Upcoming events in the Ontario Area (Summer Edition)

Hello Lovelies!

As you probably know, my shoulder is fucked. So I won't be competing in most (likely any) of these events! But, I thought, just because I can't compete, doesn't mean I can't talk a bit about them and help the potential competitors get an idea what each is about and the history and whatnot of them.

Saturday June 22nd - Ottawa International BJJ Championships.  This is the second year for this event.  I thought I wrote a blog post about this one last year, but it appears I did not.  So, here is a mini re-cap.  It was pretty much BTT Canada vs team Renzo Gracie, with a sprinkling of other teams mixed in.  It was part of a fit-day expo of some sort, and there were fitness model competitions, crossfit, and pole dancing demos going on in the same venue.  We brought a team of 4 to the event (myself, Alasdair, Greg M, and Jon), and managed to place 3rd overall in adult gi.  This year,  it seems like they have a much larger variety of teams coming out to the event, which will be good.   There are a bunch of brown belts registered and it's shaping up to be a pretty epic super fight like brown belt absolute.  Here is the facebook event for the tournament and here is the events official website.  Registration closes TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT. So get on that.  Now.

Saturday June 29th - Five Grappling presents Ontario 1.  These guys are shaking things up a bit.  They are tweaking the rules, bringing in HUGE super fights, a ridiculous seminar(Marcelo and Xande), and tonnes of prizes and gifts(gear bags, sub prizes, lanyards, something from storm, and more) for the competitors.  They have been working their asses off to promote this event and I really hope the community supports them for all their effort.

The rule tweaks (that I LOVE):

1. Kneebars and wrist locks for all adults.  Personally, I maybe would have kept keebars to blue and up, but the current IBJJF rules that don't allow them until brown is just silly.  I think Kneebars are great, and they areally aren't that much more dangerous than an armbar, unless you try to be a hero and twist out and bust your know knee up.  Wrist locks are the same, as long as people aren't assholes about it, they are perfectly safe.  
2. No Advantages.  This means no more almost passing, or almost sweeping and sitting on an advantage for 10 minutes to squeak out a win. 
3. 2 points for coming up from the double guard pull.  This should mean that people will be more willing to come up, b/c if they get re-swept, the score is still even, instead of them only having an advantage, and the other guy having 2 points.  I think it will make for a more aggressive game.
4. 6 minute matches, ala Abu Dhabi Pro.  I like it,  it means people can push the pace, and not worry about having to fight for 10 minutes. and it means if people are going to stall, we only have to watch 6 minutes of it, instead of 10.  
5. Weigh in 1-4 hours before your division.  This means, if you are close, you don't have to starve yourself all day.  It also means when it's time for a division to start, we don't have to wait for everyone to get weighed in.  This should make for a much smoother process.

This tournament got input from 25 or so of the top BJJ competitors in the world when they were planning this event, and making the rules, and everything. They are trying to make the sport more spectator and competitor friendly and I think they are headed in the right direction.   I will likely be helping out with tables, or something at this event

Saturday July 6th - Mat Militia Ladies Sub Only Show.    I was pumped for this event when they announced it.  I was going to be in it, but now I can't.  I think the divisions are full, but you should totally go watch it and support the event.  They are accepting donations for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada at the event and the whole thing is being run to raise money for that.  There is no entry fee for the competitors, but everyone is being encouraged to donate to the cause.  Some of Ontario's top ladies are competing and it's going to be an excellent showcase of jiu jitsu!    I will likely be helping referee at this event.

Saturday July 13th - IBJJF New York Open.   Does it seem like they just had one here? Why yes, they did!  It was a solid event, and I'd go back, If I could compete.  I think it will be a bit smaller this time around, since it's been less then 6 months since the last one, and Mundials just happened and no one likes to compete in the summer.  That being said, It's a good venue, reliable competition and they have nice big medals.  So, if you are in the area, it's worth checking out.  Pre-register only, and don't be that guy or girl who complains about registration closing early because it's full and you booked your flight and hotel before registering and now are screwed. Register first, then book your travel. 

Saturday July 13th - OJA Sub Only Event. This is going down in Thornhill, which is close to Toronto. It's GI only, and that's about all the information that is available at this point. It will be no time limit I believe, kids age 11 and up and should be a lovely time.   I hope they can get more information, and registration, and whatnot out soon, or this might be a dud.  They tried to have one about 6 months ago, but scheduling and venue conflicts just made it not happen. At least, if it does end up sucking, the ladies have the Mat Militia event the week before to have fun at.   I will likely be refereeing (though, not much to referee in sub-only), and or supporting my team mates.

Saturday July 20th  - Grappling Industries: Summer Havok    They recently announced that they will be doing this tournament INDEPENDENTLY.  This gets them free from the political fight between the OJA and the OGA, and hopefully means that those people who are strictly on either side can now support the event.  That being said, I have talked to the guys who run this(since I work for the event, and happen to be sponsored by them) and they have assured me that they have a great insurance policy that has equal coverage to what the OGA or OJA have.  So, don't worry, It is perfectly SAFE to compete at this event.    

Alright, on to the good stuff!  EIGHT trips are being awarded as prizes for absolutes.  TWO of those are going to the ladies!!   They will also have prizes from their sponsors, as usual.  The rest of the tournament will be as usual for these guys, round robin (4 fights), morning weigh ins, no gi on for the weigh ins,  competent referees and a good atmosphere.  They will be recording the fights, but they have been slow to get them posted.  They don't mind if you record your fights yourself.   One difference will be, since there is no OGA registration to deal with, the process in the morning should be much simpler and smoother! YAY!  I really hope my shoulder is magically better in time for this, because it seems like every time they put trips on for the ladies, I'm broken.  Last time it was the concussion, now my shoulder.  I competed at the last one in Montreal, when there was no trip of course. (I didn't win anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter that there was no trip heh)  I'll be refereeing at this event!

Saturday August 3rd - IBJJF TORONTO   Last year was the first year the IBJJF brought their event to Ontario and it was a well run event.  It was smaller than most of their tournaments, but just as well run.  I think this year will be bigger and better than last.  Now that people know that the IBJJF run a great event, I think they will be more willing to shell out the slightly higher entry fee to participate.  That being said, this past Ontario Open was run as well as any IBJJF tournament I've been to, so they may have to step up their game if they want to lure people out.  Here is the facebook event for the tournament.The IBJJF only uses brown and black belt referees, so I won't be working at this event, but, if my shoulder is healed up, I'll be competing.  

Saturday August 17th - OJA Northern Ontario Championships  This will be the first BJJ tournament in Northern Ontario (that I am aware of).  It's a bit of a trek for most of us, but Sudbury is a pretty beautiful area,  so make a weekend camping trip of it or something.  This should be a solid event, but I have a feeling it will be small.  Hopefully they get people from Manitoba out or something.  

Saturday August 17th - Grappling Industries Montreal: Nogi Worlds Edition  This is likely where I will be this weekend.  It's not that I don't like sudbury, but the OJA separates blues and purples, and there are only about 10 purple belt girls (being generous) in ontario, and none of them are near sudbury.  There are lots of blue and purple belt girls in the Montreal area, so the chance of having someone to compete with is much higher at this event.  Also, I'd rather have 4 fights than 1 or 2.  That being said,  you know the drill by now about these events.  The Montreal ones are smaller, but equally well run.  They get a lot of MMA and Judo guys out, so the vibe is a bit different.  Be prepared to see guys almost lose by stalling b/c they don't know you can't just sit in side control to win a match.  They are giving out 3 trips to NoGi worlds at this one (edit: confirmed: one of which is for the ladies), so If you are hunting for a prize trip, check it out.

That about round off the summer. I hope I didn't miss any. There are a million IBJJF tournaments happening all over the world now, a bunch of which are this summer, chicago, boston, atlanta.  They aren't really in my area, and I won't be travelling to them, so I didn't get into the details on them.  All will be solid tournaments, in theory, so If you are in those areas, check out the IBJJF schedule for more info.  

In September we will likely have another Grappling Industries tournament, and the GTA classic, but I don't think either has been officially announced and neither has a confirmed venue and date, so I won't post about them officially let.

See you on the mats (or the sidelines, whatever)!

IBJJF Worlds AKA Mundials 2013 Tournament Report

So, I've been trying to figure out the best way to blog about this whole trip and tournament and my experiences around it and have decided to have 2 posts.  The first (this one)  about the tournament and then later, as I have time, I will write the novel that will be my experience over the entire trip and all the fun and not so fun things I did and didn't do over the 9 days. 

There is so much to talk about, that I am going to break this down into a few sections and sub sections.  The tournament in general: broken down by good, and bad, and then go over some interesting fights, some results from my teammates and friends, and who knows what else. 

The tournament in General

The good stuff

• The Venue, known as "The Walter Pyramid" was pretty much perfect.  It fits 12 mat areas with ample space for the bullpen, check in area, podium, and t-shirt distributor.  The floor was restricted to athletes only, and didn't have space around the edges for people to stand around, so it kept the viewing angles nice and clean.   They had a camera on one of the mats all day, every day, which was broadcast on a giant screen, which also showed commercials for the sponsors every once and a while.  This was a cool touch, it took us a while to figure out what the seemingly random music that started up every once and a while was.  There was enough space in the stands for all the spectators, and for the finals on Sunday they brought down the extra section and it was all pretty well packed.   The seats were a mix of benches and chairs. I would recommend going for the chairs, because the lack of backs on the benches gets annoying pretty fast when you are there for 10+hours a day 4 days in a row.   The venue was pretty easy to find, and parking was only 5 bucks a day, which isn't unreasonable at all.  

·         The Food! It wasn't cheap, but man oh man was it every tasty.  Silvio’s BBQ provided the main dishes.  The garlic fries were absolutely amazing, and the chicken was divine.  It was also insanely expensive, $7 for fries, and like 12 bucks for a chicken sandwich, but it was totally worth it.  They only take cash, which was fairly inconvenient, but I had enough cash for what I wanted so it's all good.  The other place I had food from was the Acai place.  I can't remember what it was called though.  The bowls were quite a bit smaller than places for acai bowls in Costa Mesa for about the same price.  But I suppose you are paying for the convenience of not having to leave the venue.   The big pain in the ass is that apparently last year people spilled them all over the seats so they didn't allow them in the stands.  So I missed a bunch of fights to eat acai.  Worth it I suppose, but it would be nice to be able to eat my lunch / breakfast / dinner / snack in the stands and not miss any of the jiu jitsu that was happening.  There was also a typical stadium food stand with pretzels and Starbucks coffee, but why would you want that when you could have Silvio’s or acai bowls!! 

• General Structure and whatnot:  Like most IBJJF tournaments, it all started and ran on time from what I could tell.  I didn't have a schedule handy throughout the day, but my team mates all fought at around the division start time.  On Saturday, the referees were all on the mats, and 8 or 9 of them started exactly at the start time, with the other 3 or 4 starting within a minute of that.  It was pretty impressive to see a tournament manage the sheer numbers of people that were there to compete. Getting my free t-shirt and Gracie Mag was a smooth process as usual as well. I don't think everyone realized they were available because the line never seemed very long.  They were tucked under the bleachers near the bullpen.  The mat coordinators seemed to do a pretty good job, sometimes they were a little quiet, but I didn't see or hear anyone talking about being DQ'd because they didn't know they were up, or didn't find their mat organizers on time.  The customer service people were really nice too, when I went there to withdraw because of my shoulder they were very sympathetic and stuff.  It was a quick and easy process too. 

• The level of competition was insane!  Seriously, so many black belts in one building.  It was ridiculous.  12 mats, all running brown and black belt fights.  It was impossible to watch them all! We couldn't keep track of all the fighters we wanted to watch!  It was also insane to see guys who we thought would crush their divisions lose.  It seems like what used to be a purple is now blue, and what used to be brown is purple, and so on.  In 90% of the non-black belt divisions I watched, the guys/gals on the podium need new belts.   There are a few cases where this isn't true, like Dominyka, who just got her brown belt, and some of the smaller ladies divisions, where even losing your first fight got you on the podium. But, 9/10 divisions, it was far past time for a promotion for the finalists. This made for some pretty excellent fights at all the belt levels but also it seems like people are after medals more than progression.  

• The Sponsors.  There were plenty of gear companies represented, and also some multi-brand companies like fighters market and whatnot.  If you needed some new gear, you could easily get it.  The prices were reasonable as well.  Koral had a pretty sweet deal of 2 gis and some other crap for like $200 bucks.  I think Jon would have gone for it, if our bags weren't really full already.  Shoyoroll did a special tournament only release.  We were supposed to get one for a teammate, but there was a giant line 3 hours before the release so he was out of luck.  It’s cool for tournaments to have sponsors like gear companies in case they are mega anal (like the IBJJF is) and the gi(s) you brought were not legal.  That being said, you should bring proper fitting, non-torn gis to tournaments and bring more than one, two at least, 3 is better.  Pants tear all the time.

Alright, on to the bad stuff, this is not a short list, and considering the prestige and cost and everything that goes along with "the Worlds" this list should be non-existent.

• Terrible Refereeing, Favoritism, and Inconsistencies:  These three all go hand in hand. They were DQ'ing some people for knee reaps, ignoring them completely for others, and only penalizing for others.  It didn't matter if there was a sub involved or not.   They gave some people advantages for the saddest excuse for a submission and others which looked insanely tight got nothing.  They gave advantages and didn't give advantages for almost sweeps/passes/takedowns just as willy-nilly. And then there were the penalties. The most blatant of which was the penalty Ary Farias getting a penalty for leaving the mat area before is hand was raised.  Now, this IS technically a penalty, but, seriously, probably 50% or more of the winners went out of bounds after they won.   Let's also not forget there is a penalty for excessive celebrating, and let me tell you, there was a lot of that going on, and NO ONE got penalized for that either.  It was frightening to watch the referees give decisions.  I don't really want to get into it too much, I know, as an Atos member, for me to say "Atos got screwed" is going to just sound like I’m whining because my team lost a few matches.  It wasn't just Atos though; so many people’s hard work and dedication were wasted/ruined by the incompetent or just plain biased referees.

• Long Days Schedule Changes: The tournament was originally scheduled to be 5 days.  Wednesday to Sunday.  A few days before the event, they cut it down to 4, jamming everything in, and making those 4 days ridiculously long.  The competition started at 9 am Thurs through Saturday and some divisions were not scheduled to start until 7PM or later While this isn't so bad for a local competitor, who can come and go as they please, for the competitors who planned their travel around the pre-scheduled, and thought they would only need to be at the tournament wed/thurs and booked their fights to accommodate that, it kind of screwed them over.  It also made for extremely long days for the coaches.  I'd much rather have to be at a venue for 5 days that are 10-5, then 4 days that are 9am to 9-9:30 or pm.  
• The Sound System: Most of the time, it was barely ok,  there many times where you couldn’t understand who they were calling or what mat  It was pretty annoying.  Some of the announcers were better than others, but it was generally very muffled.  The female announcers were the most difficult to understand, they were quite, and their accent was pretty thick.  I've been to tournaments that had much worse PA systems, and ones that have much better.
• No ATM.  This is pretty self-explanatory. Thankfully the Acai bowl place took credit cards through an IPad  so I was fine, but the BBQ took cash only, and it was more expensive then the acai so that was a pain in the butt.  The IPad for taking credit cards was pretty cool.  I think that's a technology that has been pretty easily available in the States for a long time, but it's pretty new in Canada I think.  Anyway, not a horrible problem, but rather inconvenient if you don't know in advance.
• Not knowing the rules.  Fighters, coaches, referee, you name them, and they didn't know the rules.  Seriously, People calling for points when they most definitely shouldn't.  People doing techniques that aren't legal in their division (and not just reaping).  I saw a blue belt dive on a knee bar.  The worst was in the semi-finals, a black belt stuck in a triangle, on his feet, walked right out of bounds.  There is a rule, you cannot flee deliberately out of bounds to escape a submission it’s an immediate DQ.  This guy didn't seem to realize that this was an offense at all, let alone one that warranted a DQ!  
• Poor Sportsmanship:  Lots of people were guilty of this.  From cheering and carrying on because someone won because of a penalty for the other guy after the match was over (Ary), to athletes skirting the knee-reap rule and injuring their opponents with obvious inward knee pressure.  I'm all for team spirit, and supporting your team mates, but there was far too much excessive chanting, heckling, booing, and whatnot.  I'm fine with celebrating your wins, especially hard fought battles, but to boo competitors on the podium, or any of the other crap that was happening was not acceptable.
• Terrible Score Keepers: These high school students cost several athletes wins.  They were too busy messing around on their cell phones to score a match properly.  It was awful.  They missed scores many times, and put them on the wrong side more than once.  One of the Miyao's, I Believe, Joao, ended up losing his match because the score board said he was up an advantage, but either the referee, or the score keeper screwed up, and in the end, the advantage was the other guys and he lost.  There were plenty of other cases where the score was messed up and it caused so much confusion.  A tournament that charges 95 bucks a shot, and has probably 3000 people should be able to hire competent table workers.  
• Ontario's Performance:  It was a rough day in the office for most of the athletes from Ontario.   Only a couple made it to the podium and many lost in the first round.  Not performing poorly was Open Mat's Scott Bacon (Gold) and Ostap M (Bronze).  Sadly, Ostap forgot to register for the absolute, so didn't get a chance to double medal.  The guys from Pura went 1-3; Toronto BJJ had a rough day as well.  I am probably missing a few others, but I can't think of them.  It's crazy to see competitors that destroy on the local scene lose at tournaments like this.  Especially ones that perform so well at other huge tournaments like Pans.  I think this partially goes back to the level of competition, and the travel, time difference, not eating regularly, and all the other things that go along with a tournament like this.  Whatever, Next year will be better!!
• Gender Bias: The male black belts had the quarters, semis, and finals, all on Sunday.  The Women only the finals.  How does that make any sense?  My only theory is that some of the women's black belt divisions did not have enough competitors in them to support having semis and finals on Sunday, but I don't recall any of the podiums not having 4 competitors on them.  

I had some other crap to write about, but I can't remember now.  Or, I've decided it's not worth getting into.  Overall the tournament gets a B or B+.    We'll be going back next year, of course, because it's one of the only events I can get more then 1 or 2 fights in a competition.   

I think that's enough rambling for now, I’ll write more about how the trip in general went next week while I am at a conference in Portland with nothing to do in the evenings.

2013 Ontario Open May 12th and 13th Tournament Report

Move over IBJJF,  there is a new king of the tournament scene, and it's name is the Ontario Open.

As you probably know,  since you read my blog, or at least, you pretend too read my blog, and like the post when I put a new link on facebook,  I have always said that the IBJJF run the smoothest, most professional tournament I have attended.   Not Anymore.   The Ontario Open just stole that crown,  with very little pomp and flair.  They've been uping their game every year, and this year tipped them over.   This comes after reports from Dallas and Vegas that the IBJJF has been sliding.  I was not at either of those events, so cannot say for sure, but stories of running behind schedule, and confusion at weigh ins, and other bad things have been coming up on the communities I frequent.  But, this is not about them, It's about the Ontario Open.

Lets start at the very beginning, the registration process.  In the past at OJA events, you would have to register for the OJA on site, or, if you were already a member for the year, you would just have to check in.   Now, you register online before you register for the event!   I actually saw someone complain about this on facebook, I need to know what kind of drugs they are on, or if they have ever had to deal with the line up at any tournament that doesn't do everything on line.    The online process isn't perfect, and you still need to duplicate some information, so I give them 8/10 for that.  Check-in at the venue was fast and easy. They had printed lists of names, and slapped a wrist band on. There was never a long line at the door and they were very friendly and lovely.  It was a 30 second process verse 20 minutes to 45 minutes that I have experienced at other events(IBJJF New York anyone?). 

They posted a competitor list early (not quite IBJJF early, but who needs a list with 5 people on it), and it was updated regularly leading up to the deadline.   They were prompt with updating peoples changes when the competitors made mistakes, and were quick to answer questions sent via email or facebook.

The venue was the Brampton Soccer Centre.  This is a favourite venue in the BJJ community, and it's easy to understand why. It's very simple to get to and it has ample, free parking.   The gymnasium is gigantic, and easily supports the 10 rings the Ontario Open ran, and could likely support up to 12, maybe even 14.   There is food available, and plenty of room for sponsors.  The one down side is the lighting situation,  the wall opposite the spectator area (which is on the 2nd floor, so they have a great view) is all windows.  So, when you are taking pictures or video, they get screwed up and dark, because all the light from the windows makes the camera go "Hey it's bright, I'm going to be dark".   The other, minor problem is, while having the spectator area above the gym, offers a great view, it is not overly large, and I think if the tournament grows anymore,  It may become over crowded.  I know our space started out comfortable, but as people went downstairs to compete, and came back up, it shrank drastically.  I even had a strangers gi on top of my gi bag at one point.  No big deal, we are all friends and whatnot in the community, but that is a pretty good indicator that space was limited and people were feeling cramped.

So, we got to the tournament about 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin, and low and behold, competitors were already weighing in,  all the mats had staff at them, and the referees were dispersed to the mats.  Half an Hour before the scheduled start.  Are you serious?  This was our first indication that we were indeed in for a treat.  Speaking of referees,  the head referee was none other than Andre Terencio, the head referee of the IBJJF.  Arguably the best BJJ referee on the planet.  The 18 member team, consisted of 90% Brown and Black belts.  There were, I believe, 2 purple belt referees, both of which had extensive experience.  They had 18 referees for 10 rings.  It was great to see the referees able to have breaks,  watch each other work, and have rest and food.   This keeps them fresh, and alert and makes them better referees all day long.  That being said,  the refereeing wasn't perfect,  there will always be mistakes, but they were minimal from what I saw  As usual,  Jon had points score against him when he went for a baseball bat choke (got his guard passed),  and there were some points from 50/50 that were missed, but overall,  excluding crazy situations,  the refereeing was solid!

The first matches started right on time, and that schedule was maintained throughout the day.  Divisions were even started early!  Of course, if not everyone was there yet,  they waited until the scheduled time,  but It was amazing to see the efficiency improvements.   They had 2 large TV's set up with a feed showing what divisions were on what mat, and which divisions were currently being weighed in.  This was really helpful with the kids on Sunday Morning, and was a cool extra as a spectator.  It could use some improvement, as the font was small and difficult to read, and the corner screen should have faced the spectator area better.  But, that's just being picky and looking for things to complain about.

They had paramedics for the medical staff, which is always good.  They know how to handle the serious injuries and head trauma that can sometimes happen.  They do have a tendency to recommend going to the hospital pretty quickly, but I think, they have to do that to cover their asses.  I think, ideally, a combination of paramedics, and athletic therapists, or a sports injury doctor would be perfect.   The paramedics are great for assessing concussions,  and major injuries, but for determining a torn ACL, or other weird sport specific injuries, they are a little bit out of their element.  Also, having an athletic therapist would be super helpful when it comes to having injuries taped to keep competing.  That being said,  they were very friendly,  very attentive to the mats all day, and well equipped to deal with everything that came up throughout the day.

Saturday's absolute saw 10 trips to the IBJJF worlds given out.  10!!!   4 of which went to the ladies.  Unfortunately, none went to me.  Whatever, one day I will beat my nemesis.    The prizes went to the following divisions:

• Brown/Black Male Heavy Absolute (middle and up) LEE VILLENEUVE
• Brown Black Male Light Absolute (light and down) DARSON HEMMINGS
• Purple Male Heavy Absolute (middle and up) MATTHEW PASQUALE
• Purple Male Light Absolute (light and down) REUBEN SAGMAN
• Blue Male Heavy Absolute (middle and up) NATHAN DOS SANTOS
• Blue Male Light Absolute (light and down) ERIC CONG PHAN
• Purple and up Female Heavy Absolute (middle and up) ALISON TREMBLAY
• Purple and up Female Light Absolute (might and down) MELISSA BISCARDI
• Blue Heavy Female absolute (middle and up) YACINTA NGUYEN-HUU
• Blue Light Female absolute (light and down)  AJ REITSMA

Congratulations to all of these winners.  It takes an insane amount of skill, dedication, and hard work to be able to win these absolutes and my hats off to all of you! 

The format for Sunday's No Gi Event was a bit different than the normal OJA style. It was not split by belt, but by experience.  Novice being less than 2 years, and expert being over 2 years.   This was a cool idea and it lead to some very interesting match ups.   Unfortunately, I think it scared a lot of competitors away, the nogi divisions were significantly smaller than the gi divisions, which is not that unusual, but when you think that the expert, should, in theory, encompass all the blue, purple, brown, and black belts,  they should have been much larger.    I think the fact that the prizes for the absolutes were much less significant also affected the numbers.   That being said, there were some ridiculously good matches in the nogi on Sunday and I hope that they can tweak the format a bit and get more guys and gals out next year.  I was really looking forward to the nogi,  since, with the combined levels, I actually had a division of 4.  Unfortunately, an injury kept me from being able to compete. :(

Speaking of Sunday's experience... How did I forget,  THE KIDS RAN ON TIME.   You heard me right.  The kids!  Ran on Time!   How is that even possible?  I don't know, but they did it!!  Like normal,  they moved kids up that were to heavy for their division, and they combined and rearranged on the fly as they had to and STILL ran on time.  Everyone was certain, that nogi would be starting late, but low and behold,  they were weighing people in almost an HOUR before the scheduled start and some nogi divisions started before the scheduled start.   One thing, with the kids, that wasn't quite ideal, was, one of our kids,  only got 2 fights,  in a division of 9.   They did 3 pools of 3, and the winner of each pool went against each other.   The OJA normally does round robins for the kids, so the pools were to be expected, but I would think a pool of 4 and a pool of 5 would be better. Divisions of 5 they leave as one pool, so It seems like the best case.   Then some kids get 3 fights, and some 4, but that's better than most of them getting 2, except for the 3 winners, who get 5.  It would work out to be more even that way, in the long run.

We had a decent size team out to the event this time around.  Not nearly enough to threaten for one of the team trophies,  but considering the size of our club, I think 22 competitors is pretty good.   I believe, all together,  the team earned 5 golds, 7 silver, and 5 bronze.  I try to keep track, but it's hard sometimes.  Some teams had several pages of competitors. I hope, next year, that they implement the IBJJF rule where only 2 competitors from one team can register per division.  After that, they have to register as a different team.  I think that will make for some more interesting and diverse divisions and team trophy winners.  I still don't think our small team would vi for the title, but when one team has like 15 affiliates then are they really actually teammates?

Enough about that... Let's talk about my awesome team mate Matt.  Matt used to be... a big boy,  but, he's worked his way down to making super heavy!   It's been insane watching him shrink over the last few months.  He's put my journey to middleweight to shame!  He trounced the Super heavyweight guys like they were children and he did it with a smile.   It was a pleasure to watch, he fights and moves like a light or feather weight.  Here is one of his fights from Saturday.  Feel free to turn the sound down/off It's full of inane conversation and stupidity.  Here is another one, from nogi on Sunday, again, turn off the sound, it's full of me heckling the referees and being a bad person haha.   Anyway,  Matt is crazy, and lots of fun to train and roll with. 

I suppose I should talk about how my matches went,  I don't really want to though, because I wasn't to thrilled about my performance.  In my division, I only had one fight, since it was just the two of us.  Tiffany implemented her game plan pretty much perfectly, and I did very little to stop her.  I'm not sure where I was for that fight, but hey,  She did everything right and kicked my ass.  

The absolute went a little better.  First match was against Alison,   it was a good match, as much as a match against Alison can be.  I have yet to beat her, and this weekend did not change that.   It went down to points in the end,  with Alison winning 29-0 or so.  I did get a semi-decent armbar attempt in, but it was sloppy and easily defended.  She had me in a triangle at one point, but we ended up out of bounds, and my head was almost popped out anyway. 

At this point, I had to explain to the guy with the drawsheet how they worked.  I know a 3 person division is a little odd, but they probably should have explained them.  I also had to tell them how long my rests were supposed to be.  It's all good though, they believed me and everything carried on wonderfully.


Next, I had to fight Tiffany again,  because it was just the three of us, so as the loser of the top half of the bracket, I filled in the empty spot on the bottom half.   This fight went a lot better than the first,  I passed her guard, and set up an armbar, she escaped, we had some scrambles, and I passed and set it up again.  I managed to get the tap after a couple minutes of fighting.  It was a great match I think.  

This put me inline for a rematch with Alison for the final.  I started out good, but then put my arm in a stupid place and bam! Kimurad!!  She didn't crank it any harder than she really needed to.  But, since I didn't have a grip on anything, it ended up wrenching pretty bad.   But, if she hadn't have done that, chances are, I would have gotten a grip, and defended, and blah blah blah.  I don't blame her one bit for my shoulder getting tweaked.  It's still pretty sore, but I'm not taking any advil or anything for it anymore so that is progress.   It's just kind of weak, and hurts if I do something stupid like try to change the water bottle cooler at work using mostly my left arm.   I'm just going to take it easy this week,  train light next week, and do what I can to protect it till worlds. 

Speaking of Worlds!!!   Steve leaves on Saturday, Stephen and Alasdair leave on Sunday and Jon and I leave on Friday!! Joel is actually in California right now on a kind of vacation.  He's scoping out the sites and hopefully arranging for some team t-shirts for us.  I am so freaking excited!  Training at Art of Jiu Jitsu for a couple days and then competing at worlds.  It's going to be great.  Last time we trained there I felt like my game improved like crazy from all the small details and the intense pace that they push there.  I'm really looking forward to rolling with my extended team mates again, and with all the new ones that have joined since last summer!  We are fighting under the Atos banner at worlds (well, some of us,  that registered before 2 other in the same division did).  This will be a very different experience, because we will be part of such a large team who could vi for the team title.  This is so weird compared to having a little team of 3 or 4 or, when a big crew comes out 20, who come out to play and support each other. 


We aren't going to have much time for site seeing this time around, not like we did last time either.  I'd love to beable to hit up Atos San Diego while we are there.  Maybe it will end up part of the training schedule for the camp.  I'd also like to get some shopping in, of course, hahah. 

Also coming up fairly soon is the Five Grappling Event. I met the organizer/owner of Five at the Ontario Open this past weekend.  He seemed like a very cool cat, and they have a lot of great ideas to grow the sport of Jiu Jitsu and build a league and whatnot.   I think the event in July is going to be great and would strongly encourage anyone looking for something a little different to check it out. 

Grappling Industries is also coming back to Toronto in July.  The 20th to be exact.  It's going to be a killer event, with lots of trips and prizes.  I will be refereeing, as well as competing in the gi AND nogi!

I made this cheesecake last night, it's keto friendly, but not diet friendly, if you know what I mean. It's super addicting and I can't stop eating it.  I need Jon to come home and stop me from putting another slice in my fat face before I end up struggling to make Medium Heavy, not just Middle hahah.    Here is my pin of the recipe on Pinterest.  I love pinterest.  I have found so many amazing recipes on there.  I have pinned a billion of them, and tried about 20 or so.  I wish I had way more time to cook and bake, I would love to try every single recipe I've pinned.  Though, if I did, I'd probably be right back in Heavy in no time.  and ain't no one got time for that. 

I think that is enough rambling for me for one day.  My shoulder is getting kind of sore from typing anyway. 

Adventures in Chicagoland for the IBJJF Chicago Winter Open 2013

This past weekend (March 9th and 10th 2013) was the IBJJF Chicago Winter International Open. Say that 10X fast. Tournament names are getting kind of long these days eh? I suppose it has to be so long, so you know exactly what you're attending. I wouldn't want to get the summer and winter event mixed up, and International in the title makes it sound so much more prestigious. I'll give them one point, "Open" is much shorter than "Championship" or "Tournament" so they've got that going for them at least. Anyway... the naming convention the IBJJF uses is not actually the point of this blog post. Though, I could go on a pretty good rant about it if you let me.

We left home, well, actually we left work, around 4pm on Thursday, wanting to have an extra day in Chicago to train, and see some sites. The drive was actually pretty reasonable. Jon Guzzled a sugar free Rockstar as soon as we hit the highway, so we ended up having to stop for a pee break before we even got to the border. We crossed the border in Sarnia, after about 15 minute wait, we had to answer the standard questions, no getting out of the car to open the trunk this time.

We stopped again in DeWitt for some gas and food. The subway there was weird. They don't have "Sub sauce" in the states apparently. They also have different bread and cheese options which all sounded pretty tasty. I got steak and cheese sub, turned salad, with extra meat. She put 3 containers on, instead of the normal 2, and didn't even charge me extra. They also don't do combos like we have here, but the cookies and drinks are cheaper, so it worked out in the end.

Carrying on, we found a few decent radio stations along the way. 101.5 the banana based out of Flint, MI was probably my favorite. It was a weird mix of 97.7 102.1 and 107.9, with a dash of 107.1, plus heavier stuff that no station in Ontario will play, like the new David Draiman side project, and Five Finger Death Punch, and other cool bands. We also listened to 106.1 and 107.1, but they didn't last long. Closer to the city, we had a lot of trouble finding a decent radio station, we spent more time channel surfing than actually listening to a station for more than 1/2 a song.

As we got off the highway and neared our hotel, we were a bit worried we had chosen poorly, It was dark, and it seemed like we were driving in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. There was a lot of factories and such. Turns out it's the end of a bit of an industrial area, but it's mostly bakeries and whatnot, not steel plants or chemical shit. On the other side of the hotel (that we didn't drive up from) there is 2 nice looking neighborhoods, and a pretty big shopping center- not a mall, but a Walmart, Payless, and a few other shops and restaurants.

The hotel itself was surprisingly decent, considering it was rated 2.5 stars on hotels.com. It's a good thing I look more at the user ratings than the hotels stars. The outside was bright orange and freshly painted and well maintained. The lobby was nice, and clean and also well maintained. Our room was clean, comfy, but a bit cozy with the 2 queen beds in it. The bathroom was more soundproof than some other ones we've had in the past, but not as sound proof as you would like to have. The room itself was decently soundproof too, but we could hear people in the halls on Saturday night.

Breakfast was powdered eggs in scrambled or patty form, sausage or sausage patties, some cereal, bread, and fresh waffles. They had the usual juice machine, and coffee and tea as well. Decent for being included, but by Sunday morning we wanted some non-powdered eggs. They did have pretty sweet flavored coffee creamers, which would have been good, if I drank dairy or coffee when I am not at home. (I do drink coffee at home, but only with coconut oil and a bit of coconut milk).

The free WiFi at the hotel was pretty nice, we didn't need a code or anything, which is less of a pain than some, but I suppose a little less secure. Oh well, if someone wanted to steal my identity, they would have by now. I haven't really made it that difficult. The hotel also had pretty cool vending machines that had cold drinks and food, together in one! They also had a pain killer vending machine, full of Tylenol, Advil, Excedrin, and who knows what else. A bit weird I thought, but handy if you get a headache!

So, from leaving work, with two breaks, to getting into our hotel room, it was about 8 hours. Not bad at all. Definitely worth the drive for a big competition. Not something I want to have to do every other weekend or anything, but I'd consider doing it a few times a year.

On Friday, we were planning on heading to Brazil 021 to train, but when I woke up I wasn't feeling the greatest and didn't want to end up tiring myself out and then getting sicker. I almost always get sick when I go in an airplane, so I was a bit paranoid. I also thought it would be pretty rude to show up to someone else's gym unwell and get them all sick, and be a bad partner for whoever I worked with.

So instead we looked up some outlet malls and headed out to the Chicago Premiere Outlets. There are a lot of outlet malls in the Chicago area, but we chose this one because it had a store that each of us wanted to go to. The trip there was a bit of an adventure, we took a few different highways and almost all of them had tolls. I think there and back cost us almost 20 bucks! Would have been nice to know that before we got on the highway. We ended up actually not paying a toll getting onto the highway on the way back, because it only took IPass and coins. Seriously, who has all this change all the time? Not us! We put in like 3 bucks Canadian, but it didn't seem to like that. Whatever, we are going to invest in an IPass before our next road trip because they are good for the bridge tolls into New York, and toll highways all over the north east/ and middle of the states.


The outlet mall was pretty sweet; it was like an outdoor mall, with semi-covered walkways and such. It would be really nice in the early summer and late fall. It's probably kind of hot in the middle of summer, and probably pretty cold in the winter. It was nice enough for us with jackets on. There were about 120 stores, but we only went into maybe 5 or 10.

First stop was the Coach outlet. You may be surprised, but I love purses. I've got probably 10 of them. Which, for a typical girl is probably not that many, but most people think I'm 100% tomboy and don't care about girly things like purses and shoes. We spent probably an hour there, it was glorious. So many beautiful bags, purses, wallets, wristlets. Did you know Coach makes jackets? Me neither, but they do. They were ok looking. They had 65% off their already discounted prices so I could actually afford to buy something. For those men out there who don't know, a nice size, good looking Coach purses can easily cost $300 or more. I spend all my money on Jiu Jitsu, so there is no budget for $300+ purses.

 Anyway, I picked up a purse, wallet, wristlet and a present for my sister, who still thinks I bought her a pair of crocs hahahah. I'm so cruel; I've been teasing her about it since I bought it. She loves Coach and purses and things more than me, but is far more responsible with her money, so would never actually buy something for herself. Jon was actually amazingly patient, and helpful in the store! After about 45 min he was starting to wear out, but I was very impressed. He even helped pick out a color and while not all of his suggestions were quite on par with what I like/want he did good. I think partially because he knew if I spent that kind of money on a frivolous thing for me, he could to!

Next stop was the Bose store. Bose make the legendary Quite Comfort Noise Cancelling Headphones. Think Beats by Dr. Dre, but higher quality and less douche. Jon has been looking into headphones and thinking about buying a pair for a few months, so the opportunity to get them for about $75 (after the price and tax difference) less was too impossible to pass up. We are all responsible like, looking at them, trying them, then leaving to think about it and coming back later. I don't think sales people expect anyone to ever come back, but we did! We also went to the Lindt outlet, which was not very outlet like at all. Sure, they had lots of everything, but some of the prices were actually MORE than at a regular grocery store or Walmart. I was VERY disappointed.

The Underarmour store was a bit disappointing as well, not cheap, and lacking in selection of compression wear on the girl’s side. I did get 2 new pairs of knee high socks though. Reebok was more of the same. Some of my favorite under-gi shorts are reebok, but they don't even seem to make the kind I usually buy anymore :( I got 4 more pairs of socks (for the same price as the 2 pairs at the Underarmour store doh!). But that's about it.

We headed back to our hotel, with a stop at Walmart for some drinks and candy (for Jon, of course) and also Payless shoes, where they had almost an entire row of size 13 and 12 women's shoes!! It was glorious! Of course, I can't really walk in in the 6 inch heels or other ridiculousness that was there, but just having the selection was amazing. I bought a pair of WOMEN'S airwalk skate shoes for $15. Amazing.

Next stop was Applebees for dinner, there didn't seem to be much else around, so we settled. Applebees has a new appetizer that is blue cheese and beer dip with pretzel sticks. It was actually pretty good, and I don't like blue cheese, or beer. They also have amazing mozzarella sticks, and not like 4 that you get hear, a serving was 9 or 10. Seems like there is a reason America is fatter than Canada. That being said, all of North America could take a hint from Europe on appropriate serving sizes. I had a steak, which was way too salty, and some veggies. It was alright, but nothing compares to the Keg.

So, back to the hotel, and guess what's on TV. Storage Wars, a marathon! I don't know why I love this show so much, but whenever we are on the road, it seems to be on TV and we watch it. I find it hilarious and entertaining. I also like Auction Hunters, but that one doesn't seem to be on as much.

 Anyway, on to the tournament. It was a typical IBJJF tournament, the venue was pretty nice. A little cozy on the floor, but it was kind of like a mini arena with seating above in 2 tiers. Great viewing angles for everything. It ran rather smoothly, but there were plenty of times that there was only one or two of the eight mats running. This happened in Boston as well. It seems like they weigh in area is the hold up, and the hesitation to use the microphone to call people when you need them. Maybe I've been spoiled and the tournaments in Ontario are getting better, but it seems like what we have going on here is just as good, if not better run these days.

I competed in the heavy weight division for this one, because that was where there was actually a person to fight. I came in 1lb under the limit, which actually surprised me, because before I left for Chicago w/o my gi I weighed 156. So I guess that extra salty steak had me retaining a lot of water, because I should have weighed in at 159 or so, not 162.5. Oh well, no matter. Marla was only like 165 so it wasn't really an issue. I wish I could say I got beat by a girl way bigger than me, but she wasn't lol. She was way stronger, and was technically solid as well. I admit I underestimated her; it’s not that often I fight girls that have a serious strength advantage on me, but this was one of those times. That combined with good jiujitsu led to me being on the defense almost the entire match and losing on points.

The absolute went a bit better; I fought Marla's teammate Teresa (I think that was her name, now I feel bad for not remembering 100%). She was in light, or maybe feather, pretty small either way. But also insanely strong, again, underestimated how strong she could be and barely squeaked by on points. The match ended with me being omaplata’d, I wasn't in a lot of danger, but I was pretty stuck.

I fought Marla again in the final of the absolute. I was ready for her this time, but the match still did not go my way. I had a better game plan, but made a mistake when I was passing her half guard that led to a scramble and then the fight spiraling wildly out of my control. She armbarred me about 3 or 4 minutes in I think. Not my best performance by far. I've been working on the pass all week, and next time I fight I won't fuck it up. Even though I did win a match, I was not as happy with how the fights went in Chicago compared to Boston. I feel like I created more opportunities for myself in Boston whereas in Chicago I didn't have a good game plan going in. I'm going to be working on that the next few weeks and I will put it to good use in New York.

I've got to mention and applaud my friend Gringo (Fernando Zulick). He won the fight in his division with absolute domination and then in the absolute beat a guy who weight close to 300lbs. The absolute fight was not the most exciting fight, but when the other guy can crush you like a worm, you've got to play a different kind of game. Gringo also won his nogi absolute, beating another big guy.

We went out for Chicago deep dish pizza at this place called Gino's East. It took like an hour to get there because of the insane down town Chicago traffic. It was brutal. We lost the Gringomobile on the way, but after a bunch of waiting and wondering what to do we ended up finding them back. Gino's East lets you write on all the walls (except for some doors, and the bathroom and other key places). The service was decent, the pizza was AMAZING and the company was alright to. Gringo and Nihad even wrote Pura BJJ with the Gringo Jiu Jitsus that they wrote all over the walls.

We went to this Egyptian Place for breakfast in the morning; it was tucked away in the corner of the Walmart plaza. It was called Mena's Grill and Omelet or something so we figured omelets are good. We didn't even know it was an Egyptian place until we got inside. We both got a "skillet" mine was Mediterranean and Jon's was vegetarian. Mine had chicken, beef, veggies and potato with some scrambled eggs on top. Jon's had veggies, potato, and cheese, and some eggs on top. They were huge, and tasty, and very reasonably priced. I would recommend the place to anyone.
On the way home, I was pretty sore and kept seeing billboards for this place called "The Chocolate Garden". I was intrigued, and used the excuse that I needed a rest and a stretch to stop by there. Man, was it ever worth it. I had this Chocolate Mocha latte thing that was more like melted chocolate with a splash of coffee, so tasty and rich, but a little sweeter than I would have liked. I think a little less white chocolate would have been ideal. I also bought 2 two packs of truffles (1 chocolate mint, and one white chocolate lemon) and a 16 pack of truffles. All together it was over $60!!! Insane I know, but seriously, they were the best chocolates I have ever had. So rich, silky and delicious.

I'm sure I am forgetting some interesting things that we came across but this blog is long enough, and I would like to get something up before the next tournament. Speaking of the next tournaments:
Niagara Open is coming up on the 23rd. This should be a good event, it’s being put on by the OJA and registration closes in a couple days.

The next Toronto Grappling event is scheduled for April 13th. They are giving away 3 trips to Rome for the IBJJF European tournaments that are coming up. None for the girls, but purple/brown guys get all the fun.

The next event I will be competing at is the IBJJF New York Open on April 20th. A bunch of us from Pura are making the road trip down so that should be a lot of fun. Hopefully there are a few girls for me to fight there.

Also coming up on the horizon is the Ontario Open. This is THE biggest and best tournament in Ontario every year. Fernando has been building this tournament up over the years and it is better every year. They are giving away 10 trips to worlds. 10! That is insane. Four of them are going to the ladies which is more than fair, considering the attendance differences.

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

Upcoming Tournaments and Events

So, 2013 is starting out with a plethora of tournaments and events and just because my brain is too fucked up to fight doesn't mean you shouldn't be out there checking these tournaments and seminars out.  Starting off with 3 seminars.  I'd recommend going to both, if you can teleport.

Egor Radzik is doing a No Gi / MMA Submission Seminar in London, Ontario this Saturday the 12th.   Egor has crazy Sambo leg locks, and a brown belt in BJJ.  If you like leg locks, you should be there.  It's only 40 bucks, and all participants get $30 off their next Redstar gi order. So, if you’re in the market for a new gi, it's an even better deal!

Gui Mendes will be at Pura BJJ for a 3 hours seminar this Saturday the 12th from 11am till 2pm.   There are still a couple spots available so contact PJ, or Joe to save your spot.   Gui is going to be at Open Mat on Sunday the 13th for a 3 hour seminar as well.   I don't know if there is space available still, check out that Facebook event for who to contact and whatnot.

Gui will be teaching classes at Pura all week from the 14th till the 18th as well.   They are open to anyone for $70 per class.   You can see the schedule for these on the "Pura BJJ Schedule" link on the left. 

Finally, Also on Saturday, Mestre Sylvio Behring will be doing a seminar in Brampton.  He's kind of a big deal, so if you’re in the area, you might want to check it out.

So you Grappling Goons, you have no excuse to not doing lots of jiu jitsu on Saturday. 3 great opportunities right there.

First up in the tournament category is Ascension. (Jan 19th 20th) This will be the tournament’s 8th year and they've come along way. Ascension is an OJA tournament so comes with the usual quality that comes with them. Pre-registration, quality refs, decent organization, and friendly people! Ascension is unique in the vibe it has. Omar brings the Rasta vibe. Last year had the most amazing rendition of O Canada. Good times. They also have the BEST food for a tournament ever. Mmmm. Jerk chicken, brownies, salad. Amazing.


Also coming up is Montreal Grappling on January 26th . I love these tournaments. They have come a long way since their first event and are constantly improving. They've implemented IBJJF weight classes, masters divisions and another mat area in the last couple events. They are also giving away a few trips to Pans, which is huge. The referees at the events are also constantly improving.  I’ll admit, they were not the greatest at first, but they have since taken the IBJJF course and have gained a lot of experience.

Next up, also in Montreal, is the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials on Saturday Feb 9th and 10th.  This is not an event for noobs, it is not for people with fresh belts, and it is not a good choice for someone’s first competition.  That being said, It's generally a very well-run tournament, and I am very disappointed that I won't be competing.  This year they have added a LOT of ladies divisions, and changed it up a bit. For purple and up, there are a bunch of weight classes and 2 absolutes, if you medal in your weight class, you get to play in the absolute.  Previously, it was only 2 weight classes, and the winner wins. I think this way will get more ladies out and will have an overall more enjoyable experience. This tournament is a qualifier for the Abu Dhabi World Pro tournament, in Abu Dhabi UAE.  Winners of certain absolutes and divisions will get an all expense paid trip there.


Heading back to the GTA next for Grappling Industries second visit to Toronto.  On Feb 16th  They Bring their unique format back to the GTA with trips to the Mundials on the line.   This is a great tournament for beginners and experienced competitors alike.   If your a noob, and you get smashed in the first round it's OK, you've still got 3 more fights in the round robin to get more experience.   The staff at grappling industries has promised a lot of improvements from their last event (which was a raging success in my opinion), so I am really looking forward to this event.

Last, but not least, for this blog post anyway, on Feb 23rd the OJA brings the first SUB ONLY tournament to Ontario! There isn't a ton of information out about this yet, but it should be a lot of fun.  Keep your eyes open in the OJA and Ontario BJJ Tournament Facebook groups for more info. Here are the rules, for you to look at while we wait for more information.

The Importance of Game Plans

This is part 4 of a series on the mental side of fighting and training.   Make sure you read the first 3 parts!

1. Intro and Goal Setting
2. Visualization and Positive Self Talk
3.  Fight Day Strategy

I touched on having a game plan a little bit in the visualization part of the series, but didn't really get into it much. Just said that you should be visualizing yourself executing your game plan. So, what exactly goes in the game plan and what do you do with it?

Your game plan should be simple. Those t-shirts and internet memes that say "Pull. Sweep. Submit" aren't far off from a solid game plan. It's a tad on the simplified side, but here is what you don't want your game plan to look like: "First, I'll grip with my left hand, then the right. If they step with their left, I'll go to the right. Then, I'll step in with my left, and scoop up their right leg for a single..."  Get the idea? That is way too detailed, way too much information.

Game plans can't account for every single scenario either. There shouldn't be 1000 "ifs" in your plan.  One or two is OK, but if your plan involves a lot of "ifs", then you are counting on your plan not being effective, and you need to go back to #2 and get that head on straight. Here's an example of an OK "if" in your game plan.  "Double leg straight to side control. If they get a guard, pass right away before they can close it. Follow with knee on belly to cross choke / armbar sequence.".  As you can see, there is one "if" but it resolves to the same place so we don't have a million branches.

So you've got a plan, now what?

Drill, Drill, Drill. You know the saying, "you fight how you train" or "perfect practice makes perfect" or "drill to win". All of these apply.  You need to drill all aspects of your game plan, individually, and together.    If your game plan is to get a double leg, you need to start standing when you roll.  If your game plan is to do a triangle from side control, don't pull guard every time you roll.

Now, it's important to note that I'm not saying always roll exactly what you want to do in a fight, because then you will never expand your game and never really learn jiu jitsu. But the week or two leading up to your competition should be full of very focused drilling and rolling. This is not the time to be experimenting with new techniques and playing around in your rolls. 

When your drilling your game plan, work together with your partner, let them know your game plan, so they can help you. Have them purposefully throw a wrench into your plan by reacting differently, so you can work on your reactions to all situations. Jiu jitsu may be competed as in individual sport, but it is most definitely a team sport. You will need your team mates to help get your game plan sorted and ready, and you will need to help them with the same!

There are some people out there who are against having a game plan. They feel like if they have a game plan, and something goes wrong, they will be lost like a fish out of water. But, in my opinion, if you don't have a game plan, you are already that fish out of water. If you are just reacting to what the other person does, you're going to be one step behind, the entire match. There may be a time that your game plan doesn't work out. Maybe they pulled guard faster then you could, maybe they've got legs that are a million miles long and got their guard around quick before you could pass. It doesn't matter why; at this point, you just go back to the jiu jitsu you know, and get yourself to a point that your game plan comes back into play.  

Like all the other factors in the mental side of the sport, this is going to take time to develop and work into your training and competition habits. Having a game plan will help you visualize more effectively and help you become more confident in your fights. 

So, what's your game plan?  How are you training to be able to implement it?  Where are you going to give it a test next?

See you on the mats!

Toronto Grappling Grand Prix Oct 13th 2012

I failed, again.  I went into this tournament with the intention of winning the blue and up absolute to win a trip to pans in 2013.  Well, someone you may have heard of,  Nathalia Azoff, a brown belt from BTT in Boston, put an end to that plan, in a very decisive fashion.  She is ridiculously good,and a really cool person, so I can't even vilify her in my head.

I did have a couple good moments of competition.   I avenged my loss to Tiffany, and escaped or just survived long enough for her to transition to something else, an insanely tight bow and arrow choke, that I probably should have tapped to, but I had made a goal in my head over the last few weeks to not give up on escaping from chokes as quickly, so I feel like I accomplished that.


Here's a picture of me in trouble!  Link .The picture is courtesy of Kelvin Martin. Here is the album.

The +135 blue and up division had 5 ladies in it, and -135 only had one!  I felt bad for Jodi, who only got one match in the absolute (against Nathalia).  Thankfully she didn't come from a long ways away to be there, and she got to have a great match with Nathalia, so it wasn't a completely wasted day for her.   It's weird because ussually the smaller divisions have more girls, not the other way around.

The white belt ladies divisions were pretty good sized as well. I think under 135 had 5 people, and over 135 had 2 or 3.   There was more in the nogi.   and I don't think any advanced nogi matches took place because Nathalia had to leave, and that left only team mates in the division.  I did not compete in nogi because I was refereeing.

So, a little bit about the event.

There was about 380 individual people competing, which added up to about 550 competitors when counting gi and nogi.  The event ran from 9am to 7pm, which is pretty good considering how many matches that adds up to when pretty much everyone is fighting 4x.  The organizers stated that there was over 1000 matches scheduled.   They had 11 mat areas, in a U shape, with the tables in the middle, which is a great idea because it keeps the view of the mats pretty open for the spectators and coaches. 

It seemed like the tournament was running pretty smoothly,  There were a few very new refs, myself included, but from what I saw, and heard, they all did a decent job.   I heard a few cases of people arguing with some of the more experienced referees, but from what I heard, the refs were indeed in the right, and the coaches were not understanding the rules.   The tournament followed the IBJJF rule book pretty well, other then their tournament format (always single elimination) and a few other details not relating to the match rules.

The level of competition at the event was high, I think due to the fact that 4 trips to pans were on the line!  There was a LOT of purple belts, and a decent amount of brown/blacks to!   I didn't get a chance to watch many of the matches because I was busy, but from what I heard they were very competitive.  

My first time as a ref

I took the IBJJF ref course when it came to town with the Toronto Open back in the summer.  It was interesting, but I didn't find that I took as much away from it as I wanted.  I think the course could use some tweaks, and some more real-time and situation training instead of just reading the rules and talking about them.   Anyway, this got me invited to ref at this event.  At first I wasn't confident enough to do it, but I was convinced that I could, so I did. 

I was refereeing junior 1 and 2 all day. Gi and No Gi.   It was quite the adventure.  There are quite a few restrictions on subs that are allowed and not allowed, and it changes between 1 and 2, so I had to keep on my toes to keep them straight.   I know I made a few mistakes about allowing things in 1 when I they were not allowed, but they got sorted out, and the right kids won the matches in the end.  At the end of the day, I took over for one of the other refs and got to do a few adult beginner -170 nogi matches.  It was quite different from the kids divisions but I think i handled them well.

By the end of the day I was really really tired,  and my knees were more sore then they have been in months.  I guess all the standing, crouching, kneeling, and walking around to referee took it's toll on them.  They are fine today, so no damage done.   I certainly have a new appreciation for the referees at events and how exhausting it is.  10 hours on your feet, focusing hard on a task is physically, and mentally draining.  

Here is one of the albums of pictures floating around on facebook:  BJJ Addict
My Team mate Heather also took a few great pictures of my matches. You can find them on my fan page tournament picture album. Please stop by there and give the page a like. 

The next tournaments for me are:
NYC Abu Dhabi Pro Trials
OJA Provincials
Grapplers Quest London 

Also coming up, but ones I sadly cannot attend are:  Ottawa Open (this weekend), and Montreal Grappling  (November 10th).  Both of these are going to be great events that I am pretty bummed about having to miss.

Then I have a few weeks off over December and early January before Ascension, Montreal Grappling and Toronto Grappling in Late January/ Feb. 

See you on the Mats!

Kids and Submissions... a debate.

So there has been a lot of discussion about kids doing subs in tournaments.  Some people are all for it, and won't even bring there young students to tournaments that don't allow it.  Some people are completely against it, and won't bring their young students that allow them, at any age. 

I'm a bit on the fence and like the approach of doing "simulated submissions" that I have seen at some  tournaments. So the kids can set up the subs, but it's stopped when something is locked up but not applied.  They get 4 points and they are stood back up.  So kids get a lot of match experience, and still get to work on getting into position for subs.    

The arguments for allowing subs are:

1. kids like subs
2. teaches them to be aware of them so they don't learn bad habits
3. teaches them to be aware of subs for the future so they will know what's open when they are older
4. it's part of jiu jitsu
5. i'm not sure what else

arguments for no subs:

1. They are dangerous
2. kids don't have as much control so they can hurt each other
3.  kids don't know when they are in trouble and might not tap when they should
4. kids are still growing and getting an elbow hyper extended could have a horrible life long effect
5. parents don't like seeing kids get hurt
6. i'm sure there are others

So there are some good reasons on both sides of the coin and I can't say either side is completely wrong.   Coming from a judo background,   as kids only throws and hold downs were allowed until Juvenile, and then chokes and arm locks were allowed.  I think since I was that young, it's changed and now, i think, it's tiered so under 15 some things are allowed and under 19 others are.  I can't be sure, i'm way out of the loop.

I think, ideally,  under 15 or so shouldn't be doing joint locks.  Sure, kids are gumby and flexible and would probably be fine, but it only takes one back lock for a kids elbow or shoulder to be ruined for life.   Chokes could be fine at a younger age, maybe 12 or 13,  worse case scenario, the take a nap,  very little damage is done, especially if the refs are on top of things and stop it quick.    To me, young kids, 10 or so and younger,  probably should be putting submissions on each other,  maybe simulated subs, but not full on subs. 

I've got friends with strong opinions on both sides of this argument, and would love to here their reasons for/against  their opinions.

Do you teach kids subs at your school?  Do you want them doing subs in a competition environment?  what age do you think is good for kids to start doing subs?

Soluntion to the Grapplers Quest Vs Provincials Dilema

So... we've got two tournaments that want to be on the same day.  What a mess.    

Disclaimer:  I respect and consider many of the OJA and OGA people as friends. They are both doing amazing things for the sport in their own ways.  This isn't a personal attack on anyone. It's a discussion of a bad situation, that isn't really anyone in particulars fault. It is just a situation.  I'm not blaming anyone, and I'm not pointing fingers. I hope that this doesn't alienate anyone.

Late last night Grapplers Quest promoters announced that GQ is coming back to Ontario Dec 1st.  It was hinted at earlier in the week that they were coming back, early December, but had to wait to annouce the date until it was firmed up with the venue.

Throw in the mix on Wednesday, after someone asked in the OJA Facebook group where the provincials would be held, we all got a shocker that it wouldn't be the Nov 23/24th date that had been on the OJA website since very early this year, It "should be December 1st and 2nd".  But, like GQ. They couldn't announce anything until they had the venue confirmed.

So.  NOW WHAT?

Here's my soluntion.

Turn the 2 tournaments into ONE.  Co-Promote the Grapplers Quest.  Grapplers Quest North America, Brought to you by the OGA and the OJA.  Two organizations working together for the good of the sport and the competitors.  Can you imagine how amazing that would be?   No more short Staffed GQ.  No more lack of prizes for the provincials.   It's WIN WIN WIN WIN.  No one wins when we have 2 tournaments on the same day,  Even a week apart some people will choose one of the other. Some will do both.    As part of this Grapplers Quest North American Championships as they are calling it,  have the "Provincials Divisions" that are open only to residents of ontario.  and have the regular divisions to.  wouldn't add that much to the day. In theory.  Or don't I don't think provincials was going to be closed to Ontario only anyway.    Maybe put an Ontario flag on the medals or something. 

Give the people who have earned free entry to provincials, free entry to the grapplers quest.  That'll convince the gta people to make the trip down the 401.  Make it so if you have OGA or OJA membership your covered and don't need to pay any extra membership fees.   Have Both organizations sponsors present and advertised on flyers and stuff.  Work Together at all things, share the costs, and share the profit.

FOR THE GOOD OF JIU JITSU. WORK TOGETHER.  

It's time to put aside the blame game, the "I had the date first", the "You should have asked me", "No you should have asked me" .  Put the egos and politics aside.  Put your money where your mouth is, and do something for the sake of the sport.   

I know it won't be easy, it's far fetched, it's crazy But It would be AMAZING.  The OJA probably has a deposit on the venue, but it's not confirmed, so I can't imagine it's impossible to cancel.  Take that cost out of their contribution.  I'm sure there are complications about insurance between the two organizations, but there has to be a way to make it work. 

 London might not be Ideal for people on the far side of Toronto, but it's not a terrible drive, and it's a nice city.   It will be good for south western ontario athletes to not have to drive 3 or 4 hours to get to a tournament.