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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Congrats!!

A big congratulations to my teammates Stephanie, Phil and Thomas for competing and doing well at NAGA yesterday!! I am so happy for you guys. Go Fabio Novaes BJJ!!

Hearing about how well the team did is motivating me to kick my preparation for June NAGA into high gear. One way that is happening is thanks to one of the girls in my youth group. She came up to me this morning and asked if I would be willing to drink only water for forty days with her for Lent.

Ouch.

That is going to be a huge challenge for me. I love me some coffee and soda. Mostly, I love me some caffeine. But this is going to be good for me. I need to cut all that sugar and extra calories out of my diet.

For this competition, I am not going to try to drop weight. My focus in training is going to be mostly mental. I mean, obviously I'll work on areas of technique that think are my weakest. But the thing that stands in my way the most is the fear of someone dominating me.

At Fabio's, I roll a lot with people who are farther along than me and more talented. I am going to use those rolls as preparation. I'm not going to worry when they pass my guard or take mount or go for a submission. I am going to work on staying cool and calm and reacting to what happens.

Also, I am going to focus on trying to get into a dominant position even when I know I am out-matched as far as skill goes. Sometimes, when I am intimidated by a person, I don't try to get into the dominant position. I mostly focus on defending from guard or half-guard.

Training at class is the best time for me to work through this fear of getting overwhelmed by someone better than me. I will get thoroughly owned, but they won't be trying to hurt me. Here's to my future butt-kickings!! Happy training to all of you! And congrats again to Steph, Phil and Thomas!

3 comments:

Dev said...

Congrats to your teammates! That's awesome.

I know we've talked about the idea of not "winning," but I wanted to give you some personal experience to look forward to. A couple months ago, I decided I was going to work on bottom side control, because it was the scariest place I could think of being. So I began sparring by asking people to start on top in side control. I watched a couple videos on bottom side control escapes, and had a fantastic private with my coach as well. At first, I got CRUSHED by everyone. But as I kept doing it, and really paying attention to technique, I began to find myself framing correctly, keeping space, not freaking out, and waiting out a flurry of activity so that I could get a knee in and reestablish half guard.

Anymore, bottom side control is one of my more comfortable positions. Am I happy to be there? No, of course not - that means someone just handled my guard. But I know how to defend, I know how to frame, and I can relax until an opportunity to slip out presents itself.

In short, if you go into your positional strategy with a plan (even a vague one), you can create a comfort for yourself even in horrible positions. But it's going to suck for a while. You know that already. Push through it, persevere, and I think you'll find you're a whole different fighter on the back end. I definitely encourage you to pick one or two escapes from whatever position you're working, and drill the crap out of them. A private with your coach would be good as well.

Good luck! Can't wait to hear about it.

Jiujitsunista said...

Thank you Madam Allie! =D

I am glad you are geared up to compete again! I missed you so much this NAGA!!

June NAGA should be fun. We will be venturing out of the kidding pool that is the novice division. 6 months to two years! It should be nice and challenging as we will have 9 months of training under out wee little white belts. lol

I am excited.

I am going to cool it with my training for a week or two... as in, still go, and still roll, but roll light. lol And hopefully let my toe and rib cage fully recover since I am now out of "OMG COMPETITION TRAINING" mode... and you should also let your shoulder get to 100% before you up your training.... but once we are both full healed up, we should train hard. Work take downs, and try what Dev mentioned. Let us take turns starting from the dominate position, and only work holding and escaping. We could drill before and after class... and at home. LOL And omg, work take downs. I can't believe how epically I failed at mine. Taking someone down, who is trying to stay upright with all their strength is SO much harder then when you doing it on a willing body. But, drilling take downs with resistance kind of scares me.

I really want to fight lightweights, so I may or may not drop again for June, but if I do, and Jen comes too, it will be annoying. We will have to flip for first, second and third if we all do well. LO

Though, in two years, we can just flip for who fights adult, and who fights masters if we both fight light weight. We will be old ladies soon! lol

Liam H Wandi said...

Great news!

Regarding the side control bottom. Just don't judge it. We often spend too much energy judging positions. Just experience it. Get under Side control, make your frames and postures and focus on just feeling how the partner's weight behaves on top of you.