My First NAGA = Bad experience

Don Richardson

Don Richardson

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I attended my first NAGA grappling event yesterday and it was not a pleasant experience at all. I won't mention the name or where, but I had to drive an hour and a half to get there. Then when I get there, the mats aren't even set up. My division was supposed to go at about 11 am and I ended up sitting around and waiting and waiting.

Long story short, it was so unorganized that I never even got to compete. First, the refs that were supposed to come got snowed in coming from Colorado, so they had to get substitute refs. Then, it takes until about 2 pm just to finish the kids division. We started getting into the no-gi division and I'm assuming I'm coming up, so I start warmin up. I wait and wait and I see the last no-gi group going up and they are the 170-180 lb beginners. I signed up for the 160-169 beginners, but found out they had already competed. I asked why I wasn't called and it turns out that they automatically put me in the over 30 category, which hadn't competed yet. I told them I would just competein the 170-179 division which was about to start. I decided to just get a refund and leave since they wouldn't have had time to finish. They hadn't even gotten the Gi division and it was already 4 pm. They had to start setting up for the pro fights that were coming up at 5 pm. I wasn't that upset, I was just disappointed that I had to travel that far and never got to compete.

The only good thing that came about the event was I got a picture with Dan Severn. It will probably be a while before I try to compete again. This event took away alot of my energy. Anyone ever experienced something like that?
 
Bwahahahaha. I drove a whole night for my first tournament and weight classes were made for the competitors. The were no points scored and the mats were full of people sitting and watching. The second tournament I competed in went almost till midnight. I think you should get over yourself.
 
DJBrosco said:
I attended my first NAGA grappling event yesterday and it was not a pleasant experience at all. I won't mention the name or where, but I had to drive an hour and a half to get there. Then when I get there, the mats aren't even set up. My division was supposed to go at about 11 am and I ended up sitting around and waiting and waiting.

Long story short, it was so unorganized that I never even got to compete. First, the refs that were supposed to come got snowed in coming from Colorado, so they had to get substitute refs. Then, it takes until about 2 pm just to finish the kids division. We started getting into the no-gi division and I'm assuming I'm coming up, so I start warmin up. I wait and wait and I see the last no-gi group going up and they are the 170-180 lb beginners. I signed up for the 160-169 beginners, but found out they had already competed. I asked why I wasn't called and it turns out that they automatically put me in the over 30 category, which hadn't competed yet. I told them I would just competein the 170-179 division which was about to start. I decided to just get a refund and leave since they wouldn't have had time to finish. They hadn't even gotten the Gi division and it was already 4 pm. They had to start setting up for the pro fights that were coming up at 5 pm. I wasn't that upset, I was just disappointed that I had to travel that far and never got to compete.

The only good thing that came about the event was I got a picture with Dan Severn. It will probably be a while before I try to compete again. This event took away alot of my energy. Anyone ever experienced something like that?
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i would say 80% of all sub wrestling / bjj tournaments are EXTREMELY poorly run. I came from a wrestling background where tournaments would be done perfectly, so it bothers the shit out of me when I go to some tournament, find out my division is running 3 hrs behind, then when i'm finally competing the ref is either not paying attention or is incompetent and misses some calls. i would definitely asked for my money back.
 
yup you pay $80 for that
enjoy, service with a smile
 
yeah in my experience wrestling tournaments are run the best followed by judo tournaments
 
Flibb said:
Bwahahahaha. I drove a whole night for my first tournament and weight classes were made for the competitors. The were no points scored and the mats were full of people sitting and watching. The second tournament I competed in went almost till midnight. I think you should get over yourself.
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Fuck off.
 
Not a shock. I have pretty much never been to a GQ/NAGA event that ran smoothly or had good refs. The last one we went to, the ref on my guy's mat was coaching his buddy competing on the next mat - not doing his job. Refs are a real hit or miss at these things. We have also has last minute division switches with no notice, etc. Horrible experiences.

I don't encourage my guys to go anymore. I will go with them if they really want, but I don't enjoy wasting an entire day. We have missed matches as well because things went on till after midnight. I prefer smaller, well run events.
 
I used to compete a lot until NAGA Worlds in NJ. I drove 12 hours then waited 12 hours for my match. I lost on a "sweep" that was one of the worst calls I have ever seen then I got taken down, in the same match in overtime, at least 20 feet into the crowd and the ref gave him two points. I had relaxed assuming we were going to start back on the mat surface. I have over 250 matches in my life but I will never compete in another naga event. I agree that the smaller ie 400 people or less are the best tournaments. I like the budweiser series and the occasional team rock or similar tournaments.
 
Sounds like some one have sand in their vagina. I waited 12 hours at Copa do mundo without eating or drinking just to realize that they had put me i a too heavy weightclass. I still fought and was clock choked unconssios informt of a thousand people.

I missed a competition today that I had trained 8 classes a week for, because I got a staph infection of my face 2 days before the competition (it should only take 3 days to heal with antibiotics).
 
Try going to the Naga Worlds - talk about waiting....

Listen the time they post are just estimation not actual times. NAGA are great because a lot of people good to them, but going to small tournies came be fun cause there is less of a wait....
 
Happy Camper said:
Sounds like some one have sand in their vagina. I waited 12 hours at Copa do mundo without eating or drinking just to realize that they had put me i a too heavy weightclass. I still fought and was clock choked unconssios informt of a thousand people.

I missed a competition today that I had trained 8 classes a week for, because I got a staph infection of my face 2 days before the competition (it should only take 3 days to heal with antibiotics).
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on your face that sucks
 
I'm glad I didn't go, it would've taken me 5 hours to get there.

I was really close to going then decided not to a few days before.
 
I went to the same tournament. That was by far the worst tournament ever. the mats were to close to the wall, the weight classes were non existent. I weighed in at 145 and I was put in there with someone that cut to 175. there were matches where competitors were running into the wall and tripping over boxes while grappling. that tournament was terrible.
 
If they only did Pre-Registration like at Wrestling Tourneys...alot of the kinks would work themselves out.
 
WaRdOg4 said:
I went to the same tournament. That was by far the worst tournament ever. the mats were to close to the wall, the weight classes were non existent. I weighed in at 145 and I was put in there with someone that cut to 175. there were matches where competitors were running into the wall and tripping over boxes while grappling. that tournament was terrible.
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It'll be a long time before I even think about doing another NAGA. If I have to go through that, I'll just keep training and go straight to full MMA and skip the grappling.
 
wellrounded said:
yeah in my experience wrestling tournaments are run the best followed by judo tournaments
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Also my experience. I never return to tournaments that are poorly run ... no one who works (let alone has a family) has time to waste a weekend like that? Ignore the guys telling you to suck it up, anyone who's wrestled at college or competed at judo will tell you not to go back. It's not hard to run a tournament reasonably on time, even huge ones like national championships (in fact, in wrestling nationals we always fought within an hour of the scheduled time). An organization that can't be bothered to do so isn't worth supporting.
 
Ironically, I have had better experience at NAGA than at other local tourneys. At least NAGA always has people to wrestle in my weight class. Some of the other tourneys, I have had not a single other person in my weight class, regardless of experience, or only noobs that refuse to wrestle with me.
 
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