Lessons in Losing

By Jen

Yesterday I participated in my third bjj tournament. I placed second in the female blue belt light division at the Miami Open. (Yeah!)

Looking back at all three tournaments, there is a pattern of winning my first match and losing my second. With each loss, I’m disappointed, but I take away a lesson.

Miami Open 2009 – Lesson 1: Work on escaping full mount, especially with a much heavier competitor. I think I’m finally beginning to grasp this one.

Naga June 2010 – I mentally defeated myself. I tapped in the last half minute of the match. I panicked in a choke. I should have won that match on points. Lesson 2 – don’t panic!

Miami Open 2010 – Lesson 3: Eat better and rest more. I ran out of fuel during the 1st match. I felt dizzy the minute I stepped out on the mat for the 2nd match. This caused me to defeat myself mentally before the match ever began. Lesson 4: I cannot defeat myself mentally. I tried to overcome this in the beginning, but as soon as my competitor got into a more dominant position, I defeated myself. Lesson 5: Improve on pushing the legs, stepping back and passing. Marcelo knows this is one of my weaknesses because he has me drill it often. I try to avoid doing it because I know I’m weak here. Yesterday proved to me that I better keep drilling.
A few more words on the nourishment – I still need to figure out how to manage the weight. Weighing in with the gi stressed me out. I normally walk around between 135 and 138, so I knew I had to be careful in order to make 141 or under with my gi. As usual, I went a little overboard and ate and drank very little on Friday and Saturday. Normally I eat about 6 large and small meals and drink about 6 bottles of water between the hours of 5 am and 1 pm, so I was HUNGRY. I ended up coming in somewhere at 137 or 138 with the gi– meaning I could have nourished myself more.

I was proud to be there with Nova Uniao South Florida. I watched the video of my matches and heard the great cheering section I had in my team. I train with a great group of people – not full of egos and attitudes like you see with some of the other coaches and competitors. We’re all here to support each other.

A goal for the next tournament – break my streak of winning 1 and losing 1!

You can

By Jen

We’re training hard for the Miami open – 6 weeks to go. My biggest hurdle is a mental one - finding my belief in my abilities. Marcelo recognizes this even when I don’t and, consequently, I received more coaching last week. I’m feeling better so far, but I’m beginning to think that this will be my personal battle every time I’m on the mat. Now that I know that, I can work on overcoming it.

I once read that coaches are there to encourage, motivate and inspire. We’re lucky to have found a coach who does just that. Marcelo constructively shows us our weaknesses and motivates us to overcome them. He’s constantly challenging us to get better and to push our limits. It's our job as students to listen and learn. It's only personal in that he is trying to bring us to our personal best.

I’m looking forward to competing on October 23rd and to sharing the day with my Nova Uniao South Florida teammates. Some of us will be returning from last year and some will be competing for the first time. Win or lose, we will be out there doing our best and making each other proud.

"The only one who can tell you 'you can't ' is you. And you don't have to listen."- Nike