Delilah the Lion Killer

We have a superhero hiding in plain sight at out gym, pretending to be an everyday guy. By day, he is Josh Hagan, an unassuming carpenter and bjj blue belt under Fabio Novaes. By night, he is Delilah the Lion Killer!! ;) We have long called Josh by his superhero name, Delilah, after he made his son cut his flowing locks of hair just before a tournament, leading to his loss! But Delilah decided to use his powers for good this week. Check out this awesome story in our local news paper about how Josh stopped a car jacking using a rear naked choke!! You're my hero, Josh!

Here is an extra tid-bit about the story that Josh told us that didn't end up in the paper. When Josh applied the RNC, the guy woke up after about 45 seconds. Josh knew he would wake up, so he just held onto the choke after the guy went out and when he woke up, Josh said, "I train Brazilian Jiu jitsu and if you try to struggle I will put you out again." The guy did try to struggle a few times and Josh had to tighten the choke again and wait for the guy to calm down. He finally did. But Josh had to sit there holding him until the police came!

In MUCH less exciting news, I competed at the Orlando NAGA this weekend and placed 2nd in No-Gi. My finger was a real problem. I could grip, but any kind of turning to the side of my finger hurt like a beast!! Steph has video, but I don't want to look at it right now because I lost. LOL Maybe tomorrow. As always, I learned a lot from the experience. I may post the video later if I can stand it.

The rest of my team did AWESOME! We had a lot of people show up for this tournament. I don't know what the stats, but every time I turned around someone I knew was getting a medal. Congratulations Team Fabio Novaes!! And thank you to Fabio for being such an amazing coach and friend!!

A few pictures from the tournament. :)

NAGA 2011

Warning: This is a looooong story. If you only want to know about what actually happened at the tournament, skip to the bottom. lol

So, let me tell you the story of a tournament that tried it's hardest to keep me from coming. If you remember, last time I wanted to go to a tournament, my neck was giving me major problems. I still have problems with it from time to time, but it's manageable. But add onto that these minor injuries: a finger that was injured on an exercise ball and refuses to heal up, a knee that got tweaked in class two weeks ago and a rib that got popped under another one (but came right back out) that same week. I was beat the crap up. But I was STILL going to compete!!

My house has been a wreck the last 6 months because of a pipe that broke behind my kitchen sink. We've gutted the kitchen and master bedroom. Everything is so close to being done, but we have Noah's birthday here next weekend, so I am going to have to be Wonder Woman to get everything done by then. I was tempted not to compete because of that. But I went anyway!!

Also, very few people from our gym decided to do this competition. Everyone is training for PanAms. And my instructor was reffing this tournament, which meant I probably wasn't going to have a coach during my matches. I wasn't sure if my husband would be able to make it and none of my close friends from the school were going. But I decided to go anyway.

Only one guy from the Lakeland school that I knew of was going, so I convinced him to let me ride up with him. Who was it? THE VERY SAME GUY I HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT ON HERE!! lol. It's a guy I have been so frustrated with during grappling because he is so strong and because I absolutely cannot get out of bottom half guard once he gets me in it.

That actually turned out to be a good thing. We talked about a lot of stuff (It was a 3 hour drive) and I apologized for having such a poor attitude while I grappled him. I told him I had nothing personal against him, that I was just getting frustrated because of my OWN inability to adapt to his style of grappling. He said it was all good and we are pals now. I will probably still hate grappling him. lol But he is a nice guy.

So, we get to Boca Raton and go to the weigh in. All was well. We both made weight. Then, I met up with my instructor and everyone went to their respective hotels. That night, I slept in a room with 2 other people from our school. NONE of us could sleep. I took some melatonin at around 1:30 am, but it only made my body feel heavy. We had all gotten in bed around 10, laid there tossing and turning until about 3 am when we all realized everyone else was still awake. We talked about why we shouldn't be nervous for about an hour. Then we tried to go back to sleep. No luck. I think one of the guys actually drifted off around 4 in the morning. But me and the other guy were up ALL night.

I wasn't even all that nervous. I just couldn't shut my MIND off!! Every time I tried to close my eyes, scenarios would pop into my mind and the next thing you know I am grappling some faceless opponent in my imagination.

One of the guys in my room had to be there early the next day, so we all had to be up and out of the room by 7 something in the morning. When I got to the gym, I found a spot beside the wall and tried to sleep. No good. Just got up and tried to enjoy the hubbub of the tournament beginning.

At that point, all the pressure was off. I figured that I was entering in this under the worst possible circumstances: alone, beat up, bad cardio, no sleep, first time competing as a blue belt. If I ever had an excuse to do poorly, it was today.

But then I thought to myself, "No. I am going to go out there and give it everything I've got. I am not going to give up. I will just take it one fight at a time."

Then all the enormous girls started arriving. Giants. Oops, I mean Giantesses. I started freaking the crap out. There were no other girls my size that I had seen. Just one tall, muscle-bound girl after another. I laughingly told my friend that it was a good thing I was used to grappling guys because I was going to be outmatched in the size and strength department. A few minutes later, I realized all the girls were wearing the same sneakers and had the same gym bags. With the college logo on them. We were in a college gym set up for the tournament.

My tired brain finally put two and two together. They were not here to grapple. They were here for basketball practice. LOL!! I think that was the biggest sigh of relief I have had in a while.

My husband and a friend of mine, Joyce, and another blue belt who trains at our school who we call Delilah (his real name is Josh) decided to drive up that morning. I was going to be one of the first divisions to go, since I am a girl, so I knew they would have to hurry to make it on time.

At 10 am, the girls were supposed to head to mat 13. I looked at the mats. None were marked 13. What the crap?!?! Then they announced over the loud speaker that mat 13 was upstairs. When I got up there, I saw they had set up kind of a mini tournament in a room that looked like it was made for dancing lessons. All the girls and the masters division men had been sent up there.

At first, I was kind of put off that we'd been shucked to the corner. But then I was happy. It was like being at a really small, home town tournament. Only the close friends, family and teammates of the competitors were there and it was a really friendly room. I got to meet a few fellow bloggers: Megan from Tangles Triangle and Jennifer from Family Mat-ters (who I ended up fighting), and Gina who I think reads some of our blogs (Hi Gina!! :)) who I also ended up fighting.

Here's where the good things finally started happening. My husband and friends arrived. Yay! Delilah agreed to coach me and another one of my other teammates who were there competing in masters. Delilah is a really good blue belt who I have learned a lot from. I was not very nervous. I just kept telling myself, "I'm going to go out there and show them what I've got. That's all." There were only four girls in my division, so we all started talking and making friends, which was fun.

So. At long last, here are my fights. This first one was with me and Gina.



Gina was a good competitor and I am glad to have met her. She, Jennifer and I are hoping to get a girls open mat together sometime so we can all have more girls to roll with. Woohoo! :)

Things that I was happy about in this match:

- I got my first take down ever in a tournament!!! I know, it is a really ugly, sloppy one. But it is my first! Don't make fun of it! lol

- I stayed calm. I remember thinking at a couple of points, "You're using too much energy here. Calm down. Work steady."

- I tried knee on belly in a tournament. I don't know why, but I have always been scared to try knee on belly in a tournament. Ok. I know why. It's because I suck at it. LOL My attempt was a gross failure, but at least I tried! ;)

Things I saw in this match that I need to work on.

- While I was grappling, I felt like my hips were too high and I was leaning too far over her while I was trying to escape half guard. I need to keep my weight down on the person and use my hips to break out.

- Knee on belly. My failed attempt in this grapple is very similar to how I injured my finger! lol

Here's my second match against Jennifer:


Jennifer was a tough competitor, as you can see. She shocked me by how strong she was!! I thought we had a good match and I learned a ton from it.

Things was happy about in this match:

- I stayed calm even when I was in bad positions. She caught me off guard (literally) from the beginning. I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE JUMPING GUARD! lol!!! But I kept telling myself to stay calm. Because she was so strong, a few times, I was tempted to fight back with strength. But I clearly remembered thinking that I was way too tired for that and that I needed to rely on technique if I was going to do anything. I had to just work steadily. That strategy didn't pan out for me in the end, I guess. lol

- I did well defending or escaping submissions. In class, I purposefully got myself into submissions in order to practice escaping them. Man, am I glad I did!! I needed it! lol. During the armbar escape, on the second roll, I ended up hurting my elbow and shoulder. But at least I escaped!! The kimura she was going for at the end was frustrating. I could only remember the first part of that escape. It was enough to defend from her finishing it, but if I had done the rest of the escape correctly, it would have ended with me passing her guard. Oh well. That was right at the end of the match and I probably wouldn't have had time to do anything anyway.

Things I saw that I need to work on:

- I need to be quicker on the draw. I waited too long to move after we started and she jumped on my faster than a flea on a dog! lol

- Apparently, I need to work on getting out of closed guard!! LOL I never have a problem with this in class. But then, we always wear gis in class. I am used to having the fabric to hold onto. Also, I was too uncertain to try any of the other guard passes I know. I didn't feel confident in them, which tells me I need to work on them. So, I need to work on closed guard passes in no-gi.

- I need to ask Fabio how to finish that dang kimura escape!

- At one point, when I came up after escaping the armbar, I didn't attack her. I hesitated and because of that, I ended up in a bad position. I need to be prepared to attack as soon as I come out of an escape.

- I need to move more when I am scared. My gut-reaction to being intimidated is to stiffen up. That's not a good thing in BJJ. I need to get it through my thick skull that the way to safety is moving, not hunkering down.

Unfortunately, because I hurt my elbow and shoulder, I ended up having to bow out of gi. I thought about doing it anyway--the elbow isn't that bad. Just stiff and sore.--But I was worried that if I got armbarred again, it would get seriously injured. I felt a little like a quitter, but after I sat down and the adrenaline started to wear off, I knew i had made the right decision.

All in all, I had a great time. This was the first tournament I actually enjoyed competing in, which is ironic considering that it was the one I was the least prepared for. I am ready to get back on the mat and work on the stuff I need to work on (as soon as my elbow is ready). Thanks for all your well wishes!! It was definitely worth going.

Dealing With Tournament Stress

Throwing my stuff together to leave for NAGA today. Last time I competed, I remember feeling like I wasn't ready. I needed a few more months to learn this or that.

Do I feel ready now? Meh. I feel like I am a good blue belt. Not the best. Not jaw-droppingly awesome. But I believe in the skills Fabio and Ben have taught me and I am going to trust them when I fight.

I am not expecting to win. But I am going in with the intention of coming at those girls with all I have. My goals are to make sure that they leave the mat tired and that I leave having given it my all.

One thing that has been on my mind a lot coming up to this is courage. You may have heard the Mark Twain quote, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.”

I am not one of those people who looks forward to tournaments. Normally, I dread them. I spaz and obsess over them. But this time it has been different. I've had moments of panic, upwellings of fear. But I've been mostly calm. I am at the weight where I need to be.I've been focused on refining details to moves I am already good at, working on escapes, focusing on staying calm while I grapple. But I knew a month and half ago when I started preparing that my skill level would be about where it was when I started prepping by the time I went to compete. I am where I am. And I am ok with that.

Something happened when I went to watch my teammates compete at the Miami Open a few months back. I saw two of my most respected teammates lose. These guys are awesome. But they lost. And when they lost, the Earth did not shatter. The universe did not implode. No one lost respect for them or thought less of their skill. Life went on.

That really freed me up from the pressure I had felt the last time I competed. If those guys--who are way better than me--can lose and get away with it no one is going to blink if I lose. lol

So, instead, I am approaching this in a different light. This is an experiment. I am testing myself to see how my progress is coming. If I win. Awesome. If I lose. Great. Now I know where my weaknesses are.

I know I will feel nervous before I step out on the mat. But I am going to use that adrenaline to fuel me and give me superhuman abilities--like those women who throw cars off of pinned children. I am going to throw me some women! lol I am going to give them hell. And then I'm going to make friends with them afterwards. :)

Tournaments and Energy Drinks Part One

I still vividly remember my first tournament. The crowds. The noise. The excitement. One of my most vivid memories was a guy guzzling an enormous energy drink right as his weight class was called. I have never done that at a tournament, but I have seen lots of people doing it and was wondering what the benefits/risks are of drinking large amounts of caffeine or energy drinks on tournament day.

I am going to do some research, but I want to know what all of you think? Does caffeine help or hurt athletic performance in tournaments like ours? Do you use it at tournaments? What has been your experience?

You Now Have Permission to Fail

This past weekend at the Miami International Open Tournament was AWESOME for so many reasons.

First and foremost, I love hanging out with my team. A few of us were talking on the trip down to Miami that BJJ must have some kind of addictive powers because most people who do BJJ are obsessed with it. We say it's a hobby, but actually, it's a lifestyle.

What amazes me even more is the way schools become like families. I've played team sports all of my life. Softball, volleyball, lacrosse and racquetball (yes...I was on a racquetball team in college. Yes that makes me nerdy. Don't be hatin'! lol). I've loved every sport I've played. But I have never been involved in a sport that has consumed me like BJJ has. Neither have I been on a team that was so close. We're all so different, but somehow it just...works. And I think that it's the same all over the place. Jiu-jitsu clubs are like second families. I wonder what it is about the sport that brings people into such close friendships.

At this tournament, I was a nervous wreck for all of my teammates. As soon as we walked in, my heart started pounding. I was taking video of everyone, so I was running around the gym from mat to mat, trying to watch everyone and screaming my head off in support. We had a lot of wins and some tough losses. Everyone did great.
My favorite guys/gals to watch were the ones who were competing for the first time. Let me tell you, they moved AWESOME!! I was really impressed.

The losses had a big impact on me, though not in an entirely negative way. Some of our best grapplers in the school lost matches yesterday. While I was either sad for the fact that they didn't win or pissed off at the ref or something, it was very liberating at the same time. These are guys who are way better than me. They can wipe the floor with me. But they lose too, sometimes. It was like someone was talking over a loud speaker saying: You now have permission to fail. lol

I talked to Fabio about it a little bit; about how I worry sometimes about disappointing him at tournaments. He said that a loss at a tournament doesn't mean anything to him. What means something to him is seeing someone who has the heart to go out and try. For some reason, at this tournament, that actually got through my thick skull.

Maybe the reason why it sunk in was that I had no pressure myself at this tournament and I could just enjoy it and learn. I could see the tournament without all my nerves getting in the way. Before this, I was pretty much forcing myself to do tournaments. Now, I am actually looking forward to the next one. The pressure is suddenly gone. I am sure I will still be nervous. But now I actually think it will be fun.

That alone made the trip completely worth it.

Some pictures from the weekend:



Got to meet Hillary Williams.

And also got to meet Cyborg. Watched him roll, too. Freaking awesome.

Excited!!

I'm leaving today with the team to head down to the Miami Internaltional Open. Still ticked that I can't compete. But excited for the whole atmosphere of the tournament and to see my teammates compete. A friend of mine, Erica, is competing for the first time and I am really excited for her. I think she is going to do really well and I will be cheering like a maniac on the side lines. :)

Also, I am excited about starting a new project at home. We have this old barn on our property and it is just going to waste. So I talked to my husband and we are going to turn it into a Jiu-jitsu gym/man cave. Woohoo!!

It's going to be a lot of work. The barn isn't weather proof at the moment. Plus, there is no AC or heater. Since we live in Florida, that's not too big a deal for during the winter months. Just training will keep us warm enough. But during the summer? Yeah...alterations will have to be made.

The other things was that the barn had become kind of catch-all for all the yard work stuff and all the junk we didn't use very much. It was full of leaves that blow in through the ventilation openings in the roof.

So yesterday Steph, Phil, Gumby and I started the cleaning it out. We were some of the main "crew" at the old Summerlin school. Josh and Reese, two others who trained with us at Summerlin, said they would want to roll a couple of nights a week once we get the place up and running. All we would have to do would be to harass Ben and Mario into coming and then we'd have almost our whole old Summerlin gang back together!

Here are some pictures of what we've done so far. We have a loooooong way to go. :)

Tournament Preparation: Should You Change Your Game?

Anyone who competes in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournaments knows how nerve-wracking getting ready for competition is. Most people amp up the intensity of their grappling. A lot of people cut weight. They drill positions and escapes until they're dreaming about rolling out of arm bars and escaping mount, passing guard and choking people out. In all the self analysis that takes place in the months/weeks leading up to a tournament, it is inevitable that you will notice holes in your game. Feeling like you have to fix those things before you go into competition, you might want to change your game.



Say, hypothetically, there is a girl named Allie who plays too much guard. In this purely theoretical situation, Allie might be tempted to force herself to become a top player and change her game before the tournament. Instead of grappling like she normally does, she forces herself to pass guard and not go to her guard...

Ok, pause. Talking in the third person about myself is annoying.

This whole forcing myself to be a top player is working. But it is going too slowly. I don't think I will be able to make all of the stuff I am working on muscle memory before the tournament in October gets here.

It's not that I'm seeing no progress. It's just that, learning this new skill set is making me move slower. I have to pause and think. When I would normally go to guard, I hesitate and have to decide what to do instead. And those hesitations cost me big time when I am going against someone at my level or higher.

I am not giving up on being a top player. Talking to Fabio today, he reiterated the fact that, once I am on top, I need to stay there and not go back to guard purposefully. I'll cost myself points that way. But I don't have to change my grappling style completely.

Once again, I think I went overboard in trying to prepare and ended up making things worse. It's like Fabio was telling me: change in your grappling game happens naturally. When you try to force it, you usually hit a wall.

But for some reason, I keep trying to force that change. The patterns of growth I am going through are normal, according to my instructors. But I keep thinking I have stuff I need to "fix" right away.



The truth is, unfortunately Jiu-jitsu doesn't happen right away. I can become a top player. But I can't rush it.

Today, I played my type of game. And it felt great. I was relaxed. I felt confident. And low and behold, I did end up on top. Just not the way I thought I had to. Sweeps and reversals are more my thing, I think.

I guess everyone was right when they told me that I should just "Go in there and do my thing." But you all know me. I am hard headed. Seems I enjoy frustrating myself by being stubborn. :)

Gameness: Are You Born With It?

Is gameness something you're born with? Or can it be learned? I recently read a post by Liam in which he interviewed a few head coaches heavily entrenched in the Manchester MMA scene. I loved both interviews, but the conversations he had with them about the mental toughness of the athletes they train really caught my attention.

Liam asked the three coaches what the most important attributes are in fighters and Gavin Boardman answered, "The most important is what many people refer to as gameness. The ability to step up no matter how tough the situation seems. To a large degree this can't be trained, you either have it or you don't. You can toughen up training with hard sparring, but once you get in the cage it might not be there for you."

That got me thinking. Do I have gameness? Honestly, I don't know. Tournaments intimidate me. I am willing to do them. But I am usually terrified when I step on the mat. I know of all the things that need improvement, my mental toughness is one of my weakest areas. I doubt myself.

Even more troubling for me is that Gavin said this sort of thing can't really be trained. You either have it or you don't. If that's true, what does it mean for people like me? Am I a hopeless case? Or can I toughen up and learn to be a lean, mean, grappling machine?



Obviously, I am not planning to go into MMA professionally. But I want to learn how to approach tournaments and challenges with a better mind frame so that I can do well at competitions and maybe even--MAYBE--enjoy them. This is on my mind quite a bit since I am hoping to compete in October, if my neck is well enough.

Georgette recently did a great blog post about calming nerves before a tournament. What about the rest of you guys? Do any of you have similar qualms about tournaments? And how do you deal with the mental aspect of competing?

8 Weeks

I have 8 weeks to break my guard addiction. Why? I have finally bullied myself into competing at the Miami International Open IBJJF Championship on October 23, 2010.

Over the next 8 weeks, I am going to focus on a few key points that I need to improve on:

1) Take downs
2) Passing guard
3) Sweeping and coming up on top
4) Escaping side control and half-guard

Also, I plan to share this journey with you guys. At least once a week, I am going to try to video myself trying to do these various things and put it up here. Maybe the vast wisdom of the blogosphere will help me pinpoint areas where I need to improve.

I am going to ask a few of my good friends in class to help me work some of this stuff after each class. And, during rolling, I have to forbid myself to go to my guard comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, I think guard is great. But guard gets me no points.

The good news about this competition is I don't have to cut weight. I am right where I need to be to qualify for Light Weight. As long as I don't tank out on pizza I should be alright.

Here's to hoping I can make some progress towards being a top-game player! :)

Someone Made a Highlights Reel of Fabio's Pan Ams!! :)

I still haven't seen the all of his fights in their entirety, but it's so cool to see Fabio actually "going". In class, he is always so relaxed. It's really cool to see what the top of the top looks like!!

Congratultions!!

Congrats to everyone who went out and fought at the Pan Ams!! Whether you win or lose, it takes a lot of guts to step out on those mats. I'm sure just being there and seeing all those awesome fights helps you grow.

Want to say a special congratulations to Fabio Novaes, who won his division!!! We are all so proud of you and thankful to be a part of your school! Also, a big congratulations to Paul Kimbrel, who won both his division in brown belts and also took absolute! Several others from our school went and all competed well. I feel privileged to be a part of such talented team!!

Go Fabio Novaes BJJ!!

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!

2009 NAGA Boca Raton, FL

My first NAGA. I took so much away from this tournament. I only competed two weeks ago at De la Riva, so you'd think I would have learned most of my weaknesses. Not so much. ;) Only, at this tournament, my biggest weakness was my mental game, not my physical game.

Having said that, here are the results. No-gi was first. I managed to take 1st place!! :) Here are a couple of my fights:

First no-gi fight. My camera battery runs out right at the end, but I did win this match.



Second no-gi match. Glad I dropped down to 134! This girl felt so light after rolling with the heavy guys in my class.



There were only five girls competing in gi. This is the same girl I fought in my first match in no-gi. And I lost. This is where the mental failure came in for me.



I am still kicking myself for this fight. My head was not in the right place when I walked onto the mat. It's hard to explain what happened. When I went into no-gi, I was actually not that nervous. I was excited, confident. Then, after I won, for some reason I suddenly got ridiculously nervous. It makes no sense. And then, during that fight, when she passed my guard I panicked. I might have been able to win that fight had I not freaked out and lost focus. Oh well. It happens.

Overall, I am really happy with the way things turned out. Again, learned a lot. One of the main things I need to improve on technically is taking the back when someone is pinning me in half guard. In that last fight, I remember trying to hip out, but I didn't hip out enough.

There's another NAGA coming up in February. I might sit this one out. Not sure yet. But I am going to train as if I am going to participate. My focus between now and then will be the following:

1. Take-downs. I pulled guard in every fight. It was a safe strategy, I guess. But I could get two points and start out on the top. But I could also get injured or taken down myself. Still going to work on take downs.

2. Sweeps. Did a little better with sweeps in this tournament, but still need to get better.

3. Positions!! I am seeing a little improvement with me not sitting in guard the whole time, but my game plan in class will be to pass guard and get side control or mount. I will not stay on bottom all fight long. ;)

Any other suggestions on things I really need to work on?

Here are a few photos:


I have some of the most supportive, awesome coaches on the planet. Here's me and Fabio.


And me and Ben


Here are a lot of the guys and gals from Fabio Novaes BJJ and Brotherhood BJJ, which is a combination of a few local schools.

NAGA!!!

The weigh in is tonight. 134.9 is the cut off and this morning I am at 135.2 with my clothes on. I plan to dehydrate all day. Hopefully that gets me the extra few ounces I need to get below the cut off! I'm already happy because I haven't weighed in this small since before I got married. Body by Jiu-jitsu, people! ;)

I am trying not to be nervous. I have my game plan in mind. It's not fancy, but I feel like it is something realistic that I can pull off against an opponent of my size and skill level. Pull guard (or take down if the girl seems crappy and I think I can pull it off). Once in guard, work either and armbar, a triangle, a gi choke or an omaplata. If I see a sweep, take it and move into side control or mount. Work submissions from there. Pretty basic.

Hopefully at NAGA there will be enough girls that I can actually fight in my weight class and skill division. At De la Riva, not only was I outweighed, but everyone there had 5 months or more experience on me. I'm hoping that this time I will actually get to fight girls who are my size (or at least within 20 lbs of it!) and around my same skill level.

Also, my husband is coming with us. It will be the first time he has seen me grapple. I am kind of nervous. I don't want to suck in front of him. ;) I am trying to keep my mind disciplined. I want to approach each math like a regular grapple; try not to think about who is watching or what they think of me. The people at my school aren't going to disown me if I lose. And I don't have enough room in my thoughts to be worried about what people are thinking while I am trying to work positions. I need to just focus on what I'm doing and not worry about trying to impress people.

Easier said than done. We'll see what happens.

One Week Out

NAGA is this Saturday and I am not feeling prepared. I wonder if I will ever go into a tournament feeling prepared. lol.

Right now, I have several small, nagging injuries. My knee still slips out. I'm going to have it looked at after this weekend. My right trap hurts for some reason. It's weird because it hurts when I'm just sitting still more than when I'm actually moving my arm or grappling. The backs of my thighs are extremely sore, though I have no clue what exercise/drill/grappling sitation was the culprit.

Training is going alright. After De la Riva, I have a more solid game plan. Pull guard and either work an arm bar, a triangle, a gi choke or an omaplata. (Did I mention that I finally have started being able to use omaplatas in grappling!! It randomly clicked for me the other night. I was so excited!) I learned a few techniques for using my knees to get someone's arm out of the way when they're trying to break my guard so I can get a triangle, armbar or an omaplata. I am still not solid on sweeps, but if I see one, take it. In the last several classes my focus is going to continue to be sweeps. But I feel like I will revert back to my guard game when push comes to shove. We'll see what happens.

On top of all that, I am still 3 pounds away from my goal of 133lbs. I know I can do it, but I'm not looking forward to the week of calorie deprivation. I feel like my body needs some rest, but I can't afford to cut out cardio right now if I want to drop those last 3 pounds.

Speaking of calories, I had a lot of them last night. :) We had a random bonfire in our backyard and I ate betterchedders. Holy cheesy deliciousness, Batman. Why did I do that to myself??? Here are some pictures of my night of delicious tresspassing.

This is my son, Noah. He's four and he loves marshmallows more than life itself.

Videos from the De la Riva Tournament.

Here's my one and only gi fight. Not to spoil the ever so exciting ending, but I lose. ;) The girl I fought had 8 months experience in BJJ and several years experience in kick boxing, though I'm not sure if that gave her any further advantage in this competition. She was a really nice girl. Hope to run into her again at the next tournament.



Here was my first no-gi fight. The girl had over a year experience and had come to this same tournament last year. Man, watching these videos shows me how horrible my take downs are. All I did was pull guard in every fight!




Here's my second no-gi fight. This girl weighed over 200 lbs. And she said she'd been taking BJJ for 2 years.



My last fight was against Tanya again, the girl I fought in gi. It's pretty boring. She passes my guard and I get her in half guard and we literally sit there until the very end of the fight when I finally get tired and she passes to side control. No submissions. I was really disappointed because I had learned all those half guard sweeps and then couldn't pull off a single one. In my defense, I had three fights in a row with only a few minutes break between and I was completely gassed. Still, I should have been able to pull off a sweep. Oh well! Keep training for next time! Coaches are going to be focusing on a lot of sweeps over the next few weeks. Hopefully I can actually execute them in grapples.

De la Riva!!

Me, Stephanie and Phil


Me and Fabio. I love me some Fabio! He's the best!


Our other instructors, Mario (blue belt) and Ben (brown belt). And the other brown belt who trains at Fabio's, Paul. These guys are awesome. Mario and Ben are the ones that really got Stephanie and I into Jiu-jitsu.


So, I survived my first tournament!!

Man, I am so glad I went. De la Riva was small as far as tournaments go--or so I am told. I wouldn't know, considering that this is the only one I've been to--but it definitely gave me a taste for what competitions are like and what I should expect at NAGA.

I fought gi and no gi, and had very different experiences in both. Only 5 girls showed up to the competition, one being myself and another being my best friend and sister-in-law Stephanie. Our school has a policy that our students don't fight each other. Steph and I were more than happy to embrace that policy, but that left us with only 3 competetors.

None of them were in our division as far as amount of time training goes. They were all white belts, but the one with the least amount of experience had been traing for 8 months and had been trained as a kick boxer for several years. She, at least, was in our weight class. The other two outweighed Steph and I by a lot. One of them weighed 209 pounds and had been training over two years.

We fought gi first and I had the unhappy luck to go against the kick boxer girl. She was easily the best out of everyone there and the fight went like this. I pulled guard from take down and tried to get chokes, tried to get an arm bar. But she defended the arm bar and I pulled guard again. Then, evetually, she passed my guard and got side control. I got half guard back, but I could not, for the life of me, sweep her.

That was something that disappointed me in all of my matches. How many sweeps have I learned over the past week? It seems like a million. And how many was I able to pull of at the tournament? Maybe one or two. Booo! ;)

Anyway, the girl won by points. And I didn't get another fight in gi. She was really nice, so I didn't mind losing to her that much. Hopefully I'll get another chance against her in the future. She struck me as someone who would be fun to train with.

After that first fight, I was really demoralized. I almost let it ruin my whole day. But I went off by myself, gave myself a talking to about not having a pity party and came back ready to fight in no-gi. I was really intimidated considering I had already lost to one girl and had seen Steph go against one of the other girls.

But No-gi ended up going a whole lot better for me. My first fight was against a girl who had been training a little over a year and who had about 25 pounds on me. But I was able to get a lot of points for positions and ended up submitting her with an arm bar.

My next fight was against the big girl with 2 years experience. That was a tough fight. But all of my training with Phil--who weighs about the same as that girl and use to weigh more before he dropped weight for the tournament--really paid off!! I was able to breathe even when she was putting all her weight on me and I was able to move out from under her and get side control. I honestly can't remember if I won just by points or by submission. I'll have to go back and watch the video when I go to Steph's house. I know I had her arm and I refused to let go. I just kept repositioning when she moved. I think the time ran out while I was still trying to finish that arm.

My last match was against that same kick boxer girl. I did better my second time against her. Again, I pulled guard. Again she tried to pass. I can't remember if she got side control at any point. Most of the fight was spend with me holding half guard and trying to sweep and her trying to escape half guard and trying to choke me. I was so gassed at the point, it was all I could do just to hold onto half guard. I ended up taking second place in no-gi, so i wasn't that bad.

Endruance training before NAGA, anyone?

The best thing about this tournament is that I learned a lot about what I need to work on:

My takedowns are absolute crap. All I could do was pull guard!

I know sweeps, but I am not executing them correctly. I guess I just don't have the timing down right. I'll be working hard on them in the next two weeks.

As I feared, I relied too much on my guard game. I have to get more comfortable in side control and mount.

But all in all, I am really happy with how things went. Learned a lot. Had a blast seeing my teammates compete. My coahces-- Fabio, Ben and Mario--are so awesome. They were right there screaming at me during the fight, encouraging me, pushing me on. I feel extremely blessed to be a part of Fabio's school.

Game Plan

I came up with a list of attacks I feel comfortable with from each position. I only picked things that I've actually used in grappling. Some of these I have attempted several times, but haven't finished them, so I put a "*" by them.

From Guard
- Arm bar
- Triangle
- Gi choke *
- kimura
- elbow press/armbar thing (lol I don't know the names for a lot of stuff)

From Mount

- Armbar
- Americana
- Gi choke
- Ezekiel
- Arm Triangle

Side Control
- Armbar
- Kimura
- Arm triangle *
- gi choke

Back Mount
- Rear Naked Choke

Half Guard
- gi choke *
- kimura

Turtle (when someone else turtles)
- gi choke

So, I don't have a lot of variety in my moves. Lots of armbars. Lots of gi chokes. I don't usually catch higher belts in kimuras, but I catch white belts in them, so I'm hoping I'll get someone who isn't ready for one.

As you can see, my submissions from back mount, half guard and turtling are really weak. I think what I'll do if I get there is look for submissions but also look more for transitions into other positions I feel more comfortable in.

The other thing that troubles me is that I feel the most confident--by far--when I'm working from guard. The vast majority of my submissions when I grapple both white belts and higher belts are done from guard. The thing that worries me about it is that I've gotten into the bad habit of falling into guard or pulling someone into my guard during a grapple when I could sweep to mount or side control instead. I could give up points that way.

This week I tried to be conscious of not falling unnecessarily into guard and trying to end up either in side control or mount. But I feel like I have to think too much when I get there. That's especially true in side control. People curl up and I sit there like, "Uhhh....what now." I end up either trying to circle and cause them to move so I can catch something or I try to muscle an armbar out of them. Mount is a little better. But I just feel like everything I do from guard is so much more automatic, you know?

Fabio has been pounding into my head that the most important thing is to keep moving and to transition when I've lost something. If I go for a triangle and lose it, transition to the armbar. If I am losing guard and they're trying to pass, let go and take the back or get to a neutral position. Keep moving and wait until you see a submission. Don't try to force everything. Go with the flow.

Sigh...If only I were flow-ier!! :)

Floppy, Dead Fish.

Paul, a brown belt at Fabios, spent some extra time after class last night working with me on passing guard from a neutral position. I grappled with him twice during class and during those rolls and while he was working with me after class, he quickly discovered that I have a dismal base. He can flop me around like a dead fish.

So, he tweaked some of my problems and gave me some more passing-guard pointers. I feel like he showed me several things that I will actually be able to remember while grappling.

It's awesome when a higher belt really takes extra time to look at a newbie's game and help them out. I know we can be spastic and annoying, but I find that I learn the most when I have someone watching exactly what I'm doing, stopping me and showing me what I did wrong and why it matters. Thanks to all you higher belts for having patience with us lowbies!!

During actual class, we worked yet another half guard sweep. I LOVE it when our classes all link together like this. If I can't get a sweep from half guard at this point there is something wrong with my brain. We've also been working on some sweeps from mount and a few from guard. So, I feel much more confident in my knowledge of sweeps. My ability to apply them mid-grapple is another matter entirely. :) We'll see how it goes.

The De la Riva cup is coming up on the 7th of November (http://www.delarivacup.com/) and I am getting excited. Also, I only have 3 more pounds to lose so I can drop into the next weight class for N.A.G.A. on the 21st. The only concern I have is that I might injure myself at De la Riva and then miss out on N.A.G.A. I already have a knee injury--one of my ligaments in my right knee got stretched when a kid did a take-down on me. I talked to my instructors about it and they showed me a couple of take-downs that will protect my knees.

Alright. Guess I'll return to the real world. Taking my son to a Trunk or Treat thing tonight. He is dressing up as Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. :)

Dropping Weight

So, NAGA is fast approaching and I'm trying to make some decisions. Right now, I weight around 138-139, depending on the day. As it stands right now, I will be at the very bottom of the middle weight class (135lbs and above). The next weight class is only 3-4 pounds away. 5 to be on the safe side. The question is, should I bust my butt to lose another 5 pounds? OR should I not worry about that?

Class last night was awesome. We worked mainly on sweeps from half guard. I was able to use one in a grapple, but I need to be looking for them more. I'm way to comfortable being on the bottom, working from guard. I'll keep working!

Today, I have two classes, one in the afternoon and one tonight. I'm wondering if I might be training too much. Lately, I've been going to four classes a week, plus grappling outside of class with friends at my house. I'm loving every minute of it and I don't feel sore or injured. But I do kind of feel like I have trouble remembering all the different techniques I learn during the week. The steady grappling is really helpful, though.

Also, I found out there is another small competition coming up on the 5th of November in my area. It's a small name competition, but I'm considering competing. It would be a way to get my feet wet and maybe get some practice in for NAGA. Only thing is, I'm worried I could get myself injured in this small competition and then miss NAGA. And that would be really frustrating.

Decisions, decisions. :)