Back to Work

Sure, it’s been fun celebrating and eating delicious hamburgers this weekend in celebration, but now it’s time to get back to work and clean up some parts of my technique: just because I won doesn’t mean there weren’t some problems, and some mistakes that could have really gotten me into trouble.

I’ve learned that you always learn more from your losses than from your wins, which I completely agree with; however it doesn’t mean that there aren’t things to be learned from your wins as well. Unless, you know, you did a flying armbar and tapped the person out in the first 10 seconds of the match. That one you should just leave alone and focus on other matches to see what needs to get better. 😉

I would like to focus a little more on jumping to the triangle in no-gi: it’s not something I work for too much, even in a gi setting, so that is definitely something that needs to be worked on. Take downs are definitely something that need to be worked on, and sitting into guard: while I did pretty well for this tournament,  there have been a number of cases where this has gotten me into a lot of trouble.

I also need to work on my balance in a number of positions: while I was quick enough to correct, it wasn’t until my coach was yelling that I was too far over and I needed to be more careful with my positioning, which I think I might be talking to him about in the next couple of days.

There are some more things, but those are the ones that were on the top of my head at the moment.

Getting a little off the subject, one of my medals will be hung in the gym, which I think is fair, but not in the way that you think, probably. Not because I think I’m super awesome and deserve the praise, but because it’s insane to think this was not a team win. I would say your training is about 55% internal, a personal fight and struggle: but the other 45% is most certainly a group effort.(and PS I’m totally pulling those percentages out of my ass-It all depends on the person, and how supportive your team is with your training-there is a lot of personal motivation that goes into this sport, but a very large portion is also a group effort that absolutely cannot be ignored)

Your teammates are right there with you, learning with you, training with you; your instructor is taking the time out to guide you and your technique in the right direction, as well as your greatest advocate when you are competing, taking your side when there is a bad call or a mistake in awarding points. I feel its fair because the medal is not only a symbol of your personal victory, but a recognition of the hard work and dedication everyone on the team put in.

And what academy doesn’t love a little extra bling on the walls? 😉