Tournament!

First BJJ tournament: check! Blake, Chris, Cody, David, Jonathan, Sheldon, Steven, and I competed. We all had fun, supported each other, and represented GCKC well. Took home quite a few trophies too. The Gumby Ninja came out to support me, which was nice—we had fun snarking about the sport karate tournament going on at the other end of the building.

Overall, it was a good experience, if slow-moving. The mat supplier apparently pulled out at the last minute and the mats they were left with were thin and in bad shape. They eventually pulled one set over the other and just ran one mat the entire time. So things took a while.

Waiting; Match Results

The waiting was probably the worst. I’d been worrying myself sick over the past few days thinking about how unready I am, what game plan I should use, what if no other girls showed up and I had to fight the lightweight guys, etc. Having even more time to sit and worry was not a pleasant experience. The guys were really good about encouraging me, but I’m a perfectionist and an over-thinker; I was going to be ridiculously nervous no matter what.

While I waited, I hydrated and cheered for my teammates. Jonathan had only one other guy in his division; they fought for best two out of three. If I recall correctly, Blake won all of his matches (one against Sheldon—Jonathan coached both of them in a sort of schizophrenic fashion). David and Sheldon each won two out of three or four. Steven only had one guy in his gi division and had to pull out before no-gi, but he had a spectacular match. Won it by armbar, 22 points to 2—against a blue belt. I’m guessing he’s going to get his own blue pretty soon. Cody lost one match and won his second via triangle. Chris had nobody in his weight class, so he ended up facing the referee (I think).

My Matches

After most of the guys’ gi matches were done—five hours after the tournament had started—it was time for the women to roll. All three of us. (The registration table had assured me that there were plenty of women in my weight class; turns out they’d all registered for sport karate.) We ended up doing a sort of round-robin thing. The blue belt had offered not to fight us white belts, as she’d been training a lot longer. But the other white and I were willing to fight her; it seemed a shame to come all the way here and not have any opponents.

Match 1: One-Stripe White Belt from American Top Team in Columbia, MO (Dustin Denes Team)
I’d been eying this girl all morning and afternoon. She had a few inches on me and looked like she weighed 160 or 170; did not want her to get on top of me. The guys suggested spider guard and shooting in for a single- or double-leg takedown. Great ideas, neither of which I could pull off in that match. She closed with me pretty quickly and started yanking me around like I was a doll, so I jumped guard. Spent most of the match squashed under her and trying to shrimp out. At one point she was nearly sitting on my face. Got in position for an armbar several times but kept going to the wrong side, though my corner valiantly kept repeating instructions to use “your other leg, Jenn, your other leg!!” The ref finally called time and gave her the win based on points—6 to 2, I think.

Initially wasn’t happy with my performance but the boys said I’d done well. A spectator came up to me and said he was impressed that I’d given up 50-60 pounds but still fought anyway. Pretty sure that if we’d been in the same weight class, things would have gone differently. So I’m not too upset about losing to her—yeah, she squashed me, but she couldn’t tap me.

Here’s some video Gumby took of the match. I’m the tiny one flopping around like a n00b.

Man, watching this makes me feel like I’m suffocating underneath her all over again. I think her game plan was to just keep all her weight on me. Couldn’t figure out how to sweep her when she did stand up in my guard; her base seemed pretty strong. Feel frustrated because I could’ve armbarred her multiple times. Well, I need to drill those so I won’t blank out next time.

Match 2: Blue Belt from Brazil Academy-Nova União in Lenexa, KS
My next opponent was the blue belt, whose name was Renata and whose coach talked to her in Portuguese. Basically, for my second fight ever, I was going to face a Brazilian blue belt.

That actually took all the pressure off me, because I wasn’t going to win; I just had to survive and view it as a learning experience. So I was a lot less nervous going into that match. We spent a little time dancing around before she took me down and off the mat; restarted; got off the mat again (I think?) and restarted. She got to mount and I made several attempts to upa. Could hear my corner yelling “Upa! Which way does she want to go?” Finally trapped the appropriate limbs, bridged up and got her over—and dropped right into a cross-choke. She must’ve had a grip on my collar from mount before I rolled her over, because I didn’t even have time to think about what I’d do from my new position before she set the choke. I remember gripping her collar in a vague approximation of a counter to cross-choke, thinking, “That choke’s really tight, but I don’t want to tap just yet.” Then the background noise faded for a second. The next thing I knew, I was kneeling face-down on the mat like I’d been bowing from seiza, and my opponent was saying, “Are you okay??”

She won, obviously. I got a hug from her afterward and she said our schools should train together some time. Heck yes, I am all for that! I can’t begin to express how awesome it would be to train with another woman, much less with that kind of experience.

Match 3
I fought the other white again in no-gi. Was exhausted by then, but this time think I went for the takedown. Failed. Think I spun under her at one point and she chased me. Spent more time squashed underneath her. She was tired too—I believe her match with Renata had gone longer than mine—and at one point she just lay there on top of me. The guys were yelling for me to block her hip and shrimp out, and I tried, but her pressure and weight were too much. Figured I’d try to escape when she started moving or doing a technique, but she didn’t. The ref said, “Come on, girls, work,” and I wanted to reply, “I would, but I sort of can’t breathe right now,” except that speaking would have required being able to breathe.

She won on points, again. I was just happy to have survived. I think one of the guys had another match, and then we packed up and went home around 4 or 5pm.

In Conclusion

Wow, I’m glad that’s over. Quite the experience. Cody and Blake taped most of our matches; I know for certain that they got my first and second ones. Hope to post their footage eventually.

So proud of all the GCKC students. Everyone held their own. I think that of all the schools there, we showed the best sportsmanship, and we definitely showed our skill. I’m proud to train with these guys.

Regarding my performance: When I started this blog, I stated that I’m not in martial arts for tournament records and trophies. I went to this tournament to test my skills, and I count this as a success. Though I lost all of my matches, I didn’t tap to either of my opponents—who both weighed more than I did and had more experience—and I survived all three rolls. For self-defense purposes, that’s a good sign. Just need to drill some basic techniques and work on my escapes from side control.

Now what to do with my two losers’ trophies…?

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