I'm going.
180's Masters blue belt and intermediate. I'm a white belt, but have been training for 16 months many days a week.
It's like a death camp in the convention center. The place is HUUUUUUUUUGE but there is literally 100,000 people in there for all the different events. They have all the bodybuilding/fitness/supplements/expo as well as gymnastics, fencing, ping pong, mma, muay thai, weight lifting, etc competitions. You will see plenty of hot chick booth babes and giant muscle men.
The grappling is in the main giant convention center room where the expo is going on. Everyone crowds around the mats. It's very difficult to get on and off the mats whether you are a competitor, coach, or photographer. It's also hard to hear them call divisions on the loudspeaker. You will want to stay pretty close to your mat to see how fast things are going. This is also true because NAGA frequently has been moving divsions around to speed things up.
Make sure to bring flip flops as a huge number of people go to the bathroom with bare feet and then come back on the mats. Sick.
If you are coming as a team, I would get their fairly early saturday so you can find a place to put your stuff. Space is at a premium. Besides, all the negatives...it's definitely the biggest and toughest tournament in the midwest! I'm excited!
