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My Pan Am Experience Today
- Thread starter elcliffo
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good job man, congrats!
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I feel the same way you do elcliffo, the experience was amazing and to be in a room w/ so many other people that share your passion is a great experience.
I came all the way from Alaska to compete in my very first tournament at the Pan Ams, and for everything that was going on I went into my fights pretty relaxed. My mindset was the illusion that we were back in my gym and this was a roll w/ another guy from my gym. I'd been pulling 2 a days training for 2 and a half months prior to the comp, and I also dropped about 30 lbs to make it into the super heavy division (and seeing how big some of the ultras were, I was glad I did)
My first match was against a guy who had a bout a foot on me, and a couple lbs. Right off the bat he pulled guard which was ok with me because i'm comfortable w/ my guard passing, but I did have quite a bit of trouble because he was working really good at breaking my posture and I was having to reset constantly. My training paid off though because about 3 minutes in he was starting to look gassed and I could feel his strength start to fade. I set up one last time to break the guard and ended up passing to half guard and then to mount in the final seconds. My first win under my belt and I was happy because that was one of my main goals. I felt fresh and hydrated quickly.
My 2nd match I came in loose as well and right when the match started he hooked up w/ me like a strong wrestler would. The guy was strong as hell but I didn't want to wait for him to take a shot, so I changed levels and tried a sacrifice throw. He stayed really tight and basically fell on top of me. I readjusted and worked from half guard to full and started to work a collar choke for a good 2-3 minutes. I was able to break his posture a couple of times and now watching the video there were some good opportunities to sweep, but I was pretty focused on the submission. My mistake, and one a white belt probably makes often. He ended up passing to my half guard and staying really tight. I tried for a sweep from half guard but it failed and he ended up hopping to mount with some killer grape vines. I worked what I could to get out of the mount and almost got out, but on that big attempt I left an arm out and he capitalized by hopping to side control and taking the americana. A well played submission from a strong wrestler whom I later found out after talking with him in the hotel parking lot that he took gold in the division.
My team was proud and so was I and we'll see later this week if I get promoted to blue.
I'm in the blue
I came all the way from Alaska to compete in my very first tournament at the Pan Ams, and for everything that was going on I went into my fights pretty relaxed. My mindset was the illusion that we were back in my gym and this was a roll w/ another guy from my gym. I'd been pulling 2 a days training for 2 and a half months prior to the comp, and I also dropped about 30 lbs to make it into the super heavy division (and seeing how big some of the ultras were, I was glad I did)
My first match was against a guy who had a bout a foot on me, and a couple lbs. Right off the bat he pulled guard which was ok with me because i'm comfortable w/ my guard passing, but I did have quite a bit of trouble because he was working really good at breaking my posture and I was having to reset constantly. My training paid off though because about 3 minutes in he was starting to look gassed and I could feel his strength start to fade. I set up one last time to break the guard and ended up passing to half guard and then to mount in the final seconds. My first win under my belt and I was happy because that was one of my main goals. I felt fresh and hydrated quickly.
My 2nd match I came in loose as well and right when the match started he hooked up w/ me like a strong wrestler would. The guy was strong as hell but I didn't want to wait for him to take a shot, so I changed levels and tried a sacrifice throw. He stayed really tight and basically fell on top of me. I readjusted and worked from half guard to full and started to work a collar choke for a good 2-3 minutes. I was able to break his posture a couple of times and now watching the video there were some good opportunities to sweep, but I was pretty focused on the submission. My mistake, and one a white belt probably makes often. He ended up passing to my half guard and staying really tight. I tried for a sweep from half guard but it failed and he ended up hopping to mount with some killer grape vines. I worked what I could to get out of the mount and almost got out, but on that big attempt I left an arm out and he capitalized by hopping to side control and taking the americana. A well played submission from a strong wrestler whom I later found out after talking with him in the hotel parking lot that he took gold in the division.
My team was proud and so was I and we'll see later this week if I get promoted to blue.
I'm in the blue
