Entering 2008 ISKA NSW Open.

[michaelwbray]

Hey guys,

Got my 2nd competition coming up on Sunday 30th March. It's a Gi tournament. Been training hard for it... Putting in a 4 days a week of training for it. I'm in much better shape and my fitness has improved a lot since the last comp I entered.

Done a solid 3 months of rolling from a standing position when starting, and have really improved my take downs. No longer going in with the attitude of having to pull guard.

Going to try to get it video taped to show you guys how I go (and yes... I'll still put it up if I lose... might digitally edit it though and give the opponent a purple belt instead of a white one to try to save face if I lose...)

Wish me luck. I've put enough training in not to need it, but having luck on your side is always a good thing!

[Herm]

Remember to have fun out there! Good luck and we're all pulling for you, win or lose. Also get as much video as possible!

[michaelwbray]

Lost my match by today by on points, 5-0. I pulled guard and held him in my guard looking for submissions. Almost landed the cross lapel choke. Held onto it too long and wore out my hands a bit. After that, almost got the opposing cross lapel choke, but again, he defended it. Tried to throw on a triangle 4 mins into the match (1 min remaining) but it was sloppy and he passed my guard, and took the mount. I bucked and rolled him off just as the full time buzzer went.

I was really disappointed I didn't land the submissions. As Elvis said after the match, I did everything well until I tried the triangle. It was sloppy. After that, instead of scrambling to get guard, I sort of gave up on it and let him pass. I should have swept him when I had him in guard instead of submission hunting. Once I had the points I should have gone hunting for the submission.. or stalled him.

I can honestly say that I learned a lot from this. Going to definately work my sweeps more in rolling now rather then just trying to submit people from guard. Going to do 1000 reps on my triangle choke, it was embarrasing,

My dad recorded the video of it. I'll put it up on youtube. Looking forward to getting back into training next week and improving on all my weaknesses. Had fun while I was out there. Feel bad for letting my trainers down... but at the end of the day I'm a white belt and it was a good learning experience.

[Ghosted3]

So you went to a tourney, didnt do as well as you expected, and walked away learning something, not to mention the desire to go back and make yourself better. Sounds to me like you won my friend. I have faith that you are going to get leaps and bounds better for your next tourney and will be turning things around really soon.