Submission-Only tournament went great!

goatfury

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U.S. Grappling ran our first submission-only tournament on Saturday. The timing of the weekend wasn't ideal for attracting large numbers of competitors (Easter weekend and the week before the Pan Ams), so it was perfect for our first foray into the unknown.

There were a lot of questions asked before the tournament. Wouldn't most of the matches last forever? Would we restart the competitors on the feet or disqualify them if there was a lack of action? Would the competitors be there all day?

The answer to all of these questions was a resounding "no." We had one match last an hour and 20 minutes, and a handful of 45-minute endurance battles. Plenty of matches were 20-25 minutes. For every match that lasted 20 minutes, we had 3 that lasted 2 minutes. Some were much quicker than that.

There were some beautiful submissions and some great transitions, and there were some ugly submissions too. More than any other tournament, we heard from the competitors that they had more fun than at any other tournament.

I can't wait to do another one like this.

Results are posted here:
http://www.usgrappling.us/events/032208/

Snake made a video, and it's posted here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=31021321


Thanks for all the support from the competitors and coaches who made it out. Those who couldn't make it out, we'll do it again soon (on a better weekend for attracting larger numbers)!
 
I can't wait until we can go back through each bracket (seems like a good thing to do on the flight to the Pan Ams) and determine the average match time. This event was a LOT of fun, and the atmosphere was great. No coaches yelling, except to cheer their guys (and girls) on, and I don't think anyone got pissed off at a bad call all day. Even the refs were having fun (missing a sweep is stressful, evidently).

I really liked hearing that competitors liked the event, because they could try stuff. They weren't worried about being in a bad position, or about giving up two points if they went for a footlock, because there were no points. They didn't have to play the points game, and they all had a blast doing it. One guy told me that he lost his first match, but it lasted 10 minutes. He said, "I don't even care that I lost, because I tried to get an omoplata! I just went for it! I NEVER do that!!" To me, that's what this event was all about.
 
this was an awesome idea, any chance you guys could have one of these closer to new york in the future? new jersey maybe?
 
Nice!

I was sceptical but good to hear you guys pulled it off.

It would be cool if every event could be sub only but I think pragmatism would prevent that, especially when there's more competitors.
 
woweee scissor sweep takedown - wasn't illegal?
 
This is a great idea. Real Jiu Jitsu. We are training for the Pan Ams so everything is geared to collecting points in a limited time. Normally we turn the clock off and roll until submission.

I hope something like this happens in Southern Cal. Thanks guys for getting this going.
 
Any plans for doing this again, like maybe this summer? :)
 
omg that was sick a side transition from halfguard in the first 1/3rd of that video

and can smoeone explain that triangle where he had the dude left arm in but it was on the side and then he grabbed the opposite arm/shoulder up for more leverage (even though i explained it kinda myself) but ive never seen that before

and to the guy that got scissor sweeped, obviously you have more experience than me but i just want to say watch your feet better next time, he kinda just grabbed it from your open guard, gotta be on top of that
 
omg that was sick a side transition from halfguard in the first 1/3rd of that video

and can smoeone explain that triangle where he had the dude left arm in but it was on the side and then he grabbed the opposite arm/shoulder up for more leverage (even though i explained it kinda myself) but ive never seen that before

and to the guy that got scissor sweeped, obviously you have more experience than me but i just want to say watch your feet better next time, he kinda just grabbed it from your open guard, gotta be on top of that

yea that was sick, but idk what happened maybe that guy gassed, but later on in the vid he doesnt look as impressive...but i loved that transition
 
We'd definitely like to do another one this summer, yes. Maybe towards the end of summer. We already have our Diamond State Games set for June in Delaware (that's a lot closer to NJ, Kimuralex!).
 
Good to know it all worked out. Seems like most of the long fights were matched by short ones, so it didn't drag all that much. I thought it may work out like that. Hope we get something like that around us.
 
Nice, and the HL was pretty good too. Some sweet transitions and the scissor sweep was nice.
 
damn that guy was VICIOUS with the heel hooks. How are your knees?

Its not bad, my knee is about 60%. Fighting in the absolutes in both divisions did not help at all haha.
 
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