My first taste of competition

**WhiteBeltJones** · 03-06-2006, 12:54

So, this past Saturday, my club held an in house tournament. They do this from time to time, to raise money for the club and to give newbies a chance to experience what a shiai is like. This was the first time that they've had it that I've been able to attend.

I had a lot of fun. Lost all three of my fights, but it was still a good time.

I weighed in at 230, so that put me in the 215+ division that they decided on. After Saturday, I'm seriously wondering if I need to focus on losing these pounds of fat, or at least trading them for useful muscle.

So my first opponent was at least 3 or 4 inches taller than I and built like a locomotive without much fat on him at all. When he first grabbed me, I was wondering if they would have to get the number of that truck that hit me. The pace he set was fast and hard, and I honestly wasn't prepared for it. We pulled a bit, hit the ground, tangled up, got stood up, went some more. I started gassing, and he caught me with a pretty good inner reap for ippon.

The next fight was against a brown belt who I've found to have an extremely keen sense of kuzushi and some wicked counter throws. He was a lot more relaxed than my first opponent, so I was able to slow down and enjoy myself a bit more. We pulled around a bit and he got some koka-level throws off on me before finally catching me with a shoulder thrown and sending me to the mat for ippon.

After the second fight, I noticed that my shoulder was hurting pretty badly. Not sure how I did it, but my thought is that I was just pulling harder than I thought I'd been, and might not have had the best leverage for it.

The third fight was against a gent who cross trains in BJJ. We mixed it up a bit in standup, both more or less matched there. As soon as we hit the mat, though, he caught me in a fast reversal followed by an armbar and I tapped pretty quick.

So, yeah, not exactly a brilliant first showing, but that's life. I think I've learned a few things from this:

- You can still have fun at Judo if you suck

- Stamina is important. Those 5 minute matches will seem like an eternity if you gas out.

- Some people are natural atheletes. I am not one of those people.

I'm also not quite so eager now to participate in a real tournament. I think I'll work on my technique and strength/endurance a bit more before I do that. Glad I was able to test my limits in a more controlled environment though.

**TonyU** · 03-06-2006, 13:32

Excellent! Good for you Kurt. Keep up the good work and I'm glad to see you have fun.
While I'm not much into competition, if done right it can be a valuable tool in assessing your deficiencies.

Also don't disbelieve in yourself. Do not compare yorself to them. You may think you're not a natural athlete you just need more practice.

I'm also actually debating entering a BJJ/Judo tournament or two.

**Ninjalord** · 03-06-2006, 14:32

Hey, having fun is the important part is everything I think. Don't worry, I sucked at it the first time we went into in-house tourneys, but I kept practicing and kept getting better, and you will too. Heck, I still do not look foward to rolling with Sempai, I have only one one match against him out of dozens, but I keep on trucking, someday I will get him again.....but keep on truckin man...and good luck.

**Tony Dismukes** · 03-06-2006, 14:54

It is fun, isn't it? After my first competition a few weeks ago, I'm psyched up to do a few more this year.

Keep at it, and you'll start winning some of those matches, which will make it even more fun.

**starkjudo** · 03-06-2006, 14:59

Kurt, be aware, the weight class break for the highest class is 220lbs. So, if you're 230 and you go to a tournament, you can be matched against anywhere from 221lbs to 300 or above. If you can lose about 10lbs and keep them off, you'll be in a much nicer weight bracket.

I've thought for some time now there needs to be a fresh look at the weight classes. It just makes sense to me in this day and age to add a 240 -250 weight bracket to the mix. 220lbs ain't what it used to be.

**WhiteBeltJones** · 03-06-2006, 15:10

Originally Posted by starkjudo

Kurt, be aware, the weight class break for the highest class is 220lbs. So, if you're 230 and you go to a tournament, you can be matched against anywhere from 221lbs to 300 or above. If you can lose about 10lbs and keep them off, you'll be in a much nicer weight bracket.

I've thought for some time now there needs to be a fresh look at the weight classes. It just makes sense to me in this day and age to add a 240 -250 weight bracket to the mix. 220lbs ain't what it used to be.

Yeah, no kidding. The guy I fought in my second match had gone to an earlier tournament and had fought some 300 pound monster for one of his fights.

The truth is, my healthy weight is probably closer to 170-180, and I really need to get down there. These pounds are gonna haunt me later on if I don't lose 'em.

**Abbax8** · 03-06-2006, 16:24

Kurt,
Good for you. It takes guts to get on the mat against an unknown opponent. And you had fun and learned something. So in my book, that is a successful shiai experiance.

As far a weight, I agree. I have fought guys who were over 350 lbs. When I was young and fast (and healed quick) it was fun, now it's just survival. I need to lose weight too.

Peace

Dennis

**Musubi Dojo** · 03-06-2006, 16:49

Originally Posted by starkjudo

Kurt, be aware, the weight class break for the highest class is 220lbs. So, if you're 230 and you go to a tournament, you can be matched against anywhere from 221lbs to 300 or above. If you can lose about 10lbs and keep them off, you'll be in a much nicer weight bracket.

I've thought for some time now there needs to be a fresh look at the weight classes. It just makes sense to me in this day and age to add a 240 -250 weight bracket to the mix. 220lbs ain't what it used to be.

I quit judo tournaments as kid because I was an orange belt, about 230lbs, 14 years old and competing against 30 year old brown belts who weighed in about 280lbs. These guys were head and shoulders taller than me. It was educational at first but not that much fun.

**starkjudo** · 03-06-2006, 19:08

Originally Posted by Musubi Dojo

I quit judo tournaments as kid because I was an orange belt, about 230lbs, 14 years old and competing against 30 year old brown belts who weighed in about 280lbs. These guys were head and shoulders taller than me. It was educational at first but not that much fun.

Somewhere, there's a former tournament director who needs his head slapped off for ever thinking that was a good idea.

**Musubi Dojo** · 03-06-2006, 19:13

Originally Posted by starkjudo

Somewhere, there's a former tournament director who needs his head slapped off for ever thinking that was a good idea.

Amen.......

**rgoad** · 03-06-2006, 23:00

Congratulations, Kurt. I bet you're still high on adrenalin. Also, good luck on turning those 60 pounds from nouns into verbs. You'll be scary when that happens.

**Stoker** · 03-07-2006, 10:20

Originally Posted by Musubi Dojo

I quit judo tournaments as kid because I was an orange belt, about 230lbs, 14 years old and competing against 30 year old brown belts who weighed in about 280lbs. These guys were head and shoulders taller than me. It was educational at first but not that much fun.

Try being 240 and fighting two guys twice your weight in under ten minutes. The first guy I took a high lapel grip, pulled, and damned near catipulted myself over his head -- I would have needed a fork lift to budge him and I still got called for stalling. Honest, it wasn't stalling, I could not move him! The next guy moved a little more and I managed to get a koka that put him on the ground and then went in for kata gatame -- only I could not get my arms around his head/neck and arm. Kesa was no good as there was no neck to put my arm around! I was so exhausted after muscling his dead beef arse after that he was able to wazari me with what was descibed as a 'part sumi otoshi and part flinch'.

It was time to let those of you with better knees take the mat and so I gracefully ended my competition career.