competed for the first time today - lost my first match

[Steve08]

I'm not thinking about quitting BJJ or anything and plan to compete more so rest assured of that!

But yeah, my friend Herb Chao offered me a job working as a scorekeeper for the annual BJJ tournament at Harvard, which I accepted. That went down today-- sitting behind the desk was cool cause I got to observe BJJ matches for free, and also grow more familiar with scoring situations (on top of getting paid 100 bucks for roughly 3 hours of work). I brought a pair of shorts with me cause he mentioned that I might get a chance to roll or compete, but I figured if anything like that happened, we'd just be rolling. Anyway, they decided to put on some challenge matches outside of the brackets so I figured I would put my name down even though I haven't been training consistently and I'm quite out of shape. Just wanted to see how I would do. This 42 year old dude asked me if I was down to compete if nobody else wanted to, so I agreed.

BTW, Jordan Tabor was reffing the matches on the mat I was working, and also refereed my match. I thought this was cool. People on this forum can say whatever they want about him. I don't really care.

Anyway, the match started, and I do not pull guard so I began to look for the grips for the harai goshi (in this case, right underhook and left wrist). I was somewhat caught off guard by the guy's physical aggression; he was going 50mph while I was going 30, so to speak. He also shoved me and grabbed my shirt once or twice (it was no gi) while were standing but whatever lol. I managed to get my grips and began the throw, but I fucked it up somehow and got reversed (going to look at footage later to see what went wrong exactly), wound up on the bottom and was quickly passed to kesa gatame. I managed to get to my knees, defended a guillotine attempt or two and attempted a single leg sweep from bottom turtle, but my elbows were too open so I had no power. Ultimately, I was stuck under the bottom of turtle, and eventually he spun around and took my back, slapped on an RNC, so I kind of panicked and tapped without really defending it.

Overall though I thought it was a good experience and it's something I want to try again, hopefully I will at least manage to score a point next time though -_- I came away from it with a pretty clear sense of what I needed to work on, namely my physical conditioning, guard, and takedowns (I went for Judo even though I'm not good at it because I was afraid of getting guillotined, but that's because I suck at shooting, both of which I'd like to correct).

Discuss ITT:
Your first match (if you remember it)
Technical advice, as my guard retention needs a lot of work
dank memes

Cheers

 

[Minnja]

I got rekt in my first like 5 wrestling matches. First BJJ tourny was submission only and I got submitted like 4 times lol (did gi/nogi in both my weight class and absolute which was a terirble idea as I was competing at 135).

 

[Minnja]

Basically what I'm saying is that even if you get rekt you can still do well in the next tournament. Also, I got destroyed by a judo blackbelt competing at whitebelt BJJ in like 25 seconds in one tournament (not the one I lost 4 times in). I ended up fighting a guy for 3rd place after that and since judo guy beat me so fast i didn't spend any energy on that match and had some time to rest and ended up taking 3rd

 

[BJJArsenal]

First match ever I lost in about 20 seconds. Shot in for a terrible takedown and got RNC'd. Was ridiculously nervous.

I can go through your match if you upload it and look at your guard for you.

 

[DushanS94]

Hahhaa, the infamous first match The physical aggression part gets all of us in the beginning I remember at my first competition, every white belt was commenting "damn...that guy was SO strong" I was in the same boat, until I realized that it wasn't strength, just that we aren't used to going 100% and people going much much harder than even the toughest sparring session.

As for technical advice, I'm not that big of a fan of no-gi Judo for grappling. Sure, if you're a Judo black belt, go for it, but I mean it in the context of "drilling a Judo throw" before competition. Too easy to get reversed and Judo is hard to master even with the gi on, without the gi it's a waste of time if you're not training Judo. That being said, work on some wrestling takedown. I don't understand the mass fear of guillotines. 99% guillotines that beginners apply are such complete shit, that you have a free guard pass right of the takedown, and sometimes even a Von-Flue choke if they panic and hold on to you. Obviously if he's a midget with thick arms you should be careful, otherwise just shoot and keep your head up.

Other than that, try to be calmer than the other guy. If I see the guy is a spaz and just going 300%, I'll pull guard, wait 30 seconds for him to nearly have a heart attack, then sweep and finish. People who go 100% right of the bat will only finish the afraid and the inexperienced. It's a shit tactic and worthless once you get some matches under your belt.

Pull guard if you suck at takedowns. BJJ is usually horrible at teaching their students takedowns, so why should you do something you are shitty at? Takedowns are awesome, and 50% of the no gi game, but that's only true if you can wrestle. If you can't, pull guard and do stuff you are already comfortable with. Pulling a good guard is 1000000000x better than trying a shitty takedown.

Develop some high percentage moves for competition. Inverted gogoplatas from double anal guard are all well and good, but suck dick when your opponent is fighting you with everything he has. Stick to high percentage moves like guillotines, triangles, kimuras, armbars, rnc, darce/anaconda, omoplatas etc...(Just because a move is complicated doesn't mean it isn't high percentage and vice versa)

This one is my personal preference, and should not be taken as objective advice, but I dislike really going for finishes from the bottom. At the white belt level this isn't so important but it's a good habit to have. The closed guard is ok, and you can hit a lot of stuff from there, but other than that I like going for sweeps and then playing a crushing top game until they give me something. That way, even if I don't finish, I win on points. Finishing from the bottom can be hard if someone is disengaging and is tiring as well. No gi only of course, I never did gi so I don't know, but it is probably easier for the bottom guy to catch something because of his grips.


My first match as a 7 month white belt:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7Sv5CtD2Zu5SUFRUEpvSHE4ZUU
I start on the left with the black and yellow bad boy shorts.

 

[Higus]

They have a BJJ tournament at Harvard? I wish I knew, I would have loved to check it out.

 

[jcandoitbig]

first match my plan was to bait a shot and sprawl, spin to turtle etc...of course when you finally start your mind goes a bit blank, and I felt as though my reactions were way slower than usual. he shot and my sprawl was actually too slow even though I was waiting for it! lol. so I was immediately stuck in side control. I was proud of myself however, because I patiently waited for my opportunity to escape and stayed safe until I could get an underhook and come up on a single. I was then on top in half guard, passing to mount when I realized how F'ing tired I was already!! as I passed he was able to reverse me as I was gassing super hard. then we kinda stalled in closed guard until the timer ran out lol. It was tied and it went to OT, first person to score wins. I could barely stand and make a fist at that point, and he shot another single. I grabbed a guillotine, but he stuffed my leg and moved correctly to side control and won. I was happy because a) i didn't get submitted and b) I didn't muscle my escapes but I was annoyed because a) I definitely had him in the skill department but not the cardio and b) I should have been more aggressive standing instead of waiting for him to do something. 2nd and 3 matches I armlocked a guy and then got guillotined but I did hit a sweet hip throw which i was STOKED about lol

All in all, great experience but I need to actually train hard for my next comp lol cause I had noooo cardio. i also didn't really realize how much people spaz out of shit at white belt, especially trying to hold side control, mount etc.