When you try your best but you don't succeed... My first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament experience.
I wish I could have written today about how I choked my way up to the podium in an incredible display of Jiu Jitsu prowess during my first tournament, but unfortunately that is not how things played out last Sunday.
I lost my very first fight, which lasted the entire five minutes allocated for combat. I was outscored by my opponent, but didn’t get submitted. The competition was based on a single elimination scheme, so by losing my first match, I was out of the tournament.
As anticlimactic as it sounds, not everything was gloom and doom. Actually, far from it: there is this famous saying that states that in Jiu Jitsu there is no losing, since you either win or you learn – and boy, did I learn from this experience…
The negatives.
- Probably as a consequence of spending my first 5-6 months of BJJ training in survival mode sparring with guys that were much stronger, more experienced and way bigger than I am, I have the bad habit of playing a more defensive than offensive game and relying on escapes and fast scrambles instead of being more conscious of dominant vs unfavorable positions. This makes me less proactive when it comes to avoid getting in bad positions (under mount, side control or getting my back taken) in the first place since I know that I can usually get out of them. However, in competition your opponent gets points every time they get a good position over you, which means that even if you escape, these points were already scored against you, so unless you get a submission before the time is up, you will lose.
- I was too afraid of taking a risk and decided to play it safe instead, and learned the hard way that with no risks comes no reward!
- In a similar vein, I developed tunnel vision and held onto my choke attempt for more than a reasonable amount of time, which was draining not only for my opponent but also for myself. I should have explored other alternatives.
The positives.
- I didn’t get injured.
- I noticed that I didn’t get as nervous or anxious as I expected once I was already in the combat area ready to fight.
- I didn’t get a take down as I originally planned, but I got a successful guard pull instead, and my opponent was unable to break my guard until I opened it myself.
- I managed to prevent her guard passing after her initial attempt and reestablished my closed guard.
- Defended three attacks from my opponent successfully, didn’t get submitted.
To be completely honest, I was disappointed with my performance and think I could have done much better; I felt like I could have had a chance to win, but I made a lot of mistakes that could have been easily avoided.
Throughout all of my life, I have always been extremely self-critical and set really high standards for myself. My teammates who witnessed my fight said to me and to other people that I fought well, but honestly I cannot fully believe it and can’t help but think they were just trying to be encouraging.
Nevertheless, after finishing my fight and watching – while cringing – the footage from my fight, I clearly saw the mistakes I made, and thought of several alternatives that I could have resorted to. That in itself is already useful for my progress in the sport. Now it is time to get back to training and work on bettering my skills based on that feedback.
I am glad that I decided to take my chance to fight in competition. Most people training BJJ don’t ever take this step – even in my gym, which is a fairly competitive one, the proportion of people who compete regularly is very small compared to the total of people training there.
One of my team mates, who coached me regarding take downs, told me on the day of our last training before competition: “It will be good, you will see, I think you will become addicted to competing.”
I think she was right.
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First photo taken by Phil IP X.
One step closer to victory. I was a former nationally ranked swimmer and held multiple local records and was being recruited for highschool and colleges starting at age 12. No one even knew I existed for the first 7 years when I started swimming and competing except my close friends. I was good but not great. I obviously wanted to win and tried my hardest, but never got upset that I lost. I always wanted to know why I was slower and what the better swimmers were doing that I wasn't. My sights were also never set on my opponent, they were set on the champions. My opponents would always change and be temporary so I made a stable and constant goal. I chased after the best people in my group, worked on technique, raced and lost to the best, time after time finishing behind them. I would slowly notice I would finish behind them less and less each and every month, week, and day. Eventually I beat the top guys in my practice. Then I worked on beating them by longer distances each time. Rest was history.
It's just on step on the ladder you need to move up to be good. Realistically speaking, probably having a few steps before making it to the top is better. Keeps you humble (there are some beasts out there that just start at the top). If you get there faster, great but expect to go through more steps.
Upvoted and resteemed!
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, @aaagent. It is really inspiring to have such an insight into how an athlete rises to the top, and at the same time it is reassuring to know that not being an "instant success" is not a sign that you are doomed to be at the bottom forever. I will follow your example and climb all these necessary steps to become better and better.
In addition, I know it is a cliché, but we really learn much more from our mistakes than our triumphs. Each mistake you make is a lesson that will be indelibly fixed in your mind and will help you to become a better player, I can see than very clearly right now.
Thanks a ton for the resteem! You rock ;-)
Congratulations on going through with your first competition! Results were not what you wanted and that sucks; I know. I had a very similar experience with my first and only competition so far this year. Went the full round, lost on points (but I lost by a lot more than you), hated my performance watching the video (a dozen times within 1 day after), missed my chance to win, etc.
However, you may not see it now but the amount you learned and how immediately it improves your game is far more valuable than had you smashed your way to 1st. You would still have the holes that you're now very aware of and shoring up because of that loss. In the long term view of your BJJ life this is the shortcut to improvement. You express great attitude and perspective in this post so no doubt you'll be capitalizing on this rapid growth opportunity. Good for you. :)
@ksgata, I know that feeling of watching the video from your match and going "who is that idiot wearing my gi?" Hahaha! I was cringing so hard when I watched mine.
True, I am now very much aware of what wholes in my game need to be urgently addressed, and somehow I feel like those same problems would have gone undetected for some time without the experience of competition. I like your approach of seeing competition as a shortcut to improvement, thank you very much for leaving such nice feedback! Cheers.
looking forward to read about your next tournament
I like to think that fighting and competing is only there to test yourself and your progress.
Also it sounds like you have learned a lot just by watching yourself fight.
@flipstar, I did learn a lot, also got some really good advice from my coach afterwards about strategies to implement to become a better fighter.
Competition is definitely the best test to your abilities, since you are fighting against an opponent who you are unfamiliar with (so you didn't have a time to adapt to their style beforehand), and also going 100% and not holding back.
sounds a lot like it was worth it.
My trainer asked me to participate in a tournament in Bangkok but I chickened out as I did not feel ready yet. Reading this and what you have learned makes me regret this decision.
Actually, three or four months ago my teammates started making suggestions about me signing up to start competing but I felt nervous about it (also because I was unsure about my skill level) so I said no.
However, in the end I realized that, unless you get injured (which can happen but it is not common), there is really nothing to lose. So perhaps next time you might consider signing up just for the experience, also competing in Thailand sounds amazing!
Yes, you are absolutely right, next time I will probably go for it.
This is awesome! First let me say congratulations. I wish everyone could have the experience of losing a match in martial arts. The humility it teaches can be life altering. I've practiced Judo/Jiu-Jitsu for a little more than 14 years. Yes, the losses hurt, but the lessons they teach are more profound than the one's learned from winning. Those lessons will also prepare you to better handle this "wins" as well. Thanks for the post. Cheers!
@nexusfyre more than 14 years of experience! Wow, I am like a new born baby compared to you... Jiu Jitsu certainly has a very special way of humbling people, the lessons are bitter sometimes but it is a constant reminder that there is always an entire universe of skill and knowledge to be attained only through patience and perseverance. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.
Oh, I've not practiced for a few years, but the mindset sticks with you a bit longer than the technique ha! You'd probably run circles around me now :P One of my favorite things my instructor used to say was, "I know enough to know that I know very little." Cheers!
Keep at it. As the old Japanese saying goes "true victory is self victory". You now know where you could use improvement and you are bound to get better!
@ehzi-dehve, one of my team mates told me than competing is like pressing the "turbo" button on your learning in Jiu Jitsu, now I see what she meant! The experience gave me some crystal clear pointers on what my weaknesses and strengths are. Thanks for commenting!
Not a single grammatical mistake or misplaced letter as far as I can see! And that's rare on steemit. If you're as diligent in your BJJ as you are in your writing, you'll go far!
This reads like a tease to me, cos if I were to choose a sport, it would be BJJ, and you offer a window into how that would be.
@alexander.alexis Really? I have to say I am surprised, since English is my second language (first is Spanish) and I am still learning.
Yes, I do have a bit of a perfectionist vein in me which can be both a blessing and a curse. I think that is part of what makes BJJ so fascinating and addictive for me: it is so complex and detailed that it is very hard to get things right, and I just want to stop being bad at it as soon as possible! He he...
You should try it! I cannot recommend it enough. Even though it requires patience and can be very frustrating at times, it is incredibly rewarding (and guaranteed to get you in great shape in a short time). Socially BJJ is also very good, the bond you create with your teammates is a very special one, and for some reason people who do BJJ tend to be cooler than average ;-)
Interesting post
Thank you :-)
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STOPI know it's hard but try not to get down on yourself, take that learning experience with you and move forward to your next competition. Unfortunately single elimination can be tricky, as I know for myself I needed 2 bouts before I was even into it. Keep at it and keep learning!
@rdhealth Thank you for your very good advice and encouragement! Yes, I was disappointed at first but now I feel that some improvement came out of it after all. At least there are a couple of mistakes that I corrected now, and my coach gave me some very useful feedback about where to direct my focus in training from now.