Friday, January 29, 2010

Hey Laura

Good luck tomorrow!


Can't wait to hear about it!


And good luck to Jimmy too!  One of my team mates is fighting at Abu Dhabi this weekend.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks!

    Only one other girl in my weight class so it's going to be best of 3.

    Let you know how it goes.

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  2. That's cool.

    In the past when there was only two people in a division, they just fought once, and winner takes all.

    Best of three sounds a lot more fair.

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  3. Well, my first tournament is done. Boy do I hurt today.

    My first two fights were with a four stripe white belt. Both times she did a takedown, then there was a scramble where she managed to get an arm bar that I managed to escape. Then she ended up in my closed guard and I tried like crazy for about 4 minutes each time to sweep her or submit her. Didn't work. She won both fights by 2 to 4 points.

    Later they ran an absolute for women whitebelts. Only 3 of us signed up (There were 9 white belt women at the tournament). The girl who beat me, and a 2 stipe white belt who had won the featherweight division.

    First fight was with the girl who had beaten me twice in the division. This time I jumped her guard and pulled her into my closed guard. Then I just kept on trying to choke her. The match was 0-0 but I had the advantage and beat her.

    Five minutes later I fought the little girl. We danced around going for takedowns for a while. She eventually pulled me into her closed guard. She got a choke on so tight I almost had to tap. But just as the lights were going out I remembered that I had 40 pounds on her so I just rolled back, pulled her over and broke her grip. But she got mount for a short while and got some points. I managed to get off my back, but was still in her closed guard. I was exhausted and couldn't hardly think, so I sat in safety position too long. Right at the end of the match she almost got into mount again but the clock ran out. She won on points 4-0.

    So not too bad of a first tournament. I ended up with 2 silver medals. I feel a lot better about the one from the absolute than I do about the one from my division.

    A team mate says that they both count because I beat the woman who beat me in my division in the absolute.

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  4. Awesome! Two silver medals is fantastic!

    And I know what you mean about the exhaustion! I can grapple 6 times back to back in class and feel fine, but 3 fights in a tournament can really take it out of me. I think the nerves, and going full bore... not to mention the adrenaline really sap you.

    And it is funny which fights we end up liking. My favorite fight of my first competition was the fight I lost by submission. hehe

    Did you enjoy it? Personally, I love to compete, but I know a few of my teammates decided they were done with them after their first competition.

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  5. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I liked the experience because it showed me what I need to work on. The next tournament is in April and a bunch of us first timers are going to make it our second.

    I was talking to one of the girls who didn't sign up for the absolute. She was totally exhausted. I wasn't too tired until I hit my 4th fight.

    I really have to thank the boys at the club for beating the crap out of me on a regular basis. Everyone said the girls would go crazy hard and not to be too shocked. I expected it would be really rough. But it wasn't.

    After the first 2 fights I had a big gi/mat burn on my face and a sore spot on my head where she'd slapped me. My team mate took one look at me and told me I'd had worse weekly in the gym. Oh so supportive. But entirely true.

    I am so tired today, I hurt in places that I didn't even know I had. Tomorrow's class should be fun.

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  6. I agree 100%. Competition shows you where you need the most work.

    My first one, I got locked up in guard. I'd get someone there, and get scared and hold them there.

    So, I started to focus on transitioning from guard.


    My second one, I got locked up in side control.

    So, I worked on side control escapes.

    I wonder which glaring hole in my game will appear after this NAGA. hehe


    And a friend of mine made a really good point the other day about competition too. He said competition is the closest thing we can simulate to actually being attacked on the street. I get scared before I compete and my adrenaline goes through the roof, but when I am in class, my guard is down, and I feel at ease, so it is much easier to remember things, and think things through.

    I was shocked at how sore I was too after competing. I think it was a combination of the take downs, and tensing up. Not to mention all the nerves. Personally, I got more worked up watching one of my teammates fight then I did from my own fights. Especially if they were losing.

    And she slapped your head?! I assume by accident? I got mat burn on my forehead at the NAGA in November, but that was it. My sister in law, Allie, she got her neck scratched up, a black eye and bruises on her jaw line. The girl who did it to her played dirty though. She actually tried to cover Allie's nose and mouth with her hand in the middle of the grapple.

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  7. She was stuck in my guard and I had a hold of her arm. Her arm slipped loose and she slapped the side of my head. She was shocked and apologized right then. I think we also bumped foreheads at some point.

    Yeah, I got matburn by my right eye. The one that is just getting over being black.

    I was nervous too and I think I was afraid of letting her out of my closed guard. I really need to work on sweeps, etc.

    That sounds really dirty, intentional smothering is wrong.

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  8. Oh okay - Yeah, that kind of stuff happens a lot. Though, I've never had it happen in a competition. Did the do anything about it? I know stuff like that is accident and happens all the time, but I have wondered if you would get penalized for it.

    And yeah, that girl who fought my sister in law did every dirty trick in the book. She did get one penalty, but she easily eared 5 or 6.

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  9. No, I don't think they did anything about it. The slap was totally accidental. She looked shocked and apologized right then.

    I thought it was kinda funny, her apologizing in the middle of a fight.

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  10. You would die laughing grappling me then. I probably say sorry 5-10 times a grapple.. and I say sorry after I do submissions too. lol

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