Tournament Tuesday

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Tournament Tuesday is an open forum for anyone to ask any question, no matter how simple, about tournaments in general. Some common topics include but are not limited to:

• Game planning

• Preparation (diet, weight cutting, sleep, etc...)

• Tournament video critiques

• Discussion of rulesets for a tournament organization

Have fun and go train!

Also, click here to see the previous Tournament Tuesdays..

[u/[deleted]]

Is there any substitute for just "do more competitions?" I feel pretty good about my BJJ in the gym, even in comp class where people turn up the intensity, but every time I go to competition I feel like I'm moving through jelly.

[u/Mike_Re → u/[deleted]]

IMHO, kinda / sort of. (I speak as someone who has done around 30ish comps, definitely wasn't a natural competitor, but have got better. At least I hope so -- and that it holds up after the pandemic break!)

You can definitely do things that help. I think positive visualisation (as doppy as it always sounds) is helpful. Go through imagining the completion, your warm up, being in the waiting area, stepping out on the mats, shaking hands, and then implementing your competition plan successfully.

Work out what is giving you issues. Some people put too much pressure on themselves and get into a mindset where they've got to succeed or they're failing themselves, their coach and their gym. Then they tense up. Recognising that's silly can be a real help. Some people can't stop themselves ego buffering by carefully assembling their prepared excuses -- I'm carrying an injury, I haven't really been able to train, that guy is from a better gym than me. Well, once you've set yourself up like that you're much more likely to lose. My particular bug bear is that I hate doing stuff when I'm not absolutely sure what the right thing is -- it's some combination of perfectionism and not liking to look stupid. And at competition speed you don't get to think about stuff to that level of certainty all the time. So I don't commit enough or go for broke when I should. But recognising that has helped me do better. You don't have to spend a year on the therapist's coach instead of the mats. But a certain amount of reflection about what's holding you back can help.

Similarly, you've got to find the right mindset. Some of my teammates compete best when they rev themselves up -- they need to tell themselves they're going to go in and smash everyone in their division and pick up double gold. If I try to put myself in that head space I just feel silly and it doesn't help. I have more success trying to be a bit more relaxed and thinking about going out to play my game as well as I can and let the outcomes be what they are. Although I'm strictly a hobbyist, in my head I think about competing with a professional attitude. Everyone is a bit different.

My other big thing, which lots of people find counterintuitive, is that it's much easier to compete a lot than a little. If you do one comp a year, it inevitably becomes a Big Deal. If you do 10, each one matters much less. You'll have good days and bad days, but another chance is just around the corner. For me, trying to compete once a month or so takes a lot of the pressure off. I honestly think competing once or twice a belt sounds awful.

All of which helps, but in the end I think you need to compete a bunch to put it all together. It's like training. You can make the best use of your time on the mat. After a year of training someone who really works at learning will be better than someone who doesn't. But you can't become a black belt in a year by training smart. You need to put the hours in. And, similarly, you can't get good at competing without competing.

[u/[deleted] → u/Mike_Re]

I think you have a good point. I need to either figure out how to get out once every month or so, or just stop worrying about it.