Oregon Open

9/7/13 - Oregon Open

Where to start? Perhaps with the inauspicious beginning of the trip, when a rock pummeled my windshield while we were going over a bridge. An odd place for a rock, or whatever it was. The damage is going to require a complete replacement, so that'll be a fun start to my Monday while I try to wrangle money from the insurance company.

On to the stuff that people actually care about. My bracket was scheduled to be called at 9am, along with purple belt men. We got to the site in plenty of time, and one of my teammates that was competing later was nice enough to roll with me for a bit. Warm-ups make a huge difference when competing, and being able to roll is the best way for me to prep for a match. However, I don't think we were called onto the mat until 10am or so. Trying to be in the right place mentally and physically for a tournament that isn't running on time is very challenging.

I found that I was being paired with a white belt in the > 163lb division instead of the blue belt in the < 163lb. Not my preferred choice, but c'est la vie. The white belt in this instance turned out to be a very fit and seasoned grappler. I pulled guard and she immediately started with a knee slide pass that was very well executed. I can't remember if I conceded side-control or not then, but I'm sure I did at some point. Her top pressure and hip control were very, very good. I asked her later if she wrestled and she said no, which surprised me. I tried for quite some time to regain guard, and eventually did. I tried to set up sweeps and subs, but she was diligent about repeatedly breaking grips. Again, not something you see often from white belts or even blue belts. I finally got her loaded up enough for a modified pendulum sweep into mount. From there, I was able to maintain position enough to set up and execute a bow and arrow for the submission.

Next match went similarly, except that I didn't get the sweep and she racked up points by passing my guard and getting to side-control and I think KOB once or twice. Both my coach and I could tell that she was really efforting, and the plan  in the 3rd match was to not let her pass (ha!) and to outlast her cardio. I don't remember much from the 3rd match except that somehow I got to mount which put me up on points. She escaped and then I kept her in my guard for the remainder of the match for the win. I had finally realized at this point that my feeble attempts at DLR were not working.

I eked a 2-out-of-3 win for gold.

I was lucky in that James was able to coach me for all three matches. We had a lot of competitors, but no else happened to be competing at the same time.

I had around 3-4hrs before absolute, so I went outside in the sun for a bit while I took in food and water and tried to mellow out. Came back in and cheered on teammates, and half-wished that I wasn't competing again so that I could relax and really take in the experience of my team.

In absolute I had an opponent that seemed like she wasn't too far below me in size. I'm guessing around 152lb. Once again, winner would have to do 2-out-of-3. First match I pull guard and it turns out that she was also very adept at the knee cut through pass. She got to side-control quickly, and I did a poor job in defending my neck, which resulted in some sort of quick and very tight choke (a d'arce maybe?). Next match I again pull guard and did a better job of keeping her in it. I can't remember the bulk of the match, except at one point she postured but left her arm in, so I decided to go for an arm-bar and sunk it in tight and fast. She tapped immediately and starting shaking her arm out after I let go. I realized I probably put it on too fast. I apologized, but she said she wasn't hurt and she was ok to do the final match. Last match went the same as the first. I can't remember if she won by submission or points, but either way I couldn't keep her in my guard or sweep.

Silver for absolute.

We had a big contingent travel for this tournament, and I really did not want to lose to a white belt in front of the entire team. As much as I'm a proponent for taking ego out of jiu jitsu, I simply can't help myself in this regard. Especially when my team tries to hype me up beforehand by reminding me that I won gold at Pans. That is pressure.

I learned that my DLR is godawful. My side-control escapes are decent, and my patience and survival in bad positions is relatively good. With the exception of maybe one match out of the six, I was in bottom side-control. Not ok. If I'm going to pull guard, I must get better at retaining it and executing sweeps. I made an effort not to concede bad positions, but not enough. I also didn't scramble enough. I never, ever get arm-bars from guard in class, but I they seem to work for me in tournaments.

My cardio was ok. I don't think I had a big adrenaline dump in my matches, but I did have a nervous stomach all day. I must be more diligent about warming-up when I'm standing by the mat waiting to compete. I think double-dipping on classes on the Wednesday prior was a bad plan. I also probably shouldn't have rolled for a full hour on Friday. I know my cardio is good, but I don't take into account the energy drain of travel, sleeping in a hotel with a bunch of dudes, not getting a full night's sleep, poor nutrition and hydration, etc.

I am frustrated again by the lack competition at local tournaments. The competition I had was very good, but of the three regional tournaments I've done this year, I've had exactly one opponent for each division. The medals seem somewhat hollow when you are guaranteed a silver just for stepping on the mat. One of our white belts had 18 guys in his division and had 5 or 6 matches to get gold. He also had long waits between his matches, whereas I had no more than 10min between rolls, which was enough to catch my breath but still be warm. It is what it is...

Speaking of teammates, I loved watching them compete. Even the guys who weren't able to get a win were really fighting and giving it their best. We had three guys travel with us just to watch, which was very selfless.

Overall it was an excellent learning experience. It really opened my eyes to the fact that I'm not as good as I think I am. If I want to compete at Worlds next year as a blue I'm really going to have to fix some major holes in my game. If I got my purple before Pans I was considering doing the master's division, but now I'm not so sure. I need more confidence in my game before dropping that kind of $$ to compete again.