BJJ takedown tournament

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ozyabbas

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Im going into a tournament in about a month, it will be my first. At the moment my takedowns sort of suck, and I will have no idea how good the take downs of my opponent are. Do you think I should one

1)Jump straight to any kind of guard I care to chose (usually de la riva)

or

2)Keep practicing the takedowns and throws

It will be a gi tournament, it will be held in about a month from now and I am a blue belt at the moment.
 
personally i dont believe in jumping to guard unless it's your only option. id say keep working on your takedowns. take 2 or 3 takedowns that your already most comfortable with and practice those like crazy. although if your a blue belt and your not good at takedowns 1month of practicing might not make a huge difference.
 
ozyabbas said:
Im going into a tournament in about a month, it will be my first. At the moment my takedowns sort of suck, and I will have no idea how good the take downs of my opponent are. Do you think I should one

1)Jump straight to any kind of guard I care to chose (usually de la riva)

or

2)Keep practicing the takedowns and throws

It will be a gi tournament, it will be held in about a month from now and I am a blue belt at the moment.
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If your takedowns suck and you are good on the ground pull guard during the tournament and start drilling takedowns the following monday.
 
I would avoid too much of a clinch and force your opponent to shoot on you, work your sprawl and head control (keep your hips low) with a solid sprawl control his lapel and try to work your way to his back or wait for him to try and roll to guard
 
I think I will practice throws more than take downs, if I go for a take down it will probably be a single leg.

I will probably use (sorry if i get the spelling of these techniques wrong) seonage, haraigoshi and possibly some sarcrifice throws. If the sarcrifice throws go wrong its pretty easy to go into x guard or pretty much any type of guard I want.

What im worried about is guys who have judo experience. If someone has mainly only done bjj like myself then im not too worried about that.

I think I saw a quote from Marcelo saying something like if you don't know your competitors takedown/throwing ability then just go to guard.
 
It's your first tournament, so your priority should be to enjoy it. Not only for its own sake, but because it'll start a pattern for everytime you compete.

There's no pressure in your first tournament, no one expects you to win. Play around with it, try things. The most important thing you can get from it is learning how to handle pressure - ultimately the folks who do best in any sport are those who handle the pressure well.

Besides that, think about where you want to be a year or two from now, and use the tournament as part of your training. Which means, work on your takedowns/throws, and try to use them in the tournament. There's plenty of time to worry about winning years down the road when you've gotten a lot better at the sport. For now you're just trying to get all the basics down, including getting into good habits.

BTW, the above is the advice I got from a coaching seminar given by the national team coach - new athletes will, in the long run, do much better in competition if they learn to relax and enjoy the competition, and use the competitions as just another type of training. Set good patterns right at the start, its a lot easier than trying to learn to relax when you get to high level competition.
 
don't try anything you don't do well in practice. Pull guard (if that is your style).

This is my advice
 
If it's in a month drill one or two stand up throws or takedowns over and over so you get really good at them. I agree with the guy above who said to go into a tournament and do what you do best. However, with a month to practise I think you can get one or two throws down well enough to use in the tournament. If all else fails pull guard.
 
georgejjr said:
It's your first tournament, so your priority should be to enjoy it. Not only for its own sake, but because it'll start a pattern for everytime you compete.

There's no pressure in your first tournament, no one expects you to win. Play around with it, try things. The most important thing you can get from it is learning how to handle pressure - ultimately the folks who do best in any sport are those who handle the pressure well.

Besides that, think about where you want to be a year or two from now, and use the tournament as part of your training. Which means, work on your takedowns/throws, and try to use them in the tournament. There's plenty of time to worry about winning years down the road when you've gotten a lot better at the sport. For now you're just trying to get all the basics down, including getting into good habits.

BTW, the above is the advice I got from a coaching seminar given by the national team coach - new athletes will, in the long run, do much better in competition if they learn to relax and enjoy the competition, and use the competitions as just another type of training. Set good patterns right at the start, its a lot easier than trying to learn to relax when you get to high level competition.
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Fantastic advice. I wish someone had told me that.
 
oxyabbas is right. a good tomoenage throw works well. I used this for my first tournament match and it worked great. I can still see the guys face as he flew over me.

But don't worry most BJJ tournaments taledowns are very poor. I got all my takedown points at the Pan Ams. (We do a lot of Judo at our place and I am one of the worst at it)

When you guys roll tonight use a couple of period only on throws. Work on controlling the collar and sleeve.
 
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