My first tournament!

[georgetteo]

Whoohoo! I'm back and in one piece. I had a fantastic time, loved the experience, didn't hurt anyone else, made some new friends, totally adore my teammates, and have a long list of things to work on... and I won one match. (Goodbye fantasy-land of winning my division, hello reality...)

Short version: I went 1-6 in the <155lbs/0-6mo.-experience class.

Longer version: Of all my competitors, all had more experience than me except the one I beat (we were equal)... there were 5 guys and 2 girls... all but two outweighed me... and I made stupid mistakes in every match, but I never freaked out, panicked, gave up or got gassed. All the guys were high school and/or collegiate wrestlers which I thought was a little unfair, but I had fun every time and I'm even more motivated to work.

Sorry though that I wore my Sub101 rashie (in my avatar you can see a picture from the tournament) because I know I didn't do ya'll proud. Of course I didn't even try anything from RG, I was busy working on simple things like regaining guard, defending armbars/triangles, and going for sweeps and "traditional" stuff.

I got caught in a RNC, two armbars, a baseball-bat choke, and two triangles. I kept giving up my back because I kept turning the wrong way which sucked! The match I won, I went for (and missed) an ezequiel from mount, a sloppy armbar from mount, a sloppy americana, and eventually, finally, sunk a one-armed guillotine from top half-guard. (Ironically? or predictably? on the way up, one of my teammates told me to "impose my game" on my opponent... I responded it would be nice, if I *had* a game.. to which he replied "what's your favorite sub?" eventually I picked "guillotine" and so he advised me to make it my 'guillotine day'-- whenever I couldn't think of what to do next, go for a guillotine or get in position to go for it... I guess it was embedded in my subconscious!)

I need to work on: armbar and triangle from closed guard; triangle and armbar defense; takedowns; mount escape.

What I did halfway passably: regaining guard; not caring that some opponents were super-fast like Jack Russells on crack; relaxing and breathing.

I have video too, but I put all the matches together in one "movie" with chapter headings... I think I need to break them up to post them on the forum, and honestly my ego wishes I could just post my winning match. Even that would show how poor and sloppy my technique is, but I know I should own up to the losses too!

THANKS everyone for being so supportive. Next tournament is Nov 7-8.

:)
p.s. Yes, my black eye from Monday was still in rare form for the tournament-- a lovely blend of red, purple, yellow and green. It was intimidating until you saw me roll :)

[Dannicus]

Fantastic G! You did the forums proud. I can't wait to see the video. No worries, we'll fine tune the game and next time round...we're shooting for 2 wins at least! :)

I'm very very proud of you. Nice shiner by the way. :)

[Jack the Tripper]

Sounds like you had quite an adventure! I wish I could relate... haven't been to a tournament yet.

I'd say keep your chin up, but you're already an inspiration of optimism. If you want my two cents (what I'd do in your situation), put all the vids up so that all the super-grapplers on here can dissect them and provide expert advice!

Keep up the awesome work :)

[NAAberle]

Sounds like a great time and a great learning experience. I definitely wish I had could find tourneys in my area. Definitely post up the vids.

Good job and keep up the work.

[danjr]

*high five* on the win! like they say, everyone's gotta start somewhere and now you know what worked and what didn't and it sounds like you have an idea of what you need to focus on, which makes the experience worth it.

[Tom Gavrilos]

You did us proud!!! :)

[Ryan]

You competed! That is enough to make us proud. You don't have to win, be ADCC champ or beat a Gracie for us to be proud or happy for you.

[Ari Bolden]

smiles ear to ear.

[Oneiros]

Very well done.

You didn?t gas, you didn?t freak out - you won a fight...
You competed ... you DID us definitly proud!

And you have gorgeous hair (strange that I was the first who mentions this... your getting slopppy Tom...) - sorry for the OT though...

Way to GO georgetteo !!!
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[mattamatta]

And you have gorgeous hair (strange that I was the first who mentions this... your getting slopppy Tom...) - sorry for the OT though...



If we're going there, I have to add a very pretty smile.

Congrats on the sick jits! (I'm so obsessed with that phrase right now)

That must have felt really good getting a win. It does seem kind of unfair how there's some long-time wrestlers, and other obvious sandbaggers in some of the beginner categories, but that's just the way it is I guess. I saw at least one guy that I know for a fact wrestled at least 5+ years ago, for who knows how many years.

Seven matches, eh? How did the format work on your comp?

[watty31]

congrats to just getting out there and giving it go! most peolpe don't including myself.

[georgetteo]

Thanks guys-- I will say normally the hair is a liability. I can't tell you how much I've lost since I started rolling, but it's easily enough to fill a pillowcase. Usually I braid it. I was told that the black eye isn't very threatening, but if I showed up with my hair cornrowed, I'd really look like I meant business. Then someone suggested shaving my head, and I immediately tuned out of the conversation. I actually have used my hair (once) to help counter an attack-- I grabbed my braid and got out of a kimura. :p

Don't ask what I was doing in these pictures, I have no clue now, and likely had no clue then. Will try for the video next.

[georgetteo]

OK... in the process of uploading to YouTube... I hate making it public!!!! but ridding oneself of ego is the first step towards enlightenment...

When it's uploaded I'll see if I can link to it from here or whatever.

[Oneiros]

looking forward to the video...

I had long hair myself... (for a guy real long hair...)
But I got so fed up doing the Jits with em that I cut it down to 4 mm

yeah!!!

but for a woman its ... well .... more difficult I guess...^^
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[SnakeBites]

My hair gose to my mid back paint in the ass for jits and after hollowen prolly cutting it

[Ryan]

We def. want video!

maybe the mad scientists here can disect it and formulate a report for you. Great job.

[georgetteo]

Oh, Matt, I didn't mean to ignore your question:

"Seven matches, eh? How did the format work on your comp?"

Not exactly sure what you mean... it was a round robin, does that help? So I fought everyone in my division. Originally, they combined the 0-6months people with the 6-18months people, so that was going to be really ugly and loooong (even though they said it wouldn't count against you if you lost to someone in the higher division... to me, a fight's a fight, an opportunity to get hurt or get tired!) Then they realized they had enough entrants to separate the divisions.

It was this school's first time hosting/running a tournament so they had some kinks to iron out. Including their effort-intensive method of setting pairings-- handwritten lists creating every possible permutation. Fortunately my corner/coach/wing-to-tuck-under Scott is a computer guy, so he's writing them a little something-something to set round robin pairings.

They did say if we had at least 5 women they'd have done a womens' division. There are at least 2 newbie girls at my school who have shown grit enough to compete, in my most-humble opinion, so hopefully I can roust them for the next trip. (In fact one, Leila, really gives me a run for my money, I hope I see her soon so I can start persuading her to compete.)

I couldn't upload my video, apparently too long or wrong format, so going to compress it tonight and see what happens. Definitely want input :)

[SnakeBites]

Congratz and you did us all proud

[Turf]

Congrats on the comp. I'm acutally entering my first comp this weekend. Right now I'm busting my ass, trying to get the last few pounds off (I'm wanting to make sure I'm in the heavy division not the Super heavy). If my scales say 232 surely their will say 235. I'm hoping I do as well if you did.
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[femmefatale]

You go, girl!

I missed a tourney earlier this month due to family obligation. I am hoping to compete this Spring. Please post your vid.

BTW, I have long, red hair also - just not as awesome as yours! :D

[LongV]

pppsssshhhh, high school / collegiate wrestlers, who do they think they are!? :D :cool:

Congrats for on your first tourney. I'm sure you'll fix your small mistakes and become better at JJ. And also getting some medals.

[georgetteo]

If it gets uploaded successfully, you can search "georgette" and find it I think. Probably will take another hour to upload and it's almost 11pm CST now... and then when I get up in the morning I'll post a link to it here.

If you do watch it, I am ALL EARS for *constructive* criticism. Post here or PM me, either way. (The nice thing about this board is I don't need to say don't flame me! not like some other places I won't name.)

I really struggled the last few days... been very down on myself because every time I watch the footage, it gets more painful. (I keep shouting at the girl in the video "don't give up your back! armbar him! posture up! mount escape!" and she never seems to hear me!) I didn't train the day after the tournament which seemed reasonable (well, I rolled lightly with a friend for just an hour but that was it.) Then Monday I didn't train at all, no work out, nothing. Tuesday, I skipped the morning bjj class... skipped the lunch workout... only did the 4 hr class in the evening... and the whole time I was feeling very blue and hesitant and frankly embarassed that I failed to execute as I would have liked.

[really, I think what happened was I'd started to believe the hype of my trainers and rolling partners, that I was some kind of girl prodigy-- and then when I didn't live up to their expectations and my own, I really felt awful.]

But it just took getting back in the "saddle" again to feel better. In class yesterday, I hit a couple armbars against a barely-resisting classmate and it started to be fun again... then today rocked, because I rolled with two chicks who're strong and aggressive but has less experience. And wow-- it's the most kick-a$$ feeling to be even one step ahead of someone, to be able to see what they're doing and squash it-- even if they're really not very good, as long as you're a little better. Because what I was lacking was struggling to impose my gameplan on someone else and succeeding.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this video hops up here soon! When it does I'll post the link.

[spud]

Ive been away for a week so belated congratulations from me as well.

Cheers
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[georgetteo]

It fully uploaded, but I didn't get any confirmation message from youtube. I am not sure what happened but I'll try again tonight (no youtube at work).

[spud]

I go through similiar waves of feelings at training. For quite a while we didnt have any new guys so we were all at a similiar level. This made it very difficult to gauge your progress as we were all progressing quite well. Much of the rolling in class amounted to very few submissions. Lately we have had some new guys & it is then that you realise that you are improving because as you said you know that you are a move or two ahead of them as you can see whats coming.

Its all part of building your own game.
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[georgetteo]

I'm a total idiot when it comes to posting videos here and I can't even really give a link-- but if you do a youtube search for "georgette grappling" you'll pull them up. I had to break them in two parts-- so watch georgette first and georgette2 second. PLEASE analyze to your heart's content, I look forward to hearing... ok sorry that's a lie, I'm dreading it, but I want to learn anyways :)

[LongV]

You did pretty well against the guys. I was really impressed. You did well with the half-guard sweeps and scrambled around well also.

Some minor things I saw: in the first vid, I saw around 3:50-ish, your guard was open. There I would've scoot my hips out a bit away from him and go for butterfly hooks. those guys were on their toes in your guard, they're were just asking to get swept either from butterfly guard or x-guard.

Overall, you did great against 4 year collegiate guys who got nothing on ya... nothin. :cool:

[georgetteo]

Here's the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJZtAEP8rg

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTbOh15fPSQ

I'm making a list of things to learn-- butterfly guard and X guard, check :)

[Ari Bolden]

Wow...well done. They just throw everyone into the mix don't they. Gonna say it....I'm proud of you!:p

[Dannicus]

As I suspected G, you did fantastic.

Now that the heat of battle is over, and you can be analytical of yourself. I suggest going back and rewatch each match with a notebook and pen at hand. Things move so fast when you are grappling, its hard to see the whole picture. As you watch, write down things you think you did well at, and also things you aren't happy with. If you do this for each match, you'll start to see where your big holes and even your medium size and small holes are in your game. You can then begin to fix the gaps. You can see if you almost got the sweep, or submission, or guard pass.....you can adjust your timing....just some thoughts. Great job dearie! Very proud of you

[Jack the Tripper]

Well done!

I'm still a newbie, but I'll throw in my two cents because I think I can help :)

In most of the matches, you seemed to get outwrestled (they were all wrestlers, right?) once you got into a defensive position. However, I noticed a several places where you could have claimed the lockdown but didn't.

Depending on how good your lockdown is, you may need to work on it, as well as getting the whip up, but that's what training is for :D Once you havea strong lockdown and you've whipped up to your side, you're actually (arguably) in a dominant position. The bonus is, the wrestlers probably won't know how to counter sweeps like old school and electric chair, or you could use the limp arm to take their back, which is IMHO the best place to be with a stronger opponent. Even if none of your instructors follow the 10th Planet system, this stuff fairly easy to learn just from videos and the books if you have them.

My other suggestion is to start working on your rubber guard, something straightforward like the chilldog-kung fu move-jiu claw sweep/omaplata. I say this because the omaplata has recently become my highest percentage submission, and I roll with guys that are around fifty pounds heavier and much stronger. It can take awhile to get, but it's worth it since most of your opponents won't have a clue how to defend!

Otherwise, I was really impressed with your submission defence; you never went without a fight. Work on that lockdown enough though, and you'll be using escapes a lot less and attacks a lot more.

And yeah... gorgeous hair.

[Nixed]

Depending on how good your lockdown is, you may need to work on it, as well as getting the whip up, but that's what training is for :D Once you havea strong lockdown and you've whipped up to your side, you're actually (arguably) in a dominant position. The bonus is, the wrestlers probably won't know how to counter sweeps like old school and electric chair, or you could use the limp arm to take their back, which is IMHO the best place to be with a stronger opponent.

I'm not arguing your advice about using more lock down, but I think you're wrong about the wrestlers being unfamiliar with moves from dogfight. That is a very common situation in wrestling in defense of a take down. I'd go so far as to say that a large number of even somewhat competitive matches go there at some point. In one of his books Eddie even introduces the limp arm under a different name (DPO I think?) because he didn't want wrestlers to know what he was talking about. Not to discourage trying it I just think you may be playing into your opponent's strength if you do. I would think that if you end up there you might be able to catch someone by surprise with a sub from there. There was a triangle from there that was posted a while ago that might be worth a shot.

[Jack the Tripper]

I'm not arguing your advice about using more lock down, but I think you're wrong about the wrestlers being unfamiliar with moves from dogfight. That is a very common situation in wrestling in defense of a take down. I'd go so far as to say that a large number of even somewhat competitive matches go there at some point. In one of his books Eddie even introduces the limp arm under a different name (DPO I think?) because he didn't want wrestlers to know what he was talking about. Not to discourage trying it I just think you may be playing into your opponent's strength if you do. I would think that if you end up there you might be able to catch someone by surprise with a sub from there. There was a triangle from there that was posted a while ago that might be worth a shot.
Actually I wasn't really suggesting she go to the dogfight... just use the whip up for some high percentage sweeps like old school and electric chair.

Normally when you whip up to your side from the lockdown, a good wrestler will put in a strong whizzer. Then, while he's thinking how cool and whizzery he is, you can go for the old school/electric chair/stoner control combo or else use the limp arm to take their back. Personally, I avoid the dogfight because a) I haven't learned how to use it properly yet and b) I'm normally rolling with bigger/stronger guys who would have an edge in that position.

[georgetteo]

First I'd like to say how different it is here than elsewhere on the 'net-- no shocker! Over on youtube, I get random whackos subscribing to my channel (they apparently masturbate to my grappling, based on the other videos they have marked as their favorites... should I be flattered???) and then on NHBgear.com someone told me they came on my gi. Nice. :confused:

Second-- I took a private from Denny (10pjj) in San Fran and it was wonderful-- but I haven't practiced the whip up yet, and I should. I am interested to hear more about how wrestlers react to some of this stuff so keep the insights coming.

Ya'll are all so nice. I am doubly motivated to make some opponents sad at my next tournament (Nov 8th, the Atama Open, north-west of Houston in Spring TX.)

Anyone up for a road trip?? I'll bake you cookies!

[Ari Bolden]

First I'd like to say how different it is here than elsewhere on the 'net-- no shocker! Over on youtube, I get random whackos subscribing to my channel (they apparently masturbate to my grappling, based on the other videos they have marked as their favorites... should I be flattered???) and then on NHBgear.com someone told me they came on my gi. Nice. :confused:

Second-- I took a private from Denny (10pjj) in San Fran and it was wonderful-- but I haven't practiced the whip up yet, and I should. I am interested to hear more about how wrestlers react to some of this stuff so keep the insights coming.

Ya'll are all so nice. I am doubly motivated to make some opponents sad at my next tournament (Nov 8th, the Atama Open, north-west of Houston in Spring TX.)

Anyone up for a road trip?? I'll bake you cookies!

Cookies?? That is my favorite food, no joke!!! Georgette...you rock!

[SnakeBites]

Georgette you had me at Hello :p