Congratulations to Our Competitors at NAGA this Past Weekend!

I’m sorry, I should have mentioned this earlier: this past weekend our team headed out to Broomall, PA and competed in a NAGA tournament. Win or lose, the team did well and I’m happy for everyone who put themselves out there and competed.

Great job, guys!

Grappling Tournaments are Kind of Like a Box of Chocolates…

Good morning everyone, I have a funny story to tell you…

So, I competed in a NAGA this past weekend. And, on a lark I decided that I was going to compete in the no-gi and gi divisions. I haven’t competed in no-gi in over 2 years, but I thought what the heck, why not give it a shot.

So we went up to…somewhere in northern New Jersey to compete in this thing. While waiting to warm up someone mentioned Sara McMann, Olympic wrestler and UFC title contender against Rhonda Rousey, looked like she was in the venue, and appeared to look like she was going to compete.

Oh, that’s unusual, but kind of cool, I thought to myself, and continued to warm up/freeze in the ice skating rink arena where the tournament was being held.

So, I’m just sort of hanging around, and one of the refs calls my name. I should mention at this point that all the girls and women were told basically to stand behind the ring they were more or less assigned to (they originally had one mat and had to expand to four mats! It was crazy!) so there was just a wall of people  in front of the mat.

I get through the throng of people, get to my mat….and there’s Sara McMann. On the mat. Waiting for me so we can get this party started.

Hahahahaha….oh god.

I hung in there for the entirety of the match: she tried a d’arce choke on me for a while, wasn’t working- I got her into closed guard, broke down her posture a couple of times, kept focusing on messing with her arms, attempted to jump a triangle here and there. Eventually time ran out and she won on points.

I will say though she’s a very nice person on and off the mat, which is cool. An excellent competitor, no doubt about it, but also a cool human being, which is was pretty great.

So, in short, local grappling tournaments are kind of like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get.

How was your weekend, internet? Let me know- otherwise, have a great day!

Something a little Different: Competition and Watching Students Progress

I just wanted to share this with you guys: our team went to a NAGA this past weekend, and in addition to supporting other teammates, this time it was just a little different, because two students that competed have primarily been taking a beginner class I teach with another teammate.

Guys, they did so well and I am so happy for, and proud of them.  There were mistakes, yes, but they remembered what we did in class, remembered the basics and win or lose it made me really happy to see them compete.

This is definitely a new role that my teammate and I have taken on, and I have to say it’s rewarding. I don’t care whether they won or lost, I was just happy to see them out there, competing and doing the techniques we’ve taught in class.

The good/bad news about this is one of these students will be moving on to the more advanced class; they’ve learned the basics well enough that they can continue their jiu jitsu journey and learn more advanced positions and techniques. So, it’s a little sad, but still very good. 🙂

Anyway, just wanted to share that with you guys- have a great Tuesday everyone!

First!

Our school won first place in team for adults.

Here’s the photo for proof- hooray!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday, 2.8.12

Well, at least while I lose at a tournament, I look good doing it (I would be the one on the bottom, in case you aren’t sure):

Tournament Outcome

Everyone did really well at NAGA this weekend.

I am being super critical of my own performance, so I am excluding myself from “everyone”. I only fought no-gi for various reasons, and when I did, I didn’t feel like I did my best. Not that I didn’t try, but overall I was not very happy with my performance. Which, since I don’t train that much no gi isn’t terribly surprising, but ::shrug::. I just need to take this as a learning experience and move on.

But, everyone else on the team did great, and I am proud of them! Hooray!

Victory for Teammates at NAGA

I spent the weekend with family, but a number of teammates went to the Battle of the Beach and brought home some nice trinkets of the gold, silver and bronze kind 😉

Congratulations, guys and gals! I’ll see if I can put a photo of our champs later.

Summer and Competing

I know I should, but honestly I just don’t feel like competing at the moment.

On August 6th there is the Battle of the Beach in Wildwood, NJ and I have very little interest in going. At first I thought maybe I was just spoiled by the IBJJF events, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I feel like almost every weekend I have this summer is taken up by someone else; someone else’s event or someone else’s agenda and really I would like to enjoy what summer I can while it slips like mercury through my fingers.

August is quickly approaching, with September following close behind. Things should slow down by then, I would hope, but for now I feel like something big is happening on one day or another, and I am the type of person who occasionally needs solitude. Some people find time by themselves maddening, I happen to find it peaceful and rejuvenating. Also, I still have a school time impression of summer: it’s the time to play, relax! Get outside before the cold and dark of winter steal over our part of the globe.

So, for now my plans are to skip NAGA, and begin the tournament cycle again come fall and winter.

Grappler’s Quest, 6.18.11

This weekend we will be on a quest. To grapple.

I will not be competing due to the muscle I seemed to have tweaked sometime Monday (it happened after kettlebells, before the birthday beatdown) and it actually still hurts to walk, let alone train, so I’m going to sit this one out. There is a NAGA tournament on August 6th, the Battle at the Beach which I’ll be aiming for. There is also an IBJJF tournament in September and since our team is planning to participate, I’m not overly worried about missing this tournament.

I’ll still be at the tournament, yelling things and helping film stuff, I assume.

I’ll be sure to post results on Twitter as soon as they happen!

Totally Awesome! For Me, Anyway

So the same night I spoke with my BJJ instructor about the Xande Seminar and he suggested that we open the floor up a little to some peoples here, I also asked if he would mind if I used the academy’s name and all that kind of stuff, because I felt a little odd doing it without the owner’s permission.

As you can see I have relatively little to no rebellious streak.

But, he is cool with it, so here it is:

I am a part of Maxercise! Which is a part of the Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu Association! yay!

I know this is kind of dorky, and a little small in the grand scheme of things, but it actually makes me quite happy to be able to do things like use people’s names, and post pictures.

This is the photo that I actually wanted to post during our wins at NAGA:

Because it shows the team (just ignore me, I’m one of the least photogenic people, like, ever), which as I mentioned in a couple of posts that it was as much of a team effort as it was a solitary one.

So expect a lot more photos, and references to the academy, and instructors! By Their Name!

It’s the little things in life that excite me, and I’m ok with that.