My previous post HERE, talked about the epic amount of sandbagging in many high level tournaments (to say nothing of the guy who has pro fighting experience and enters the white belt division at some local/regional tournament).
At any rate, in the hopes of discussing another roadblock to wider acceptance, coverage, and thus MONEY, let's talk about the gentleman's agreement and its ramifications.
Graciemag does a good job of covering the drawbacks HERE.
Primarily: for viewers, for promoters of events, and the spread of the sport. And last but not least, the impact on viewers and thus sponsors.
Some of the comments suggested they only let one teammate per division in large(r) tournaments.
This will turn into the quagmire of qualifying (money/racket) that Judo currently has in place.
They determine various levels of Players (from E to A I believe based on a point system) and just qualifying for the largest tournaments in the world requires extensive domestic and international travel as well as usually A LOT of asskissing to the IBJF, USAJudo, etc.
Keep the Pans and the Worlds Open to everyone. Jiu-Jitsu to/for all!
The mentality of fans, coaches, and promoters should also thus change. Reward money for 1st-3rd, and all of a sudden a handshake isn't worth $500 or $1000.
Same with steroid/PED testing: Test the winners 1st-3rd, and knowing that if/when you make it through to the end you'll be tested, and it will cut down on usage. But more to come on that theory.....
- Happy Trainingz!
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