I was just wondering. Do any of you have kids that compete in NAGA, or you yourselves compete in NAGA tournaments? Wanted to get some feedback on the organization and the events. We took our 8 yr old daughter to her first event a little while back. We saw some obvious sandbagging by some folks. My little girl had a great time but her mother is not too keen on doing it again.
I participated in one NAGA event and have been to a few others in Connecticut. I'm not sure what kind of info you're looking for...My experience was pretty good, despite being whooped in the first round. The registration and everything was pretty easy... I was able to roll with Kip Kollar on two occassions at the gym I went to in New Hampshire, and he's a pretty cool guy; very knowledgable about the sport. Uhh...I don't really know what else to say. They do a lot of sponsoring of local MMA shows, so that's always good...
Generally poorly run, but it is a good experience. At 8 years old the goal is just to make sure she has fun.
She did have fun. She won her first match, did really well in her second match but the judges ruled against her. Her remaining matches were all against bigger boys, but she competed well. We were thinking about doing the Atlanta show this Saturday but events have made that impossible. Maybe the next FL show. The one in West Palm in March was crazy. Like, 1000 grapplers, people everywhere, firemarshal put the clamps on the crowd. Way too many people in the venue.
For me the pro's and con's of Naga are this*; Pros: -Larger tournaments, which means deep divisions. Unlike some local ones where there are like 2 or 3 guys in a division. -Well run. Kip and crew have been at this awhile and were even brought in this year to run the Arnold's, which is a testament to their ability to run a smooth tournament. -Good referring, again compared to smaller tourneys, these guys usually do a good job. -Ranked. They are associated with Ranked, so you earn points towards your Ranked status in their tournaments. Cons -Very high priced. I think the last one (in March) was like $80 to compete. Throw in travel & hotel and you have yourself an expensive weekend. -No double elimination. Though, I don't know if this is always true, I certainly have seen many times where you lose 1 match and your done. So if you happen to get paired up with the eventual division winner in your first match and get outpointed, you could be done for the day. A lot of smaller tourneys will have double elimination, so one mistake won't necessarily cost you the whole tourney. *I've only competed as an adult, so I don't know if any of this is different for kids.
Well, my little one grappled five times, though she only won one of her matches. She had to go back to back in Gi division against the boys. The one match that she lost that made me nuts was against a bigger boy in No Gi. He pinned her down and dug his chin into her temple and just kept grinding. She couldn't escape and eventually had to tap. I understand it is legal, but I had never seen it as it is not taught to the kids at our school. Just thought it was a cheap way to win. You are right about the cost. I spent about $300 for that thing....and I live in FL.
LOL. Good job for your girl. It is tuff cause its combat(especially for you no doubt) but sounds like she enjoys it and it won't get much more ruffing than chin to temple, so she's had it. Injuries of course, but if you wanna have fun doing anything... Good luck and Cheers. Sooner or later it'll be vs only girls.
I think NAGA sucks. Here's why: It's very high priced. It is only marginally better run than your average BJJ tournament, which means it is still basically run like shit. The refs will still walk off the mat right in the middle of a bracket and halt everything. Kipp Kollar acts like an asshole most of the time. He likes to get on his microphone and announce that since he already has your money by now, he doesn't really care if you complain about the tournament. Count me out. The only real upside to NAGA is that the divisions are significantly more talented than a local tournament. However, most people can remedy this by simply fighting in a higher division at a local tournament. If you are going to fight Novice at NAGA, fight Intermediate at your local tournament, etc. If you are already cleaning up the Advanced division in your local tournaments, then they will usually let you fight Superfights locally. If you are unchallenged by those, you probably the best grappler in your area. That will usually score you an invitation to some Pro divisions in larger tournaments. You can move up from there. Not everyone feels the same as me, but I just don't see the point in traveling far and spending a ton of money for the privilege of being treated like dirt at NAGA. I think there are other competition venues that make a lot more sense for most people.
Yeah, that's great but I haven't been able to find one that my kid could compete in. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. As for NAGA in West Palm. They did a pretty good job but the people running the event seemed to have an issue with me actually reading the 'Hold Harmless'. Well, excuse the hell out of me but my kid is EIGHT YEARS OLD. I want to know what I'm signing. Other than that, the only beef I had was some competitors wearing totally inappropriate shirts around hundreds of kids, many of them younger than mine......come on people, have some damn sense. The Psycho coaches and parents were a hoot.
I think they are the best tournaments. I've been to a lot of different tournaments and different combat sports events. There are no tournaments that are as flexible while still being ran as well. People might complain that NAGA is poorly run, but they can't tell you a better one with nearly as many people. Even the Gracies who have been doing BJJ all their lives don't have tournaments nearly as good as NAGA. Kipp is also a really good guy. He has to put up with a lot of shit at those tournaments. He cares a lot about the fighters and his people he has more working for him. You can't please everybody I guess.
