In spite of having been very disappointed in myself after my matches were done, I am actually feeling pretty good about how things went after sleeping on it. I made some mistakes and didn't capitalize on the opportunities that I created for myself. It's part of what makes competing great that you go out into the unknown with various opponents that you've probably never rolled with. During my time competing, I've yet to run into the same competitors at different tournaments.
It's OK to stay within the confines of your dojo and not compete. You will still learn techniques, go through your drills and spar. A problem that you're going to run into with that however is that you'll tend to see the same things over and over from your sparring partners. Even though we all learn new techniques, we sometimes tend to stay with the same techniques and can become predictable.
My main focus for this tournament was my gripping while standing. My takedown game has always been the worst aspect of my skillset and I've finally started coming up with a game or strategy. Bottom line, I don't have the athleticism to shoot in for double or single leg takedowns. In the gi, I've recently focused on more of a Judo or Sambo based game.
In my first match, I succeeded in getting the grips I wanted. It worked so well in fact that I even managed to get an underhook which I should have used to get a trip or a throw but the pause I made in trying to decide gave opponent the moment he needed to whizzer down hard on my arm and shoulder. The opportunity was gone as I gave up the underhook. I should have fought to keep it but I just didn't. Lessons learned.
I was trying to get my grips in my second match but my opponent was mindful of it and fought my hands off while trying to establish his own grips also. I then committed what is a cardinal sin in combat sports, I started stepping straight back. It's not bad to step backwards in combat but if you do you better make sure it's at an angle. My opponent changed levels and got a beautiful power double leg takedown on me and landed into side control. I could feel him trying to isolate my arm and try to bring me up for an arm bar. I setup my lapel grab defense and waited for him to lean.
Shoutout to Rodrigo Artilheiro. This defense has gotten me out of trouble and into a great position so many times.
This time however I could not come up quickly enough and got stuck. I ended up getting into a pretty good deep half position, but my opponent fought hard to underhook my arm furthest away from him. I knew time was ticking away. I was down on points and when I looked at the clock there were about 30 seconds left. I had to do something now!
If I turned into him, I would've ended up in Turtle position and would not have been able to get anything going in time. I decided to turn away and hope for luck in a scramble. Luck was not on my side as my opponent reached underneath my head and grabbed the lapel. With my legs not completely clear of his leg he started working a Bow & Arrow Choke. It was on my chin at first but after some adjusting my opponent got the lapel underneath my chin to seal the deal.
Tap, tap, tap.
Bummed about the result but thankful for the lessons from the day. I can't wait to get back to class this week and work some more.
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