NAGA Midwest Grappling, Chicago 9/4/2010

[KahleyTriangles]

Hey all, just wanted to say, that all the complaining from how crappy the last NAGA was run in Oak Lawn a few months ago did NOT fall on deaf ears. I originally was not going to go, but decided to because they had advertised that they were going to split the tourney into 2 days.

Breaking the 1 day into 2 separate days with adults in one, and kids in the other was a huge difference. The event started at 10:30am on time today, with no-gi, and the no-gi ended around 1pm, although there were a few smatterings of absolute matches still going on. By then, white belt masters/adult was called into the bull pen and in 15-20 minutes, they were all going. White belt finished around 2:30ish I think...?

Blue belts were called immediately up to the bull pen around 2:45 and by 3 matches were starting. I finished my matches about 3:15-3:30 and by then they were already starting to call purple and brown belt divisions to the bull pen.

Overall, well run. I only did gi so I got there at noon, got ready and was done by 3:30, was home back downtown by 3:50.

And just so that we're clear that I'm not a fanboy of NAGA, here was my post about my horrid experience at the last one in Oak Lawn in April.

Overall, really really well run event compared to other NAGAs. I think they did a great job and I'm glad that the NAGA organizers put in some effort into making changes, especially after the debacle a few months ago.

And congrats to everyone that competed, see you all at US Grappling in October!

 

[Wrestleben]

Glad to hear it went smooth! I skipped this one, but plan on doing US Grappling next month.

 

[tim18t]

Definitely went off a ton better than past events that's for sure. Aside from getting my arm popped bad in the No-gi finals I had a really good time.

 

[countlphie]

i also read how terrible the last one was in chicago so I wasn't expecting a whole lot. but i was actually fairly happy with how things went. I only signed up for gi, was in by 1:30 and out by 3:30.. so not too bad

 

[Toastytoy]

it was run well from my perspective

 

[B.A. Ben Askren]

Definitely went off a ton better than past events that's for sure. Aside from getting my arm popped bad in the No-gi finals I had a really good time.

You don't train at Fusion MMA by chance do you? I'm a friend of one of your blue belts there if you do. Sorry to hear about your arm, what happened?

 

[tim18t]

Yeah I do. Who do you know? I was up against a super tall ( for my weight class) butt scooter and I made the mistake of playing his game. Ended up really close to the scorers table which limited my ways to escape, he caught the armbar from guard and I had only one way to spin as did he, wreaped my arm hard as hell and pop! Its feeling a bit "better" this morning but far from alright.

 

[mtruitt76]

The tournament definately went fast, but the turnout was kind of disappointing. I hand no one in my blue belt masters division and my blue belt adult division was only a 4 man division and 2 of them were white belts lol.

On the up side I did get to compete in an 8 man purple belt division. Kip let me slide into that division since I had no one to face in my masters blue belt division. Won my first 2 matches and was up on points in the final. They guy was going for some foot looks and as I was defending we ended up in a weird 50/50 type position. He started to try and come up from the bottom which put pressure on my knee and my knee popped.

I had to retire from the match since I cried out when my knee popped. It doesn't seem too bad today just a little sore and stiff, but it was kind of a crappy way to lose a match I was winning. Makes 2 tournaments in a row where I had my knee get tweaked from ending up in weird positions from defending foot lock attempts. Guess it is time to schedule a private with Samuel on defending leg locks lol.

Other than the turnout seeming light the tournament ran very smoothly and very fast. The venue was a great place for a tournament also.

 

[B.A. Ben Askren]

Yeah I do. Who do you know? I was up against a super tall ( for my weight class) butt scooter and I made the mistake of playing his game. Ended up really close to the scorers table which limited my ways to escape, he caught the armbar from guard and I had only one way to spin as did he, wreaped my arm hard as hell and pop! Its feeling a bit "better" this morning but far from alright.

Idk if you know him, but Nate runs the bjj club at school and we roll together a bunch. Sorry to hear about your arm, at least it's improving. I went to your guys' club when you were having a free visitor day or whatever, really liked it, but I'm poor lol. I plan on at least trying to make it down there for a month or two this Christmas/summer/both, I just need to donate some plasma so I can pay the fee (and go buy a gi, I had to borrow some blue belts last time I went and I felt like a Dbag :icon_neut)

 

[PowerSource]

I think the reason for not been well attended was the bad reputation it got from the last time. This time things ran smoothly. PowerSource Team had a great time.

 

[Wrestleben]

The tournament definately went fast, but the turnout was kind of disappointing. I hand no one in my blue belt masters division and my blue belt adult division was only a 4 man division and 2 of them were white belts lol.

On the up side I did get to compete in an 8 man purple belt division. Kip let me slide into that division since I had no one to face in my masters blue belt division. Won my first 2 matches and was up on points in the final. They guy was going for some foot looks and as I was defending we ended up in a weird 50/50 type position. He started to try and come up from the bottom which put pressure on my knee and my knee popped.

I had to retire from the match since I cried out when my knee popped. It doesn't seem too bad today just a little sore and stiff, but it was kind of a crappy way to lose a match I was winning. Makes 2 tournaments in a row where I had my knee get tweaked from ending up in weird positions from defending foot lock attempts. Guess it is time to schedule a private with Samuel on defending leg locks lol.

Other than the turnout seeming light the tournament ran very smoothly and very fast. The venue was a great place for a tournament also.

Sounds like you did a great job as usual, but sorry to hear about the knee. Was it the same one you injured a month or two back?

 

[mtruitt76]

Different knee, at least I am mixing it up lol. Doesn't seem to be hurt very bad I was able to train today, but I could not go full speed.

My opponent felt bad, but it wasn't anyone's fault we just ended up in a unusual position. Just a crappy way to lose a match I was winning.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Different knee, at least I am mixing it up lol. Doesn't seem to be hurt very bad I was able to train today, but I could not go full speed.

My opponent felt bad, but it wasn't anyone's fault we just ended up in a unusual position. Just a crappy way to lose a match I was winning.

I agree. Great job in our division. You ran through people. Especially your second match. Like I said when we were there, I hope your knee gets better as soon as possible so you can get back to training full speed. Hopefully, we'll get to compete again at some point in the future.

 

[Wrestleben]

I agree. Great job in our division. You ran through people. Especially your second match. Like I said when we were there, I hope your knee gets better as soon as possible so you can get back to training full speed. Hopefully, we'll get to compete again at some point in the future.

I would like to watch that match. It would be the battle of the titans.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

tournament environments are just so hectic. you want to open up and let your game go and show what you can do. but at the same time you don't want to take risks and get down on points.

i'm sure we'll compete against eachother again. now you and jeff need to quit destroying all those blue belts and come up to purple ha

 

[doomkitty]

After watching NAGA in April I was surprised how fast everything went this time around. It was my first one and there were tons of women to compete against in beginner. I would do it again for sure. Although once it got down to blues and above there were far less. Still good experience all around.

 

[mtruitt76]

I agree. Great job in our division. You ran through people. Especially your second match. Like I said when we were there, I hope your knee gets better as soon as possible so you can get back to training full speed. Hopefully, we'll get to compete again at some point in the future.

Were you the guy I faced in the purple belt finals?

The knee is not too bad I was able to train Monday, just not at full speed. I think it will be close to 100% by the end of the week. It was just a weird position and situation.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Yeah. Funny that we both post on here. I was really glad to see you're as much of a class act online as you are in person. Some people are nice to your face and immediately go online and act like a fool.

Like I said, I'm sure we'll get a chance to compete again. Will you be coming up for US grappling in a few weeks?

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

results aren't up, pictures are.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

double post.