have a motivated friend named Tony who just so happens to also train at Next Level Martial Arts, and he asked me to write an article about preparing for your first tournament. He has been training for under one year, but makes it to every training session plus a few on the side. I asked if he would like a side bar for those considering their first Mixed Martial Arts event. He liked that idea too, so that will be next.
How long have you been training? Do you feel confident in what you know? If I pulled you out of bed at 3 o’clock in the morning, would you be able to perform? A tournament is a long day, a rushed pace, and often stressful experience. It can also give a rush that will shape your future in this sport and maybe how you live your life. It did that for me. Is this a personal gut check, a bucket list entry, or are you a future champion?
After my initial Army experience and exposure to jiu jitsu, I bought two books: “Submission Grappling”, by Royler Gracie, and “Jiu Jitsu Unleashed”, by Eddie Bravo. Not sure why these were my first two technique books, but possibly I wanted to avoid pages heavy with clothing based attacks. Whatever were the bare bones techniques, that’s what I wanted to learn. The first part of Royler’s book talked about his three Abu Dhabi championship wins, and how he retired soon after; this man sounded unbeatable. As soon as I opened Eddie Bravo’s first book, it was shocking to see that his introduction was the retelling of his Abu Dhabi competition win over Royler Gracie. Something doesn’t sound right. Their style was so different, I began to learn both. Important to note: eleven years later I only use two moves from these books. They were more of a cultural education.
After reading both introductions, and before learning how to do a single jiu jitsu technique properly, I decided that I wanted to become an Abu Dhabi world champion. The next day I ordered a stretchy GI from Amazon.com. Puzzle mats were purchased for my efficiency apartment. Had to become a world champion after all, and I suspect it’s going to be hot over in Abu Dhabi and need to work on getting invited. Eight months later I called Wrecking Crew Jiu Jitsu the day of the Kumite Classic to ask them if they were competing. Mike Demko’s mother answered the phone, and confirmed they were down at the event. Three days later I was on the training mat with Lamar Holmes as he practiced solo takedown entries. Two weeks later, I was asking training partners if they were going to compete at the Naga Ohio event. Two weeks after that, I was competing at Naga Ohio in the Intermediate division (2-1/2 years of experience bracket). Didn’t sleep a minute, and after weigh-ins it appeared my bathroom scale was wrong; I weighed in at 206 and was supposed to compete at 199.9. I spent the next 45 minutes cutting weight. I ran 3-4 miles wearing 4-5 layers of clothing around the track behind the event, and made weight within the hour. First match I was balled up by a wrestler, and lost by guillotine choke. Second match, won by mounted arm bar. Third place Intermediate division in the spring of 2003. By 2011, I ended up with well over 300 Advanced Division matches, and around 30 matches using the traditional jiu jitsu GI uniform in four weight classes and absolute divisions.
So are you interested in competing in a grappling tournament? Determine how many years you have been training, and how often you attend class. The amount of years you have been training will determine what experience bracket you fit in. Do you show up to class on days when you are tired? Sore from exercise? Or suspect you may not perform well against your training partners? Do you avoid people who are better than you, or those that often beat you? This is important in determining how fear shapes your jiu jitsu expression and performance. If you haven’t conquered your ego yet, competition will be very disappointing and your future gym attendance may be in question. You need to take care of these issues well before you step onto the competition mat.
How you train is at least part of how you will compete and perform. Most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu schools start grappling matches from their knees. In a competition match, nobody is EVER fully on their knees for more than a few seconds, and never to advance position. Can you see how this would be counterproductive in contest preparation? In many no gi schools with a high school level wrestling or general mixed martial arts influence, students often advance position in an explosive almost spastic way. They flop into good positions, and are drawn into bad positions. Where they improve in takedowns they suffer in actually understanding the dynamics of combat. They do operate at a speed that the average jiu jitsu player is not used to, which leads to separate problems. Judo players entering into their first ground grappling tournaments are often surprised that their opponent is unwilling to engage, or bent over at the waist looking for a sloppy grip on the wrist, and finally someone who actively sits on the group and scoots towards their standing opponent. Rather strange behavior really, because few people are truly well rounded. It’s natural to draw people into our comfort zone.
A sand bagger is a common term thrown around the lower experience brackets. This term describes a more experienced grappler who enters the lower skill bracket hoping for an easy win and a first place medal. These guys love to tell all of their friends that they won the entire tournament, and were extremely afraid of losing to begin with. Maybe they even expected to lose in the expert or advanced divisions. No amount of complaining will save you from them, you just need to win. I was so sick of hearing about it years ago, that I moved up to Advanced after a few years because I had let go of the outcome. This isn’t recommended, as most people are focused on the outcome and defeat is rough to taste. The competitor that isn’t afraid to lose and is just focusing on doing their best is dangerous, and often what is described as a gamer. They keep coming, with a private smile because they are probably having fun.
So again, how do you train? Do you take long water breaks, looking over the sea of training partners at your gym looking to see who is tired or looking technically sharp? Maybe you wait until everyone has gone through several training rounds, fully hydrate, and then invite a fatigued training partner to roll. Maybe the energetic or technically sharp training partner invites you to roll afterwards, but you decline. Or the opposite could be true. You may pre hydrate, and then attempt to train with everyone in the room; exercising or continuing to train through the breaks and staying late in order to get more mat time in. Decide where you stand, and guess who is more likely to perform well? Do you exercise when you are not at your gym? Eat a healthy diet? What physical condition are you in? Take the sum of everything you have, divide that by hours of sleep under stress, and your mind set going in. You will make more thinking errors and recall things poorly under stress. Who cares? The human standing across from you exists under the same conditions, and like you they had a chance to put the time in and work on healing insecurity and technique. Step up or step back and build your game, and over time improve the most important attribute; inner game.
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