Here's my longest match from this past Saturday (I'm in the white gi). I made a lot of noise in this match, which I'll try to control for future tournaments.
Please leave feedback if you can!
Some thoughts on this match (other than telegraphing my crappy throws by kiai):
I'm happy with myself for being the first one to attack in almost every exchange. During randori I usually play the "wait and counter" game, but Mike Oshima who's an alumni of this tournament gave me the advice to be aggressive. It's likely the case that as my opponents increase in skill level, I'll have to force them to give me openings to attack instead of waiting. On the matter of what I attacked with, I was slightly better in using ashi waza with a purpose instead of randomly kicking at the legs like kyu grades usually do. My opponent even remarked afterwards that I could have caught him with an okuri ashi barai at 3:39 and a de ashi barai at 6:49 had I committed with my arms. I think what makes ashi waza difficult for me is that when I catch someone I don't realize it, so I don't build muscle memory for the movement. Clearly from my style of play in this match, I am equating ippon with maximum effort instead of maximum efficiency. At any rate, I met my personal goal of no shidos.
Next, I'm unsure how I feel about my (non) use of newaza. Since he won by ippon in our first match, I was intent on returning the favor so I kept letting him up. I'm still treating these tournament matches like randori and I don't know what it's going to take to get the concept of shiai to properly sink in. I don't know if I necessarily want to treat me opponent like an "enemy," but if I am going to accept donations and invest all this time/money into training I need to start being more focused on winning. If my older brother (Serra BJJ player and judoka) is reading this, it's not because I haven't been drilling the stuff! Something just didn't click that day- the most prime example is at 2:35 after my score where he is literally lying flat on his back (listen closely- an audience member says "osae komi!"). The only technical flub I had on the mat, as far as I can tell, was the juji gatme attempt at 1:10 where I reversed the position of my legs. I literally just drilled that attack a couple of days before- shame on me.
Finally, my stamina needs work. I've been rowing and biking mostly- probably need to incorporate running, jump roping, and... burpees, which I hate.
I rarely travel with a team, so in order to make myself more
comfortable I depend on the kindness of strangers that I meet in the steam
room. Something about mutual misery makes people bond, even if they could end
up being in your weight class. There were a couple of guys from UT (I think- I’ll
have to double check) who let me keep my bag with their stuff, which I
appreciated. In exchange I taped their matches, which is a simple expression of
mutual welfare and benefit, yeah? I have no idea what it’s like to be an elite
judo player, but I try to extend the general “don’t be a jerk” philosophy I use
during practice to competition. You don’t have to smile at your opponent (well,
I do), but arguing with referees, sticking your fingers in your opponents face,
and cranking the neck don’t get you any closer to winning than simply playing
the game does. My mat was pretty good, but I saw a lot of head diving uchi
matas and medical intervention due to jerk-like tactics when I got a chance to
walk around.
Anyway, to the matter of my matches… (1-2 record)
Standard Division Roster: Male, -66 kg
In spite of having missed a bunch of practices due to school
work I felt really prepared for this tournament, as in, the only thing that
would stop me from winning is if my opponent was better than me. In what seems
like a pattern, this was not the case! This is no discredit to my opponents
(who have now become my Facebook friends), but my two losses did not have to do
with technique. Here’s what happened at my first match…
First Match (Ghuloum, Michigan State): I get ready to bow
and the referee comes over to me and says, verbatim, “If you step onto my mat
with that, you will be disqualified.” My heart sunk. The less melodramatic
referee comes over and says “Your gi is too small, you have 30 seconds to find
a new one.” My proper gi size is a 2.5-3 and the smallest guy I could find with
a blue gi had sleeves that went past my closed fists. I hoped my opponent would mess up
a drop seionage so I could use sode-guruma jime, but he got control over my
sleeves which trapped my hands inside. He took the victory
by an uchi mata counter to a kuzushi-less kosoto gari. It was a
beautiful technique and will probably end up on this years highlights, so my goal of ending up on the highlight reel might still come true! I was
mad- I had gotten that gi on ebay for cheap and it said it was a 2.5. Instead,
he sent me a size 2 top and a size 3 pants and I figured it was fine. Dead
wrong.
In another showing of goodness in people, 4 properly-sized people came over and offered me their blue gi. This was nice,
but because I was the first person to lose I would be wearing a white gi for
all of my repechage matches. Speaking of which, my first opponent went on to
lose his next match so we had to fight again!
Second Match (Ghuloum, Michigan State): This match went the
full 5 minutes and was basically me trying to return the favor of the ippon
from the first match. In a very inappropriate move for a national competition
(or any competition, for that matter), I refused to go into newaza even when he
hit his head on the tatami and was literally lying flat on his back for 5 seconds. I won by
waza-ari from kosoto gari and two shidos. The way I fought was brutish and, in my opinion, very ugly to watch. I hope my future matches are cleaner than that. Mohammad is actually very skilled, he just fought an extra match so I think I out-gassed him.
Third Match (Kumaki, University of Washington): I had talked
to this gentleman before and I was actually excited to face him! He was fast-
much faster than me. If you can imagine it, he attempted a seio nage. I stepped
over to the right, but lost my balance and fell to my knees slightly in front
of him. While he did drop to his knees, he got back up (making is nage, not an
otoshi) and continued to drive into my shoulder even though I was turtled. This
popped something in my shoulder and I grunted because of the shock, but the pain
went away really quickly (I think it unpopped right afterwards). The referee
instructed me not to move and the medics ran over to examine me. While they
determined that my shoulder was fine, because they came over I had forfeited
the match. Admittedly it does feel funny now, but I don't think it's serious... regardless, another disappointing end to a match.
The tournament ended with the awards ceremony, with all of
the competitors sitting on the mat together. This was cool because we were all
the same age and the tournament directors actually demanded that we mingle
while they organized things on their end. Striking up conversation with some of
the OTC ladies made me wonder what it would be like to date someone who also
does judo. What would we talk about when doing judo is the only interesting
thing about me? That’s a different universe that I don’t live in right now.
Anyway, I’d like to thank all of the people that have helped
my judo over the years and also apologize for not bringing home a medal after
all the time/hard work that’s been invested in me! Next time for sure.
Special thanks goes out:
My parents for supporting me in everything I do, even if
they will always think judo is a dangerous sport.
My girlfriend for taking care of my injuries/setting alarms
so I don’t miss flights (usually).
Sensei Nick Roseto and Sensei Hiroyuki Yamashita for raising
me on proper judo fundamentals (and for passing on their taiotoshi). Waseda Judo Club, Inc. (Lynbrook, NY)
Sensei Shintaro Higashi and the guys at Kokushi Budo for
pushing my competitive judo to the next level. Kokushi Budo Institute
Sensei Hans Dudeck for drilling my terrible ashi waza. Biwako Judo Club
The Tau Sigma chapter of Beta Theta Pi for hosting me at
their house, which was conveniently 2 minutes away from the tournament site,
and for chauffeuring me to the airport. Ean is the #1 pledge.
The Friedlander family for their generous monetary support
of my judo- I look forward to training with Isa in the fall!
Next up is blue gi shopping, then the Liberty Bell Classic
(April 6-7). A video of my 2nd match will go up in a couple of days, so check this blog periodically. In the meantime, here's a video of the winning Kata demonstration from earlier in the day. I didn't bring my tripod because I was competing, so excuse the shakiness.
3/15/13 10:00 PM
Conclusion: Iowa is too cold to take video of- I'm hydrating, studying, and get focused for tomorrow! 6:57 PM
12:30 PM
In my little cubicle at Chicago Midway Airport.
12:15 PM
Text from my mom: "Good luck with judo. Do not break bones"
My bones or someone else's? Both have been proven to stop me in my tracks. =P Also, if I was reading this I would probably think "What unwarranted self-importance! Where are his medals and national titles?" 12:00 PM
I realize that many of you were looking forward to a witty
video of my travel shenanigans, but in my rush this morning I packed my camera
in my checked baggage. (Yes, I have a dedicated video camera.) This will have
to do- it may help the experience if you read it in my sweet, chocolately
voice.
In case you have no idea what's going or why I'm writing
again, I've flung myself back into the competitive judo world with the blessing
of my parents and coaches. Part of the sudden motivation is this regret I've been
starting to feel about having taken such a long break from judo in general. How
good could I have been and how far would I have gotten? Statistically, eh and
not particularly far, but entertaining the idea of a successful me has been
drawing my ass to the tatami over the past couple of month all the same.
Tomorrow I am competing in the NCJA Championship at Iowa State University,
while will the biggest tournament I've competed in. This one is actually worth
points on the national roster (which at this point, I have none), which I
assumed wouldn't be the case given how restrictive the entry criterion are.
Regardless, I'm not assuming my opponents will be any different than usual
since 60-66kg players are usually on the young side anyway.
Speaking of which, cutting weight has to be the most
annoying sport-related practice in the world. Boarding the plane I was 2-3
pounds over my goal weight and I'm definitely going to have to
bike/treadmill/sauna when I arrive at the tournament site. I wonder if they'll let
me check myself on the official scale. While it seems like I'm generally on top
my stuff, I almost didn't make it to this layover in Chicago (which is where
I'm writing from). Basically, I underestimated how much 2ish hours in the sauna
would exhaust me, so I completely overslept and I had to borrow money from my
girlfriend for an emergency cab to LaGuardia. In addition, I didn't completely grasp the fact that having membership in USA Judo vs. USJA vs. USJF actually
meant anything until my USJF card was rejected for registration. Basically, try
to jump head first into this student-athlete thing has not been as smooth as I
imagined. Finally, while I have been granted informal permission to stay at the
Iowa State Beta house, I do not have the contact info of anybody who will be
able to pick me up from the airport/let me in. Great start, right?
I'm going to go work that out now- I'll probably post more
after weigh in's about how much cutting weight sucks and how I deeply regretted
not getting a deep dish pizza while in Chicago.
