competition -- friend or foe?

[ohmalley]

Anyway, you competed really well yesterday. I stay you stick with it. There's always going to be parts of competing that suck.. The nerves, the cutting (if you do that), and all the aches and pains. BUT the joy of competing and winning dwarfs all that as far as intensity. The question is really do you want to put myself through a bunch of sucky shit for the potential of having a truely amazing moment (should you a win or place highly in a tournament you worked really hard to do well in).

thanks man, i appreciate that. on that note, i loved your second absolute match -- i've never seen that guy play so defensively before! nice, nice win my friend. and thanks to everyone else who's responded as well. there's really great feedback and perspective here. most of all i think it's just helpful to know that 'adrenaline dump' wasn't a sign from the gods that i shouldn't be competing. christ that was trippy. blarg!

oddly, just as i posted this, i watched the latest episode of TUF & Aftermath that was all about the mental aspect, and what all these high level fighters go thru before competing (tyson cried?! wow!). while i was watching that i stumbled across two blog posts from bjjers about competition nerves and feeling like you hate it but doing it anyway.

anyway, thanks again. i didn't expect much at first but this has been awesomely helpful.

cheers!

 

[BWC]

I hated my first tourney. Just hated it. It was so awful. I was so nervous and I have done plenty of sports in my life and have been in some high-pressure situations. However there is just something about BJJ that makes it hard to manage your nerves. But what a feeling after my third tournament, a NAGA. I won my division and I can't remember the last time I had that feeling of accomplishment.

What helped me is that I just read and listened to relaxing music until the last 20 minutes leading up to my first match. Other guys were warming up, practice rolling, etc. This was like 3 hours before they got on the mats.

I don't know, there;s no way to replicate the competitive atmosphere in the gym and that alone is why you should compete. You can only get so good wrestling your buddies in the gym everyday..

 

[Vector_X]

I guess I can run through these having competed a few times, but really just doing BJJ as a hobby.

1. anyone come from a similar starting point and wind up actually enjoying competitions and doing reasonably well in them? care to share thoughts on your own process?I just did it to do it pretty much. It seemed logical and gave me more people to roll with. I do tend to do rather well at them but i'm a smaller guy at my gym and typically give up 40lbs or so to nearly all opponents so rolling with someone by own weight is just great. I try to compete in 3-4 a year simple as that.


2. about half way through my second match i was doing alright. but i had this feeling: sure, i was nervous, but it felt like my muscles were shaking -- on the inside. i couldn't think clearly about what i needed to do (and i'd been in that situation and done it a million times in training), and i just suddenly got so fucking TIRED. so then there i was feeling really tired AND shaky. what gives? i guess i thought the nerves would go away once the fight started. my first fight only lasted a couple minutes, so i wasn't physically exhausted. i'd eaten well, was well hydrated, i'm not ill and i'm in good physical condition. but i felt like i was on bad drugs. what gives? seems like more than first time jitters ... ?Sounds like an adrenaline dump to me. It happens and is yea basically jitters and you just kind of get used to the crowd and competing and then they don't happen as much.

3. for folks who tried competing and decided they didn't like it -- what sorts of things influenced your decisions? was the juice not worth the squeeze? or did the nerves and mental struggles never subside?It does take work and there are plenty of people that because of careers and families just don't have the time to dedicate to where they feel like they would do well.

4. is it simply a matter of practice? the more you do, the easier it gets?Easier? No, but the nerves don't really stay and you kind of learn what to do to and how to do it to work within the tournament guidelines and rules.