Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Logan



Last weekend, I competed at NAGA along with Caelin and Brie. Caelin did very good, winning first place in both gi and no-gi. This being her first tournament, Brie also did well, competing against boys with higher belts, even though she had only been training for a few months. Since I just turned 14, I was moved up from kids to teens (14 to 15 years old). The only thing that made me a little nervous about this was the word “teens”. I had to remind myself that I would only be fighting people my age or a year older, not someone a lot bigger and older than I am.

I had also chosen to compete in advanced. Originally I was supposed to fight intermediate because of the way NAGA splits up different skill levels, but Marcelo gave me the choice to fight a higher division. Last time I competed, he also gave me the choice, but I decided to fight intermediate. This time I decided to take the challenge and fight advanced.

Waiting in front of the mat to fight was, and always is, when I am the most nervous. It helps to think about the worst and best case scenarios. I learned this from my mom. Whenever I’d be nervous about something, she’d ask, “What’s the worst possible thing that could happen?” The best thing that could happen is that I win. The worst thing that could happen is that I lose, but that would be okay because I fought a higher division and I did my best. Not that bad at all. Thinking about this calms me down.

While my mom waited in front of the mats listening for my name, I sat down against the wall listening to my iPod and eating little pieces of broken chocolate chip cookies (It’s hard to eat when I’m nervous). When I was listening to my iPod, I was really distracting myself from being nervous more than getting ready to fight. It helped more than I thought it would.

Feeling a lot better, I got up and went over by my mom and the mat that I was supposed to fight at. I saw that they were starting Novice for gi so I put mine on. I’m glad I did, because that’s when they called my name to a ring on the opposite side of the mats and said I’d be disqualified if I didn’t hurry. After swimming through a crowd of slow moving people, I made it onto the mat and stood before the girl I was supposed to fight. She looked a little bigger than me and had a green belt, but I didn’t let it get me nervous. Not because I didn’t have time too (I really didn’t), but because one of the things I’ve learned to do is ignore the things about my opponent that will make me think I don’t have a chance.

Before I knew it, the match had started and I was fighting. When I fought I stayed focused and determined and only listened to Marcelo’s voice. I didn’t think about whether or not I was losing. If I thought about how good I was doing, I would be less determined and focused. If I thought about how behind on points I was, I’d get too nervous and frantic and not be able to think right. Instead I stayed calm and only thought about what my next move was. Even though I don’t like to think about where I am on points, it did help a lot when Marcelo yelled to me that if I passed, I’d win. I did it, and as soon as the match was over I was relieved. I was breathing heavy; partly because I was out of breath and more so because I was happy that I had won a match that I wasn’t sure I could win. I gave my former opponent a hug and told her she did good because she did and she deserved some credit.