Link to a movie of my fight...
So a month ago I decided to enter myself into the All Japan Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament, which was held in the Saitama Ageho Budokan (which means fighting hall - see pic) My division was white belt, and my weight class was Mejio (82.7kg). Here's how it went, there are more pictures in Japan 2007 folder....
I'll be the first to admit that since I have been practising Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) It hasn't always gone to plan. Back in Korea with Hapkido, my schedule saw that I could easially train every day, and still have enough time and energy to work, see friends etc. In Japan, what with a hectic work schedule and studying Japanese, Jiu Jitsu has often had to take a back seat.
However - I do enjoy Jiu Jitsu, and usually once I take something up, I try and stick at it. There have been times when I have missed a week or two, but on the whole I have tried to give it my best. A month ago I said to myself that enough was enough. I decided to get myself into this compeition because white belts who started at the same time as me (1 year ago) had already progressed to blue belt, having been in compeitions before, whilst I was still languishing at white belt.
I made it my aim to train for 3 hours every five days in preparation for the tournament - in the regular class (90 minutes) and not the beginner class(60 minutess), which was not too hard. My weight catogary was Mejio, which meant I had to lose 2KG (You have to be weighed with your gi on) and as I had a month or so to go, I shed this quite easially.
The day of the compeition came, and I was very nervous. It was the same with my black belt test for Hapkido - it is not the actual "doing", but rather the added stress of being the "foreigner" - a kind of fish out of water feeling that unsettles me a little bit. However, I drew on my black belt experiences, which were a success, and this got me through the day.
There were six people in my weight/belt class, and I was second up. The way the compeition was set up was, if you won you progressed, if you lost, you were out. My fight went well and I aquitted myself well (I think), but unfortunately I lost on points. My opponent was really good, and he had an excellent base, which made it really difficult for me to sweep him. He, to be fair almost arm barred me, but I managed to excape from this. At the end I was in a standing position, but time ran out - I had lost on points, my opponent having 3 more than myself - I was really happy that some of my club members watched my fight and shouted advice to me in English(!) which you can clearly hear on the youtube file posted at the top of the page!
It was excellent experience for me, and I didn't get submitted, which can be called a success in itself as it was my first compeition - it was over a little quickly, but I was glad to be given the opportunity to do it, and I will definitely be doing another competition in the future - bring it on!
