Fl recap
My tournament was this past Saturday in Kissimmee, Florida so I thankfully managed to miss the arctic cold which blanketed most of the northeast. I think the low temp was around -15f and the high was 9f on Sunday...sounds like a great time right? Meanwhile in Kissimmee it was a balmy 72 with bright sun and a nice breeze.
The venue was about 20 minutes from our hotel and very easy to get to. The only issue was a 5k that went on earlier in the morning which closed a few roads locally. This resulted in the doors opening roughly 40 minutes after their scheduled time which in turn pushed the day's schedule back by about the same amount of time. Aside from that, the organizers (UAEJJF) were extremely well organized. The doors opened and we checked in, then weighed in (167 with Gi on) and went to the stands to wait for our turn to be called to the bullpen. I didn't mind waiting though, the stands looked down upon the competition area and I was easily able to see the White and Blue Belts compete. I did actually take some pics of the venue and I will post them to Flickr shortly.
The purple belts were originally scheduled to fight at 1230, but it turned out to be closer to 1300. My match began around 1310 and I was ready to go. I don't get overly nervous anymore, I've competed a bunch over the years (50+ matches) and have my mental routine that I go through to keep my mind from wandering. Unfortunately my routine didn't matter much...I wouldn't say I was mauled (and I've been mauled before) but I definitely was beaten.
The bad: I left a few points on the table (didn't get up fast enough on two sweeps), my guard was passed with ease a few times, I was too passive regarding a dispute over a restart (I went for omoplata and he pulled his arm out of the sleeve, he disputed the refs repositioning of us who then stood us up), I wasn't able to break his guard when I was caught in it, Position recognition needs to happen faster.
The good: Marcelo is always on me about giving up my back in training and it must have sunk in since I didn't give it up (just once actually but I kept moving and he wasn't able to take advantage) in the match, I got 2 sweep attempts in but I need to capitalize on them and score, I was able to get into the DLR a few times and it felt natural but now I have to just sack up and spin underneath the guy and take his back like Brian has us drill constantly or I need to transition to one of the X-guard sweeps that I like.
Takeaways: Drill more including DLR/Guard retention/Speed passing (x pass) and pressure passing (Murilo smash pass) to supplement my kneecut and torrendao/ X guard sweep (missed some chances upon further review).
Yeah there is alot of stuff. But my plan for the year is to improve more and fight less. I'll be taking some road trips and then privates with Brian I feel. In retrospect I did some of the same things I do in class when I go against Clayton, Julian, Mark and Rich...some of the time it works and other times it doesn't. Rome wasn't built in a day though. I will post my match (I don't mind posting a loss) when I get the chance.
Other notes...Roberto Cyborg Abreu is a monster, he was walking around coaching his guys. Conversely though Bruno Malfacine isn't so big, he was also coaching his guys. It was cool to see them both yelling instructions to their guys and talking to people...Abraham Marte reminds me of a college professor, and he did put on a foot lock clinic both on the mat and in the bullpen as he explained exactly how he caught his opponent...