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Saturday, October 31, 2009

One Week Out

Only 7 days from my first tournament! I'm getting really excited. And really nervous.

I was told the best thing to do is to train light this week: come to class, do the warm-ups and drills, but sit out on the grappling. I think that's good advice, especially since I am feeling worn down right now. I am on the verge of getting sick, I think. Chugging a lot of vitamin c and trying to get extra sleep.

As far as class goes, we worked yet MORE half guard stuff. We learned a couple submissions from half-guard and another sweep. It's amazing to me how many different sweeps I've learned just in the past few weeks. I actually like working from half-guard and guard, so I've been really enjoying all the new info. Unfortunately, many of them are running together in my brain. I think I'm going to look a bunch of them up on YouTube just to get them all straight.

5 comments:

Junior Familia said...

hey good luck in your tournament!
usually i train pretty hard until 3 days out. you should be really good with 72 hours of rest. And in those 72 hours i drill the techniques in my game.

good luck and get much rest! and if you find your to excited the night before, don't be afraid to take a natural sleep aid =D

Dev said...

Hey Allie,

I agree with Junior - you can drill on Mon or Tuesday, then keep it light the rest of the week. This is one case where I'll advocate picking your training partners and avoiding wild cards. Play safe, but push a little - it'll do two things - one, it'll keep your head in the game, and two, it'll get out some of that stress.

Second, control your urge to go over every technique you've ever learned. Think about all the positions you can be in, and pick your two highest percentage moves from each spot - nothing more. Drill those in practice, and drill them in your head. You KNOW they work. You've used them.

Think about your defense. The fun part about tournaments is that you don't know the style of the person you're facing. In practice, I know who's going to throw an ezekiel choke or ignore it and go for an armbar. You don't know that in a tournament, so think about setups for attacks they might be throwing at you.

Lastly, play YOUR game. Don't get sucked into playing a different game because your opponent is bigger/stronger/weaker/slower/more patient/less patient... you get the idea. Use what works for YOU and your game. I know you've read Georgette's awesome post on tournament prep. Go back and read that, and hit the link to ELyse's discussion of a game plan.

You don't need some complicated military strategy, but fight with an end goal in mind. What is the one attack that seems to work for you? A collar choke from the top? A triangle from the bottom? Whatever it is, EVERYTHING you do should have that in the distance as the end goal. Use your guard passing to get to side control so you can execute your kimura. Defend on the bottom to pull off the sweep to get you to the top so you can pass to side control to execute your kimura. Don't make it more complicated than it is, but if you have a goal, you can solve the problem to get there.

At the end of the day, you're going to be nervous. Fact. But you're going to step on that mat, and as soon as the fight hits the floor it'll be just like practice.

Last thing, I swear - HAVE FUN. That's the whole point. A little stress is good, but this is supposed to be fun stuff.

And GOOD LUCK! We all expect your results and your thoughts when it's done.

A.D. McClish said...

Hey, thanks so much guys!! I can't wait for this weekend. I want to train and grapple every day, but I am going to force myself to take both of our advice and rest on at least the 3 days prior.

Dev, what you were saying about picking out a few techniques to focus on is great advice. I was actually making a list of all the tehniques I ever learned! haha (white belt fail). But what you are saying about picking a few that I know I can do makes sense.

As far as defense goes, that is one area that I get the most practice in! I am one of the smallest people in the class at Fabio's, not to mention one of the newest whitebelts. So I am constantly having to defend against the bigger, more experienced guys. It has really worked to my advantage, because it has forced me to make a habit out of defense.

Fortunately, I have a couple close friends who are doing the tournament with me and we are going to drill techniques at my house this week to get ready.

Thanks again for all the advice! I will post about what happens at the end of the week! :)

Georgette said...

Ditto what everyone else said-- except that when I am competing, I'm usually stressing about weight, so I will roll right up till when I leave if I can. However, I have learned to avoid people I'm closely matched with-- because every little thing I do wrong stands out so much more. If I'm with someone I'm better than, I am happy because I'm winning; someone way better/bigger than me doesn't bother me when I lose position or get tapped. But I stay physically active, and by rolling with people I trust, I avoid getting injured.

Keep a nice simple plan in mind and don't stress about the small stuff, the new stuff, etc. Your subconscious mind will pull out whatever technique you need; the plan is to soothe your conscious mind. I used to chant two things before matches: "pass, mount, choke" and "I'll break her effing jaw if that's what it takes to get the choke." (I used to have a problem with being aggressive enough.)

ENJOY most of all!!! :)

A.D. McClish said...

Haha, thanks Georgette! I have that problem too (not being aggressive enough). I hope the adrenaline will be enough to push me into rage mode! ;)