Morality question for competition

J

Jamsandwich

Orange Belt
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
447
Reaction score
0
There is a competition next month and for fun i have decided to enter the Gi division. Normally i compete in the upper divisions for nogi grappling since i have been training since 97....more seriously in 2001 and quite hard for the past 4 years. Now i do not hold a belt and i do not want to sandbag anyone so if they let me enter a division which do you think would be more competitive? Blue? Purp? When i roll without a Gi i do not have a issue with blue belts, and i beat purple belts for the most part too depending on the rules etc. usually not a problem with either, but i am just thinking all the Gi manipulating techniques i will not know will have to have a effect at some point. Any thoughts?
 
Jamsandwich said:
There is a competition next month and for fun i have decided to enter the Gi division. Normally i compete in the upper divisions for nogi grappling since i have been training since 97....more seriously in 2001 and quite hard for the past 4 years. Now i do not hold a belt and i do not want to sandbag anyone so if they let me enter a division which do you think would be more competitive? Blue? Purp? When i roll without a Gi i do not have a issue with blue belts, and i beat purple belts for the most part too depending on the rules etc. usually not a problem with either, but i am just thinking all the Gi manipulating techniques i will not know will have to have a effect at some point. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

LOL. I thought this "moral decision" was about sabotaging your opponents food or something.

Listen, if you are in a tournament with belt categories, you do the white belt division until someone gives you another belt to wear. You might not even clean out the division. There is a lot more room for error in nogi. Beating someone two belts ahead of you is not uncommon at all, even without some big physical advantage.

In gi, it's super rare. Unless you train gi all the time, the chances you are going to beat someone who trains gi regularly aren't as high as you would think.

Hope you enjoy the tournament.
 
I don't think you would be likely to do very well in the blue belt division and definitely not in the purple belt division if you have no training in grappling with a gi. Obviously you would need to look out for things you aren't used to like gi chokes but more importantly the grips are hugely different.

I wrestled for 5 years and after doing judo for a few weeks I was able to get takedowns on purple belts easily but at first it was ridiculously frustrating. Without a gi, in wrestling, it is common to fight for wrist control or pummel for over/under position. With a gi over/under is all but nonexistent because your opponent will just grab your lapel and hold you away at arm's length. Fighting for wrist control is somewhat different too because your opponents grab your sleeves, not your arms.

Cliffnotes:
1. I don't think you will do well in blue belt+ divisions without any experience with a gi.
2. The reason I feel that way is because it takes time to get used to the different grips on a gi so you won't be able to control position at all.
3. My source for this was my own experience switching from wrestling to judo.
 
I think that you should go at blue at least. 13 years is a long time to train and you would be sandbagging in white belt division. If you win at blue next comp go purple
 
I say go with the blue belt division. You will get more matches and thus have a better gauge of where you stand with the gi and there is no need to throw yourself to the wolves in your first gi tournament. If you tear up the blue belt division, then move up next time.

Make sure the tournament will allow you to compete in the blue or purple belt division. A lot of tournaments will not allow you to fight up a belt rank even if you have prior experience.
 
Hard call. You said you do the upper divisions when competing no gi. What divisions have you done at what tournaments, and how have you fared? I mean if you're competing in the advanced/expert divisions and winning matches, it seems almost cruel for you to enter the white belt division even if that's technically your rank in the gi.
 
I think the point of a tourney is to LEARN! Challenge yourself and learn from your mistakes! If it were me Id want a challenge, not a walk thru for an easy medal that I would put in my closet with the rest.

Is WINNING important to you or LEARNING and getting better?
 
My vote is to start at the blue belt level. Make sure to talk to the event promoter so that he knows what's going on and wear the white belt with your gi.

If you steam roll the competition (which is possible) I would suggest moving up. The truth is I find it hard that you'd win any competitions in the gi at purple belt level (if there are enough purples to make a division) without training in the kimono.

Just start training int he kimono also and rank up there as well :D
 
Lutador011 said:
I think that you should go at blue at least. 13 years is a long time to train and you would be sandbagging in white belt division. If you win at blue next comp go purple
Click to expand...

I agree with this. At white belt most people are getting used to moving on the ground at blue belt they are used to and can flow more easily. I think with the amount of mat time you have blue belt would be where you should start. That will be a better test than the whitebelt div.

The entire point of a competition is to test yourself. If you kill the blues then next time try purple and see how it goes. 13 years is a lot of mat time.
 
mtruitt76 said:
I say go with the blue belt division. You will get more matches and thus have a better gauge of where you stand with the gi and there is no need to throw yourself to the wolves in your first gi tournament. If you tear up the blue belt division, then move up next time.

Make sure the tournament will allow you to compete in the blue or purple belt division. A lot of tournaments will not allow you to fight up a belt rank even if you have prior experience.
Click to expand...


Did you just get your purple belt in Jiu Jitsu?
 
Go blue belt.
It would be a dick move with so much experience to go and crush all the white belts who are new and just trying to compete for the first time. Some might not compete again if they view tournaments as places where sandbaggers sweep white belt divisions.
Granted, you may run into some challenges with the gi, but you will learn a lot more.

So the question comes back to you:
Is it more important for you to learn something at the tournament, or for you to walk away with a medal at the expense of guys with less than a year of grappling experience?
 
poor white belts.. i hope your not competing in florida!

but yeah it happens all the time just go and have fun, if it's a local tournament who cares.. let them know your situation and if they still make you compete at white then it's no fault of yours.
 
I would also recommend going with Blue belt. I think asking the officials there might shed some light on what decision you should go with as well. Like others have said, if you crush the blues then move up to purple. Good luck!
 
i emailed the people holding it asking if it would be ok to go blue etc, and for nogi i have been a purp for a while now. Pretty much if i win the purp nogi division i wont be fighting at that level anymore. I want to be challenged and i dont want to ruin someone's experience by being a monster. I have not done a tournament in a year, but last one i did i won my weight division. They were broken down as follows: for the intermediate level is was split beginers- no tournament exp, intermediate blue/purp, and advanced was brown/black or high success at tournaments. It seems like this tournament is focusing on the open weight more then anything as well. Thats where all the prizes are etc and a ticket to the pan ams. I just want the most out of it travelling 8 hours to compete does not seem worth it if i run through people, but that being said if i went to high and paid the price i wouldnt be mad. It would be fun to experience high level Gi work. One thing too is i get to train with Bibiano the day before the comp so i was thinking of asking him too.
 
Up in central B.C. Canada man. And i just got a email and what he said was they will have someone to roll with me the day of before the brackets start and figure it out from there. Kinda makes the most sense. I mean i have been working with the Gi now for a few weeks with a blue belt and he has got me once but i usually take him so i know most likely that will be what they say. But one person is hard to judge right i do not want to generalize that he reps all formal blue belts, and on the flip side he has been doing nogi for ever as well.
 
Thought so. Congrats man! I noticed in your sig said blue belt JJ and Brown in Judo. I saw it changed. That's awesome! I am blue belt one stripe in JJ and I'm going to be testing for my Sankyu (brown) in November.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,053
Messages
55,463,752
Members
174,785
Latest member
JoyceOuthw

Share this page

Back
Top