South Bay Open 2010

Yesterday I competed in the South Bay Open. I've been so broke lately I wasn't going to sign up but I decided to do one of those "screw it, I'll add it to my credit card debt" moments and commit. I contemplated losing some weight in order to compete at super feather (I know that sounds like the weight of paper, it's great) and then I realized I might even have to watch that I don't go above 141! I weighed in at 137, always less than I think I will. Go figure. I attended the tournament on Saturday to support my Ralph Gracie and GB Encino teammates so I got a glimpse of how it was being run. Definitely just a small tourney that was probably going to be a lot of competitor's first competition. I wasn't stressed at all considering I had been working on my spider guard and was getting pretty comfortable with sweeps. I'm comfortable enough on top to submit and maintain my control. I had my training partner Mik help me warm up on the available mats that most people walked on with their shoes when waiting in line for weigh ins. Yeah, I notice these things. I warmed up with my headphones in blasting Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA and some Cartel and The Fray. I definitely annoyed people including Mik who asked me to get rid of my headphones. Nope. I basically light rolled with him and drilled some spider guard and sweeps and control. I became more sweaty during the warm-up than I did in my matches! I made my mom stay home for this one since I didn't want too many people there for me causing me to believe it was a bigger deal than it was. Sizing the whole tournament up to mean almost nothing helps my nerves. Mik coached me and Benny from Ralph Gracie stepped in even though I told him I had someone which is a good feeling. I may not be an official member of their gym anymore but I still have a family there. Took a little to get my first match but I stretched and kept warm on the side while waiting. Finally I was up.....first girl I got my grips and pulled guard immediately like planned. I can't stand when girls just dance around for five minutes waiting for who knows what. The more anticipation during the stand up, the more worked up I get during the match; I'd assume it's similar in others' experiences as well. She was floppin' around trying to apply pressure but I was able to control somewhat. Went for a triangle but she kept driving forward and her other arm was still kind of inside my legs. Swept her, went for an arm bar. Felt it pop but she wouldn't tap and rolled so I went with her a couple times and lifted my hips a foot off the ground for the win. Cool. Second girl was bigger, I think the ref said they merged weight classes. Anyway, I pulled guard went for a sweep but was sloppy and didn't get mount so went to side control. I moved around her from north south to the other side and as she went to turn to her knees I took the back and choked her with one of her lapels. Third girl was a little tougher. She had an idea of how to pass but I swept her. Messed it up again and got into half guard. She held onto my leg/foot for dear life which is what I would have done as well. I got it free then she got it again. Got into mount went for ezekiel. She defended so I thought about americana but ended up sticking my left hand deep in her collar and using my forearm to create room for my other hand and got the cross choke. My first gold. It felt good but I know that I could have done way better. It just proves that competition bjj is so much different than most training. At white belt level at least, girls tend to treat it like a race. They scramble a lot, when they get a position they hug for dear life and they do stupid shit like stall instead of passing and attempt americanas while in someone's guard. At least I know that no points were scored on me and none of my positions were from getting lucky. I'm going to go ahead and complain that some pictures were taken of me and I look really stupid and embarrassing. Here's a not so embarrassing one: