Competition Day

Today was competition day. I showed up at 10am to check in. I met the two guys that were in my weight class and close to my age bracket. When it came time to compete, they paired me up with a guy that is close to 11 years younger than me. I didn't take him very seriously at first. when we tied up, he felt a little weak to me. He pulled guard and tied me up in half guard. I froze and he eventually got the sweep and came up in mount. We were close to the edge of the mat, so the referee had us move to the middle.

I was able to bump him off and ended up in his guard. From there he got me in an armbar and submitted me for the win. Since there was only two of us, we had to go again for a best of 3. This time, time seemed to go by so fast. I was able to hold him off from submitting me, but I did not get off any attacks. He ended up winning on points. A lot of points. I do not recall the total, but I remember my big 0.

I went to the podium to collect to consolation silver metal. I felt so depleted of energy that I didn't want to compete in the no-gi tournament. My teammates talked me into competing in the no-gi. I felt bad that they came all that way and paid to support me.

The no-gi tournament had no age restriction. There was four of us approximately the same weight. My first round was with a very tall lean young man in his late twenties. At the time of this tournament, I was 46 and qualified for the Masters 4 division. I was able to get a double leg takedown, but he ended up with a kimura on my left arm. I was able to hold him off for most of the round but I was using my brute strength agains his long skinny arms. Because I didn't know how to defend against the kimura, I eventually got tired and tapped so I would not get hurt. He was able to inch my arm behind me. I didn't know if I could grab my own shorts, so I didn't grab it to stop him from getting my arm behind me.

I think I tired him out for his first place match. The same guy I lost to in the gi tournament defeated him quick and easily.

My second no-gi match was for the bronze metal. This one I was able to get the takedown and pass his guard. from there, I finished the round trying to choke him while in his half guard. Luckily time ran out before my arms gased out. That win earned me the bronze.

After the tournament I went to dinner with my team. I could not eat much. I actually felt like I could roll some more. My team praised me for having the courage to compete. Little did they now the night before, I signed up for my second tournament in May.

Seven days out.

Seven days before I'm scheduled to compete in my first tournament. It was a typical Monday for me. Woke up and packed the girls' snacks and got their uniforms ready. Took the girls to school and went to work. Luckily work was busy so the day went by quickly.

I picked the girls up from school then went to get an adjustment from a new chiropractor. The adjustment was great. More about that later. I came home and ate a light snack before taking the girls to jiu jitsu class. Even though I am a white belt, I help out with the children's class. Mostly tying belts and showing the younger children what to do. Today our professor had me roll with one of the older boys that is competing this weekend also. I went easy on him, just transitioning to different positions to see what he could come up with.

I then stayed for the adults class. Our adults class is two hours long. We do warm ups and drills for the first half of the class, then we did a guard passing drill and some flow rolling. At the end of class I played a little chess with my professor.

Overall, it was a good day. I didn't get hurt. That is my main goal when I train. Not because of the upcoming tournament, but because I do not heal well these days. My nerves are not as bad after class was over. I hope the white belts at the tournament are similar to the white belts I train with. Most of them are younger and heavier than I am. I think I am making a bigger deal out of it than I should. Most of the females at my school have competed.

Well, it's getting late and I am dozing off trying to type this blog.

Signing up for my first tournament.

Well, it's been a year now since I started my journey in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It has been a long year with work, health issues, injuries, and family obligations. I switched my daughters my academy in July of last year. I had them restart as no-stripe white belts because I feel they did not deserve to be four-stripe white belts. I took off a month because of a gout attack, then another three weeks because of an Achilles tendon issue.

The joints in my fingers are all messed up from a new white belt that kept trying to attack them. I had some back pain as well as neck issues from rolling. Lots of bruising on my upper arms and chest.

I have met some really great people and attended a few Jiu Jitsu tournaments this last year. I never considered competing until I realized I am now in the Masters 3/4 division.

Today I signed up for a tournament that is scheduled for next Sunday. It will be exactly one week away. I do not know why I felt compelled to sign up for it. Maybe because I was scared to, and I wanted to face that fear head on. It was almost exactly a year ago that I went to a Tony Robbins' UPW Seminar. I was scared attending that one also. But signing up for that seminar lead me to listen to Tony Robbins and ultimately lead me to my jiu-jitsu journey.

The one biggest takeaway from UPW was that I was my greatest enemy. My limiting beliefs and fear of failure held me back more that anything else. So today I faced my fear and signed up for the tournament. Both gi and no-gi. I have been sick to my stomach all day. I'm thinking I can just through away the $119 registration fee and no-body would know the difference.

Nobody but me that is. I wonder if my opponents are as nervous as I am. What am I thinking, I am still so new to this whole thing. Let's see what happens from here.