Last Saturday was the Annual GTA Classic. This is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. They have been hosting it in mid September or years and it's one I know a lot of people look forward to to kick of the back to school season. It's an OJA tournament, which meas it's consistent with a lot of the other tournaments in Ontario as far as weight classes, age divisions, and allowed submissions.
It also means they use the Mata Leao software to do the draws which is pretty sweet software. On two of the mats they had the new scoreboards running which use giant tv's and a laptop instead of the normal electronic scoreboards. It also recorded all the matches automatically. The one downside to this system was that is really slowed down the progress of the matches. It seemed like the table workers had to enter the names and division into the computer from the paper draw for every match which doesn't sound like it would take a long time, but it certainly delayed things since it had to be done in between each match.
The Acai Cafe was in attendance again. This was their second event and they have stepped up their game! They brought in a small size, which was great for kids, or weirdos who don't like a lot of acai and they brought in hemp seeds, cacao nibs, and shredded coconut. These added toppings were amazing and make the cafe even more amazing. They had to set up outside of the gym, which made them less visible, so I hope they still made lots of sales. You can check them out on facebook and suggest they add peanut butter for their next event :)
The tournament was scheduled to start at 9:30 and started around 9:50, not bad at all, considering they re-work all the kids brackets that morning because parents don't know how much their kids weigh and they never dq a kid for being over weight. I think that this is a great policy and I can totally forgive them for not starting on time because of this.
The kids turnout for this competition was great! I think, other then the ontario open, it was probably one of the biggest turnout for kids I have seen all year. The GTA classic does round robin for the kids, so they tend to get 3 or 4 fights. They also don't allow any subs for the younger ones, and progressively add subs as the kids get older and higher ranked. It's a bit complicated as a referee or coach, or even athlete to keep it all straight on what's allowed for which kid, but it generally keeps the kids safe while allowing them to do jiu jitsu.
It ran a bit behind, but it was running solid throughout the day. There wasn't many times, that I saw, where nothing was going on on the mats.
There was a break around 1:00pm for a special presentation. Professor Scott Shilling was presented with his third degree by Mestre Sylvio da Matta Behring which was pretty cool to see. Scott has been a very active member of the community and has produced some top notch competitors as well. You can watch the video of the presentation on youtube.
I was refereeing at this event, and was pretty focused on that for the entire time I was there. I reffed a pretty wide variety of matches from 7 year old white belts to coloured belt kids, to masters white and blue belts. It was kind of nice to have such a variety. I stopped a few kids fights for armbars before they tapped on Saturday. Every single one was pretty upset about it, "I didn't tap", but the look on pretty much every single coaches face was that of understanding and appreciation for me keeping their students arms safe. I had one kid in a triangle/armbar and It very much looked like they tapped, but when I stopped it, they said that they did not tap. Everyone else seemed to think there was a tap as well, so I stood by that decision to stop the fight.
I got to work with the usual skilled crew of Ontario referees, including Ontario's newest black belt Jason Chin-Leung who is a really great referee. New to the team was Matthew Isaacs who is quite young but has been around jiu jitsu for a few years now. I didn't get to watch him to closely, but when ever I had a minute and looked over, he seemed to be handling himself very well. I'm looking forward to watching him develop as a referee.
While I was refereeing, one of the other res came around to give me a break so I could get some snacks, but he told me it was all cookies and sweats, so I passed. I really appreciate a tournament that provides snacks and water and drinks throughout the day. It helps us out a lot, it just happens to be that I follow a very low carb "diet" right now and can't eat any of that. Then, the most amazing thing happened around lunch time. Tony came to my mat with a giant caesar salad with chicken! He remembered from past events that I try not to eat pizza and crap when I am not being a fat /depressed/glutton and made sure I got one of the salads!! Man, nothing makes you feel more appreciated then that! It's seemingly small gestures like that that make all the nonsense that we as referees have to put up with a lot more tolerable.
The GTA classic had pretty nice event t-shirts, which they gave to the first 50 people registered, I think they even extended that to everyone registered before a certain date. They also had sweet prizes for the absolute winners: Samurai swords, and tournament hoodies. They were really nice hoodies to, well built and great looking style wise. I wish I could have competed and won them! That sounds like I think I would have won them if I competed, which is not what I mean. There were some very tough looking purple belts that I watched for a bit between reffing and I think I would have had some very excellent matches if I had been up to competing.
On a semi related note... A whole bunch of new purple belts have just been promoted! I hope they all come out to compete soon! You know who you are ladies!! We need to work together and compete together to help grow the scene. The purple belt ladies divisions in Ontario could be realy interesting very soon! There are some matchups I really want to see like Caitlin vs Tiffany and Tushara vs Kaitlyn. Someone make this happen!
I had to leave at 3:00 to go work at the UFC event at the ACC. I didn't need to be there till 5:00, but with the Gardiner being closed, I wanted to give myself some extra time. It's a good thing to, what google mats said should take 50 minutes, took just over 2 hours, before I gave up and parked and walked the last 2.5KM. My plan was to take the 401 to the DVP and take that down to whatever road that was before it hits the gardiner, but when it was stop and go at Eglington I abandon ship and took the streets all the way down. I was on queen st for over an hour!
The UFC was a pretty great experience, as working MMA events usually is. I did not get an opportunity to judge, but since reading all the shit people have been saying online about my colleagues, I am actually happy that I did not. It's so infuriating to see people who have NO IDEA what the are talking about saying people were robbed and going on about controversy or blind judges.
Here is what I say to all of you. You sit through a 24 hour course, pass a 3 part 6 hour test that you need (IIRC) 85% on to pass, and judge a 5 round barn burner of a fight that you cannot get a single round wrong on. Then, shadow a judge for a few fight cards, and then actually sit in the judges seat and THEN, and only THEN can you say ANYTHING about how a fight was judged. Hearing people say things like round 4 should have been a 10-8 and that Gufstason CLEARLY won the first 3 is as maddening as spectators or coaches asking for points for back control when there are no hooks or when they get made when adults do ankle locks.
OK, enough about that. It isn't really jiu jitsu related, but I know a lot of people who follow jiu jitsu follow MMA so I had to get that out there. There was no controversy in the title fight on Saturday. NONE. The most controversial thing was Jon Jones corner trying to sneak Greg Jackson in as a 4th corner when the Ontario Commission only allows 4.
The Ontario Provincial Championship was announced this week! It's going down November 30th, in St. Catherines. I am undecided on wheter I like that it is in St. Catherines or not. I was quite looking forward to Kingston, which was the tentative location announced at the beginning of the year. I think that St Catherines is a very very long drive for anyone east of Toronto and I fear it will be the south western Ontario regional event with a few americans mixed in, instead of a true provincially attended event. That being said, it's a much shorter drive for me then Kingston, so I won't have to blow money on a hotel, which is always nice. They are giving away 4 trips to California, for the IBJJ Pans. That, in theory, should bring out some bodies! I'm a bit said it's 3 trips for the guys and only 1 for the ladies, but the numbers can justify it. Sort of. I think that there will be just as many blue belt girls and brown/black belt men and they should get their own trip, instead of being lumped with the purple/brown/black women.
This Saturday is the Return o the Zombie House!!! This is a great little event that is a completely different format from anything else out there. It's friendly but competitive and a great way to spend the afternoon. You can read about the event on their website, and on the facebook event. I am planing on heading down to body of our to check it out!
Grappling Industries has at least 2 more events on the Horizon. Montreal on October 5th, and Toronto on Oct 26th. In Montreal they are giving away 8 trips down the 401 to the big event on Oct 26th, where trips to California will once again be on the line. I won't be going to Montreal (firt One i've missed this year I think!) because I am getting in some much needed nature time with my sister. I will be at the Toronto event on October 26th and you should be to!
That's all for now! See you on the mats!
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
5 months
It's been 5 months since the Ontario Open, where I lost the purple belt absolute final (and a trip to California along with it) by kimura. It was pretty depressing at first, and frustrating dealing with the Ontario health care system. I tried to just rest it and hope for the best, since worlds was only 2 weeks after. But, that didn't work so well.
I saw my physio therapist the day before (I think, maybe 2 days before) we left for California to get a diagnosis and assessment and to see what his thoughts were on me competing. He is pretty down to earth, and understands what it is like to be a competitive athlete and whatnot. At that time, without any diagnostic imaging, he came to the conclusion that I had likely torn my rotator cuff and labrum. He said competing would be very risky, and unless I could control where my arm went, I probably shouldn't.
I left his office pretty bummed out, but still set on competing. I packed all my gis and gear to train and compete and we set off. I probably should have realized when I was struggling to wheel my carryon around that it was a bad plan. It wasn't until the first day training at AoJ that it really dawned on me that I was in no condition to compete. I wrote that really long blog post about being sorry and whatnot. I was pretty depressed and down for the entire trip.
When I got home, I went back to physio, got some exercises and put things in motion to see Dr. Levy to get to the bottom of the injury. It took a few weeks to see him and His assessment was about the same. Less concern about the rotator cuff, since it seemed to be healing. It was likely only strained/stretched/made angry. He ordered some X-Rays and an MRI.
In the mean time, at Buckleys they have Dr Jeff Weekes come in every once and a while to assess injuries and help the students out with aches and whatnot. He happened to be there one day while I was there so he had a look. He also suspected the labrum tear, but also a biceps tendon injury to go along with it. He stressed getting the MRI and gave me some surgeons names (not encouraging at all).
2 weeks after Dr. Levy sends in the form for the MRI, I finally get a call with my date. It's mid-august! I had a little cry when I found that out. I had already wasted like 6 weeks of training time with this stupid injury! To wait till August was horrible! I had a friend use some connections and I ended up getting an MRI in about week. That was an ordeal all it's own that took about 5 hours when it was all said and done and another 2 full weeks to get the results, but it was still WAY ahead of the mid-august original schedule.
I saw my physio therapist again the day the results came in to go over them. Small tear in the labrum, and a small tear in the biceps tendon. Dr. Weekes wins the injury pool! The rotator cuff bits were all fine, but there was evidence of "frozen shoulder" which I guess happens when you are injured and don't move your arm enough. Anyway, Rudy told me to keep doing my exercises and wait and see what Dr. Levy thought we should do.
Two weeks later I saw Dr. Levy and his associate/resident. Once again, they assessed it, and pretty much confirmed the MRI findings again. The worst part about all these assessments is, at the time, especially the last few, It doesn't actually hurt that much, it's about 20 minutes later, after I've left the office, that it really gets painful. Anyway, they thought, because it was still affecting my day-to-day activities (sleeping, driving, jiu jitsu) that I should see a surgeon to get it fixed. Dr. levy thought I would be able to see the surgeon in a couple weeks, and have surgery before the end of the year.
3 weeks later, I got a call from the surgeons office to set up an appointment, 2 days later. I guess they opened up an extra day so were filling it up. So I drove down to Georgetown and saw the surgeon. He went over the MRI, and x-Rays, talked about the surgery options and whatnot and said my shoulder didn't seem toooo bad (once again, not bad for the assessment, almost made me cry trying to drive afterword). Not nearly as unstable as it seemed in the past, the tears were small. yada yada. That being said, because of the quality of life factors (not sleeping and whatnot) he thought it was a fine option to do surgery.
So I was like "yea, let's do it" So, I go to the receptionist/appointment booker to start that process. Turns out the soonest date is Feb 4th. Ugh, I was gutted when she told me this. It was like getting punched in the solar plexus. That would be 11 months after the original injury, with a 6 month recovery before being cleared by the surgeon to go back to competition, that would be 18 months with no competition, 6 of those months not even being able to referee.
That was just under 3 weeks ago. Since then, I've done a lot of thinking and all things considered a lot of training(relatively speaking, compared to the previous 4 months). In the last week or two, I've been able to sleep on my left side without it waking me up and I don't wake up with it super sore either. Reaching up for things on the top shelves doesn't bother it anymore. I can change the laundry and I can bear walk (slowly) without any pain now. Getting crushed while on my side can sometimes be pretty uncomfortable still and I don't really want to test getting kimura'd again right this minute, but things, in general, are pointing towards it being manageable, without surgery.
I haven't canceled or postponed the surgery yet. I can wait till probably mid-December before I have to make the necessary pre-surgery doctor appointments and whatnot. I am going to make Dec 8th my deadline for myself to decide 100% what I am going to do. In the mean time, I am going to train as much as I can, go lift weights (kettle bells, and start the strong lifts 5X5 program). I need to get back to middle weight before I think about competing on the major scene again and I need to get my cardio back in shape before I think about the local scene.
It is going to be a fine balance between pushing myself to hard and re-injuring it and not giving excuses and using it as a crutch to be lazy. I'll probably be holding off on the overhead presses for a while still, but I need to whip this soft and squishy body back into shape. I think my mental state was deterring my healing progress and since I started trying to train more regularly and not making excuses it has been feeling significantly better. I have no idea if it's a mental thing or the extra motion and stuff is helping or what but it is really starting to feel like it might be ok.
So, that is where things are with all that. I've gotten a lot of refereeing in since May which is kind of cool. I think it will make me a better competitor when I finally am able to get back on the competition floor. I've also played a lot of xcom and watched a lot of stuff on Netflix to pass time time. That doesn't really make my jiu jitsu better, but man oh man is xcom every difficult. I don't know how I ever beat that game as a child.
Now you know, and you don't have to ask me about it when you see me ;) . I am on the road to recovery and there may be an end in site! That you everyone for your continued support and sympathy and hugs and encouragement over the last 5 months. It really hasn't been easy staying positive and focused and without all my teammates, and jiu jitsu friends I probably would have gone insane.
I saw my physio therapist the day before (I think, maybe 2 days before) we left for California to get a diagnosis and assessment and to see what his thoughts were on me competing. He is pretty down to earth, and understands what it is like to be a competitive athlete and whatnot. At that time, without any diagnostic imaging, he came to the conclusion that I had likely torn my rotator cuff and labrum. He said competing would be very risky, and unless I could control where my arm went, I probably shouldn't.
I left his office pretty bummed out, but still set on competing. I packed all my gis and gear to train and compete and we set off. I probably should have realized when I was struggling to wheel my carryon around that it was a bad plan. It wasn't until the first day training at AoJ that it really dawned on me that I was in no condition to compete. I wrote that really long blog post about being sorry and whatnot. I was pretty depressed and down for the entire trip.
When I got home, I went back to physio, got some exercises and put things in motion to see Dr. Levy to get to the bottom of the injury. It took a few weeks to see him and His assessment was about the same. Less concern about the rotator cuff, since it seemed to be healing. It was likely only strained/stretched/made angry. He ordered some X-Rays and an MRI.
In the mean time, at Buckleys they have Dr Jeff Weekes come in every once and a while to assess injuries and help the students out with aches and whatnot. He happened to be there one day while I was there so he had a look. He also suspected the labrum tear, but also a biceps tendon injury to go along with it. He stressed getting the MRI and gave me some surgeons names (not encouraging at all).
2 weeks after Dr. Levy sends in the form for the MRI, I finally get a call with my date. It's mid-august! I had a little cry when I found that out. I had already wasted like 6 weeks of training time with this stupid injury! To wait till August was horrible! I had a friend use some connections and I ended up getting an MRI in about week. That was an ordeal all it's own that took about 5 hours when it was all said and done and another 2 full weeks to get the results, but it was still WAY ahead of the mid-august original schedule.
I saw my physio therapist again the day the results came in to go over them. Small tear in the labrum, and a small tear in the biceps tendon. Dr. Weekes wins the injury pool! The rotator cuff bits were all fine, but there was evidence of "frozen shoulder" which I guess happens when you are injured and don't move your arm enough. Anyway, Rudy told me to keep doing my exercises and wait and see what Dr. Levy thought we should do.
Two weeks later I saw Dr. Levy and his associate/resident. Once again, they assessed it, and pretty much confirmed the MRI findings again. The worst part about all these assessments is, at the time, especially the last few, It doesn't actually hurt that much, it's about 20 minutes later, after I've left the office, that it really gets painful. Anyway, they thought, because it was still affecting my day-to-day activities (sleeping, driving, jiu jitsu) that I should see a surgeon to get it fixed. Dr. levy thought I would be able to see the surgeon in a couple weeks, and have surgery before the end of the year.
3 weeks later, I got a call from the surgeons office to set up an appointment, 2 days later. I guess they opened up an extra day so were filling it up. So I drove down to Georgetown and saw the surgeon. He went over the MRI, and x-Rays, talked about the surgery options and whatnot and said my shoulder didn't seem toooo bad (once again, not bad for the assessment, almost made me cry trying to drive afterword). Not nearly as unstable as it seemed in the past, the tears were small. yada yada. That being said, because of the quality of life factors (not sleeping and whatnot) he thought it was a fine option to do surgery.
So I was like "yea, let's do it" So, I go to the receptionist/appointment booker to start that process. Turns out the soonest date is Feb 4th. Ugh, I was gutted when she told me this. It was like getting punched in the solar plexus. That would be 11 months after the original injury, with a 6 month recovery before being cleared by the surgeon to go back to competition, that would be 18 months with no competition, 6 of those months not even being able to referee.
That was just under 3 weeks ago. Since then, I've done a lot of thinking and all things considered a lot of training(relatively speaking, compared to the previous 4 months). In the last week or two, I've been able to sleep on my left side without it waking me up and I don't wake up with it super sore either. Reaching up for things on the top shelves doesn't bother it anymore. I can change the laundry and I can bear walk (slowly) without any pain now. Getting crushed while on my side can sometimes be pretty uncomfortable still and I don't really want to test getting kimura'd again right this minute, but things, in general, are pointing towards it being manageable, without surgery.
I haven't canceled or postponed the surgery yet. I can wait till probably mid-December before I have to make the necessary pre-surgery doctor appointments and whatnot. I am going to make Dec 8th my deadline for myself to decide 100% what I am going to do. In the mean time, I am going to train as much as I can, go lift weights (kettle bells, and start the strong lifts 5X5 program). I need to get back to middle weight before I think about competing on the major scene again and I need to get my cardio back in shape before I think about the local scene.
It is going to be a fine balance between pushing myself to hard and re-injuring it and not giving excuses and using it as a crutch to be lazy. I'll probably be holding off on the overhead presses for a while still, but I need to whip this soft and squishy body back into shape. I think my mental state was deterring my healing progress and since I started trying to train more regularly and not making excuses it has been feeling significantly better. I have no idea if it's a mental thing or the extra motion and stuff is helping or what but it is really starting to feel like it might be ok.
So, that is where things are with all that. I've gotten a lot of refereeing in since May which is kind of cool. I think it will make me a better competitor when I finally am able to get back on the competition floor. I've also played a lot of xcom and watched a lot of stuff on Netflix to pass time time. That doesn't really make my jiu jitsu better, but man oh man is xcom every difficult. I don't know how I ever beat that game as a child.
Now you know, and you don't have to ask me about it when you see me ;) . I am on the road to recovery and there may be an end in site! That you everyone for your continued support and sympathy and hugs and encouragement over the last 5 months. It really hasn't been easy staying positive and focused and without all my teammates, and jiu jitsu friends I probably would have gone insane.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Grappling Industries: Sunshine Blvd Sept 7th 2013 Recap
Grappling Industries was back in Toronto this past weekend for a smaller event then their past events. I didn't count the competitor list but it we ran 5 mats with about 90 matches per mat. In the past there have been as many as 14 mats but with less matches per mat.
First, I have to say, as a referee I LOVED the setup. The small mat areas they have had in the past has been the biggest negative for their events. They had very large mat areas, with a double row between for a safety area. I wasn't run into from a neighbouring mat area once! Only having a single row(of mat areas), Instead of two also allowed for better viewing for the spectators. Speaking of spectators, the fee was 15, which to me is pretty high, but they post what it is on the website so I can't complain to much, and as a referee I didn't have to pay, so it didn't affect me.
There are a few reasons why I think.the event was smaller then their past events.
1. The proximity to the GTA classic. This is a well established event that a lot of people really look forward to. It's a solid tournament that is always in mid September so people plan to attend it. Hosting an event only two weeks before will certainly make you lose some potential attendees.
2. Their last event in Toronto was only 6 or so weeks earlier. When the Ibjjf comes to a city twice in one year, its 6 months apart, not 6 weeks, they do that for a reason! They also have another event at the end of October, 6 or 7 weeks away again. There is lots of talk of an over saturated market, and I think they will feel the pain of it hosting 3 events so close together.
3. It was the weekend after everyone went back to school. Kids are just getting back into their school routines, post secondary students are settling into their school year homes and parents are dealing with kids who are back to school. The last thing on any people's mind this weekend is a Jiu jitsu competition!
So yeah, it was smaller, but it was well run, there was really good competition in a lot of the divisions and there was acai!
I love acai bowls. I discovered them when we went to Costa mesa for the first AoJ training camp is summer 2012. I had resisted trying them until the last day of the camp because I don't know why. Anyway, we.all went the the place just down the road from AoJ after class and waited like 40 min for the bowls, it they were amazing. Fast fwd to worlds 2013, we were in Costa Mesa for a few days before and I was really watching what I.ate for the first few.days because I was still disillusioned into thinking I could compete, but then I realized I could not,and ate a bowl the last day we were in Costa mesa, and then every day at worlds.
So anyway, a couple guys from Toronto Bjj have started the Acai Cafe and this past weekend was their first event! The bowls were simple, just granola and banana, it they were really tasty anyway. They seemed sweeter then I remember from California,but that could just be me. Hopefully next time they have a few more toppings like coconut, peanut butter and cocoa nibs. The prices were reasonable considering the costs to get acai packs up here. The bowls were smaller then California, it that's not terrible because the ones in California are almost too big. Just a side note, they will be at the GTA Classic next weekend, and also at the next Grappling Industries Toronto event as well.
Ok, enough about acai.
I got to referee some pretty excellent matches and I was also requested to not referee some other matches. This is a first for me, and I have to admit I was pretty shocked and sad when David came over to my mat and said someone wanted to have a different ref for their matches. This was a first for me and I didn't take it very well. I'm sure it's nothing personal, maybe they don't like that I ask the fighters to switch sides so I can raise their arm properly. Who knows. Anyway, after that, I sat around for a bit and got over it fairly quickly after I ate some pizza and acai.
One competitor stood out for me while refereeing the blue belt -154 gi division. The whole division was pretty stacked with some amazing fights, Myles Allen hit a pretty sweet triangle on Kevin Wheeler really fast, which was almost disappointing, because I was looking forward to seeing them really duke it out ya know? Props to Myles though, he has sick triangles.
But, That is not who I wanted to talk about, one of the competitors went 4-0 in the round robin, winning every single fight with a loop choke! Milkias, from Body of Four, has ridiculous loop chokes! It's scary how he sets them up, from almost any position. Standing? No problem, Guard? done, Getting guard passed? done. It's like Jon and his silly baseball chokes! I had an inkling about that he worked them a bit, when he was training at the redstar training a ways back. He hit it on a few people there. Those were good times, I hope we can do that redstar training again soon. Maybe I'll actually be able to roll this time! Back on topic: Loop Chokes are pretty awesome, and I think I might want to start working them into my game a bit. That's right, me... doing a choke, we shall see. I'll probably just end up using it to set up an armbar.
One other thing about refereeing that I wanted to talk about was how disrespectful a couple of coaches were to some of the referees. If you think you know the rules so well, put on the tuxedo shirt and bowtie and try doing the job yourself. Seriously. I know, as a coach, you want your fighter to win, but abusing the referees isn't going to help them.
One particular case that stood out in my mind relates to the infamous baseball bat choke. Fighter A had fighter B in his guard, fighter B passes, and fighter A sets up a baseball bat choke, but incorrectly his arms never crossed so fighter B, who is passing is never in danger of being submitted. The referee gave the 3 points and eventually fighter B ended up back in fighters A's guard, 3 points ahead. Maybe the coach didn't see that the choke wasn't being effective because of the angle, but that doesn't give him the right to make a scene and insult the referee the way he did. Even if the choke was effective, I've seen HIGH level referees(at IBJJF events) give pass and back points for competitors stuck in baseball bat chokes(I've seen points given to a guy as he promptly takes a nap) so to go off about how terrible the refereeing is because of a situation like that is even more ridiculous.
Personally, I had one case where I had the crowd pretty upset with the delay in giving an advantage. There was a scramble, I can't remember exactly what, and one guy almost gets the other guys back, he's got one hook in, and is controlling pretty well, but never get's that 2nd hook in. Anyway, the crowd is yelling for the advantage, but I am focusing on the fighters, and in my head reviewing how they got there to make sure I didn't miss points or an advantage for the other guy before I give the advantage for the back. It probably looked like I wasn't going to give the advantage so I can kind of understand why they were yelling for it. So I didn't let it phase me. I just hope that people didn't see the delay as me being influenced by the crowd to give the advantage.
The event started on time, as usual, and ran pretty close to ontime. Nogi did start a bit later then estimated, maybe by 1/2 hour or so, but there wasn't much a lull between gi and nogi so that wasn't to bad. I headed out a bit early, since I was going camping, but 2 mats were already shut down, and it was pretty much just absolutes running when I left at around 4:15pm.
As with pretty much every tournament I have attended as a spectator/competitor/referee/other there was some confusion about which techniques were legal and not legal for the various ages of kids. I was lucky to not have to referee kids, so I only had to keep what's legal for different belts straight and not worry about ages. You'd be surprised that adults sometimes don't even know what they are allowed and not allowed to do. Anyway, with the kids, guillotines are not supposed to be allowed and there were some matches where they happened. I don't want to blame anyone, but it sucks for the kids when they get guillotined(and the refs stops it before they even think about tapping) and lose, when that technique isn't supposed to be allowed for like 5 or 7 more years!
As referees, especially for kids, we really need to review the rules and know what is allowed and not allowed. Like I said, this happens all the time, not just at Grappling Industries but it's something, as a referee I know I even need to work on, because I was asked the next day, which subs are legal and which aren't and I couldn't nail down a solid list off memory. I usually have a copy of the rule book with me at tournaments (IBJJF Rules for ones that follow that anyway) so I can reference it before a match If I have to ref some kids of various ages and I think perhaps tournaments should supply an easy to read, clear, and detailed list of what is allowed at what ages/belts for the referees, but also for the coaches and spectators.
Grappling Industries is making some pretty major changes to their events for their next one in Toronto, On October 26th. You can read about the new changes to the format on the announcement post here. The highlights are: kids will be split between white and colour belts, and white belt kids will be no-sub, while colour will follow the IBJJF rules for allowed subs. Finally, they will be changing the weighins so that nogi will use the IBJJF nogi weight classes, and Gi will use the Gi weight classes and weighins will be done before your first match, instead of the night before/first thing in the morning.
I am a fan of pretty much all of this, except for the weighins not being first thing in the morning. I love the first thing in the morning weighins, it gets it out of the way, it lets you know who is there and who isn't and it keeps things running better throughout the day. Jiu Jitsu is pretty much the only sport that uses the right before the match weighin system and I don't know why it loves it so much. I know it's to combat weight cutting, but It generally just means people who are naturally close end up fighting hungry and dehydrated.
Coming up next (in my best Mike Goldberg voice):
The GTA Classic: Saturday Sept 21st in Toronto. There will be Acai, samurai swords, food bank donation collections and lots of Gi Jiu Jitsu. It's pre-registration only and registration closes sometime next week. I couldn't find the date off hand. I imagine it closes on Tuesday or Wednesday. You have to be a member of the OJA to compete and you can register through the OJA's website.
The Canadian Submission Expo aka Sub-X: Sunday Sept 21st in Toronto. This is a really cool charity fight show that will feature the absolute finals from Saturday's GTA classic as well as a bunch of other really great super fights. It's all for charity and well worth the trip to Toronto for the afternoon.
JCC GTA Invitational: Saturday Sept 28th. This is a kids/juniors only event put on by the OGA. These tournaments are unique in that it's kids only and they use simulated submissions for the younger/less experienced competitors (this means they only have to lock the submission on, not apply it). They've made some changes about what is allowed at what age/belt so make sure you check the rules before you go!
Zombie House Submission League: Saturday Sept 28th. This is a really cool event that has been fairly "underground" for the last couple years. It's basically sub-only matches that go 5 minutes, and you get as many subs as you can. It's a very chilled out atmosphere and very friendly. It's split up by weight classes not belt and there are handicaps applied to the various belts, so if a white belt subs a purple, it's worth way more then purple subbing a white. It's worth checking out on a Saturday afternoon.
Grappling Industries Montreal: HWY 401 Edition. Saturday Oct 5th They are moving up to the big gym at the same location, and using 5 big mats like this past weekend in Toronto. The last event in Montreal was pretty cozy, so this will be a great change. They are giving away 8 trips to the last Grappling Industries event in Toronto for 2013 (Oct 26th). If, you happen to be from the GTA, you can always cash out the prize. I like the idea of giving trips to Toronto, I hope it gets some more mixing of the Jiu Jitsu scenes in the two cities.
SAU: Autumn Jiu Jitsu Games. Saturday Oct 12th in Montreal. I still have not made it out to one of these events, and I don't think I will this time around either. But I have heard a lot of good things about it. They do a double elimination Gi tournament, and a subonly nogi event in one day. Worth checking out if you are in the area.
Ottawa BJJ Open:Saturday Oct 19th Sunday Oct 20th in Ottawa. This is a Gi Only event that should bring out a lot of the Ottawa area teams that don't often make it out to the GTA or Montreal events in big numbers. You need to be a member of the OJA to compete and it is pre-registration only.
Grappling Industries Toronto: Pans Edition: Saturday Oct 28th. This is the event I mentioned earlier with the format changes. Don't tell me I didn't warn you about the weighins when the time comes. They are giving away 5 trips to California for the IBJJF Pans. If they get 500 competitors, they will double that and give away 10 trips! That is absolutely crazy. I may just register and fight with 1 arm!
So, that is a busy time coming up. There are a bunch more events to round off the year, but I think that is enough for now. I'll probably be at all the grappling industries events, and any of the ones in the GTA. It's not really worth it for me to travel to the non-near by ones unless I have teammates competing so we shall see about Ottawa and the SAU event.
First, I have to say, as a referee I LOVED the setup. The small mat areas they have had in the past has been the biggest negative for their events. They had very large mat areas, with a double row between for a safety area. I wasn't run into from a neighbouring mat area once! Only having a single row(of mat areas), Instead of two also allowed for better viewing for the spectators. Speaking of spectators, the fee was 15, which to me is pretty high, but they post what it is on the website so I can't complain to much, and as a referee I didn't have to pay, so it didn't affect me.
There are a few reasons why I think.the event was smaller then their past events.
1. The proximity to the GTA classic. This is a well established event that a lot of people really look forward to. It's a solid tournament that is always in mid September so people plan to attend it. Hosting an event only two weeks before will certainly make you lose some potential attendees.
2. Their last event in Toronto was only 6 or so weeks earlier. When the Ibjjf comes to a city twice in one year, its 6 months apart, not 6 weeks, they do that for a reason! They also have another event at the end of October, 6 or 7 weeks away again. There is lots of talk of an over saturated market, and I think they will feel the pain of it hosting 3 events so close together.
3. It was the weekend after everyone went back to school. Kids are just getting back into their school routines, post secondary students are settling into their school year homes and parents are dealing with kids who are back to school. The last thing on any people's mind this weekend is a Jiu jitsu competition!
So yeah, it was smaller, but it was well run, there was really good competition in a lot of the divisions and there was acai!
I love acai bowls. I discovered them when we went to Costa mesa for the first AoJ training camp is summer 2012. I had resisted trying them until the last day of the camp because I don't know why. Anyway, we.all went the the place just down the road from AoJ after class and waited like 40 min for the bowls, it they were amazing. Fast fwd to worlds 2013, we were in Costa Mesa for a few days before and I was really watching what I.ate for the first few.days because I was still disillusioned into thinking I could compete, but then I realized I could not,and ate a bowl the last day we were in Costa mesa, and then every day at worlds.
So anyway, a couple guys from Toronto Bjj have started the Acai Cafe and this past weekend was their first event! The bowls were simple, just granola and banana, it they were really tasty anyway. They seemed sweeter then I remember from California,but that could just be me. Hopefully next time they have a few more toppings like coconut, peanut butter and cocoa nibs. The prices were reasonable considering the costs to get acai packs up here. The bowls were smaller then California, it that's not terrible because the ones in California are almost too big. Just a side note, they will be at the GTA Classic next weekend, and also at the next Grappling Industries Toronto event as well.
Ok, enough about acai.
I got to referee some pretty excellent matches and I was also requested to not referee some other matches. This is a first for me, and I have to admit I was pretty shocked and sad when David came over to my mat and said someone wanted to have a different ref for their matches. This was a first for me and I didn't take it very well. I'm sure it's nothing personal, maybe they don't like that I ask the fighters to switch sides so I can raise their arm properly. Who knows. Anyway, after that, I sat around for a bit and got over it fairly quickly after I ate some pizza and acai.
One competitor stood out for me while refereeing the blue belt -154 gi division. The whole division was pretty stacked with some amazing fights, Myles Allen hit a pretty sweet triangle on Kevin Wheeler really fast, which was almost disappointing, because I was looking forward to seeing them really duke it out ya know? Props to Myles though, he has sick triangles.
But, That is not who I wanted to talk about, one of the competitors went 4-0 in the round robin, winning every single fight with a loop choke! Milkias, from Body of Four, has ridiculous loop chokes! It's scary how he sets them up, from almost any position. Standing? No problem, Guard? done, Getting guard passed? done. It's like Jon and his silly baseball chokes! I had an inkling about that he worked them a bit, when he was training at the redstar training a ways back. He hit it on a few people there. Those were good times, I hope we can do that redstar training again soon. Maybe I'll actually be able to roll this time! Back on topic: Loop Chokes are pretty awesome, and I think I might want to start working them into my game a bit. That's right, me... doing a choke, we shall see. I'll probably just end up using it to set up an armbar.
One other thing about refereeing that I wanted to talk about was how disrespectful a couple of coaches were to some of the referees. If you think you know the rules so well, put on the tuxedo shirt and bowtie and try doing the job yourself. Seriously. I know, as a coach, you want your fighter to win, but abusing the referees isn't going to help them.
One particular case that stood out in my mind relates to the infamous baseball bat choke. Fighter A had fighter B in his guard, fighter B passes, and fighter A sets up a baseball bat choke, but incorrectly his arms never crossed so fighter B, who is passing is never in danger of being submitted. The referee gave the 3 points and eventually fighter B ended up back in fighters A's guard, 3 points ahead. Maybe the coach didn't see that the choke wasn't being effective because of the angle, but that doesn't give him the right to make a scene and insult the referee the way he did. Even if the choke was effective, I've seen HIGH level referees(at IBJJF events) give pass and back points for competitors stuck in baseball bat chokes(I've seen points given to a guy as he promptly takes a nap) so to go off about how terrible the refereeing is because of a situation like that is even more ridiculous.
Personally, I had one case where I had the crowd pretty upset with the delay in giving an advantage. There was a scramble, I can't remember exactly what, and one guy almost gets the other guys back, he's got one hook in, and is controlling pretty well, but never get's that 2nd hook in. Anyway, the crowd is yelling for the advantage, but I am focusing on the fighters, and in my head reviewing how they got there to make sure I didn't miss points or an advantage for the other guy before I give the advantage for the back. It probably looked like I wasn't going to give the advantage so I can kind of understand why they were yelling for it. So I didn't let it phase me. I just hope that people didn't see the delay as me being influenced by the crowd to give the advantage.
The event started on time, as usual, and ran pretty close to ontime. Nogi did start a bit later then estimated, maybe by 1/2 hour or so, but there wasn't much a lull between gi and nogi so that wasn't to bad. I headed out a bit early, since I was going camping, but 2 mats were already shut down, and it was pretty much just absolutes running when I left at around 4:15pm.
As with pretty much every tournament I have attended as a spectator/competitor/referee/other there was some confusion about which techniques were legal and not legal for the various ages of kids. I was lucky to not have to referee kids, so I only had to keep what's legal for different belts straight and not worry about ages. You'd be surprised that adults sometimes don't even know what they are allowed and not allowed to do. Anyway, with the kids, guillotines are not supposed to be allowed and there were some matches where they happened. I don't want to blame anyone, but it sucks for the kids when they get guillotined(and the refs stops it before they even think about tapping) and lose, when that technique isn't supposed to be allowed for like 5 or 7 more years!
As referees, especially for kids, we really need to review the rules and know what is allowed and not allowed. Like I said, this happens all the time, not just at Grappling Industries but it's something, as a referee I know I even need to work on, because I was asked the next day, which subs are legal and which aren't and I couldn't nail down a solid list off memory. I usually have a copy of the rule book with me at tournaments (IBJJF Rules for ones that follow that anyway) so I can reference it before a match If I have to ref some kids of various ages and I think perhaps tournaments should supply an easy to read, clear, and detailed list of what is allowed at what ages/belts for the referees, but also for the coaches and spectators.
Grappling Industries is making some pretty major changes to their events for their next one in Toronto, On October 26th. You can read about the new changes to the format on the announcement post here. The highlights are: kids will be split between white and colour belts, and white belt kids will be no-sub, while colour will follow the IBJJF rules for allowed subs. Finally, they will be changing the weighins so that nogi will use the IBJJF nogi weight classes, and Gi will use the Gi weight classes and weighins will be done before your first match, instead of the night before/first thing in the morning.
I am a fan of pretty much all of this, except for the weighins not being first thing in the morning. I love the first thing in the morning weighins, it gets it out of the way, it lets you know who is there and who isn't and it keeps things running better throughout the day. Jiu Jitsu is pretty much the only sport that uses the right before the match weighin system and I don't know why it loves it so much. I know it's to combat weight cutting, but It generally just means people who are naturally close end up fighting hungry and dehydrated.
Coming up next (in my best Mike Goldberg voice):
The GTA Classic: Saturday Sept 21st in Toronto. There will be Acai, samurai swords, food bank donation collections and lots of Gi Jiu Jitsu. It's pre-registration only and registration closes sometime next week. I couldn't find the date off hand. I imagine it closes on Tuesday or Wednesday. You have to be a member of the OJA to compete and you can register through the OJA's website.
The Canadian Submission Expo aka Sub-X: Sunday Sept 21st in Toronto. This is a really cool charity fight show that will feature the absolute finals from Saturday's GTA classic as well as a bunch of other really great super fights. It's all for charity and well worth the trip to Toronto for the afternoon.
JCC GTA Invitational: Saturday Sept 28th. This is a kids/juniors only event put on by the OGA. These tournaments are unique in that it's kids only and they use simulated submissions for the younger/less experienced competitors (this means they only have to lock the submission on, not apply it). They've made some changes about what is allowed at what age/belt so make sure you check the rules before you go!
Zombie House Submission League: Saturday Sept 28th. This is a really cool event that has been fairly "underground" for the last couple years. It's basically sub-only matches that go 5 minutes, and you get as many subs as you can. It's a very chilled out atmosphere and very friendly. It's split up by weight classes not belt and there are handicaps applied to the various belts, so if a white belt subs a purple, it's worth way more then purple subbing a white. It's worth checking out on a Saturday afternoon.
Grappling Industries Montreal: HWY 401 Edition. Saturday Oct 5th They are moving up to the big gym at the same location, and using 5 big mats like this past weekend in Toronto. The last event in Montreal was pretty cozy, so this will be a great change. They are giving away 8 trips to the last Grappling Industries event in Toronto for 2013 (Oct 26th). If, you happen to be from the GTA, you can always cash out the prize. I like the idea of giving trips to Toronto, I hope it gets some more mixing of the Jiu Jitsu scenes in the two cities.
SAU: Autumn Jiu Jitsu Games. Saturday Oct 12th in Montreal. I still have not made it out to one of these events, and I don't think I will this time around either. But I have heard a lot of good things about it. They do a double elimination Gi tournament, and a subonly nogi event in one day. Worth checking out if you are in the area.
Ottawa BJJ Open:
Grappling Industries Toronto: Pans Edition: Saturday Oct 28th. This is the event I mentioned earlier with the format changes. Don't tell me I didn't warn you about the weighins when the time comes. They are giving away 5 trips to California for the IBJJF Pans. If they get 500 competitors, they will double that and give away 10 trips! That is absolutely crazy. I may just register and fight with 1 arm!
So, that is a busy time coming up. There are a bunch more events to round off the year, but I think that is enough for now. I'll probably be at all the grappling industries events, and any of the ones in the GTA. It's not really worth it for me to travel to the non-near by ones unless I have teammates competing so we shall see about Ottawa and the SAU event.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Grappling Industries: Montreal (NoGI Worlds Edition) August 17th 2013
What the heck blogger? Why didn't you save the 98% finished post I wrote two days ago???
I hate re-writing stuff. So now I don't even feel like writing about this event. But alas, there were some things I liked and did not like and whatnot, like with all tournaments.
Starting off, we almost didn't go, and our carload ended up being just Alasdair and I. Jon messed up his shoulder when Rick from AOJ was here so he stayed home and worked on the renos to our entryway that he started 3 or 4 years ago. Anyway, we were going to bail and just stay home and rest our weary bones, but I had committed to refereeing and they had some people cancel, so like good little sponsored athletes, we made the trek down.
It was a pretty terrible drive there. Nothing like the great blizzard and car failure of February(I think it was Feb anyway) but 3+ hours to get through Toronto is pretty awful. Once we were past Pickering it was smooth sailing though. The drive home was almost perfect. 6 hours door to door, with one quick gas / food / bathroom break at the first service center in Ontario. We only took one break each way, which really does cut down on the time spent, but also makes for pretty stiff joints and a sore butt.
Our hotel was pretty sweet. I think it was either very new, or recently completely renovated. It didn't quite have the new smell, but everything from the carpets, to the tables, walls, and TVs seemed new.
It had a pretty good location to, close to one of the airports(I don't know which one), and also very close to a bunch of shops, a theatre and other entertainment type stuff. Good for a 2 day event. Free parking and WiFi is also pretty sweet and helps keep the costs of a trip down, especially for me and Jon, who are on wind, so we don't have data in Montreal. Lastly, the hotel had a decent breakfast, for a reasonable fee, buffet was 14 bucks, or a standard omelet or eggs with bacon coffee, toast and whatnot was 11.50. Buffet is great for events with day before weighin, not so great for ibjjf style events.
Anyway, it's a good thing we did show up because one of the other referrers canceled on Friday night, and a table worker or two no-showed! We started at 9 am pretty much on the button, and ran steady till 530ish, with a bit of a break on some mats between the transition from nogi to gi. This went more smoothly then at some past events because it seemed like they put divisions that would likely be the same.between gi and nogi on the same mats.
For example: mat 1 was the light weight classes of nogi advanced, and then the purple belt lighter weight classes. So there was less trouble with not being able to start a gi division because competitors were still finishing nogi on another mat. Of course, this doesn't always work, because if it is one of the really big divisions, having both gi and nogi run on the same mat, would lead to that mat running much later then other mats. This did happen on the weekend as well, but I think it was only about half hour or so, once I was.able to pass a few matches off onto a done mat.
So, refereeing was an experience, as always. I got called "bush-league" which turns out to mean bad. It's a new term for me, but I suppose it could be worse. He did say "with all do respect" first. I'm not sure how that is respectful, but whatever. He didn't like how I stopped fights before a takedown was complete on it's way out of bounds, and how I didn't stop it when they weren't heading towards the edge and the other guy got a takedown. Sadly, with the small mat areas, and small(ish, well pretty standard which i find small) safety area, you have to stop things more often then on say, IBJJF size mat areas (which also vary from event to event, fun fact there).
One other thing, that has kind of got me stewing about refereeing and my brain, was that after one match, the ended up being 3-1 advantages, the coach of the guy who lost was asking me about the advantages. He was certain it should have been 2-2, and I couldn't recall what the advantages were given for. This was like, right after the match. I felt bad, because I should be able to remember, it was 30 seconds ago, max 5 minutes total. I am still confident I scored it right. I believe the videos are already up so feel free to dig it up and prove me wrong. But, I couldn't defend the calls I made. That being said, I probably shouldn't even acknowledge people who want to question my refereeing, but he is a well respected member of the community and I could have been a good opportunity to learn perhaps.
Anyway, the fact that my brain is working this substandardly makes me question my ability to referee. I have always, for as long as I can remember had an iffy memory, I can re-watch a movie like 6 months after I watch it, and forget the dialog and whatnot. The general plot I can mostly remember but details are all lost. Same with reading, I can re-read a book a year apart and it'll be new again. It has definitely gotten worse since the last 2 concussions (one from sparring back in 2009 or so) ad the most recent one last December.
Another thing that was quite frustrating as a referee was the number of competitors reaping knees and not even knowing they are doing it. Instructors/Professors/Coaches: If you are going to teach DLR, and/or ankle locks please make sure your students know where they can and cannot put their feet, and which way they can turn! Thankfully, with the new rules, I don't have to DQ instantly, but it's bad form. I had 2 guys in intermediate going after ankle locks, and they were reaping like crazy. I stopped it and said "you can't do that", and they were both like "do what???". I can only shake my head and hope they remember or next time. I gave them a penalty, explained, un-reaped the legs and started them up again. Here's a picture of it, in-case your are wondering if I'm crazy.
Last thing about refereeing that drives me crazy, is when competitors don't know the commands. Again, coaches, if you are going to allow your students to compete, PLEASE make sure they know the basics like start,stop, and what tapping means. Seriously. I had a guys elbow get pretty jacked b/c the competitor didn't stop cranking when the guy tapped, and also didn't stop when I said Pa-row. To me, that is one of the most disrespectful things you can do in competition (next to walking around with no shoes off the mat). Even if you just hold, but don't apply anymore pressure until you are sure the referee has seen the tap, that would be ok.
Alright, I am done ranting about refereeing. Let's talk about the other thing that I was not a fan of this time around. The medic situation was not good. There was a medic, but he didn't have a table or area set up. He was ill-equiped (no sports tape) and he didn't handle some injuries very well. He was also not always easily found (since he didn't have a specific area). I sent a guy to get his foot that was bleeding from mat burn taped up. He came back with a bandaid and a strip of clear tape on it. The tape wasn't even wrapped around his foot. Needless to say, it lasted about 10 seconds. A friend of mine who's elbow got jacked when to see him. The medic asked if it hurt, and he said yes, so he gave him some ice. He didn't inspect it or try to diagnose it or anything. While I don't expect the medics to be orthopedic surgeons, I do expect them to be aware of the sport, and the special needs that come with working at it.
I didn't get a lot of free time to observe the tournament in general, weigh ins went smoothly. They have a really nice, very accurate scale and people were going through the weigh ins quickly. I am a huge fan of doing weighins in the morning. Maybe I am partial to it because that is how it is done for most judo tournaments (there are some that do day before, but never matside). But I like how smooth it makes the rest of the day. The one thing I am not a huge fan of that Grappling Industries still does, is use the IBJJF GI weight classes, but allow people to weighin without their gi. The Gi weight classes have a pretty significant weight allowance built into them to accommodate people wearing a gi. So they should be using the NOGI weight classes if they let ppl weigh in without their gi.
I did get a few minutes to sit down and watch my friend Quincy referee. She is a pretty new referee, but she controlled the action well and I didn't see any glaring issues or problems. She handled the small space well, and did a good job positioning herself to see the action. All the other referees were fairly experienced. I do feel a bit bad for them, compared to the GTA, they don't have nearly as many opportunities to referee and stay sharp.
True North BJJ was there snapping pictures. I think Scott took probably 700 or so. He was all over the place and didn't rest all day. I don't know how he did it, especially with his bum knee. You can check out their photo galleries on facebook by liking their fanpage. Here is a shortcut to one of the three albums. True North BJJ is a new media/information/whatever outlet for the Jiu Jitsu community In Ontario and Canada. It focuses more on the information and events and less on the memes and douchbaggary that seem to be becoming more and more popular around the interwebs.
This tournament has out-grown it's current venue. With 5 mat areas there wasn't a lot of spectator room, and the gym got very very hot and stuffy by mid-afternoon. This is great for the promoters and for the scene in Montreal in general, but they may have to start looking for a mid-size venue to accommodate the growth. Being able to it 6 mat areas, with ample safety room and spectator room would make for a shorter day and would be more comfortable for everyone. I do congratulate Grappling Industries on the growth though, it's great to see more and more competitors coming out to events in Montreal. It seems like Montreal has a very different scene then Toronto, and I am not sure why. Montreal is huge city, and there are other cities in driving distance that also have pretty good BJJ clubs in them (Ottawa for one). There certainly is a lot more MMA and Judo guys coming out to these events then any events in the GTA.
Alasdair had a pretty decent day, especially if you take into consideration that he doesn't really like nogi, has a hyper extended elbow, and wasn't feeling well. None of that stopped him from going 4-0 in the round robin, with 3 slick subs, and one win by points. Unfortunately it all caught up with him, and he didn't exactly perform to his full potential in the final against fellow Grappling Industries sponsored competitor Maxime Poulin. To be fair, Maxime is an absolute beast and destroyed pretty much everyone he fought! You can read up a bit more on Maxime on the Grappling Industries website.
There were a few competitors that I refereed that really stood out in mind mind.
Starting of with Scott Jutras, he placed 2nd in the -195 nogi advanced division. He's a 10th planet guy and had a bunch of very quick, slick subs. I was impressed with his composure when he got taken down (straight to a guillotine) and his transitions were very smooth.
In the big guys category, 2 competitors stood out: Eric Chibuluzo, who is actually only a white belt, and is a super athlete with an insane will to win. He shut down the game of much more experienced competitors. He is going to be a force to be reckoned with when he has a few years of experience under his belt. Also standing out was Jeff Muir, had never seen Jeff compete before, and his style was so relaxed and controlled. He was also ridiculously friendly, having a chat mid-match on at least one occasion. He didn't win medal, but he just stood out as a great competitor.
Of course, no grappling industries is complete without the ankle lock king, Jon-Taine Hall. Everyone knows it's coming, and no-one can stop it. In one match, he was down on points, and there was less the 30 seconds left and he pulled an ankle lock out of nowhere to get the tap! Jon-Taine is a super humble competitor as well, and he always(from what I've seen anyway) gives guys a chance to tap before he really puts the pressure on.
Well, I'm pretty sure this version of the post is entirely different then the original, but that's what you get when my phone craps out on me. I apologize for taking so long to get it finished, It's pretty un-motivating to have 2 hours of work disappear. I guess it's not safe to assume the mobile app auto-saves as anally as the web interface.
So, coming up next:
Sept 7th: Grappling Industries: Sunshine Boulevard Toronto. There will be trips to Miami and NOGI worlds to be won. Also, I think the brand new amazing podium made by Gabrielle will be debuted!
Sept 21st: The GTA Classic This OJA event is one of my favourite events of the year. It's like the back to school tournament. It's GI only, and they are working on some pretty cool prizes. There will be samuri swords for absolute winners which is pretty badass.
Oct 5th: Grappling Industries: HWY 401 Edition: Montreal. They are giving away a 8 trips to Toronto for the next Grappling Industries event in Toronto. I think this is a pretty cool concept, and I hope it helps kind of bridge the gap between the two scenes. It's also cool that they are giving away 8 trips, so almost everyone will be able to get a chance at one. If you are from the GTA, you will, of course, be able to cash-out the trip.
Oct 12th SAU 3 In Montreal. These guys are kind of new to the scene, but have put on 2 events in the past. I have never been able to make it out to one because of scheduling, but I have heard good things. They do sub-only and double elimination, so it's a little different then the everyone else, so check it out.
Oct 19th: OJA Ottawa BJJ Open. Not to much information out about this one yet. I get my ottawa events mixed up. There is two each year. They are a good chance to test your skills against the Ottawa competitors because they come out in full force.
That's enough upcoming events for today! There are more, like another Grappling Industries Toronto, OJA provincials, and the IBJJF Montreal Open. But this is long enough, and there will be plenty of posts to write about them as they approach.
Finally: I haven't talked about my shoulder much. It's now been 3 months and a couple weeks since it was injured. I had an MRI (A), got the results, talked to my sports doctor, and picked up the MRI cd. I am now waiting for an appointment with a surgeon. There was some talk of not doing surgery, because the tears (labrum and bicep tendon) are small, but because of where they are, they are still affecting my day to day (sleeping, driving, typing, laundry), they are going to fix it. Dr. Levy was confident I would be able to see the surgeon in a couple weeks (it's been two since i saw him, I should probably check up on that), and have the surgery before the end of the year. I haven't bee training or using it really the last few weeks, so it feels not to bad. Next week I am going to train, and teach, so we shall see how that goes. It will probably go poorly, and I will end up having to take advil for a week again. Whatever.
Alright, this really is the end. Thanks for reading and see you on the mats (or side lines, or wherever).
I hate re-writing stuff. So now I don't even feel like writing about this event. But alas, there were some things I liked and did not like and whatnot, like with all tournaments.
Starting off, we almost didn't go, and our carload ended up being just Alasdair and I. Jon messed up his shoulder when Rick from AOJ was here so he stayed home and worked on the renos to our entryway that he started 3 or 4 years ago. Anyway, we were going to bail and just stay home and rest our weary bones, but I had committed to refereeing and they had some people cancel, so like good little sponsored athletes, we made the trek down.
It was a pretty terrible drive there. Nothing like the great blizzard and car failure of February(I think it was Feb anyway) but 3+ hours to get through Toronto is pretty awful. Once we were past Pickering it was smooth sailing though. The drive home was almost perfect. 6 hours door to door, with one quick gas / food / bathroom break at the first service center in Ontario. We only took one break each way, which really does cut down on the time spent, but also makes for pretty stiff joints and a sore butt.
Our hotel was pretty sweet. I think it was either very new, or recently completely renovated. It didn't quite have the new smell, but everything from the carpets, to the tables, walls, and TVs seemed new.
It had a pretty good location to, close to one of the airports(I don't know which one), and also very close to a bunch of shops, a theatre and other entertainment type stuff. Good for a 2 day event. Free parking and WiFi is also pretty sweet and helps keep the costs of a trip down, especially for me and Jon, who are on wind, so we don't have data in Montreal. Lastly, the hotel had a decent breakfast, for a reasonable fee, buffet was 14 bucks, or a standard omelet or eggs with bacon coffee, toast and whatnot was 11.50. Buffet is great for events with day before weighin, not so great for ibjjf style events.
Anyway, it's a good thing we did show up because one of the other referrers canceled on Friday night, and a table worker or two no-showed! We started at 9 am pretty much on the button, and ran steady till 530ish, with a bit of a break on some mats between the transition from nogi to gi. This went more smoothly then at some past events because it seemed like they put divisions that would likely be the same.between gi and nogi on the same mats.
For example: mat 1 was the light weight classes of nogi advanced, and then the purple belt lighter weight classes. So there was less trouble with not being able to start a gi division because competitors were still finishing nogi on another mat. Of course, this doesn't always work, because if it is one of the really big divisions, having both gi and nogi run on the same mat, would lead to that mat running much later then other mats. This did happen on the weekend as well, but I think it was only about half hour or so, once I was.able to pass a few matches off onto a done mat.
So, refereeing was an experience, as always. I got called "bush-league" which turns out to mean bad. It's a new term for me, but I suppose it could be worse. He did say "with all do respect" first. I'm not sure how that is respectful, but whatever. He didn't like how I stopped fights before a takedown was complete on it's way out of bounds, and how I didn't stop it when they weren't heading towards the edge and the other guy got a takedown. Sadly, with the small mat areas, and small(ish, well pretty standard which i find small) safety area, you have to stop things more often then on say, IBJJF size mat areas (which also vary from event to event, fun fact there).
One other thing, that has kind of got me stewing about refereeing and my brain, was that after one match, the ended up being 3-1 advantages, the coach of the guy who lost was asking me about the advantages. He was certain it should have been 2-2, and I couldn't recall what the advantages were given for. This was like, right after the match. I felt bad, because I should be able to remember, it was 30 seconds ago, max 5 minutes total. I am still confident I scored it right. I believe the videos are already up so feel free to dig it up and prove me wrong. But, I couldn't defend the calls I made. That being said, I probably shouldn't even acknowledge people who want to question my refereeing, but he is a well respected member of the community and I could have been a good opportunity to learn perhaps.
Anyway, the fact that my brain is working this substandardly makes me question my ability to referee. I have always, for as long as I can remember had an iffy memory, I can re-watch a movie like 6 months after I watch it, and forget the dialog and whatnot. The general plot I can mostly remember but details are all lost. Same with reading, I can re-read a book a year apart and it'll be new again. It has definitely gotten worse since the last 2 concussions (one from sparring back in 2009 or so) ad the most recent one last December.
Another thing that was quite frustrating as a referee was the number of competitors reaping knees and not even knowing they are doing it. Instructors/Professors/Coaches: If you are going to teach DLR, and/or ankle locks please make sure your students know where they can and cannot put their feet, and which way they can turn! Thankfully, with the new rules, I don't have to DQ instantly, but it's bad form. I had 2 guys in intermediate going after ankle locks, and they were reaping like crazy. I stopped it and said "you can't do that", and they were both like "do what???". I can only shake my head and hope they remember or next time. I gave them a penalty, explained, un-reaped the legs and started them up again. Here's a picture of it, in-case your are wondering if I'm crazy.
Last thing about refereeing that drives me crazy, is when competitors don't know the commands. Again, coaches, if you are going to allow your students to compete, PLEASE make sure they know the basics like start,stop, and what tapping means. Seriously. I had a guys elbow get pretty jacked b/c the competitor didn't stop cranking when the guy tapped, and also didn't stop when I said Pa-row. To me, that is one of the most disrespectful things you can do in competition (next to walking around with no shoes off the mat). Even if you just hold, but don't apply anymore pressure until you are sure the referee has seen the tap, that would be ok.
Alright, I am done ranting about refereeing. Let's talk about the other thing that I was not a fan of this time around. The medic situation was not good. There was a medic, but he didn't have a table or area set up. He was ill-equiped (no sports tape) and he didn't handle some injuries very well. He was also not always easily found (since he didn't have a specific area). I sent a guy to get his foot that was bleeding from mat burn taped up. He came back with a bandaid and a strip of clear tape on it. The tape wasn't even wrapped around his foot. Needless to say, it lasted about 10 seconds. A friend of mine who's elbow got jacked when to see him. The medic asked if it hurt, and he said yes, so he gave him some ice. He didn't inspect it or try to diagnose it or anything. While I don't expect the medics to be orthopedic surgeons, I do expect them to be aware of the sport, and the special needs that come with working at it.
I didn't get a lot of free time to observe the tournament in general, weigh ins went smoothly. They have a really nice, very accurate scale and people were going through the weigh ins quickly. I am a huge fan of doing weighins in the morning. Maybe I am partial to it because that is how it is done for most judo tournaments (there are some that do day before, but never matside). But I like how smooth it makes the rest of the day. The one thing I am not a huge fan of that Grappling Industries still does, is use the IBJJF GI weight classes, but allow people to weighin without their gi. The Gi weight classes have a pretty significant weight allowance built into them to accommodate people wearing a gi. So they should be using the NOGI weight classes if they let ppl weigh in without their gi.
I did get a few minutes to sit down and watch my friend Quincy referee. She is a pretty new referee, but she controlled the action well and I didn't see any glaring issues or problems. She handled the small space well, and did a good job positioning herself to see the action. All the other referees were fairly experienced. I do feel a bit bad for them, compared to the GTA, they don't have nearly as many opportunities to referee and stay sharp.
True North BJJ was there snapping pictures. I think Scott took probably 700 or so. He was all over the place and didn't rest all day. I don't know how he did it, especially with his bum knee. You can check out their photo galleries on facebook by liking their fanpage. Here is a shortcut to one of the three albums. True North BJJ is a new media/information/whatever outlet for the Jiu Jitsu community In Ontario and Canada. It focuses more on the information and events and less on the memes and douchbaggary that seem to be becoming more and more popular around the interwebs.
This tournament has out-grown it's current venue. With 5 mat areas there wasn't a lot of spectator room, and the gym got very very hot and stuffy by mid-afternoon. This is great for the promoters and for the scene in Montreal in general, but they may have to start looking for a mid-size venue to accommodate the growth. Being able to it 6 mat areas, with ample safety room and spectator room would make for a shorter day and would be more comfortable for everyone. I do congratulate Grappling Industries on the growth though, it's great to see more and more competitors coming out to events in Montreal. It seems like Montreal has a very different scene then Toronto, and I am not sure why. Montreal is huge city, and there are other cities in driving distance that also have pretty good BJJ clubs in them (Ottawa for one). There certainly is a lot more MMA and Judo guys coming out to these events then any events in the GTA.
Alasdair had a pretty decent day, especially if you take into consideration that he doesn't really like nogi, has a hyper extended elbow, and wasn't feeling well. None of that stopped him from going 4-0 in the round robin, with 3 slick subs, and one win by points. Unfortunately it all caught up with him, and he didn't exactly perform to his full potential in the final against fellow Grappling Industries sponsored competitor Maxime Poulin. To be fair, Maxime is an absolute beast and destroyed pretty much everyone he fought! You can read up a bit more on Maxime on the Grappling Industries website.
There were a few competitors that I refereed that really stood out in mind mind.
Starting of with Scott Jutras, he placed 2nd in the -195 nogi advanced division. He's a 10th planet guy and had a bunch of very quick, slick subs. I was impressed with his composure when he got taken down (straight to a guillotine) and his transitions were very smooth.
In the big guys category, 2 competitors stood out: Eric Chibuluzo, who is actually only a white belt, and is a super athlete with an insane will to win. He shut down the game of much more experienced competitors. He is going to be a force to be reckoned with when he has a few years of experience under his belt. Also standing out was Jeff Muir, had never seen Jeff compete before, and his style was so relaxed and controlled. He was also ridiculously friendly, having a chat mid-match on at least one occasion. He didn't win medal, but he just stood out as a great competitor.
Of course, no grappling industries is complete without the ankle lock king, Jon-Taine Hall. Everyone knows it's coming, and no-one can stop it. In one match, he was down on points, and there was less the 30 seconds left and he pulled an ankle lock out of nowhere to get the tap! Jon-Taine is a super humble competitor as well, and he always(from what I've seen anyway) gives guys a chance to tap before he really puts the pressure on.
Well, I'm pretty sure this version of the post is entirely different then the original, but that's what you get when my phone craps out on me. I apologize for taking so long to get it finished, It's pretty un-motivating to have 2 hours of work disappear. I guess it's not safe to assume the mobile app auto-saves as anally as the web interface.
So, coming up next:
Sept 7th: Grappling Industries: Sunshine Boulevard Toronto. There will be trips to Miami and NOGI worlds to be won. Also, I think the brand new amazing podium made by Gabrielle will be debuted!
Sept 21st: The GTA Classic This OJA event is one of my favourite events of the year. It's like the back to school tournament. It's GI only, and they are working on some pretty cool prizes. There will be samuri swords for absolute winners which is pretty badass.
Oct 5th: Grappling Industries: HWY 401 Edition: Montreal. They are giving away a 8 trips to Toronto for the next Grappling Industries event in Toronto. I think this is a pretty cool concept, and I hope it helps kind of bridge the gap between the two scenes. It's also cool that they are giving away 8 trips, so almost everyone will be able to get a chance at one. If you are from the GTA, you will, of course, be able to cash-out the trip.
Oct 12th SAU 3 In Montreal. These guys are kind of new to the scene, but have put on 2 events in the past. I have never been able to make it out to one because of scheduling, but I have heard good things. They do sub-only and double elimination, so it's a little different then the everyone else, so check it out.
Oct 19th: OJA Ottawa BJJ Open. Not to much information out about this one yet. I get my ottawa events mixed up. There is two each year. They are a good chance to test your skills against the Ottawa competitors because they come out in full force.
That's enough upcoming events for today! There are more, like another Grappling Industries Toronto, OJA provincials, and the IBJJF Montreal Open. But this is long enough, and there will be plenty of posts to write about them as they approach.
Finally: I haven't talked about my shoulder much. It's now been 3 months and a couple weeks since it was injured. I had an MRI (A), got the results, talked to my sports doctor, and picked up the MRI cd. I am now waiting for an appointment with a surgeon. There was some talk of not doing surgery, because the tears (labrum and bicep tendon) are small, but because of where they are, they are still affecting my day to day (sleeping, driving, typing, laundry), they are going to fix it. Dr. Levy was confident I would be able to see the surgeon in a couple weeks (it's been two since i saw him, I should probably check up on that), and have the surgery before the end of the year. I haven't bee training or using it really the last few weeks, so it feels not to bad. Next week I am going to train, and teach, so we shall see how that goes. It will probably go poorly, and I will end up having to take advil for a week again. Whatever.
Alright, this really is the end. Thanks for reading and see you on the mats (or side lines, or wherever).
Thursday, 8 August 2013
IBJJF Toronto Open August 3 2013 Report
I've been putting off writing this report and I could say it's because I'm busy at work, or training, or beating The last of us, but while that is kind of true, it's really because I'm just not really excited to write the report. The tournament was just kind of mediocre. There was nothing super horrible that stood out, and nothing super amazing. So I just haven't really felt a lot of drive to write about it. But, writing about tournaments is what I do, and I promised I would, so here we go.
There were a few things that were not great.
There were a few things that were not great.
- The date: what is with big tournaments coming to Ontario on long weekends? Five did it in on Canada Day weekend, and the IBJJF comes to down on Civic Holiday weekend. Don't these people understand that Canadians like their long weekends to be away? Also, Toronto was super busy this weekend with some food festival going on, and, oh yea, the Rogers cup, at York University, where the tournament was.
- The location: I mentioned it already on the date, but it's worth mentioning in two points. Don't have a tournament at the same university campus as the rogers cup (kind of a big deal tennis thing apparently) and then have no directions or information about where to park, which part of the building to go to(if you were lucky to find the right building easily) and whether you have to pay for parking. We were lucky, we got there super early (no thanks to the parking lot that was the 401), and there was a tiny lot close to the building we needed. The one ticket machine took my card, charged it, and didn't give me a ticket, but a different one worked.
- The scale was heavy. A LOT of people complained about it. A LOT of people were left running and skipping after being well on weight, or under on their home scales, which are usually accurate. 2 of my teammates didn't make weight. One showed up late (because of the traffic, parking, and location issues) and didn't even get a chance to check before he had to weigh, and was dq'ed, even though he had a lighter gi he could have worn and likely made it. The other, after flying in the night before and cutting and making weight on the hope scale, was a couple pounds over, and couldn't cut it fast enough.
- The scales were inconsistent. The outside "test" scale was weighing people .5 heavier then the inside scale, so it was extra heavy. This is alright, in theory, but it makes people cut extra weight and tire themselves out, just to end up being .5 under on the official scale. Listen, If you are going to have zero weight allowance have accurate scales that are consistent. Test them with multiple weights to make sure.
- Ghetto IBJJF score boards, as usual. I complain about these every time, but I KNOW the IBJJF has good score boards, they had them at worlds. Use them at all the events PLEASE!!!! It's not impossible to tell the time by looking at the video recording, but it's not perfect with pauses and whatnot. Not to mention, it helps everyone make sure the timekeeper is doing their job. Let's be honest, we've ALL seen it happen where the time keeper puts 5 instead of 6 minutes on the clock, or forgets to hit start or stop. It happens more then you think and can be a case for serious issues. If we could see the time, we (as spectators, coaches, referees) could keep the timekeepers on the ball and know when they are making mistakes. Not to mention, it's nice as a fighter to be able to see how much time is over / left.
- No warm up area. We are spoiled in ontario. The OJA always has a warm up area, it's not always big, and it's generally crowded, but it's there. Five brought a warm up area, and Grappling Industries has introduced one as well. It's past time the IBJJF stepped up and did the same. They already have a corralled off area, just put mats on it.
- Spectator Fee: Ok, I know these are pretty standard, but is it so hard to put it on the tournament information page on the IBJJF website, and tell us if it's cash only? Or maybe, put it on the facebook event, or tweet it, or ANYTHING! I know in the states cash is still the more common way of paying for things, but seriously, no one around here uses cash for anything anymore. I was left scrambling, and thankfully my buddy David helped me out. it was nice that it was only $5 though. Props for that.
- The Staff: They were ok, for the most part. But there were a few cases of people who didn't seem to be fully trained for their jobs. This is a pretty common problem at tournaments, and especially when it comes to only hosting a tournament once a year and using a fresh staff. They were all quite friendly and were working hard though, so this is really more of a neutral point.
- The entry fee. 100 bucks for early bird, I think it was 120 or 125 if you registered late, which wasn't really late at all, it was when most people register. That is EXPENSIVE. It was less last year, even WORLDS was only 100 bucks. I think they hid the OGA fee in the tournament entry fee, which is sneaky and I am not a fan. I understand paying a lot for a high quality tournament, but, this tournament did not offer ANYTHING that other, cheaper tournaments don't(unless you count the t-shirt and gracie mag i mention below, but you get that at worlds to).
So, apparently there were a bunch of things that were not great... once I get going on a rant It just kind of keeps going and going and going. A lot of this is pretty minor and a lot of it is pretty common among many tournaments. So, please, if you run a tournament, do not make these mistakes.
We can't be all negative, well, we could, there was that one tournament in Michigan that really had nothing good about it. But, this tournament had lots of good points to:
- The photographer they had, Veron, did an amazing job! He's been around the Ontario scene taking pictures at quite a few events lately and he is a pro. He always manages to get the pictures of me making funny faces when I announce the winners of fights while reffing. Seriously though, he's got some great timing in matches and takes great photos. He didn't stick to just one mat, or division, and covered the event really well. You can see the photos here on the ibjjf album. (This point is totally a ninja edit, I don't know how i forgot to mention him originally, but seriously , he is a great event photographer).
- Started On time: Even early actually. My teammate Steve was lined up and ready at his mat almost 15 minutes before the start time. Their match (which he won, fairly dominantly (until the last few seconds when he got to relaxed and almost got bow and arrowed)) started at 10:00 sharp. But the mid afternoon they somehow ended up a bit behind schedule, but It was manageable. They should probably have more mats next year.
- Competent Referees: I didn't see any terrible mistakes by the referees. No blatant robberies or really bad calls. That's not to say they didn't happen, but I didn't see any. The refs weren't always quick to give points, maybe double checking in their head the situation was right or whatever, I don't know. I just realized, there was definitely one questionable call. My friend Arwin got ankle locked and knee reaped. You can see it in this picture. Ankle locks are tricky, because, like in this case, the guy getting ankle locked can roll that way and it turns it into a reap.
- Free T-shirt and Gracie mag. Everyone loves getting an event t-shirt and having a gracie mag to entertain you on the drive home, or while waiting for team mates or whatever is nice to.
- Schedule out a few days before the event. This is pretty helpful for planning, and they have a fairly detailed schedule which is nice.
- Brackets online the night before. They may not have really announced it well (or at all) but they were up by Friday afternoon. Some people like to see who they are fighting, some don't. It's nice to have that option. It would be even nicer if they were in a simple PDF or searchable, instead of the ridiculous silverlight app, but hey, it's better then nothing. It would also be nice if they were posted on the wall at the venue.
- More black, brown, and purple belts then last year. Last year, I think there was only 1 blackbelt division and absolute. This year there was 3, or maybe even 4. There were a bunch of brown belt fights, and tonnes of purple. The scene is evolving and I like it! I hope this trend continues at more tournament in Ontario.
- More ladies were there then last year. Last year, I don't think there were any purple belt women, no masters women, and only a handful of blue and whites. This year, there was a purple division, one or two masters divisions, lots (well, relatively lots, for women) of blues, and lots of whites! It was nice to see.
- More international feeling then last year. Last year, there was a few from the states, and Oli Geddes to give the tournament a non GTA feel. This year, Oli Geddes was back again and there were a LOT of unfamiliar faces from New York especially but also a big team came from Ottawa and other fairly long drives away.
- There were some great matches. The purple feather and light weight divisions were ridiculously competitive. There some serious wars in them. Congrats to Arther for picking up his first IBJJF Gold! The black belt matches were pretty excellent to. Gringo Vs Andre Figueira was great. Andre went after a baseball choke which was quite sneaky and put a stop to Gringos pass for quite a while. Gringo managed to get past it though, and ended the match with his back going after a bow and arrow. Speaking of baseball chokes! There was another guy in Jon's division who put someone to sleep with it! It was weird to see! They ended up faceing each other, and Jon lost, but not by the baseball choke. I'll be honest, I probably would have laughed pretty hard if he had been caught by it. But Jon respected the grips (maybe to much) and didn't try to pass when he had them set up.
Pura had a decent sized team out, but with a bunch of us sidelined with injuries and away on vacations and whatnot they weren't able to reproduce last years 3rd place results. Everyone looked really good out there though. Especially Greg Young, man, that guy is scary. He is so explosive and balls out, I would not want to have to fight him. I hope he competes more because it's pretty entertaining to watch.
Tomorrow I find out what my sports doctor wants to do with my shoulder. There is a small tear in the labrum, and in my bicep tendon. No big tears, so maybe no surgery. We shall see what he says. Either way, competition is still pretty far down the road, since I tried training earlier this week, and ended up hardly sleeping at all on Monday night because of it(truth be told, it's quite possible i just fell asleep on it wrong, because it didn't really hurt when I went to bed).
Next weekend we make the drive up the 401 to Montreal for Grappling Industries No Gi Worlds something something something. Should be a pretty good event, they are giving away a couple trips to No Gi Worlds which would be cool to win. Alasdair and Jon will be competing, I'll be refereeing. Should be a fun time. Then on Sunday WANDERLEI SILVA IS IN TOWN! Tickets are very reasonable(and they are supporting relief efforts in Haiti), and it should be a cool little event. I'll be there talking pictures and stuff.
September 7th is the next grappling industries event in Toronto. Here is the poster. They are giving away a bunch of trips, as usual. I've got my fingers crossed my shoulder will be magically ok by this, but I think that is an unrealistic dream and I am planning on more like maybe the IBJJF Montreal, or even something early 2014.
September 7th is the next grappling industries event in Toronto. Here is the poster. They are giving away a bunch of trips, as usual. I've got my fingers crossed my shoulder will be magically ok by this, but I think that is an unrealistic dream and I am planning on more like maybe the IBJJF Montreal, or even something early 2014.
Also coming up is the GTA Classic. This is one of the OJA's best tournaments. It's a good back to school kind of event. Gi only, so it's not a super long day. Plus they give samurai swords to the absolute winners, which is bad ass. (I'll be honest, the quality of last years swords is a bit suspect, but maybe mine was just a lemon). Registration opens Friday(August 9th), and the first 50 get a t-shirt!
There is a cool new site in the works called True North BJJ. It's focus is on getting tournament information out there that is useful for people. It's going to steer away from the Meme's and bro-ness that seem to be around on a lot of jiu jitsu communities and work more on getting quality content that people who do jiu jitsu in Ontario and the surrounding area want and need like transit information for tournaments. You can find them on twitter and facebook or their website. Look for some content written by yours truly to be there soon(ish), as I get time to write it.
Don't be surprised if you don't here from me till after grappling Industries Montreal. Life is pretty crazy right now, with my work moving to Hamilton(YAY), and probably going to be starting seeing my phsyio therapist regularly (and for doing more then a few range of motions exercises) plus lots of strength training outside of that.
Don't be surprised if you don't here from me till after grappling Industries Montreal. Life is pretty crazy right now, with my work moving to Hamilton(YAY), and probably going to be starting seeing my phsyio therapist regularly (and for doing more then a few range of motions exercises) plus lots of strength training outside of that.
I'm going bike shopping this weekend I think, it would be pretty pathetic for me to drive the 6-7k to work when the weather is nice. I'll probably end up biking some days, taking the bus there and running home some days, and then when the weather gets shitty, driving. I haven't really biked since like 5 years ago camping, and before that, it was probably almost 5 years to. My butt was super sore after that, but hopefully it adjusts quickly. I think I'm just going to get a super cheap one first, and then if I actually get into the habit of biking, maybe next spring save some money for a fancy one. I don't want to spend to much, b/c let's be honest, downtown Hamilton isn't the safest place to have a bicycle.
Thursday, 1 August 2013
My New Project!
Hey Everyone!
So, I posted this on facebook last week, but I haven't posted it here yet. Starting in September I will be teaching a ladies only class at Pura BJJ!!
So, I posted this on facebook last week, but I haven't posted it here yet. Starting in September I will be teaching a ladies only class at Pura BJJ!!
Like it says on the poster, Wednesdays 6 to 7 pm, starting in September. It's going to be free for the month of September as well! After September, there will be a special membership, that includes the ladies only classes and the BJJ 101 classes. Of course the ladies are welcome to getting a full membership but professor PJ wanted to give them some options to help with the transition and to make doing jiu jitsu easier for them.
My friend Heather, in the picture, is going to be at the classes to, so the ladies will have some experienced people to work with and help them along the way. The class dynamics will be kind of weird at first, because it's going to be almost entirely new students. They won't have the hierarchy of experienced students that most classes have. I ran into this when I was starting up a judo class years ago to. I think there will be a few less egos this time around so it should be a smooth process.
I'm really excited for this opportunity. I'm super thankful that Prof PJ is giving me the chance to teach some classes and build a army of jiu jitsu girls:)! I'm really hoping a few catch the competition bug eventually but I'll be happy even if none of the new students ever compete to! I just want to help them learn jiu jitsu and have fun!
We may run into some technical difficulties, the ladies change room is quite small... There is definitely not room for more then 3 or 4 at a time in there. We may have to commandeer the boys changroom. That might be awkward though, because the class is gig to be right after the kids, which is a mixed class, and I think there will be a class after as well.... logistics are complicated hahah. We might have to move some of the boot camp junk from the cubbies to, since there will be more then 1 girl needing to store stuff there at a time.
I've been trying to come up with a little information handout type thing, with the class details, and bits of important information to give the ladies, but it's been so long since I was new to a class, I don't really know what would be to "DUH" and what is information that they really don't need for now. Any ideas?
I've been trying to come up with idea for spreading the word about this, it's posted on facebook, here on my blog. I'm not going near most grappling forums because they are full of assholes. I wonder if Goodlife would let me put a poster up at the gym there... It's right by Pura, and they have business cards there already. hmmmm any other ideas? Maybe I should post it on r/hamilton, it's a pretty quiet sub reddit, but they might like to know.
In other news...
At the time of writing this, I still don't have the results from my MRI, my shoulder STILL hurts all the time, I can't sleep on my left side, I can't pick shit up with my left arm, and in general it's just plain shitty.
My work is moving to hamilton in just over a week! I could bike to work, if I had a bike, public transit is a pretty decent option, and if I was desperate, I could walk!
Saturday is the IBJJF Toronto Open.
Then 2 weeks after that is the OJA Tournament in Sudbury, and Grappling Industries in Montreal. Then, in September Grappling industries is back in Toronto, and the GTA classic is also back! We will be making the trip down the 401 to the Grappling Industries event.
Can you believe it's August already? holy crap, where on earth did summer go? I would have thought that with my shoulder being useless time would have gone slow, but I have no idea what happened to June or July!
There is going to be a camp at Art of Jiu Jitsu in November! We had so much fun last summer I really hope we ca get to it. I've got my fingers crossed that it will be over a weekend so It doesn't take to many vacation days and whatnot.
Oh! How could I forget, Rick Slomba from AOJ is going to be at Pura all week next week. If my MRI shows my shoulder is toast, I'm going to train and deal with the pain. If it shows it's not so bad, I'll probably sit on the side lines. Either way, it should be a pretty excellent week.
That's all for now, I'll have a report for you next week. Maybe Monday even, but if I am anything like the MRI department at the general, it'll be 2 weeks.
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Grappling Industries: Summer Havoc July 20th Recap
This past Saturday was Grappling Industries fourth foray into the GTA. The event was held at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto and had somewhere around 300 competitors.
They've gotten the format down pat, and it's all very smooth these days. They have weigh ins on Friday night, and Saturday morning with gi weigh ins closing 15 minutes before the start of the competition and nogi weigh ins closing 15 minutes before the start of the nogi.
Some of the things that were excellent about the day:
They've gotten the format down pat, and it's all very smooth these days. They have weigh ins on Friday night, and Saturday morning with gi weigh ins closing 15 minutes before the start of the competition and nogi weigh ins closing 15 minutes before the start of the nogi.
Some of the things that were excellent about the day:
- Started on time ran on / ahead of schedule and was pretty much done by 4pm. Most mats were done by 3:00pm
- The registration / weigh in process was quick and easy. Especially compared to past events where there was huge lines for registration due to the OGA paperwork.
- They gave away 8 trips to big IBJJF tournaments. Now, these 8 trips were not worth as much as some of the ones they have given out in the past, but with 8 of them, I'm quite certain the total value was the most they've given out.
- People are starting to understand the system and are at their mats ready to go, making the whole day smoother.
- There was a good size warm up area
- There were more masters out then at previous events, a trend I hope continues.
- The white belt ladies division was a decent size, and very competitive.
- The blue and up ladies -141 was the biggest I've ever seen.
Some things that were less then excellent about the day:
- my shoulder really hurt by the end, I was careful with it, making the fighters switch sides to raise their hand and stuff, but it still got sore.
- I had competitors from the mat beside me come onto my mat 3 or 4 times, twice they ran into me and/or my fighters. The mat area or safety area NEEDS to be made bigger somehow.
- Yacinta was the only one in the +141 blue and up divisions, so she didn't get too many fights. She still got to fight the winner of the -141 for the trips though, so at least she got some fights(and prizes).
- at least 3, and I think 4 referees who were scheduled to work did not show up on very short, or no notice. This lead to us having less breaks, and the promoters having to use backups.
- Coaches and Athletes STILL don't know the rules. Seriously people. RTFM.
- I got yelled at for not giving sweep points when someone reversed side control
- I got yelled at for DQ'ing for a heal hook.
- MANY competitors had no idea what a knee reap was and that they were doing it
- I got yelled at for allowing white belts to ankle lock. (News flash. they are LEGAL)
- The medics did an pretty good job. It's a hard job. But there were several times they had to be called multiple times to get their attention. Perhaps they need to have more so that they don't end up attending to to many athletes and not being able to keep an eye on the floor.
- There were several times throughout the day when fighters were called a whole bunch of times, and they weren't ever at the event. It would be good for the organizers to figure out a way to quickly/easily go through the weigh-in list and cross reference the draws and make notes of who never showed up. This would save some headaches for the table works.
- They use IBJJF GI weight classes, but allow you to weigh in with out your gi on. I like that they use the standard weight classes, but I think it would be better if they used the nogi weight classes because they don't have a weight allowance built into them.
Pura had a pretty small team out to the event. With it being summer and all not a lot of people are around on weekends. Here is how everyone did:
- Brayden: 4-0 in Gi, all wins by armbar for Gold! This was his first Nogi competition and he had a great showing winning silver.
- Kyle: His first competition and he went 3-1 in Gi and I believe 2-2 in nogi. Great work for his first time out hopefully he is hooked now :)
- Eric: 2-1 and one default win in Gi. This was his first time back competing in a very long time so it was good for him to work off the ring rust and now he is ready to really kick ass at the Toronto Open.
- Stephen went 3-2 looking like a beast.
- Jon went 2-2 in gi, putting 1 guy to sleep (that's 10 now). He entered in the advanced for nogi, which was a bit silly, and had a bit of a bad time against the killers David Mosleh, and Arther.
- Alasdair went 2-2 in gi. winning silver.
- Greg had a rough day, going 0-2 against a younger, larger guy. He did some great things in his matches though, and is steadily making his way down to super heavy where he is going to ruin a lot of peoples days.
The competition medal results can be found on the grappling industries website. Pictures from the event can be found on their facebook page and videos will be up on youtube soon.
On a completely unrelated note, I should get the results from the MRI today. I won't really know exactly what they mean, but it's progress. I have an appointment with Dr. Levy to go over them on August 7th. It's been pretty annoying the last few days. One day it will feel fine, the next it will feel awful. I imagine it's probably because it feels ok, so I move it more, and that pisses it off.
I guess that is all for now. The IBJJF Toronto Open is in a week and a half, registration closes this Friday. So get on that. It should be a pretty excellent event. We are heading to Montreal for the Grappling Industries event on August 17th as well and after that is another grappling industries event in Toronto, and then the OJA GTA Classic both in September.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention this!!
There are some women's open mats coming up in the Province as well! This is pretty awesome, and I wish I could participate in them. You ladies should all check them out.
Check out this facebook group for details and information on ladies jiu jitsu in ontario.
THIS SUNDAY in Toronto
Women's ONLY OPEN MAT on Sunday July 28th at 10am at Action & Reaction MMA.
August 25th in London:
See the facebook event for details.
On a completely unrelated note, I should get the results from the MRI today. I won't really know exactly what they mean, but it's progress. I have an appointment with Dr. Levy to go over them on August 7th. It's been pretty annoying the last few days. One day it will feel fine, the next it will feel awful. I imagine it's probably because it feels ok, so I move it more, and that pisses it off.
I guess that is all for now. The IBJJF Toronto Open is in a week and a half, registration closes this Friday. So get on that. It should be a pretty excellent event. We are heading to Montreal for the Grappling Industries event on August 17th as well and after that is another grappling industries event in Toronto, and then the OJA GTA Classic both in September.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention this!!
There are some women's open mats coming up in the Province as well! This is pretty awesome, and I wish I could participate in them. You ladies should all check them out.
Check out this facebook group for details and information on ladies jiu jitsu in ontario.
THIS SUNDAY in Toronto
Women's ONLY OPEN MAT on Sunday July 28th at 10am at Action & Reaction MMA.
August 25th in London:
See the facebook event for details.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
OJA Sub Only July 13th 2013 (recap)
Today was the OJAs first sub only tournament. They were supposed to have one in the fall(i think, maybe winter), but it didn't happen, trouble with finding a venue, scheduling, and who knows what else made it not happen. It seemed like this one wasn't going to happen either. It wasn't announced/confirmed util about 6 weeks before it, and information and details were slow to come out and sparse at best.
It was small, probably only about 50 competitors, but the ones that showed up fought hard and fought well. There were no ladies fights (other then a couple kids who were in mixed divisions), and no brown or black belts. The biggest division I think had 5 or maybe 6 competitors in it. The ladies mostly showed up last weekend to the mat militia sub only show, it was free, and announced way before this one.
The tournament started on time, and ran on schedule and ahead of schedule. There was 6 mat areas, but we probably could have finished the tournament just as quickly on 4. There was a lot of down time on the mats due to the divisions being small, and the posted schedule fairly spread out. It wasn't intolerable, and was actually a nice pace.
The kids divisions showed some great jiu jitsu. They were only allowed to do arm bars, and chokes where the referee can see the other kids face, like RNC, triangles not pulling on their head, collar chokes, and so on. Not a lot of kids came out, and I can totally understand kids(and their parents/coaches) not wanting to do the sub only format. I think they should probably not have kids divisions next time. That being said, I refereed Ever vs Liam, and these kids showcased amazing jiu jitsu, great cardio, and great heart. I was really impressed with both of them. There were also some younger kids on the match beside us that showed amazing transitions and flow. The future of BJJ in ontario is very bright!
There were some amazing fights in the blue and purple divisions to. I didn't get to watch a lot of the white, so I can't say for sure. But I did ref one between two guys who obviously knew each other well. They had a good fun match, probably should have focused a little more and chatted less. But it was cool to see the comradeship and whatnot. I could have gone without the coach(err friend, who really knows if anyone actually considers Mike a coach) heckling and whatnot, but whatever.
The blue belt absolute had some crazy matches. Myles triangled Sean Kent quickly in the 2nd round and everyone was in shock. Myles has a ridiculous guard and I hope, for the sake of all the up and coming blue belts, he gets his purple belt soon. The podium for the blue absolute was gold/silver closed out by Kevin and Kofi from gringos, with the bronze medals going to Matt from pura and Myles from united.
The purple absolute podium looked like this:
1 Alasdair Barr Pura BJJ
2 Greg Deniken Matador BJJ
3 Adam Blackadder Matador BJJ
3 Lonnie Warner Gracie Humaita
There was even a white belt absolute! Which the OJA doesn't usually do, but did anyway, I think because it was a sma turnout and we had time or it. Here are the white belt winners:
1 Donnie Mckenzie BTT Canada
2 Dean Wheeler Kumo Jiu Jitsu
3 Mark Riley Bruckmann MMA
3 Nick Routier Gringo BJJ
Here are the complete results.
There were a few hiccups, of course. This was the first event of it's type in ontario. There have been other sub only events. But they were invitationals, or open weight only, or more like shows. This was the first tourament, open to everyone, with divisions and whatnot. There were some complications which deciding and sticking with how long the matches would be, but it all worked out in the end. If the silly boys had just listened to me when I said the original way they were doing a few things was unfair and didn't make sense, it would have saved me some headaches and probably others. But hey, it all worked out in the end, and no adult fights ended in a draw. (any that DID have a time limit didn't hit them).
I think one of the really important things that kept the double dq from happening and got us home on time was the fact that you could lose by stalling. We called staling pretty quick, and they stacked up like they normally would in a regular match. So there was no stalling out to rest or keep a dominate position. I don't think anyone actually got dq'd for stalling, but knowing it was possible kept people active.
My team mates had a pretty good day. We only had 3 guys out, but they managed to place second in the team rankings! Yes, it's a small tournament, and gringos, at #1 was way ahead. but still, there were a bunch of teams with the same or more competitors.
That's about it for this event, it was a short day, so it gets a short post!
Next weekend is the grappling industries summer havoc. Round Robin, early weigh ins, and smooth running make this an event worth showing up to. They did raise the prices, but there is no sanctioning/organization fee so it's basically the same as it was before. They are giving away a bunch of trips to 2 different ibjjf events. Mostly for the guys, but 2 for the girls. All you ladies need to get out to that event because it's such a good opportunity to get lots of matches, and maybe win a trip to a cool tournament in a new city. I hate that I can't fight, but refereeing is going to give me more then enough trouble with my arm as it is. Today wasn't to bad, because there was no points to give out, but when i raised one guys hand with it, he was excited and swung it way up fast, and that hurt like a mofo.
Two weeks after that is the IBJJF Toronto Open. This event was a bit small last year, but well run, and a good event. I'm hoping it grows a bit this year, and we can one day rival the New York, Boston, or Chicago open (of course, the ontario open rivals them, but it's not an ibjjf event, but it's just as good as them).
A couple weeks after that is grapping industries sunshine blvd. Then the GTA Classic. I don't have a link for that yet.
Lots of good stuff going on in the GTA for the rest of the summer.
See you... around, mostly on the sidelines.
In case you are not up to date on my shoulder situation:
1. I have an MRI scheduled for Sept 26th
2. Every medical professional (2 very experienced physio therapists, the best sports doc in the country, and his resident surgeon) all came to the same conclusion about it. That I have a torn labrum, possible torn rotator cuff, and a highly unstable shoulder. That all have said it will probably need surgery, but they won't order it without an MRI. I sure hope I can get a cancelation, or can pull some strings to get that MRI moved up, because at this rate, I don't even want to think about when the surgery will be and how long after that I'll be back. I generally love our health care system, but it's times like this that I curse it.
3. It was feeling better 2 weeks ago, then I trained a bit, and it got very bad again. I accidentally slept on it a couple nights and it hurts really bad in the morning when I do that. I thought maybe the injury had been in my head, or that it wasn't as bad as it seemed, or that i donno, it was't as bad as it seemed first off, but the way it's been the last week makes me think It really is that bad :(
4. I'm trying very hard not to get horribly depressed about it. It's difficult because I am a total endorphin junkie and being so inactive is really difficult for me.
Tata for now!
It was small, probably only about 50 competitors, but the ones that showed up fought hard and fought well. There were no ladies fights (other then a couple kids who were in mixed divisions), and no brown or black belts. The biggest division I think had 5 or maybe 6 competitors in it. The ladies mostly showed up last weekend to the mat militia sub only show, it was free, and announced way before this one.
The tournament started on time, and ran on schedule and ahead of schedule. There was 6 mat areas, but we probably could have finished the tournament just as quickly on 4. There was a lot of down time on the mats due to the divisions being small, and the posted schedule fairly spread out. It wasn't intolerable, and was actually a nice pace.
The kids divisions showed some great jiu jitsu. They were only allowed to do arm bars, and chokes where the referee can see the other kids face, like RNC, triangles not pulling on their head, collar chokes, and so on. Not a lot of kids came out, and I can totally understand kids(and their parents/coaches) not wanting to do the sub only format. I think they should probably not have kids divisions next time. That being said, I refereed Ever vs Liam, and these kids showcased amazing jiu jitsu, great cardio, and great heart. I was really impressed with both of them. There were also some younger kids on the match beside us that showed amazing transitions and flow. The future of BJJ in ontario is very bright!
There were some amazing fights in the blue and purple divisions to. I didn't get to watch a lot of the white, so I can't say for sure. But I did ref one between two guys who obviously knew each other well. They had a good fun match, probably should have focused a little more and chatted less. But it was cool to see the comradeship and whatnot. I could have gone without the coach(err friend, who really knows if anyone actually considers Mike a coach) heckling and whatnot, but whatever.
The blue belt absolute had some crazy matches. Myles triangled Sean Kent quickly in the 2nd round and everyone was in shock. Myles has a ridiculous guard and I hope, for the sake of all the up and coming blue belts, he gets his purple belt soon. The podium for the blue absolute was gold/silver closed out by Kevin and Kofi from gringos, with the bronze medals going to Matt from pura and Myles from united.
The purple absolute podium looked like this:
1 Alasdair Barr Pura BJJ
2 Greg Deniken Matador BJJ
3 Adam Blackadder Matador BJJ
3 Lonnie Warner Gracie Humaita
There was even a white belt absolute! Which the OJA doesn't usually do, but did anyway, I think because it was a sma turnout and we had time or it. Here are the white belt winners:
1 Donnie Mckenzie BTT Canada
2 Dean Wheeler Kumo Jiu Jitsu
3 Mark Riley Bruckmann MMA
3 Nick Routier Gringo BJJ
Here are the complete results.
There were a few hiccups, of course. This was the first event of it's type in ontario. There have been other sub only events. But they were invitationals, or open weight only, or more like shows. This was the first tourament, open to everyone, with divisions and whatnot. There were some complications which deciding and sticking with how long the matches would be, but it all worked out in the end. If the silly boys had just listened to me when I said the original way they were doing a few things was unfair and didn't make sense, it would have saved me some headaches and probably others. But hey, it all worked out in the end, and no adult fights ended in a draw. (any that DID have a time limit didn't hit them).
I think one of the really important things that kept the double dq from happening and got us home on time was the fact that you could lose by stalling. We called staling pretty quick, and they stacked up like they normally would in a regular match. So there was no stalling out to rest or keep a dominate position. I don't think anyone actually got dq'd for stalling, but knowing it was possible kept people active.
My team mates had a pretty good day. We only had 3 guys out, but they managed to place second in the team rankings! Yes, it's a small tournament, and gringos, at #1 was way ahead. but still, there were a bunch of teams with the same or more competitors.
That's about it for this event, it was a short day, so it gets a short post!
Next weekend is the grappling industries summer havoc. Round Robin, early weigh ins, and smooth running make this an event worth showing up to. They did raise the prices, but there is no sanctioning/organization fee so it's basically the same as it was before. They are giving away a bunch of trips to 2 different ibjjf events. Mostly for the guys, but 2 for the girls. All you ladies need to get out to that event because it's such a good opportunity to get lots of matches, and maybe win a trip to a cool tournament in a new city. I hate that I can't fight, but refereeing is going to give me more then enough trouble with my arm as it is. Today wasn't to bad, because there was no points to give out, but when i raised one guys hand with it, he was excited and swung it way up fast, and that hurt like a mofo.
Two weeks after that is the IBJJF Toronto Open. This event was a bit small last year, but well run, and a good event. I'm hoping it grows a bit this year, and we can one day rival the New York, Boston, or Chicago open (of course, the ontario open rivals them, but it's not an ibjjf event, but it's just as good as them).
A couple weeks after that is grapping industries sunshine blvd. Then the GTA Classic. I don't have a link for that yet.
Lots of good stuff going on in the GTA for the rest of the summer.
See you... around, mostly on the sidelines.
In case you are not up to date on my shoulder situation:
1. I have an MRI scheduled for Sept 26th
2. Every medical professional (2 very experienced physio therapists, the best sports doc in the country, and his resident surgeon) all came to the same conclusion about it. That I have a torn labrum, possible torn rotator cuff, and a highly unstable shoulder. That all have said it will probably need surgery, but they won't order it without an MRI. I sure hope I can get a cancelation, or can pull some strings to get that MRI moved up, because at this rate, I don't even want to think about when the surgery will be and how long after that I'll be back. I generally love our health care system, but it's times like this that I curse it.
3. It was feeling better 2 weeks ago, then I trained a bit, and it got very bad again. I accidentally slept on it a couple nights and it hurts really bad in the morning when I do that. I thought maybe the injury had been in my head, or that it wasn't as bad as it seemed, or that i donno, it was't as bad as it seemed first off, but the way it's been the last week makes me think It really is that bad :(
4. I'm trying very hard not to get horribly depressed about it. It's difficult because I am a total endorphin junkie and being so inactive is really difficult for me.
Tata for now!
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Why do the ladies get their own sub only tournament?
This was asked by a facebook friend of mine today, after this past weekends mat militia women's sub only event.
In this case, it was because they had a guys version a few months ago and wanted to give the ladies a chance to showcase their skills as well. It was free to compete in, and they collected donations to support a breast cancer charity. All very cool and I am sad that I missed it.
But, the question still stands and has been talked about by many. Why do we need / want ladies only camps, classes, tournament and what not?
There are many many reasons, and they don't all apply to everyone and I doubt every reasons would apply to a single person, but it all comes down to community and not being an outsider.
Have you ever walked Into a room and been the only young person? Old person? Have you ever taken a course and upon surveying the participants felt completely out of place? Do you have a hobby that society or your friends and or family think first suit you? Do you wish you had friends you could talk to about your favourite things but can't because none of them have a clue? If you answer yes to any of these, then you have a slight idea what its like being a lady in the Bjj world.
It's not abnormal for their to be zero or one girl in a typical class at moat schools. There are some that have more, and because they have more, they attract more, but that is far from the norm.
It's not abnormal for womens divisions in tournaments to have less weight classes(if any) and less belt division. But, even with these accommodations, empty divisions and combined divisions that leave huge disparities in size and skill level.
Let's be honest when practicing Bjj, we get close, far closer then most people are comfortable with. It's weird, its awkward at first, and as they say in all the memes "its only gay if you make eye contact". Shit like that does NOT inspire anyone to try jiu jitsu, and most certainly not women! Comments like "that's what I came here to see" when a fighter almost has a wardrobe malfunction are equally damning to the sport and don't really make us girls comfortable training or competing with or around guys.
I've been lucky in my martial arts career, I started judo young before I even thought about how awkward some positions are, so it was normal and not weird for me from day one. Adults coming to the sport don't have that luxury. I've also trained at schools that always respected me and didn't make me feel like an outsider. That being said, I did choose to not train at a club because I was told "the guys wouldn't be comfortable with me in the class and that I should try cardio kickboxing". That was a few years ago, the club now has ladies in their classes, and will remain unnamed.
I've also been lucky because I am not an average build, I'm tall, and not exactly built like a model. Years of working with my dad in the tire business, martial arts, and Dutch genetics have made me not exactly petite. So I don't have the troubles a lot of smaller more petite women do. That being said, I'm still female, and. While I am not petite, I don't have a guys body either and still struggle with being less strong and having the lovely issues that come with the hormone roller-coaster that is our lives. (water retention, mood swings, joint issues, ect, higher body fat ext).
So you say, "really small, and really big guys have to deal with some of these problems to"! It's true, and I feel bad for them sometimes, but the fact of the matter is, there are minimum 3 more weight classes for guys, and there are also masters and sometime senior divisions and most tournaments. If. Guy had no one in their division at a small tournament or they are on the extreme ends or in an alder weight class, they will, almost Guaranteed have to chance to move down to adult or up one weight class. For us, we don't have different age categories, and chances are, there is no one up a weight class, or two, or you are already in the top weight class, which is 50 lbs lighter then the guys.
Here in Ontario, tournament promoters are pretty good about supporting women in the sport. A lot give us discount registration fees, which some of my male counter parts complain about. But, as I have explained it to them. With the average division size for women sitting at 1 or 2, of 3 if you are lucky, and the average male division at somewhere between 8 and 16, if they win, they get 3-5 fights, if we win, we get 1 or 2. So, it's fair that we pay less right? Also, many tournament give out prizes for absolutes or specific divisions, it used to be the norm that the guys prizes would far far far outnumber the ladies, if there was prizes for the ladies at all. This is also improving greatly, with the Ontario Open giving almost 1/2 to the ladies, and grappling industries committing to always having at least 1 trip for the ladies.
I've had conversations with masters guys athletes, with them complaining and stating that they should have trip prizes or other prizes for their divisions to, because there are more of them then their are women. My argument was, and still is, they have the OPTION to compete in the old guy division, we don't have the option to compete with the guys (not normally anyway, grappling industries has allowed it, in some cases, when there was 0 competition available). So, they choose to be in the smaller divisions, so I feel like they aren't actually being discriminated against. That being said, saying the women are discriminated against is not really true either. It's business plain and simple. Should there be big trips for divisions/absolutes that have 1 or two competitors in them? Hardly seems fair to the promoter! It's not really the promoters fault there is no competition, and it's not the fault of the athletes that did show up either.
It's tricky to balance, and even talk about without someone getting offended. I think it's totally fair that there are LESS trips/prizes for women, but we should get the chance to compete for a trip if our male counterparts get the chance. What I mean by that is: if there is a white belt guys, blue belt guys, purple+ guys, and blue and up girls trip, then the while and blue belt ladies should either have a trip for themselves as well, OR the opportunity to compete up in the division that does have a trip. Sure, they probably won't win it, but then, neither do all but 1 of the guys in their respective divisions. It isn't fair to the promoter to expect them to have exactly equal prizes when the competitor pools are so insanely different in size.
So, why do we need our own classes/camps/events? So we can complain to each other about all this. So we can work together to try to fix all this, and so we can roll with some one who isn't either afraid to hurt us or trying to fix their ego by simply overpowering us. and so we don't always have to roll with smelly boys who have cooties. haha. You think I am joking, but seriously, boys are smelly. But then, sometimes girls are to. PSA to everyone, wash yourself, wash your gi.
For competitions, we need /like our own events because if we have our own events, we can plan them and work together to all get to them. It's nice to have our own thing. Also, because we are excluded from events sometimes. Like the gracie nationals, the 32 MAN showdown, and other things. Most tournaments do have divisions for us, but they tend to be combined weight/belt classes with less prizes and whatnot, which, in most cases I am fine with. But I'm not fine with events that disclude us completely and that is why we "NEED" to have our own sub only event Kofi :P
This blog post really is all over the place isn't it? Whatever, this is how my trains of thought work. I am not your typical woe is me, poor me, I am a girl in a boys world type person. I've been lucky with who i've trained with, and the community around me. I've got a great gi sponsor who supports me, even though I don't give him nearly as much exposure as the guys do(smaller divisions, lack of divisions = mess mat time = less advertising time). I'm also sponsored by grappling industries, who really are trying hard to help the women in the sport. By being sponsored by them, I compete at their events for free. This generally means, that any other girls who show up, have someone to fight. I think doing things like this really helps build the sport. I know a lot of people don't want to register and waste their time/money when they have no one to compete with. (of course, I am on the side line with this useless shoulder injury, so the theory isn't quite in practice at this moment).
So, ummm, yea. Girls only events are cool. I wish we had more of them. Co-ed events are even better. Guys only events already exist and on one even blinks or notices.
If you are a member of the female half of the population, there are a bunch of facebook groups where there are open mats organized and stuff. Ontario has one, Boston has one, There is the Women's Grappling Network, the Grappling Camp group, and I am sure there are many more. If you are looking for opportunities to roll and train with women they are out there!!
In this case, it was because they had a guys version a few months ago and wanted to give the ladies a chance to showcase their skills as well. It was free to compete in, and they collected donations to support a breast cancer charity. All very cool and I am sad that I missed it.
But, the question still stands and has been talked about by many. Why do we need / want ladies only camps, classes, tournament and what not?
There are many many reasons, and they don't all apply to everyone and I doubt every reasons would apply to a single person, but it all comes down to community and not being an outsider.
Have you ever walked Into a room and been the only young person? Old person? Have you ever taken a course and upon surveying the participants felt completely out of place? Do you have a hobby that society or your friends and or family think first suit you? Do you wish you had friends you could talk to about your favourite things but can't because none of them have a clue? If you answer yes to any of these, then you have a slight idea what its like being a lady in the Bjj world.
It's not abnormal for their to be zero or one girl in a typical class at moat schools. There are some that have more, and because they have more, they attract more, but that is far from the norm.
It's not abnormal for womens divisions in tournaments to have less weight classes(if any) and less belt division. But, even with these accommodations, empty divisions and combined divisions that leave huge disparities in size and skill level.
Let's be honest when practicing Bjj, we get close, far closer then most people are comfortable with. It's weird, its awkward at first, and as they say in all the memes "its only gay if you make eye contact". Shit like that does NOT inspire anyone to try jiu jitsu, and most certainly not women! Comments like "that's what I came here to see" when a fighter almost has a wardrobe malfunction are equally damning to the sport and don't really make us girls comfortable training or competing with or around guys.
I've been lucky in my martial arts career, I started judo young before I even thought about how awkward some positions are, so it was normal and not weird for me from day one. Adults coming to the sport don't have that luxury. I've also trained at schools that always respected me and didn't make me feel like an outsider. That being said, I did choose to not train at a club because I was told "the guys wouldn't be comfortable with me in the class and that I should try cardio kickboxing". That was a few years ago, the club now has ladies in their classes, and will remain unnamed.
I've also been lucky because I am not an average build, I'm tall, and not exactly built like a model. Years of working with my dad in the tire business, martial arts, and Dutch genetics have made me not exactly petite. So I don't have the troubles a lot of smaller more petite women do. That being said, I'm still female, and. While I am not petite, I don't have a guys body either and still struggle with being less strong and having the lovely issues that come with the hormone roller-coaster that is our lives. (water retention, mood swings, joint issues, ect, higher body fat ext).
So you say, "really small, and really big guys have to deal with some of these problems to"! It's true, and I feel bad for them sometimes, but the fact of the matter is, there are minimum 3 more weight classes for guys, and there are also masters and sometime senior divisions and most tournaments. If. Guy had no one in their division at a small tournament or they are on the extreme ends or in an alder weight class, they will, almost Guaranteed have to chance to move down to adult or up one weight class. For us, we don't have different age categories, and chances are, there is no one up a weight class, or two, or you are already in the top weight class, which is 50 lbs lighter then the guys.
Here in Ontario, tournament promoters are pretty good about supporting women in the sport. A lot give us discount registration fees, which some of my male counter parts complain about. But, as I have explained it to them. With the average division size for women sitting at 1 or 2, of 3 if you are lucky, and the average male division at somewhere between 8 and 16, if they win, they get 3-5 fights, if we win, we get 1 or 2. So, it's fair that we pay less right? Also, many tournament give out prizes for absolutes or specific divisions, it used to be the norm that the guys prizes would far far far outnumber the ladies, if there was prizes for the ladies at all. This is also improving greatly, with the Ontario Open giving almost 1/2 to the ladies, and grappling industries committing to always having at least 1 trip for the ladies.
I've had conversations with masters guys athletes, with them complaining and stating that they should have trip prizes or other prizes for their divisions to, because there are more of them then their are women. My argument was, and still is, they have the OPTION to compete in the old guy division, we don't have the option to compete with the guys (not normally anyway, grappling industries has allowed it, in some cases, when there was 0 competition available). So, they choose to be in the smaller divisions, so I feel like they aren't actually being discriminated against. That being said, saying the women are discriminated against is not really true either. It's business plain and simple. Should there be big trips for divisions/absolutes that have 1 or two competitors in them? Hardly seems fair to the promoter! It's not really the promoters fault there is no competition, and it's not the fault of the athletes that did show up either.
It's tricky to balance, and even talk about without someone getting offended. I think it's totally fair that there are LESS trips/prizes for women, but we should get the chance to compete for a trip if our male counterparts get the chance. What I mean by that is: if there is a white belt guys, blue belt guys, purple+ guys, and blue and up girls trip, then the while and blue belt ladies should either have a trip for themselves as well, OR the opportunity to compete up in the division that does have a trip. Sure, they probably won't win it, but then, neither do all but 1 of the guys in their respective divisions. It isn't fair to the promoter to expect them to have exactly equal prizes when the competitor pools are so insanely different in size.
So, why do we need our own classes/camps/events? So we can complain to each other about all this. So we can work together to try to fix all this, and so we can roll with some one who isn't either afraid to hurt us or trying to fix their ego by simply overpowering us. and so we don't always have to roll with smelly boys who have cooties. haha. You think I am joking, but seriously, boys are smelly. But then, sometimes girls are to. PSA to everyone, wash yourself, wash your gi.
For competitions, we need /like our own events because if we have our own events, we can plan them and work together to all get to them. It's nice to have our own thing. Also, because we are excluded from events sometimes. Like the gracie nationals, the 32 MAN showdown, and other things. Most tournaments do have divisions for us, but they tend to be combined weight/belt classes with less prizes and whatnot, which, in most cases I am fine with. But I'm not fine with events that disclude us completely and that is why we "NEED" to have our own sub only event Kofi :P
This blog post really is all over the place isn't it? Whatever, this is how my trains of thought work. I am not your typical woe is me, poor me, I am a girl in a boys world type person. I've been lucky with who i've trained with, and the community around me. I've got a great gi sponsor who supports me, even though I don't give him nearly as much exposure as the guys do(smaller divisions, lack of divisions = mess mat time = less advertising time). I'm also sponsored by grappling industries, who really are trying hard to help the women in the sport. By being sponsored by them, I compete at their events for free. This generally means, that any other girls who show up, have someone to fight. I think doing things like this really helps build the sport. I know a lot of people don't want to register and waste their time/money when they have no one to compete with. (of course, I am on the side line with this useless shoulder injury, so the theory isn't quite in practice at this moment).
So, ummm, yea. Girls only events are cool. I wish we had more of them. Co-ed events are even better. Guys only events already exist and on one even blinks or notices.
If you are a member of the female half of the population, there are a bunch of facebook groups where there are open mats organized and stuff. Ontario has one, Boston has one, There is the Women's Grappling Network, the Grappling Camp group, and I am sure there are many more. If you are looking for opportunities to roll and train with women they are out there!!
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