Tournament Matches

This weekend we had a friendly tournament against another local school.  Normally I’m super nervous before matches, but this time I was just excited.  Everyone was really cool, the atmosphere was friendly, and I treated my matches as an opportunity to roll with some new bodies.  Everyone from West Side did very well – and win or lose, I think everyone learned something from their matches.

Despite winning both of my matches, I learned that I have a bunch of major holes in my game:

1. Wrestling.  In my first match, I got flattened before I even knew what happened.
2. Arm bar finishes.  One of my instructors was yelling “belly down” when I locked up an arm bar in my first match, and I probably would have been able to finish it if I would have done so.
3. Guard passing and top game.  I’m usually the one playing guard in my matches, and being on top takes me out of my element.  I spent a lot of time in my opponent’s guard in my second match.
4. Be more sneaky with submission set ups.  The mounted triangle that I set up in my second match was way too obvious, and I paid for it by having to fight really hard to secure it.

Back to training!