A few weeks before the tournament began I was offered the chance to register through one of the guys at the club. He wasn't able to go and offered his spot to me, but there was a condition: I had to register for both Gi, and No Gi. I've never competed in No Gi before, and haven't been to many No Gi classes so I was a little hesitant at first, but decided to go for it. I was in good shape, and getting out to class on a regular basis so I thought I'd do well. I registered for the 160lbs. and under division, which was 8lbs. lighter than where I competed in the BC Provincials. I was around 164lbs. and figured it would be an easy cut for me. It would also give me motivation to work toward my weight loss goal. I was working out regularly and eating clean; everything was going according to plan.
I woke up pretty early on the day of the tournament and decided to check my scale to see where I was at. It said I was dead on at 160lbs. so I was worried I wouldn't make weight, and would be disqualified. I threw on my running shoes and started jogging around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes. Afterwards I thought "I must've sweated out a couple of pounds by now", and went to check the scale again. Somehow it actually increased to 162.2lbs! "WHAT THE FUCK?!" I thought to myself. I decided to eat very lightly and hope for the best when I got there. I picked up Barker and we headed out to Landford where the tournament was being held. I checked out how many people were in my division - it looked like there were only two competitors for each of my divisions, which I was happy about. Four matches wasn't too crazy and I could easily handle them.
I headed over to the weigh in station after checking in, still nervous I would be over weight and get disqualified. Luckily I came in at 158.6 lbs and was good to go! Phew! "TIME TO EAT!" I thought to myself as I proceeded to the competition area where we met up with "Big" Mike, another guy from the club that was competing that day.
I was told I would be competing in the Gi division first so I went and changed, then waited around in the competition area. At the last minute thought, they changed their minds and switched me to the No Gi division, so I was a bit rushed to get changed again, and back into the warm up area on time. After I got changed again and made it back to the warm up area I found out three other guys had registered for my division at the last minute. This made me both nervous, and excited at same time; Nervous because I was a little worried I wouldn't win, and I'm always concerned about getting injured. It was exciting to have the chance to compete with more people though, and see how well I could do.
It was finally time... I heard my name and bowed onto the mats, eagerly waiting to compete. My first opponent was Timothy Gooch, and he quickly submitted me with a rear naked choke. I made the mistake of not controlling his second hand, and concentrated too much on getting his foot off my hip. I was disappointed I had lost my first match, and so quickly, but had four more matches coming up.
My second match went much better. After a couple of attempts, and some scrambling, I caught him in a guillotine choke and had it in DEEP. His neck was mine and he wasn't going ANYWHERE! After our match we shook hands, I bowed off, and thanked him for the match. I told him how nervous I was ever since I walked into the arena and he said "You could've fooled me, you've had a stone face the whole time." I laughed and took it as a compliment. What that meant to me is that I was fully concentrated on finding a way to submit my opponent and not showing any signs of my nervousness.
My next match went well too. I submitted my opponent with a deep arm bar. He had one of those funky elbow joints that bends really far, so when I applied the arm bar it wasn't enough to make him tap out. I quickly shifted my hips, adjusted to get more leverage, and got the tap out I was looking for. I quickly won my fourth match as well with an americana arm lock. I thought it was a sure thing I'd be going for a silver medal at this point.
My fifth match was quite the battle however. Even though this guy was 160lbs. or under, he was solid muscle and gave me a run for my money. I eventually lost by decision after going the distance in over time. I was trying everything I could on this guy but he was just too tough. I was hoping to have beaten him for silver, but I was happy to have one anything at all, and felt like I put everything I had into my performance.
A couple hours later the Gi divisions finally started and my first match was against Tim again. "REVENGE!" I thought to myself as I bowed onto the mats this time. I was expecting to do better in the Gi division because it's what I have the most experience training in, but was completely drained by then, and lost both of my matches. The highlight of my match with Tim was laughing when he caught me in a bow and arrow choke. For some reason the way he had it applied made me laugh, and I started roaring during our match. Both him and the referee had a confused look on their faces, and I managed to escape it, but lost by decision. I "won" a bronze medal for competing, which was a default medal because there were only three of us in that division.
Barker did really well and won Silver in his division, and Mike won Gold in his! He took off before we could get a group picture afterward though.
Throughout the day we were updating Ari on how everyone was doing, and he made an awesome post on Facebook about it, saying the highlight was when I told him I was simply "having fun" out there. After my first match I started to relax a lot more, and was genuinely having a good time. I didn't care if I won any fancy medals, I was just doing what I love to do and having a blast doing it. If any of you are Dragon Ball Z fans, I can say this: I felt like Goku that day. I was relaxed, carefree, and goofy, yet determined to suceed at the same time. I felt at peace inside, even though my heart was racing the entire time. I can't wait to compete in this tournament again, it was a great event and has made me want to learn more about the No Gi style of training/competing.
Until next time friends... Oss!
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