Competition Year in Review -BJJ and Judo: Purple Belt Featherweight and -66kg Black Belt

As best I can, I've reconstructed my tournament performance in both Judo and Jiu-Jitsu for the past year.
Jiu-Jitsu has been a busy-ish 2014 as I was promoted to purple belt in December and began the new year in the faixa roxa division at featherweight. I've competed in 5 tournaments since that time with mixed results. I've competed once this year in Judo and twice last Fall. I had intended to hit another Judo tournament this weekend but I've opted to take an opportunity to travel and compete/referee for US Grappling in Chicago instead.






US Grappling Greensboro Submission Only -
- win by brabo/lapel choke from mount - scored guard pass and knee on belly points
- lost by RNC/choke from the back

US Grappling Virginia Beach-
- won by points - scored sweep points from RDRL and deep half, adv for guard pass attempt, gave up sweep points and adv for inverting to avoid guard pass
- loss by mounted collar choke - omoplata transition to giving up sweep points, guard pass, and mount points 

US Grappling Richmond -
- won by arm triangle - takedown,  sweep, guard pass, mount
- gentlemen's agreement with teammate

US Grappling Grapplemania/Raleigh
- loss by points - gave up sweep and guard pass, scored sweep points
- loss by bow n' arrow choke - torreando pass led to leg drag position then eventually the back take then submission

US Grappling Virginia Beach -
- loss by bow n' arrow choke - scored sweep points, gave up a leg drag off of a torreando pass/swarm which led to guard pass points, and also back mount points
- win by triangle - gave up sweep points, scored sweep points, guard pass (but no points scored) to back take points, lost back position, finished with triangle


Some takeaways: the grips on the knees are something which I have to immediately address. The leg drag/torreando pass swarm ala Leandro Lo is a powerful position and thus the leg drag also if not immediately addressed. This deficiency has also stemmed from my not having/maintaining proper grips from on bottom while in various forms of open guard.
As for giving up sweeps while on top. I need to seek out better open guard players. Too often in training, I force my way into a low/heavy pressure passing position but when in tournaments against other purple belts, I often find myself further away in distance/IE: spider guard, shin to shin guard, et cetera and I have to become more comfortable in these positions and in imposing my will in passing from these position when I find myself there which is often right at the beginning of a match as is often the case in modern Jiu-Jitsu.



Judo - I went a bit further back in Judo to include my tournaments since returning from ACL surgery to have a larger pool of data from which to draw.

Hometown Heroes
At 66kg -
- Loss by DQ/hansokumake - up on points, DQ'd by touching leg while executing kouchimakikomi
- Win by Ippon - throw/ouchigari
- Win by DQ/hansokumake - up on points
- Win by pin

At 73kg -
- loss by Ippon/throw - referee error
- Win by points - waza ari - osotomakikomi

Maryland - Shufu Open
- at 66kg - win by Ezekiel from the back - up on points, scored with kouchimakikomi
- win by pin
- loss by Ippon - throw - hip throw

at 73kg -
- win by waza ari in golden score - osotomakikomi
- loss by pin
- loss by pin

Jacksonville Memorial -
at 66kg -
- win by ippon - throw - shoulder throw
- win by ippon - throw - ouchigari
- loss by points

Some Takeaways: my loss in the finals in Jacksonville was solely due to conditioning. I had some submission opportunities and combining my mat work from throws transitioning to the very short amount of mat time allowed in Judo is a continuing process. Switching gears so to speak from Jiu-Jitsu style mat work to Judo style mat work will continue to be a work in progress. I am a strong thrower in Judo comfortable winning on the mat or standing up and genuinely feel comfortable in all the stages or areas of Judo competition.
My loss in the finals in Maryland was simply because my opponent and I were the two best guys in the bracket. We had decisively beaten each of our opponents on the way there and I could tell by his style and mine, one of us was going to get thrown flat out and it was just a matter of who missed the first step.

I haven't devoted the necessary time to Judo training and specifically the strength and conditioning necessary for Judo competition in my time back from ACL surgery. My birthday is coming up, and now that I'm in the 30+ age range but intend to continue competing in the regular adult division, I have to work extra hard and train specifically to force my body to stay in shape, especially for the rigors of Judo competition. I don't like the much narrower range of throwing techniques in modern Judo, but it is another avenue of competition and one that will make me better as a grappler overall, and thus; thus any excuses to not compete are just that, excuses.