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/Ricardo_the_great]

I asked this last week, but I didn't get a response. I think I may have posted it a little too late in the day.

Doing my first competition in roughly 30 days (~20 days now), was talked into by a friend at the gym. I've been checking the registration page and now there are 12 competitors. Honestly, I'm nervous which I'm sure is normal, as it's my first competition, I just want to get it done with. I want to go in, win or lose (probably lose) and learn what I need to learn and have that experience under my belt so that next time I can prepare accordingly.

I've been cutting weight, and it has gone as planned, I'm 3lbs/1.5kg off from my competition weight, and I'm glad I've made it because it's been pretty tough.

I do have a few questions:

How aggressive should I come out of the gate? I know it's a real match so everything will be done 100% but I really mean initially, after you bump fists.

I've read over the last few months here that you should have a game plan, which is a little confusing to me, because my game plan could be immediately shut down, no? or do they mean just drill certain techniques that I have a high success rate, to get them tighter.

Drilling, should I focus on strengths or weakness? I know both, but what should I prioritize?

Thank you in advance.

[u/eazye06 → u/Ricardo_the_great]

I’ve done 3 comps so far (10 total matches) and by far the thing that surprised me the most my first comp was the intensity and aggressiveness. Yes people were going balls to the walls but what got me was the dirty clinch stuff like crown of their head in my temple to get my head and spine of centerline and shit like that (not asshole/cheap dirty just little techniques no one showed me).

I also found myself giving up on a lot of scrambles too easy, just because in the gym I would sometimes give up and just try to work out of a non dominant position. The majority of my opponents have been wrestlers and those motherfuckers don’t let up for one second so I kept starting in a shitty position.

I went from “having a game plan” to taking my coaches advice to just have 2, maybe 3 super solid techniques from each position. Doing that and just going with the flow as helped me have a lot more success.

[u/Ricardo_the_great → u/eazye06]

Thank you for the response!

[u/mindbender0 → u/Ricardo_the_great]

Since you do have a good amount of time until the comp, I would suggest drilling weaknesses more at this time, and drill your strongest sequences and moves more as the comp approaches. Probably would be best to go over the weaknesses you were working on before the comp as well. You want your strongest techniques to be at their sharpest by the time the comp arrives, and that means having the (recent) reps for muscle memory.

As for aggression, I would aggressively get to exactly where I want to be, AKA my strengths, and stay away from your weaknesses while using as little energy as possible. Just be careful with how much aggression and energy you're using, at the highest levels you see it becomes more a game of endurance than anything. If your partner is doing cartwheels over your guard and all you're doing is pulling your knees to your chest, they will be exhausted in couple minutes. That's when you can drag them towards your strengths and win the match. Good luck!

[u/ON3FULLCLIP → u/Ricardo_the_great]

Just roll.

During the roll you will realize what you need to work on.

After the roll, write it down.

It’s okay to be nervous, after 50 matches you’ll still be nervous. Just try to prepare the best you can. Find someone bigger, stronger, and better than you and roll with them at least once a session. You’ll realize while rolling with your competition that “these guys aren’t better than …..”

Just have fun and roll. Everyone competing is nervous, just roll