Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Montreal Pro Trials: Feb 22nd 2014 Recap
A couple weeks ago, we went to Montreal for the pro trials. For the first time since I can remember, the drive there wasn't horrible. Last year, it was a nightmare, at one point, we though we weren't g-going to make it,even though we left on Thursday night!
We did hit traffic about 5 minutes into the drive, there was an accident on the highway just outside of hamilton, but nce we got past that, we decided to jump on the 407, since we were getting into rush hour time, and rush hour, on the 401 through Toronto, is not a lot of fun at all.
We stayed at the Universal Hotel, which is right across the road from the venue. We like to stay here, because it's price is comparable to the mid-town, but has free parking, and is super convenient for walking to the venue. When the tournament was 2 days it was even better because we could just go back and forth through out the day.
We headed over to the mid-town for weighins around 3pm, ended up parking on the street, and paying 9 bucks, which is cheaper then hotel parking, but still pretty ridiculous for a couple hours of street parking. The worst part about paying or a couple hours of parking, was that we didn't use most of it, that's because, after we weighed in we attempted to get dinner at the hotel restaurant.
we got sat down pretty quickly, but that was it, we were there for literally 20 minutes and none of the restaurant staff even glanced at us. It's like they were purposefully avoiding even looking at our table or walking near bye. It was ridiculous. we gave up, left, and ate dinner at our own hotel.
Our hotel restaurant was under construction, but they just had all the tables in one of the conference rooms and it was a-ok. We got there before they were technically open, but they sat us and fed us anyway, which was nice. The restaurant isn't cheap, but the food is pretty good and the service is decent all the staff we have dealt with in the times we have stayed spoke English well enough, and put up with our weirdness well.
Anyway... back to the event. The level of jiu jitsu was really high, in the ladies divisions especially. There were way more ladies then in any of the past Montreal trials. There were 3 brown/black divisions and a light and heavy purple absolutes. The two blue belt absolutes were way bigger then in the past as well.
One competitor that stood out to me, in the women's division was Dominyka, She's from Marcelo Garcia's school and has fantastic jiu jitsu. She just got her brown belt a couple weeks before worlds last year, and won her division there, she won her division at the trials this year, AND the absolute.
The men's brown/black divisions were split up for the first time (that I can remember anyway) this year as well. The brown belts got 2 absolutes and the black belts had a bunch of weight classes. You can see all the results on the trials website here.
I ended up going home with a silver medal. I won 1 fight, lost 1. My first fight went pretty well, I actually worked on some things I've been training and was able to finish the fight with an armbar. We did have a bit of a situation mid-match though. We were near the edge and I was working to take her back. I had a collar grip but it wasn't high, and we ended up mostly out of bounds, the ref stopped us, and tried to re-start us in the middle, but her coach was having none of it. The ref ended up giving her 2 penalties for delaying the match before she got back into position. There beef was that we were "in a submission" and should be stood up and me get 2 points. But, all I had was 1 collar grip on her back, and it wasn't near a sub. She got out of that pretty quick and in the transitions I got the armbar.
My second fight was against Yacinta, who is awesome. I pulled guard, and she smashed through it to half guard. I almost got a kimura, but I held on to it way to long when it wasn't viable anymore, and it went down hill, quickly, after that. I ended up in a triangle for about 4 minutes till the end of the match. Not my best match by any means, but I learned some things to work on from it and my Jiu Jitsu will be better for it.
The tournament started on time, but ended up behind schedule by the end of the day. We left around 7 and the blue absolute was just getting started. Generally, the event ran really well.
Weighins and checkin were pretty quick, but strange. We had to weigh in with our gis, but it was day before weighins. To me, the only reason to weigh in with a gi on is, because the IBJJF does weighins right before the division, so t gt through it quickly and get the matches running, you have your gi on so you don't have to go change. It's weird to require a gi when weighing in the day before. It's not really bad, just strange. They weren't even inspecting the gis at weigh ins, that happened at the venue before the matches to. So you could weigh in with one gi, and compete in another.
This year was the first time they did the event all in one day which made for a really long day. Especially because there were more kids competing, and a lot more masters then in the past. They gave out 5 kids trips, which were "to be decided by the organizer". Personally, I'm not sure kids should be competing for trips at a scale like this, it is a cool opportunity for them but it's a lot of pressure and also puts a lot of financial pressure on the parents as well. I don't think there should be masters either. They can't win a trip and it adds a lot of time to the day. Either get rid of the divisions, or give the trips!
On the way home, we discovered something horrible The onRoute service centres on the 401 only have tim hortons open after 9pm on weekends. During the week they are open much later, but apparently, on weekends, they all shut down at 9, even the convenience stores aren't open. We ended up stopping in Brockville to grab some pizza hut. It was a weird pizza hut, that didn't follow the same promos that most of the pizza huts do. But, it was quick and we pretty much always get pizza after competing.
Te drive home was really uneventful, the guys slept most of the drive, as usual, and there wasn't snow to deal with which was amazing. We made great time, even with our 2 gas stops and the pizza stop.
There were a bunch of photographers at the event. One even got a few decent shots of me! You can see that album here. It's linked one one of the pics of me, but there are hundreds of pics in the album. The talented Erin Herle's (who was multi-tasking at the event, winning the light purple absolute, and taking amazing pics) album can be found here. She worked with Martin to take pics for Gracie Mag.
I also took a bunch of pics, but my camera battery was dying, so I didn't get many. You can check them out on facebook if you like.
That's all for now! See you on the mats!
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Zombie House Oct 20th 2013 Recap!
This past Saturday we took a short drive down the 403/401/402 combination West to London. It was pretty weird going west instead of east, sure was nice not having to drive straight into the sun to get there.
This edition of the zombie house was a fundraiser for a little girl who just turned 4 years old and is fighting cancer. She is the daughter of one of the members of London BJJ, so they held the competition, and a seminar on Saturday to raise some funds for Gabby and her family. Man, cancer sucks, especially for kids. I can't even imagine how hard that is for her parents. Showing up to the event and helping out while the rest of the team competed is the least that we could do to help them out.
In case you aren't familiar with the zombie house concept... It's a sub only competition that you collect submissions and don't stop. The matches are 5 minutes, and it doesn't matter if you get subbed, you just start again. At the end of the matches, subs are counted up ad tracked. Then whoever wins each weight class (the most subs) moves on to the golden sub single elimination bracket. In golden sub, it's first sub wins, and the first rounds are 10 minutes maximum, and the final is 20. If you don't get a sub, you are both out.
The weight classes are 10ish pounds and in London it was all belts combined (there was only a couple purple belts). At bigger events white and blue are together and purple and up are together. They used to use a system where there were handicaps based on belt, but white the belts separated it wasn't necessary anymore.
We had a great time at the event, Dashti ended up being put up with the 180 guys because there was no 170's and the 160 guys were all full. He did a great job with the bigger guys and managed to get 2nd in his division with a purple belt wining the division. Josh and Joel were in the same division, with some pretty excellent competitors, including Milkias from B04 who won the division very impressively despite being the smallest guy in it. Joel hit a baseball choke which would have made Jon proud and Josh demonstrated great passing and control (and a few great subs from that control). Greg was in a division with a lot of much younger, active competitors and showed a lot of good submission defensive and heart.
I really like the zombie house format. It's friendly, it's casual, and it's 25 minutes of working your ass off. There is no tapping and getting out of the fight. The people that show up to these events aren't looking for medals or bragging rights or trips or anything like there. You are there to test out your submission game and not worry about points and staying on top or any of that nonsense that sport jiu jitsu has evolved into. Don't get me wrong, I love regular competitions as well, but it's nice and refreshing to see people just going for stuff and not worrying about position and points so much.
Interestingly, the only techniques that were not allowed were heal hooks and neck cranks, and the only injury that happened was Dan's knee, but it wasn't during a sub or scramble or anything, I didn't even see how it happened really and I was watching the match. People were going after kneebahs, toe holds, slicers and people were tapping (or not) and NOT getting hurt. It was great to see that these techniques are really as dangerous as people seem to think, it's the environment that controls the level of danger.
I was "life guarding" for the event, which is like refereeing, but since there is no scores, and it's self regulated, and friendly, I really didn't have to do much. There were a few cases where I "tapped" for the competitors when they were being a little to stubburn for their own good but generally everyone was great about admitting when they were caught and also not cranking on subs. Sometimes I had to stop them from getting to close to other matches but even that rarely happened.
I would recommend checking one of these events out to anyone looking for something a little different to try out there jiu jitsu. No meatheads allowed and no ego. I think the next one will likely be back in Toronto, but they are hoping to move them around the province.
You can check out this facebook group for more information, stats, pictures and whatnot about the zombie house events.
I almost forgot to mention who won the whole thing! Iron Mike Aviado, the rooster weight! He took out his teammate in the first round of the golden sub with a leg lock (I can't remember if it was a toe hold or straight ankle lock), then won the semifinal in decisive fashion with his signature flying armbar.
In the final, he fought Josh (who won the first round against Sen, then got a bye for the second round because Milkias and Seth was a draw). Josh and Mikes match went about 7 or 8 minutes with Mike constantly threatening subs and Josh doing a great job defending, until Mike snuck in a crazy armbar and got the tap.
I've also got to give a special mention to Becca and Mandie, two ladies who joined in on the zombie house. They are both white belts and quite small and competed with the guys. Mandie ended up placing second in their division next to Sen who won it.
SO, that's that, it looks like the next one will be a NOGI event, likely in Toronto, sometime next month! Keep your eyes open for details on Facebook!
There are a few other tournaments coming up, Grappling Industries this weekend where 5 trips to Pans will be awarded! The women's divisions are looking pretty good so ladies, you should get on that asap.
IBJJF Montreal is Nov 16th. Should be good the competitor list is pretty sparse still, but that is not surprising.
OJA Provincials is Nov 30th. I am HOPING that this will mark my return to competition! My shoulder is starting to feel pretty good so now I just need to get back into shape and get rid of the rust that 5/6 months on the sidelines creates. We shall see how my body holds up to the hard training it's going to take to get back into shape for then.
Grappling Industries last event of the year will be Dec 7th in Montreal. Should be a great event to. They will be awarding a whack of "season passes" to the various absolute winners. This equals free entry to all their tournaments for 2014. I think it's a cool concept. That's all for now! See you all Saturday at Grappling Industries, I'll be refereeing, then jetting early to head to the Provincial Fighting Championships in London that evening.
This edition of the zombie house was a fundraiser for a little girl who just turned 4 years old and is fighting cancer. She is the daughter of one of the members of London BJJ, so they held the competition, and a seminar on Saturday to raise some funds for Gabby and her family. Man, cancer sucks, especially for kids. I can't even imagine how hard that is for her parents. Showing up to the event and helping out while the rest of the team competed is the least that we could do to help them out.
In case you aren't familiar with the zombie house concept... It's a sub only competition that you collect submissions and don't stop. The matches are 5 minutes, and it doesn't matter if you get subbed, you just start again. At the end of the matches, subs are counted up ad tracked. Then whoever wins each weight class (the most subs) moves on to the golden sub single elimination bracket. In golden sub, it's first sub wins, and the first rounds are 10 minutes maximum, and the final is 20. If you don't get a sub, you are both out.
The weight classes are 10ish pounds and in London it was all belts combined (there was only a couple purple belts). At bigger events white and blue are together and purple and up are together. They used to use a system where there were handicaps based on belt, but white the belts separated it wasn't necessary anymore.
We had a great time at the event, Dashti ended up being put up with the 180 guys because there was no 170's and the 160 guys were all full. He did a great job with the bigger guys and managed to get 2nd in his division with a purple belt wining the division. Josh and Joel were in the same division, with some pretty excellent competitors, including Milkias from B04 who won the division very impressively despite being the smallest guy in it. Joel hit a baseball choke which would have made Jon proud and Josh demonstrated great passing and control (and a few great subs from that control). Greg was in a division with a lot of much younger, active competitors and showed a lot of good submission defensive and heart.
I really like the zombie house format. It's friendly, it's casual, and it's 25 minutes of working your ass off. There is no tapping and getting out of the fight. The people that show up to these events aren't looking for medals or bragging rights or trips or anything like there. You are there to test out your submission game and not worry about points and staying on top or any of that nonsense that sport jiu jitsu has evolved into. Don't get me wrong, I love regular competitions as well, but it's nice and refreshing to see people just going for stuff and not worrying about position and points so much.
Interestingly, the only techniques that were not allowed were heal hooks and neck cranks, and the only injury that happened was Dan's knee, but it wasn't during a sub or scramble or anything, I didn't even see how it happened really and I was watching the match. People were going after kneebahs, toe holds, slicers and people were tapping (or not) and NOT getting hurt. It was great to see that these techniques are really as dangerous as people seem to think, it's the environment that controls the level of danger.
I was "life guarding" for the event, which is like refereeing, but since there is no scores, and it's self regulated, and friendly, I really didn't have to do much. There were a few cases where I "tapped" for the competitors when they were being a little to stubburn for their own good but generally everyone was great about admitting when they were caught and also not cranking on subs. Sometimes I had to stop them from getting to close to other matches but even that rarely happened.
I would recommend checking one of these events out to anyone looking for something a little different to try out there jiu jitsu. No meatheads allowed and no ego. I think the next one will likely be back in Toronto, but they are hoping to move them around the province.
You can check out this facebook group for more information, stats, pictures and whatnot about the zombie house events.
I almost forgot to mention who won the whole thing! Iron Mike Aviado, the rooster weight! He took out his teammate in the first round of the golden sub with a leg lock (I can't remember if it was a toe hold or straight ankle lock), then won the semifinal in decisive fashion with his signature flying armbar.
In the final, he fought Josh (who won the first round against Sen, then got a bye for the second round because Milkias and Seth was a draw). Josh and Mikes match went about 7 or 8 minutes with Mike constantly threatening subs and Josh doing a great job defending, until Mike snuck in a crazy armbar and got the tap.
I've also got to give a special mention to Becca and Mandie, two ladies who joined in on the zombie house. They are both white belts and quite small and competed with the guys. Mandie ended up placing second in their division next to Sen who won it.
SO, that's that, it looks like the next one will be a NOGI event, likely in Toronto, sometime next month! Keep your eyes open for details on Facebook!
There are a few other tournaments coming up, Grappling Industries this weekend where 5 trips to Pans will be awarded! The women's divisions are looking pretty good so ladies, you should get on that asap.
IBJJF Montreal is Nov 16th. Should be good the competitor list is pretty sparse still, but that is not surprising.
OJA Provincials is Nov 30th. I am HOPING that this will mark my return to competition! My shoulder is starting to feel pretty good so now I just need to get back into shape and get rid of the rust that 5/6 months on the sidelines creates. We shall see how my body holds up to the hard training it's going to take to get back into shape for then.
Grappling Industries last event of the year will be Dec 7th in Montreal. Should be a great event to. They will be awarding a whack of "season passes" to the various absolute winners. This equals free entry to all their tournaments for 2014. I think it's a cool concept. That's all for now! See you all Saturday at Grappling Industries, I'll be refereeing, then jetting early to head to the Provincial Fighting Championships in London that evening.
Monday, 28 January 2013
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.
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.
Monday, 20 August 2012
My First Montreal Grappling Tournament
2 weeks after the New York Pro Trials we made the road trip down to Montreal once again. This time it was Jon, Andre and I. The Competition was the Montreal Grappling Experience (March 24th). I don't remember how exactly we came across these competitions, I think someone on the team, maybe Brad, or Alasdair came across it first, but scheduling kept them from going.
This tournament format, which I talked about earlier, is probably my favourite. It could use a few tweaks here and there, but they are working on it, and it is amazing. Guaranteed 4 fights (if there is 5 people in your division or more, which is quite likely because there is a limited number of weight classes). Then the top people out of the round robin fight in a final, or semi final/final to determine a winner. I think this could be improved that if only 1 person wins all their fights then they should win first place, and only use the semi/final system if there are ties.
2 other blue and up girls girls registered for the event which is pretty sweet, because let's be serious, to have more then 1 other girl in your division is kind of a rare thing. These two are super tough, amazing bjj girls to! Melissa Biscardi made the trip all the way from Toronto, and Melissa Hebert is more of a local, but she's a trooper and loves competing as much as I do i think! The only down side is at the time, I think I had 50 or 60 lbs on each of them. I give them mad props for fighting me still. If I was tiny like them, I'm not sure how I'd feel fighting a fatty like I was then (and I'm still much bigger, but it's not really my fault i'm 5'10, whatever, that's not what we are talking about here).
Melissa and Melissa fought first, and had a great fight that ended with Biscardi ahead on points I believe. I then fought Biscardi and managed to sneak ahead on points, barely. She's got an amazing guard that gave me a tonne of trouble to pass! Nice guard pulling skills to, I didn't get a chance to use any judo... I so rarely do anymore :( next I fought Hebert, and man, is she tough for someone so small! In Both these fights I was trying hard to be technical and not just through my fat around to crush them. I had to use some strength to keep Hebert from escaping everything though, she's so explosive! I was very impressed. I ended up catching her in a ugly modified bow and arrow type choke that wasn't very pretty, or nice. Because they always have a final, Melissa B and I fought again. I came out ahead on points again, and it was an even closer match then the first! I think if I fight her again, now that I am about 30lbs lighter then I was then, It's going to be a great match! (not that these weren't but I think it will be interesting to see what my decreased size, but increased fitness will add to the mix)
After our division was done, I had an exhibition match against a girl who didn't get there in time to register. Her name was Mariana or Marina or something like that. I wish I could remember! I felt so bad that she missed registration and couldn't fight! Melissa B and I both did an exhibition fight with her so she didn't go home without any experience. She was smaller then me, but bigger then the Melissas. She had a great guard and super strong grips, but I managed to keep my base and eventually pass and somehow get an arm bar. I don't remember exactly how.
All in all it was a great tournament. Well run, and loved the format. I was disappointed when i couldn't make it out to the next one, but made it out to the last one, and fought the boys, which you've probably already read about.
I wish more girls would come out and compete. I know your out their ladies! Someone has to make the first step and register, or no one else will. I've been trying! As of this past weekend, I have competed in 11 events, and registered for 12. There was absolutely no one for me to fight in Niagara. Competing is one of the fastest ways to improve, it's a great way to meet new friends, and like Tyler Durden says 'How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?'
Here's a link to the next montreal grappling event. I strongly recommend you make the trip. It's a great atmosphere and a great way to get more experience: http://grapplingco.com/grandprixmg.html
This tournament format, which I talked about earlier, is probably my favourite. It could use a few tweaks here and there, but they are working on it, and it is amazing. Guaranteed 4 fights (if there is 5 people in your division or more, which is quite likely because there is a limited number of weight classes). Then the top people out of the round robin fight in a final, or semi final/final to determine a winner. I think this could be improved that if only 1 person wins all their fights then they should win first place, and only use the semi/final system if there are ties.
2 other blue and up girls girls registered for the event which is pretty sweet, because let's be serious, to have more then 1 other girl in your division is kind of a rare thing. These two are super tough, amazing bjj girls to! Melissa Biscardi made the trip all the way from Toronto, and Melissa Hebert is more of a local, but she's a trooper and loves competing as much as I do i think! The only down side is at the time, I think I had 50 or 60 lbs on each of them. I give them mad props for fighting me still. If I was tiny like them, I'm not sure how I'd feel fighting a fatty like I was then (and I'm still much bigger, but it's not really my fault i'm 5'10, whatever, that's not what we are talking about here).
Melissa and Melissa fought first, and had a great fight that ended with Biscardi ahead on points I believe. I then fought Biscardi and managed to sneak ahead on points, barely. She's got an amazing guard that gave me a tonne of trouble to pass! Nice guard pulling skills to, I didn't get a chance to use any judo... I so rarely do anymore :( next I fought Hebert, and man, is she tough for someone so small! In Both these fights I was trying hard to be technical and not just through my fat around to crush them. I had to use some strength to keep Hebert from escaping everything though, she's so explosive! I was very impressed. I ended up catching her in a ugly modified bow and arrow type choke that wasn't very pretty, or nice. Because they always have a final, Melissa B and I fought again. I came out ahead on points again, and it was an even closer match then the first! I think if I fight her again, now that I am about 30lbs lighter then I was then, It's going to be a great match! (not that these weren't but I think it will be interesting to see what my decreased size, but increased fitness will add to the mix)
After our division was done, I had an exhibition match against a girl who didn't get there in time to register. Her name was Mariana or Marina or something like that. I wish I could remember! I felt so bad that she missed registration and couldn't fight! Melissa B and I both did an exhibition fight with her so she didn't go home without any experience. She was smaller then me, but bigger then the Melissas. She had a great guard and super strong grips, but I managed to keep my base and eventually pass and somehow get an arm bar. I don't remember exactly how.
All in all it was a great tournament. Well run, and loved the format. I was disappointed when i couldn't make it out to the next one, but made it out to the last one, and fought the boys, which you've probably already read about.
I wish more girls would come out and compete. I know your out their ladies! Someone has to make the first step and register, or no one else will. I've been trying! As of this past weekend, I have competed in 11 events, and registered for 12. There was absolutely no one for me to fight in Niagara. Competing is one of the fastest ways to improve, it's a great way to meet new friends, and like Tyler Durden says 'How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?'
Here's a link to the next montreal grappling event. I strongly recommend you make the trip. It's a great atmosphere and a great way to get more experience: http://grapplingco.com/grandprixmg.html
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