Pans 2020: Will They or Won’t They?

It’s been a wild couple of weeks, to be sure- the coronavirus COVID-19 has sent a lot of people in a tizzy. It’s understandably a tricky situation: it’s a flu-like virus that most people should be able to recover from. It’s when a relatively healthy person however comes in contact with someone who is immuno-compromised due to age or other circumstances is when things get really dangerous.

Events and conferences are cancelling left and right due to concerns of spreading the virus, and so far the IBJJF stated last week they were not cancelling Pans in Irvine, and then as of last night they stated they were working with the venue and would be making an announcement one way or another by mid-day today.

I had to pull out of Pans this year due to other reasons, but I was still planning on going to the venue for that weekend: I know there have also been some big name competitors who have been posting on social media that they have registered for the tournament. I’m curious to see if they will actually move forward with hosting the event. To add to the whole thing, UC Irvine (the venue itself) has told students that they are suspending all activities where large groups of people could congregate….

So, I guess we’ll see either way by the end of the day.

Well, either way stay safe everyone- wash your hands, don’t train if you’re sick and have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday! IBJJF Pans Registration Now Open

Happy Friday everyone!

The No-Gi Worlds are happening this weekend, which reminded me that Pans registration is also open- I think it opened a couple of weeks ago actually…

There’s an early bird registration between now and January 10th, and then they will start to bump up the prices.

Check them out, anyone competing this weekend good luck, and otherwise have a great weekend everyone!

The Appeal of IBJJF Tournaments for Women in BJJ

It was an interesting question posed on social media- they expressed frustration regarding their impression that in order to compete against more women, they had to sign up for an IBJJF tournament, which let’s be honest costs a lot of money. They person expressed frustration that they had to drive for a longer period of time and hand out more money than say going to a smaller tournament closer to home, and asked why so many women chose to sign up for IBJJF tournaments. And her question is totally reasonable: it does seem a little silly to pay over 100 dollars to drive 2 to 3 hours to wait another couple of hours to fight someone that may potentially train like, 45 minutes away from you and the two of you could have duked it out at a local tourney for 60 bucks.

There are a couple of factors that play into this: first and foremost, it’s one of the better known tournament organizations, and whether anyone likes it or not, it’s pretty much a gold standard when it comes to gi competitions, especially when it comes to their rule set. From what I can tell a number of other tournament organizations use IBJJF’s rule set as their own, so walking in you should have a good handle on what’s allowed. Some commented on this person’s question stating that IBJJF is one of the best run tournaments out there. I think when it comes to the bigger tournaments- Pans, Worlds, etc. they more or less smoothly, but there have definitely been times where they have messed: the displays shorted out, during this past Pans there was a mess up in their bracketing and scheduling software and a bunch of us who were supposed to fight on a Saturday thought our divisions were pushed up to a Friday night (we found this out after dinner 45 minutes away from the venue and the divisions were supposed to “start” in 30 minutes, so we were pretty much all freaking out to some degree until we were able to get a rep on the phone to assure us it was a mistake), there was one time where one of our girls was basically forgotten in the bull pen when her competitor didn’t show up and she was basically left there waaaaay too long- they are by no means a perfect organization, but they get it right more times than they get it wrong.

Also, from what I can tell it’s one of the first tournament organizations that really set out from just the local scene and decided to extend their reach- it’s sort of like the GoPuff of the industry: for anyone who may not be aware of what go puff may be, it’s basically a convenience store on wheels. Say it’s late at night and you suddenly fall ill and need some pepto bismal, or maybe you’ve gotten the munchies due to whatever shenanigans you’re up to and could really go for some junk food, but you’re all out! You log into the app, pick out your items and go puff will deliver those items to your door.

There are companies that are now trying to recreate that service and push into that market space, but since (as far as I know) GoPuff was the first to offer this service, so it has the brand recognition and had a chance to establish its presence as the main service. And even if they weren’t the first, IBJJF is possibly of the longest running and, to my knowledge, still expanding tournament organizations out there.

So you have a recognizable, long running tournament with a clearly established and well known rule set- that frankly you know top competitors compete in, and are motivated to do so now because of the points system they recently implemented as a qualifier for some of their larger tournaments…. it’s no wonder that women tend to gravitate toward those tournaments. It would be nice to see more women in local tournaments, but really I’m happy to see women competing anywhere, and if that’s at an IBJJF tournament, so be it.

Will there be a change? Honestly, probably not. There are a good deal of tournament organizations out there, but unless they can find a way to top IBJJF’s popularity in the market- maybe by specifically reaching out to women? It will probably remain the same.

If there’s another tournament organization that you would love to see take off, please by all means let me know. Otherwise, have a great day everyone!

 

 

 

Karma and BJJ Tournaments

Talking about competing in the previous post reminded me of something that happened at a tournament years ago, and how karma sometimes can have more immediate results than we expect.

It was one of the Pans tournaments and I had placed (I don’t remember what place- again, they all just kind of run together at this point). I was intent on doing the absolute weight division (also known as the open, in case I switch terminology at some point) and as one does at these tournaments, I started to make my way down to the area in order to sign up for that part of the tournament.

As I got in line, from what I recall there was a girl behind me who had a friend ahead of me, and I offered to switch spots with the one behind so the two friends could chat. Then, as we’re waiting in line to sign up there was also one of the more popular competitors who also got in line, and they decided to jump in line ahead of me in a very intentional fashion. The girl that I had previously had the interaction with kept looking back in a sort of “wtf?” look on her face. I told her “it’s fine”- it wasn’t really fine, but we’re all headed to the same place and I’m not the type of person to cause a ruckus over a spot in a line. Risk is definitely not worth any reward in this situation.

So we’re moving up in the line and the first girl gets to the table, turns around and motions to me to come up with her, acting like we’ve been friends for years. She chats in Portuguese to the coordinator, they’re laughing, I’m standing their awkwardly because I just jumped past the line jumper – which they didn’t say anything at this point, and I’m not entirely sure what they thought about the whole situation. It was a bit of a surreal experience, to be honest, and one of those few moments where karma has a more direct cause and effect than usual.

Just wanted to share that little story with you all: the moral of the story being be kind and courteous to those around you- not only because it’s the nice thing to do and we need a little more kindness in the world, but also because of the fringe benefit that karma is a thing and will reward you at some point in some fashion.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chair Throwing? Really?

So as some may have noticed (or not, totally cool) I have been sort of buried under work, life, etc. I’ve still been training, getting ready for Master Worlds, but by and large have been keeping my head down and nose to the grindstone.

I check back in to see what’s happening in the bjj world and people are throwing chairs? Really? And by people, I mean one black belt at the conclusion of a match, at a white belt.

The guy did offer an apology for his actions and I’m sure there was a lot going on leading up to this, but still I think the chair throwing was uncalled for, at any rank.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today, folks- just…. don’t throw chairs at one another, please?

Happy Friday! Last Day for Super Early Bird Registration for Pans 2018

Super early, I know- but today’s the last day to shell out under $100 for Pans. It may be a little too far ahead for some, but I know that’s the one tournament that I always attend throughout the year so I’m comfortable signing up.

For anyone else that’s fairly sure that they are also going to be competing at Pans, sign on up and have a great weekend!

Article on Top Black Belts never Winning a World Title

Hey Everyone,

Flograppling has an interesting article about 5 of the best black belts out there, that have never won an IBJJF World Title. #1 will shock you!….

Jk, I’m not into clickbait: it’s JT Torres, which I am frankly surprised about: I figured he would have won at least one of them.

Check out the article, and have a great day everyone!

Purple Belts will Need IBJJF Membership Starting in 2018

Huh, well that’s something: according to White Belt BJJ, (and then I checked on the IBJJF website- not due to lack of trust, I just wanted to see where this was mentioned) purple belts will need to register with the IBJJF in order to compete in tournaments, starting in January of 2018.

I imagine as time goes on they will work their way down all the way to white belt. Check it out and if you are a purple belt who wants to compete in an IBJJF tournament, be sure to sign up for a membership!

IBJJF 2016 Worlds Recap

Hey Everyone,

So with everything going on I totally forgot about the IBJJF Worlds.

Check out this article from Bloody Elbow about the results, and let me know what you think- otherwise, have a great day everyone!

Article on Kenny Florian Competing in IBJJF Tournament

So Fox Sports wrote an article about how Kenny Florian competed in the IBJJF NY Spring Open. The article talks about how Florian felt robbed (no, really, he says that he felt robbed in that match) and the author goes on to talk about the IBJJF’s “strange rule set”.

Granted, the IBJJF is far from perfect in both rules and reffing decisions, but I don’t know, I’m just having a hard time taking this seriously. Also, I think what Florian has to keep in mind is some people in these tournaments focus on the sport of jiu jitsu: he may have been playing to finish, while his opponent was just playing to win. Going for the finish as opposed to just going for points, if you will.

I like Florian, but I think there needs to be some adjustment in mindset if he wishes to continue competing, particularly in IBJJF tournaments.

Check out the article, let me know what you think- otherwise, have a great day everyone!