By JenYesterday 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!
