing them to the tables, so that they would know if the guy was there or not.  This would take some time, but will save time down the road.  Hopefully, in the future, they will be able to do that.

The new medals came in! And they are nice!   I didn't get one though :(  All of the silvers were stuck in transit lol.  I probably would have just used the old medals for one more event, but Hey, I like how excited these guys are about making their events better each time.    Like I said, last time, the next thing they need to get is some kind of noise maker, to signal the end of a match.  You can't always keep an eye on the board as a referee, and it's difficult to hear the score keeper sometimes.  Also, the mat size, as I mention after every event.  They need bigger mat areas, or even just an extra row of black between the mats.  It would make for a lot less stoppages, and would be much safer in general. 

So, this weekend I am heading to the OJA coaching course.  I don't imagine I will get much out of it, as I have already completed NCCP all the way up to Level 3, which is the level you need to coach everywhere but the Olympics (for Judo). But hey, I could pick up a tidbit or two, and it's always good to attend these kinds of things to keep up with the times and be on the same page as everyone.

Next weekend is the Ontario Open. The BIGGEST and highest level tournament in Ontario, probably in Canada.  They are giving away 10 trips to worlds, and tons of rashguards, belts, gis, medals, trophies and other crap.  It's going to be an amazing event.  Registration closes on Monday, so, if you’re in the area, or driving distance, or flying distance, seriously, if you can get there, Do it!

2 weeks after that is WORLDS.  Yup, we are going to California Baby!!   Jon and I are flying out on May 24th, training at Art of Jiu Jitsu till the tournament (4 days), and then competing at the Mundials!   I've already got 8 girls in my division!  EIGHT!!!!  Can you believe it???  That is more purple belt women than have attended any of the tournaments I have been to since December, and they are ALL in my division!   I am so excited!!  Alasdair and Stephan are also going to worlds.  They are heading up 5 days earlier, and, coming back with us Sunday night.    It's going to be an amazing 10 days.

The weekend we are in California training, is Grappler's Quest and FILA.  If you are in town, you should check them out. They should be pretty great events.  Grappler's Quest is giving out trips to Las Vegas to some of the absolute division winners, and lots of other cool prizes to.  The FILA event is a qualifier for the FILA worlds, which will take place later in the summer, in London, ON.

I was supposed to go train today, but instead, I got some groceries, cooked some lunches and finished registering and paying for the camp.  I suppose these are all things that needed to be done, but I hate missing class.  It's really difficult juggling a full time job, training, conditioning training, teaching classes 2x a week, and finding time to do things like cook, laundry, and other household things. Not to mention going on competition road trips on weekends, when most people would be doing the catch up on the non-work-things.  Oh well, this is the life I choose, and despite this little bit of whining, I love every minute of it.

Hey you, do you have a company or brand you want to get more exposure for, how about sponsoring me?  I'll pimp your wears, I'll advertise your stuff, I’ll spam my friends (well, maybe not spam them, but share stuff with them).  I could really use some financial assistance for worlds and whatnot.  I've already spent about 5000 bucks this year on tournament trips, and that's not including all the money I have spent towards worlds. 

See YOU on the mats!

Grappling Industries Toronto Feb 16th 2013

This past weekend Grappling Industries made their second appearance in Ontario.  As you may or may not know, these guys hold one of the best tournaments in Montreal.   The quality, consistency, and the fact that they hold more then one event a year puts them arguably #1 in Quebec.


Their event had to scale outrageously for the ever growing Toronto market.   Both Toronto shows they have hosted were double or more the size of their Montreal events.  Most of the growing pains were worked out in their first event which was good, this one was even better.

No event is ever perfect though, as much as David Aguzzi would like to make his events one day. There will always be challenges, like parking, or traffic, or weird venue layouts.   This Saturday, parking was an adventure, as was finding the correct building on the Ryerson Campus.  Once we found the building, there were plenty of signs put up by Grappling Industries to point us to the gym.

Traffic was also an issue, the Gardiner was closed westbound in the morning, and both directions on and off in the afternoon.  This caused some serious delays.  It took us over 2 hours to get home, when it should have taken about 50 minutes.  There were a couple accidents because of the freak snowstorm that didn't help the situation as well.

Back to the tournament.  They ran 14 mats, and had enough referees to keep them running solid all day long.  The table workers seemed competent, for the most part. I didn't get to interact with all of them, as I was refereeing for most of the day, but I only heard one complaint.   One table worker was unaware of how to give the fighters appropriate breaks, so they ended up fighting with not enough rest.   I'm sure David will speak with them and teach them more thoroughly.  It's unfortunate for the competitors that didn't get adequate rest, but on the grand scheme of things, isn't major and will be resolved for the next event I'm sure.

The Gi portion of the event started 12 minutes late, which, for a bjj tournament is practically early, but I know David was unhappy about that.   It really wasn't the tournaments fault though. To many people showed up late because of traffic and parking.  It is not possible to get everyone checked in and weighed in on time, when people show up late.  To the competitors that showed up late:  Leave earlier, plan for traffic,  be respectful to the tournament organizers and your fellow competitors.     Gi finished up way ahead of schedule on a lot of the mats.  We had an break of almost an hour between gi and nogi on quite a few mats.

Nogi ran quickly and all the mats were wrapped up and done by 4:30pm.  This is really good time for a competition with over 330 competitors(470 if you count the people who did gi and nogi).  Not to mention the round robin format, which made for 4 fights+ per competitor.  Of course, not every single fight happened, a few people got injured in gi,and couldn't fight in nogi,  as well as  a few no-shows,  but there was still close to 1000 matches completed in the day. 

The venue, despite the parking, and traffic issues, was actually pretty cool for spectators.  There was a raised "bleacher" area above the gymnasium, so spectators had a GREAT view of the mats.   There was adequate room on the gym floor for the competitors and staff to get their jobs done as well.   I would like to see a warm-up area, but with limited gymnasium sizes, and 14 fighting areas, there really isn't anywhere to put one!

One thing I would like to see from Grappling Industries is larger rings/mat areas. I think this is the biggest thing that needs to be addressed down the road.  Of course bigger mat areas means more mats, a bigger venue, more barricades, and more transportation costs. But, it would bring the event up to the next level.  Even if they doubled the safety area between the rings, It would be a big improvement.

The great thing about this event, and all of Grappling Industries events,  is that they give back to the fighters.  They always have prizes like rashguards, gis, and gear for winners of divisions and absolutes from their amazing sponsors.  On top of that,  they give away trips to worlds and pans to a selection of the absolute winners.  On Saturday they gave away 6 trips!

• White Belt Women - Chealsey Livingston
• Blue+ Women - Roya 
• White Belt Men  - Kevin Bacon
• Blue Belt Men - Sean Kent
• Purple Belt Men - Alessandro Roman
• Brown/Black Men - Amir Yafawi

 These guys recognize that the white belts pay the bills, and reward them accordingly.  Which is nice to see.  Some people are like "White belts don't need/deserve trips". But, in the spirit of supporting those that support you,  there are more white belts at tournaments then probably all the other belts combined, so why shouldn't they get a chance for a trip?

 It was great to see Alessandro win a trip, after losing an insanely close, heartbreaking absolute final in Montreal the weekend before.   Amir also had a rough day in Montreal, and got to make up for it.  A trip to California isn't quite the same as a trip to Abu Dhabi, but I'm sure many of these winners were planning on getting to the worlds one way or another, so this will help them a lot.

 As a referee, I was put through the paces once again.  I got to referee all of the ladies gi matches, which I enjoyed.  Our community is a small one and I think its cool to be able to referee the ladies' and watch the fights close up.  There were some really great fights though out the both divisions.   The white belt absolute final was intense back and forth action that kept me on my toes.   The blue+ final was also very close, but much less intense.  It was a game of inches and ended up coming down to a decision(the score being 2-2, no advantages or penalties).   I took my time deciding who would win, and am still confident that I made the correct decision.

The decision lead me to  suggest to David that for absolute matches we use the 3 referee system.  It's not that I don't think any of the referees, including myself, are capable of making a decision in these situations.  It just leads to less controversy, and more confidence when you have 3 referees, all agreeing on the calls and the eventual winner.    I think this is something that many tournaments could be improved by taking up.  Especially for finals, or absolutes, or absolute finals, where there is more then just a medal on the line.

Amanda Bird was there taking great pictures as usual. She's a really talented, young photographer who I'm a big fan of.  I think the fact that she trains and competes helps her know when a great shot is coming up.   Check out a sneak peak of the photos she's taken, and like her page while your at it!

NeoJits was also onsite, making a highlight video of the event.  It was on youtube earlier, but he took it down to tweak it a bit.  Hopefully I will remember to put the link in here when it's back up.  In the mean time check out their facebook page for other cool videos and things.

Check out Grappling Industries on Facebook for all the results, information, and future events.

Coming Up In Ontario:
March 23rd - OJA  Niagara Open - Single Elimination
April 13th  - Red Star Open - No Idea what the system will be, but I do know the finals will use an ADCC like scoring system where the first few minutes of the match will be sub-only. Which is awesome.

In Montreal:
March 15th FFC 2 - Charity Super Fights.  Packed card of Jiu Jitsu Fights. Great Event for a great cause.
April 6th - SAU brings their sub only, double elimination style event back. I missed their last event, but it seems like a cool concept.
Mid - Late April Grappling Industries is likely hosting another event.  Date/Venue haven't been confirmed yet.

In Other places: 
March 3rd - Boston IBJJF Open
March 9th and 10th - Chicago Winter IBJJF Open
I am hoping to attend both of these.  No one in my division yet for Chicago though. I've got the time off work though, so a road trip is happening whether we like it or not lol.

Am I missing any events?

See you on the mats, in the stands or across the ring!

Montreal Grappling Jan 26th 2013 Tournament Review

This past weekend, four of us made the long road trip down the 401 for the first Grappling Industries event of 2013.  We left Burlington around 12pm Friday afternoon, and were back home in Hamilton by 11:59PM Saturday night. This is how we generally do our trips to Montreal to save money and not spend the entire weekend away. The drive home is always a bit rough, but we get Sunday to recover and get ready for the new week.

This time around, it was Jon, Alasdair, and Ken, and myself.  I might as well mention the results now, so I don't forget. Jon went 2-2, earning his first 2 wins at blue belt. Both of his wins were with chokes, but at least this time there was a variety. Ken went 4-0, winning his division! He won 3 by submission, and one on points score late in the fight. Ken is a competing machine lately and it's great to see how much he has improved the last little while. This was Alasdair's first competition as a purple belt and he made it look like he was a seasoned purple. He went 4-0 in the round robin,  with 3 subs, and a win by points (against a BROWN belt). He then fought a tough opponent in the final, losing on points. A great start to what will likely be a very successful run as a purple belt, and a great warm up for the pro trials in 2 weeks.

So, a bit more about the trip up. We hit some snow in east Toronto/Oshawa and missed an insane 80 car pileup by about 1/2 hour or so. I'm glad we left when we did, other people coming from the GTA spent up to 10 or 11 hours getting to Montreal!  Some people turned around after sitting in traffic for 4 hours.

We stopped at a service center to get a bite to eat and get some gas. Jon and Ken both got 20-packs of timbits, and both of them were missing timbits! Jon only got 16, and Ken got 18. Now, it's probably better for them, because that is a disgusting amount of carbs and sugar to be consumed, but 16 instead of 20? That is losing 20%! Ridiculous. So be aware of that if you're buying timbits along the 401. Count them before you leave the counter and don't get ripped off! I stuck to my paleo diet, and got a grilled chicken burger, on a lettuce bun from A&W.  They charged me the full price, which was fine. Interestingly, on the way home, we stopped for gas/food, and I ordered it again and this time it was like 1/2 the price, and they gave me two pieces of chicken! Oh well, it was tasty chicken so I don't really care.

Our hotel was... different. It's always an adventure when we travel to Montreal, because I tend to book hotels through Hotwire, Priceline, or deals I find on Wagjag, Groupon, Livingsocial, Dealfind, or whatever.  You never really know what you're going to get until you're there. This hotel I booked through a Teambuy deal. It was only 70 bucks plus 10 bucks per person over double occupancy. The location wasn't the most convenient, or inconvenient, not really close to food. We walked about a km to find some, and it was tasty. The hotel used to be a post office, it had really tall ceilings, and looked cool on the outside. The inside was a little rough around the edges, but was functional. Our room was cozy, but quite nice. They are in the process of renovating all the rooms, so we had a fresh room. We are staying there again in two weeks for the Pro Trials, hopefully we get an equally nice room.

I suppose I should talk about the tournament itself.  It was a typical Grappling Industries tournament. Ran smooth, started on time, decent refereeing (if I do say so myself) and a few trips to California for the absolute winners. My friend Sissi, from BTT Canada, in Montreal, won the ladies' trip in a decisive manor, she looked very impressive on Saturday! I'm looking forward to a chance to compete with her again sometime this year. The men's purple and up trip went to Amir, from Toronto. Amir is an absolute BEAST and he should do well at Pans. I don't know the guy, but Derek Boase, who won the men's blue belt trip, won the final with a nice armbar so that's a good sign.

Grappling Industries has adopted the IBJJF weight classes, which is an important step for them,  they have more weight classes at their tournaments now then they used to as well.  I don't think they use all of the weight classes in Montreal though, which is understandable, because the market is so much smaller. They are all about giving competitors experience, and when you're alone in a weight class, there is no experience to be gained, just a shiny medal. In Toronto, I think they will use all the weight classes for adult men, a subset for masters men, and 2 weight classes for the ladies.

I refereed for the day, and it was a pretty good time. We had 5 referees for 4 mats, so were able to have some breaks throughout the day.   The interesting thing about refereeing for Grappling Industries is that their uniform is a bit different from most other tournaments.  We wore tuxedo shirts and bow-ties.  I admit, I felt quite silly at first, but it sure does look good in the videos and pictures. It adds a nice touch of professionalism I think. It would have been better if both of my black socks had made it to Montreal, but instead I had to borrow a pair of socks from Ken, who thankfully brought an extra pair. 

So, that's that,  in two weeks we do it all over again for the Pro Trials.  I will just be playing chauffeur, but it'll be a good time. 

On a side note, my concussion was getting a lot better, but I think the mental strain of driving 6 hours, not sleeping great, reffing all day, then driving back set me back a bit. I'll likely try to train a bit later in the week, but am resting for the early half of the week. This weekend Jon and I are having a mini vacation in Toronto, going to see a Marlies/Bulldogs hockey game, and watch the Second City comedy show.  Should be a nice break.

Montreal Grappling Sept 15

Yesterday was the last road trip to Montreal for the year for me, and it turned out to be quite the grueling adventure. What should have been a 6 hour drive took 8.5 hours. A bad combination of rain, construction, and accidents left us driving at a crawling speed for the majority of the way there.

 Then, on the way home, what should have been a quick in and out stop for a bite to eat at shoeless joes in Cornwall turned into a 2h+ horrible experience of waiting, being neglected, having hair in my food, and then having to wait some more. It was terrible. I am never going to eat there again. I think we will stick to Pizza Hut in Kingston from now on.

 The hotel was an adventure as well. When we got there, there was no indication of where to park, so we were a little lost on what to do, Matt ran in to ask, and after waiting a while and stuff was told I had to come in and check in, and then we could park. Well, that took a while as well, but we got it sorted and headed down to the underground parking. It was mega sketchy but after an 8- point turn I managed to get the car parked. 

We got up to our room, and it smelled pretty bad.  I don't know what happened it it, but it was smelly,  like a diaper, mixed with mold and i don't even know what else.  I tried to stay positive about it all, and whatnot, but it was terrible.  The room was also insanely run down, and the bedroom door had a hole in it!!  after a few minutes we decided we couldn't stay in it and went down to the lobby to ask for a new room.   After humming and hawing the very nice lobby guy gave us a new room.    It was WAY nicer!  It seems the hotel is in a process of renovating all the rooms.  The sofa bed was unsleepable,  but the sofa it self was quite comfortable for sleeping.   All in all, it was fine, but I'm not sure I would stay there again.  It was pretty cheap, but for obvious reasons. 

Alright, On to the tournament!!

We had 6 people from Pura compete this time around, which is a new record for us at these tournaments.  It was great to have so many friends make the trip down together and be there to support each other.   

Brad sporting his hard heard silver

Josh pulling a Rafa Mendes armbar

Brad competed in the -150 intermediate no gi, and blue -150 gi.   He placed 2nd in the no gi and did great in the very competitive gi division as well.    It was a lot of fun watching Brad compete.

Josh competed in the -150 advanced no gi, and blue -150 gi divisions.  He had a bit of a rough go in the no gi, but seemed to be enjoying himself anyway.  Gi went better for him and he placed 3rd. (Montreal Grappling only does medals for 1st and 2nd, so no hardware for Josh :(  ).

The goofy newfy ruining someones day with a sprawl

 Stephen, the goofy newfy, competed in -170 advanced no gi, and -170 blue belt gi.   He also had a bit of a rough day, but I think it was a good learning experience anyway.    There is no better way to learning then competing, and you win much more from a loss then an easy win.








 

Matt playing deep half guard. setting up a sweet sweap

Matt competed in the +190 advanced No gi, and the +190 blue belt gi.  This was only Matt's 2nd competition as a blue and He fought well!  In the No Gi he competed against Alex Fraser, a black belt in judo, and blue in bjj. Alex has already won 1 trip from Montreal Grappling, and Matt gave him a run for his money.  I was really impressed!  The other guy in his no gi division was a brown belt. I know Matt wasn't to happy with how his day went, I've been there, done that. But he did really well and should hold his head high!

Alasdair after the gi final

Alasdair had a great day again.  He placed 3rd in the No gi, and 1st in the -170 gi.  He made it to the final of the blue belt Gi Absolute, then lost a very close fight to Alex Fraser.    The final of the -170 was a great fight to watch.  The guy he beat was also a judo black belt and had ridiculous base and posture.  

 Alasdair and I chatted for a bit about winning.  There is a lot of pressure on us to win, because we've made a bit of a habit of doing well.   A lot of people just kind of expect us to win and don't realize that It's just as much work and just as hard for us to win as it is everyone else.   It's nice to have a team mate like Alasdair who understands what that's like and has the same kind of pressure to preform. 



I had a pretty good day as well.  I went in with a plan to try to work on parts of my game other then arm bars, because, if you know me, you know I love to arm bar. arm bars from guard, arm bars from side control, mount, triangles, half guard, I don't care, I'll try them from anywhere.   In my first fight, I stuck to this, and won with an american from side control.   Linda was super tough and fiesty,  She'll be a force to reckon with in her own weight class!

  In my 2nd fight, I got disqualified for reaping the knee. OOOOPPPS  It was a stupid mistake on my part, and I didn't even have my foot touching her hip before i was like "oh no leg doesn't go there" and took it back, but the ref saw and called it right away.   It's good to see the refs on top of the rules, but it was pretty frustrating for me because I hadn't put any pressure, and had moved it off before it was even called.   This is probably the one rule in BJJ that I find the most ridiculous.  It should be a warning, or even an advantage for the other person the first time, then 2 points the 2nd and then a DQ.  and instant DQ for it is kind of crazy.

My 3rd fight didn't happen because the other girl was injured in an earlier fight.  I hope she's ok!!  In my fourth fight I threw out my original game plan because I needed to win it to move onto the final because of my stupidity in the 2nd fight.     So I was all business and won by arm bar.       This made it so that we had 1 girl that was 4-0 and 3 of us that were 3-1.  So we did a 4 person bracket after the round robin. 

I was paired up with Stephanie for the semi final.  She had looked quite tough and dominated in most of her fights so i wasn't going to mess around to much with her.   I had locked on an armbar, and though she tapped on my leg so I eased off, but I guess it was only 1 tap, so she kept going, so I kept going,   shortly after that I slapped on another one and she tapped verbally.

In the final, I fought the girl who I was dq'ed against.  She had won every other fight so far today So I knew I had to take her seriously.   We had some good stand up exchanges and I got a throw in.  I don't remember which one though.   I actually don't remember much about a lot of my fights,  good thing the videos will be on youtube soon.   Anyway,  like in my semi final, I got an armbar,   she yelped so I eased off, but the Reff didn't hear, and she didn't stop so shortly after I caught her in another,  but she tried to roll, and the way she rolled it ended up going on way tigher, and she tapped mid roll, but the way we went, I couldn't take the preasure off.   I felt so bad, and was pretty frustrated with the whole situation.

  I absolutely HATE it when people get hurt doing jiu jitsu.  I know it's part of the sport and shit happens, but so many times it's avoidable by taping sooner!   I try to always give people a chance to tap when I lock on a submission before I start to really put the pressure on, but so many times girls will still try to escape and then I have no choice but to put them tighter!  I'm not a mean spirited person, I'm not out to hurt people, but I'm not going to let you out because you can't admit when your caught.    I feel so bad when girls have to ice their elbows after fighting me,  It makes me want to quit jiu jitsu. 

Mandy and I after our gi fight

In Gi, there were only 2 of us.  So we had 1 match.   Mandy is a brand new blue belt, and smaller then me so I went back to my game plan of not doing arm bars.   I worked a bit of De La Riva,  and some guard passing.  I got to side control a few times and was trying to set up a brabo choke but after a while realized I was setting it up all wrong and abandon it.   She had great defense to all my attacks and when I heard my team mates yell there was 30 seconds left, I set up an armbar for the finish. 

Team Pura

So that was our day.   All in all, Montreal Grappling ran a great event as usual.  We started on time, and ran smoothly the entire day.  The super fight was very entertaining with an amazing come from behind finish!    Congrats to Jon-Taine Hall on the great finish and the new baby!! 

Dainis going for a triangle from the bottom.

One other thing,  My Friend Dainis made his Montreal Grappling Debut this weekend!  He fought in the -170 advanced no gi, and the purple and up absolute.  He is always a pleasure to watch compete as he is so technical and calm in his matches.   He ended up winning the -170 and placing 2nd in the absolute, losing a very close match to Alex Fraser.   In the Purple and up absolute, It was a small division and he had a great match with the giant brown belt that Matt had fought earlier in no gi. 

 

The next Montreal Grappling Event is November 10th.  Sadly, we won't be sending a team because we are having a big team thing that day.   But you should check it out.    Also coming up from Grappling Industries (the people behind Montreal Grappling)  Is the First TORONTO GRAPPLING GRAND PRIX.  This is the tournament to be at this fall.  They are giving away a pile of trips,  it's going to be round robin. and It's going to be amazing.   I can't tell you how excited I am for this tournament to be coming to the GTA.  You NEED to be there. 

Next weekend is the GTA Classic(formerly Bravado).  It should be a really good event.  They run a top notch tournament and i'm really looking forward to it.  We have quite a few people from Pura registered and I'm really looking forward to watching them all compete.   I'm registered in blue medium heavy, and I'm all by myself right now.   I'll gladly move up to heavy if someone registers there.   I am slowly working my way down to middle,  hopefully by Provincials I'll be there!     Also coming up is the next Zombie Leauge Event, It's No-Gi this time, and they are planning on having a ladies only division.    I don't think I will be attending because I have a dentist appointment that was set up like 10 months ago :( 


I'm going to be running some kind of contest here on my blog soon.  The prize will likely be one of the prizes I won yesterday at the Montreal Grappling event.   I've just got to figure out exactly what the contest is going to be, so keep your eyes open for it, it's going to be something fun. 


See you on the mats!

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

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!