Another BJJ competition

[Ivan]

Hey guys, I’ve just had my first round robin tournament yesterday and I did a lot better than my other competitions. I won 3 out of my 4 matches. The winners were supposed to be decided by having an elimination tournament of the top 3 performing competitors in each group, after the division was split into two groups (a,b) and having all the people in each group face off against each other.

I won my first two matches by points and was second on the board. I remained second after losing my third match, with my opponent climbing up to third. Soon after, the competitor in 4th place climbed up to second and I was moved to third. By the end of all the matches in my group, and after having won my fourth match, I remained third and I thought I’d make it into the elimination rounds. However, it turned out that I was tied for third place with the person that beat me, and the tie breaker was the result of our match, so unfortunately, I was moved to 4th and did not get to participate. It was gut wrenching to be honest. Without further ado, here are all my matches in order - I’m in the white Tatami Gi.

I must admit, I was a bit disappointed by the level of my opponents. I do not mean to be disrespectful, however, there were many other competitiors in my group, and in the opposite group, who would’ve presented more of a challenge and would have been more interesting to face. All of my opponents apart from the one I lost to, seemed to be new to the sport, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I lost to the only opponent that put up more of a fight. I’m not sure if this comes across as disrespectful, but it’s not meant to be. I was just expecting it to be harder, and it makes me question my overall ability level.

I hope you will leave some constructive criticism in what I can work on. Thank you all!

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Wait I'm confused by how this tournament worked. You were in a round robin with 4 other people, beat 3 of them, and came in 4th? How does that work?

 

[isshinryuronin]

All of my opponents apart from the one I lost to, seemed to be new to the sport, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I lost to the only opponent that put up more of a fight.

Realize that you're a beginner, too. If you won fairly, there should be no bad taste. Maybe those "easy" wins were just because you trained harder than the other guys. Even easy wins can teach you something. I'm not a BJJ guy, so I couldn't tell you what, but I'm sure you can study the videos and determine what opportunities you missed to have done even better. Did you miss some attempted techniques? Maybe the wrong choice for the situation or poor execution? Any way you look at it, the tournament was a success for you. Keep working and have no doubt tougher matches (and victories) are in the near future.

 

[drop bear]

Yeah. Jujitsu is chock full of questioning your own ability. You don't win a comp. You have a bad day. You just get caught.

The uncertainty is part of it.

 

[Ivan]

Wait I'm confused by how this tournament worked. You were in a round robin with 4 other people, beat 3 of them, and came in 4th? How does that work?

Hey. So my division had 20 people in it. The division was split into two groups with 10 people each. The people within the groups faced each other with 4 matches each, and were ranked within their groups based on their performance by taking in how many wins they had, how many submissions they used for those wins and the amount of points. After that, the top 3 people in each group were placed in a single elimination tournament to decide the top 3 competitiors of those 6 people. I hope this clears it up.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Hey. So my division had 20 people in it. The division was split into two groups with 10 people each. The people within the groups faced each other with 4 matches each, and were ranked within their groups based on their performance by taking in how many wins they had, how many submissions they used for those wins and the amount of points. After that, the top 3 people in each group were placed in a single elimination tournament to decide the top 3 competitiors of those 6 people. I hope this clears it up.

Okay, that makes much more sense. Really unfortunate that the guy you tied with happened to be the one that beat you then.

 

[Ivan]

Okay, that makes much more sense. Really unfortunate that the guy you tied with happened to be the one that beat you then.

Yeah my heart sank once the rankings were solidified. I was so excited to go and was buzzing from submitting my last opponent so dominantly, just for me to realise I wouldn’t get to fight again.

 

[JowGaWolf]

All of my opponents apart from the one I lost to, seemed to be new to the sport, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I lost to the only opponent that put up more of a fight. I’m not sure if this comes across as disrespectful, but it’s not meant to be. I was just expecting it to be harder, and it makes me question my overall ability level.

When things are easy work your technique. Take risks that you otherwise wouldn't have taken. Try a more difficult technique or try one that you are having difficulty with. If you didn't do any of these things, then my thoughts is that your easy matches were at the right level for you. They still were good enough to force you to rely on what your were good at. Anyone that you feel you must use your A-Game for is still a worthy match.

When things get truly easy then it becomes more like practice. You try new things and different approaches that you normally wouldn't do in a competition. We only stick to our A-Game when we feel that we need it to win. Just something to think about.

 

[JowGaWolf]

@Ivan I forgot to mention in my last post that it's good to see you find something that you enjoy. You always spoke of boxing as if it was a struggle and very little to enjoy. You no longer seem to have that tone and it looks like you are enjoying things more. I have a saying about life and religion. I'm not sure about your religion so I will only frame this saying as part of life.

"Life sometimes gives us hardships on journey only because we are too stupid to know that we are on the wrong path."

From your postings. It seems that you have now found the right path and it's good to see you enjoy it.