Why don't people like Tournaments?

[Jimmy Cerra]

A lot of people at the places where I roll don't want to enter any grappling competitions or tournaments even as beginners. They say they want more practice first. I don't understand this reasoning at all! I feel that tournaments are a great way to motivate yourself to work extra hard during practice. They also provide a concrete structure to your training regime. And they are better goals than simply "lose weight and get in shape the BJJ way."

Since starting grappling/bjj six months ago, I have competed in virtually every tournament in the area (about one a month). Each time, I gain a lot more understanding on what I need to study and a lot more insight into grappling in general. Granted I don't do well all the time especially during those tournaments when I had only a few weeks experience. ;-) But who cares about that? As long as I'm having fun I want to roll as much as I can!

You got to roll with new and better people to get better yourself. I don't understand why people don't want to enter competitions.

 

[TJS]

I agree.

I have been training just over a year and have competed in 5 tournaments so far.

My first one was with 6mos of training.

 

[infamous mattyd]

I like them when they are over...I hate the prefight jitters

 

[physicaltherapy]

What I don't like about the touneys is the price. It's just so damn expensive. 75 for NAGA 75 for grapplers quest..............jesus that's kinda bull, to have one 5 minute roll. I did my fair share of competing. I don't like starving myself. I don't like spending whole fuckin Saturday or Sunday waiting around 'till they call my division.....I really feel like damn these promoters are just getting fat/rich off of me..... Jesus look at the kids divisions there must be a 1000 kids out there......I'd rather take my 75 dollars and pay matfees at 3 different schools and roll with different people at my level. And get some good instruction out of it...........meet and make connections with different people............I don't do jiu jitsu to get a piece of metal.

When you roll at different schools its actually a lot cooler.....Everybody there tries to kill you ...it's great!!! I mean they really try to submit you...Not like in competition where some asshole who's been wrestling since he was 8 years old enters an intermediate (or worse beginner/novice level) takes you down and just hangs on for dear life, trying to stall and hold on to his 2 fucking points for the win. What's great is when you hear his coach actually encouraging this very gay stalling process. "Hold him little Billy!!!! You have 4 minutes and 30 seconds left." Congratulations buddy...you're a fucking pussy. I'm sure this is what Helio had in mind when he envisioned the future of jiu jitsu. Thanks for laying on top of me and stalling.....I really feel like I got my 75 dollars worth. You are the better fighter.

 

[ichimonji]

What I don't like about the touneys is the price. ....

I totaly agree. I dont make alot of money. And to spend 100 per month on dues. 100 every couple months on gear. 100 on a tourney, not to mention plane fair, hotel, alcohol ... it just adds up.

On the other side I rather spend money on a company who is doing something for the sport than some other organization. 30 dollars for a nike t shirt or 30 for a sinister t shirt ... at least sinister sponsors fighters ...

 

[infamous mattyd]

What I don't like about the touneys is the price. It's just so damn expensive. 75 for NAGA 75 for grapplers quest..............jesus that's kinda bull, to have one 5 minute roll. I did my fair share of competing. I don't like starving myself. I don't like spending whole fuckin Saturday or Sunday waiting around 'till they call my division.....I really feel like damn these promoters are just getting fat/rich off of me..... Jesus look at the kids divisions there must be a 1000 kids out there......I'd rather take my 75 dollars and pay matfees at 3 different schools and roll with different people at my level. And get some good instruction out of it...........meet and make connections with different people............I don't do jiu jitsu to get a piece of metal.

When you roll at different schools its actually a lot cooler.....Everybody there tries to kill you ...it's great!!! I mean they really try to submit you...Not like in competition where some asshole who's been wrestling since he was 8 years old enters an intermediate (or worse beginner/novice level) takes you down and just hangs on for dear life, trying to stall and hold on to his 2 fucking points for the win. What's great is when you hear his coach actually encouraging this very gay stalling process. "Hold him little Billy!!!! You have 4 minutes and 30 seconds left." Congratulations buddy...you're a fucking pussy. I'm sure this is what Helio had in mind when he envisioned the future of jiu jitsu. Thanks for laying on top of me and stalling.....I really feel like I got my 75 dollars worth. You are the better fighter.

I'll let you come hold me down for only $50.haha Thats how I plan to win tomorrow lol

 

[VTJas81]

People have other priorities. Not everyone wants the same thing. For me I will only want to compete when I get in shape because I want to give it my all and have no excuses. But right now I can't.

 

[physicaltherapy]

I'll let you come hold me down for only $50.haha Thats how I plan to win tomorrow lol

Nice...I wouldn't mind paying $50....Stall away baby

 

[Dean Hamilton]

I completely agree with competing a lot. I love to compete and do it as often as I can... only been in about 4 but they were awesome and Im competing again soon . But some people are maybe scared of competing for fear of getting injured? like in class they know the people they roll with and likely know they wont harm them while in a competition some people dont care and will do anything to win.

 

[Jimmy Cerra]

What I don't like about the touneys is the price. It's just so damn expensive. 75 for NAGA 75 for grapplers quest..............jesus that's kinda bull, to have one 5 minute roll. I did my fair share of competing. I don't like starving myself. I don't like spending whole fuckin Saturday or Sunday waiting around 'till they call my division.....I really feel like damn these promoters are just getting fat/rich off of me..... Jesus look at the kids divisions there must be a 1000 kids out there......I'd rather take my 75 dollars and pay matfees at 3 different schools and roll with different people at my level. And get some good instruction out of it...........meet and make connections with different people............I don't do jiu jitsu to get a piece of metal.

I guess it is all how you look at it. I went to NAGA, but I won't go there very often since they are so expensive (maybe once a year). I definitely agree that it costs almost too much money. I gave up other things so I can grapple. I don't buy any DVDs, eat as much food, or go to many parties as I did before starting BJJ. I even go for the cheapest equipment: e.g. $2.00 shirts, $5.00 gi (yes, from ebay), mouthguard from rugby. So it isn't as big a deal for me.

However NAGA was a great learning experience. I learned quite a few things studying the other competitors during their matches during NAGA. The tournament also helped me improve my (normally very very low) confidence. For that and the other reasons I stated in the first post, I feel it was worth it.

When you roll at different schools its actually a lot cooler.....Everybody there tries to kill you ...it's great!!! I mean they really try to submit you...

I agree. It is at other tournaments that I discovered the good schools to train at. There are a lot of shady places that I've found (well, in Pittsburgh anyway), so I tend to only visit those schools that are represented at the tournaments. At NAGA and at the Kumite Classic (local tournament) I met a few grapplers from my area at grappling schools that I didn't know existed. Since then, I've trained at those places a few times for the experience just like you said.

 

[EPT]

A lot of people don't feel that they're good enough to be competing, they don't want to enter competition till they're sure they'll do ok.

There's also the injury thing as well, you're a lot more likely to get injured when your competing rather than just rolling at your club

 

[VampireMonk]

nobody wants to loose bro,
and if you loose it's your joints on the line....

that is why I dont want to compete the injury factor.

 

[jjmuaythaiguy]

At first I wasn't going to post because I like competing but if I was asked what I don't like about competions I would say the following:

I hate the wait.

I don't like the prefight jitters too, like someone posted.

I really hate people that sandbag the events.

I think there whould be a age, belt, stripe and years at a belt level for gi. I hate competing against any blue belt with over 5 years as a blue belt.

I think tournaments should stretch over two or three days if there are over 250 people competing.

I think the brackets should be put in writing on a wall and to the competitors so that people could not make changes or add people later on to the event.

I have a couple of tournments coming up and I hope to do well. Good luck everyone else competing.

 

[kumite]

I did one grappling tournament and it nearly ruined me on tournaments.

1. They threw everybody together. I don't have a lot of grappling experience and I got a Judo brownbelt for my opponent.

2. They allowed limited striking. too limited to be worth throwing anything unless you were from the same school that hosted the entire tournament. then you could knock the hell out of your opponent with no repurcussions.

3. The Judoka never did go for any submissions, just held me down or pulled on my neck with a headlock. After the time ran out and he got the decsion, I'm thinking, "He never could throw or sweep me. He wasn't agressive on the ground. A larger guy held me down for 5 minutes and he wins. What kind of fucked up rules are these?"
Now on the good side, I went there to try to compete in something other than grappling. I had no intention to do the grappling when I went. But I was told the tournament was for TKD only even though the flyer said it was an open tournament.
After argueing with the officials for a few minutes, the person that was over the grappling event came to the table and asked what was the problem. I told him what was going on, that the flyer said it was an open tournament, I had driven for an hour one way to get there and had already paid my money and then I wasn't going to be allowed to compete because I wasn't TKD. He looked at the patches on my gi and said you do Okinawan karate right? The Okinwan styles do throws and some submissions, why don't you come over here and compete with the jujitsu guys? So, I did.
His guys and another schools guys were all real cool. The only ones that had bad attitudes were the one from the school that hosted the entire tournament. I don't know the rules for grappling tournaments in general, but i'm pretty sure sticking your thumb in someone's throat for a submission isn't allowed or hitting hard enough to draw blood. But i do plan on going to another grappling tournament as long as it's not hosted by that school.

 

[physicaltherapy]

I guess it is all how you look at it. I went to NAGA, but I won't go there very often since they are so expensive (maybe once a year). I definitely agree that it costs almost too much money. I gave up other things so I can grapple. I don't buy any DVDs, eat as much food, or go to many parties as I did before starting BJJ. I even go for the cheapest equipment: e.g. $2.00 shirts, $5.00 gi (yes, from ebay), mouthguard from rugby. So it isn't as big a deal for me.

However NAGA was a great learning experience. I learned quite a few things studying the other competitors during their matches during NAGA. The tournament also helped me improve my (normally very very low) confidence. For that and the other reasons I stated in the first post, I feel it was worth it.

I agree. It is at other tournaments that I discovered the good schools to train at. There are a lot of shady places that I've found (well, in Pittsburgh anyway), so I tend to only visit those schools that are represented at the tournaments. At NAGA and at the Kumite Classic (local tournament) I met a few grapplers from my area at grappling schools that I didn't know existed. Since then, I've trained at those places a few times for the experience just like you said.

You're right about the confidence building factor. After I competed, I had tons of confidence and it did make me work harder afterwards. I remember placing 4th in GQ "World" (or "National"??-I gotta look at my medal again) Championships 2004. I got pissed 'cuz I thought I could do better. I went back to the drawing board. Then I enetered a small local tournament a couple of weeks later and I DEMOSLISHED the competition, submitting 3/4 opponents, taking 1st place. The last guy, I had him in full armbar position, but he was hanging on. I was cursing like a sailor trying to pull out the arm bar but the clock ran out on me (I was a white belt so I didn't know all the variations to be able to pull out the arm). It was very exciting. It was one of the last matches of the day. A lot of people had already left. Those that were there though, gathered around our ring to watch. People were cheering, it was incredible. I felt like a gladiator!!!!

 

[guardpasser]

good posts
1. some people dont want to compete
2. some people train to compete all the time
3. some people lack the confidence
4. some people women dont want them to compete
5. some people are scared to lose
millions more reasons
me. i want to compete as much as possible, i dont care if i get beat.

 

[minimagpro]

why should i pay 75$ to only be gerunteed (sp) a 5 minute match... Sure i could win but what if i got a blue belt sandbagger who should be a purple? then i just spent 75$ to get my ass whipped

i would rather pay 40$ at a judo tourney and be gerunteed (sp) 3 matches

 

[physicaltherapy]

why should i pay 75$ to only be gerunteed (sp) a 5 minute match... Sure i could win but what if i got a blue belt sandbagger who should be a purple? then i just spent 75$ to get my ass whipped

i would rather pay 40$ at a judo tourney and be gerunteed (sp) 3 matches

I feel like other MAs have better competition prices.....my friend does TKD. He pays 25 dollars per tournament and fights > 3 times win or lose.

I feel like competition shouldn't be about winning or losing. It should be about getting out there ans testing your skill against many different opponents.

 

[Deleted member 3729]

You guys pay a lot for competitions in the US.

I paid

 

[Balto]

I did one grappling tournament and it nearly ruined me on tournaments.

Wow, worst tournament ever. Most grappling tournaments are a LOT better than that. Don't let it ruin things for you.