IBJJF London 2014

Despite the high cost and the fact that Crystal Palace is so far south it should no way be classed as London, I have always enjoyed IBJJF competitions. The perceived importance and the questionable lure of international ranking points draws competitors from across Europe and I embrace the multiculturalism of engaging in combat with people of all creeds and races.

Competing on successive days in both gi and nogi, the London Open is a festival of Jiu Jitsu with all the trimmings of your modern music festival, hipster beards, ironic t-shirts and overpriced coffee. I considered deviating at this point to compare the various BJJ teams to musical tribes with their black belts substituting for iconic musicians but I'd likely offend someone and have already overplayed the metaphor (no one wants to be compared to Bono).  

Saturday was the gi day, I managed to pull off a triangle in my first match though not without a lot of effort. One of the hardest things is keeping track of time and ensuring you maintain a consistent pace, with only 5 minute matches in my category time can slip away and history is not often written by the guard player.

My second match saw me on the bottom end of a simultaneous guard jump, trying to fight my way back after being squashed into deep half guard. The real story of the match was having to rely on my B-game, failing to lock in the infamous Baratoplata conceding the pass and the decisive points on the buzzer.

I decided to wait around the 4-5 hours before the absolute, my patience was rewarded by facing an ultra heavy competitor in the first round (+100kg). The score ended up 0-0 as I was able to effectively utilise the knee shield to prevent myself from being put on my back while hunting for sweeps and attacks. Despite my activity and his inability to capitalise on the size difference I lost out on referees decision, however I'm taking it as a mental victory.

Sunday saw me matched against my first opponent from Saturday, without the gi it was difficult to break posture and I had to again fight the clock as well as my opponent. In the division final a felt good, passing and scoring points but lost out to a triangle after ending up back in guard.

In what was thankfully my last match of the weekend I came close to serious injury when my arm was twisted backwards approximately 240 degrees from its starting point in a violent and very sudden motion. I was remarkably lucky not to sustain any damage from this maneuver, popping up to my feet to the incredulous looks of cameraman Doug who had stopped filming immediately, fearing the worse. 

For all the discussion of what does and doesn't constitute a fight, it is worth remembering when stepping on the mat that it is a combat sport and opponents have the ability and inclination to break limbs in the pursuit of victory. While I have no wish to injure anyone during a match that decision is often in their hands, they know their own body and it's limitations and can stop a match at any point and without the will to 'finnish' a submission you won't get far at the higher levels of competition.

So I managed to walk away with no ill effects and one silver and two bronze medals and a couple of t-shirts to my name, shooting up a mighty 3 places in the Masters 1 Blue belt rankings. As always many thanks to everyone at RGA Mill Hill and my sponsors (If I had any).  

Globetrotters Autumn Camp

In need of a change of scene I headed off to Copenhagen for the Globetrotters Fall Camp or 'Creontecamp 2014' according to some of my more narrow minded team mates.
I've always liked the idea of training when you travel and had used the globetrotters network to locate welcoming gyms on my journeys through Stockholm and east Asia so I was keen on training with like minded people and immersing myself in many hours of quality coaching.

My main concern was how my body would hold up to the vast increase in mat time, going from my average 6-8 hours a week to over 20. I had been advised that a clean diet and large amounts of sleep were key to surviving a week of intense training, on the whole the diet was maintained due to three simple but nutritious meals a day served as part of the camp package. However classes clashed with meal times and over the week I missed a lot of meals, relying on a mix of chocolate milk, bananas and avocados to fill in the gaps.

Sleep was also an issue, staying in a youth hostel dorm with 10 other guys leaves you at the mercy of your most inconsiderate room mate, thankfully it was only snoring that caused a problem. Our resident black belt was only a purple belt in snoring being easily eclipsed by the earth-shaker occupying the corner bunk who I suspect provided special effects for various monsters in Buffy.

Doug and Sophie from IOWBJJ and Oli Geddes

The camp itself was excellent with top level instruction from the likes of Carlson Gracie Amsterdam's Daniel Bertina and Roger Gracie black belt Oli Geddes plus some bloke that spent three hours twisting his gi round people legs (it will never catch on). I did about 4 hours of classes a day and 1 hour of rolling, making sure to attend Eric Bydairk's wrestling classes in an attempt to improve on my atrocious double leg, his clear instruction, memorable teaching style and assertion that wrestling is easy certainly helped with my confidence on my feet.

Keenan Cornelius's session on the Thursday was great fun, focusing on the details on what makes his signature position so dangerous.  Drilling it with my partner I couldn't believe that I was making the techniques work so effectively, this was all down to the level of instruction. Now a week on these moves are looking more like a rubik cube and will need some more effort to get back to that mid seminar high point.

By the time the camp competition came around everyone was a little exhausted, I focused my attention running the scoring on one of the mats, admittedly distracted by glancing over to see when my division would run.  I started my first match pulling guard and got from x-guard to a fairly competent single leg incorporating elements taught by Oli and Eric respectively throughout the camp, from there I struggled to complete the pass against a tough opponent picking up the win with the takedown points.

In my second match a had to struggle against the impeccable posture of my opponent where I was unable to break him down from closed guard. Conceding the half guard he switched to a low pass, attempting to hug the hips as he moved round, I was able to pressure the elbow getting my leg across and secure kimura grips. I was a little concerned as I had to role to complete the kimura but was thankful that my opponents arm was alright.

In the final my opponent worked to control the clinch, I was able to pull guard without giving up the takedown but I gave up my back after shooting a sloppy triangle and was quickly in survival mode. I managed to escape a bow and arrow choke but couldn't defend the armbar as my far arm had got trapped in the transition.

Summing up I would say that the participants, all 150 of them from all over the world really made the camp special, everyone was friendly, full of stories, and just wanting to roll, learn and grow. It reminds me that jiu jitsu is a global activity and knowing that you can walk into a gym in any country in the world and find people with a love of a shared activity that will give you their time on and off the mat.

Photo by Vince Millet

    

Kleos - High Wycombe Open

After a month filled with festivals, holidays and weddings I'm back on the competition trail, spending my precious weekends in pursuit of shiny metal disks like some kind of arm barring magpie.

The exceptionally bright among you may have wondered what happened to my blog on the Bournemouth Open, I must blame my editor who is known as an exceptionally lazy man standing in the way of my scattergun gonzo stylings. I can assure you that the only things of note were my epic battles with a variety of white belts on Mat 5 after which I was drenched in gold and proclaimed 'The White Belt Killer' a nickname that will haunt me as long as their screams (Ed- enough of this nonsense).


Kleos is known as an incredibly well run tournament so it was no surprise when they recruited me as a scorekeeper and general dogsbody. I traveled down with organisers Jen and Mike and my instructor Nick Brooks and worked a few hours before my category started. Working at the competition was a little frustrating when your teammates are on the mat and you are unable to offer any advice. This was the only downside, that so many higher belts from my team where involved in running the comp that there was no one to even tell you the points and time remaining, so you look up at the points and panic at being two down and no idea how long to make your move.

The fabled Kleos Warhammer

I had entered the heavy weight division, working on the basis that while it is best to get better at jiu jitsu, it is second best to get stronger and try and crush the small people and their fancy jiu jitsu tricks. As I was most interested in getting a shot at the fantastic prize for the absolute this seemed like a decent strategy and allowed me to continue with my normal diet of peanut M&M's right up to comp day.

I won one and lost one of my heavyweight matches giving me the silver medal, my first match came down to a last second pass after a cagey start. The second match was back and fourth but I lost to an advantage from an omoplata attempt. Both opponents felt very strong, I don't feel comfortable at heavy and will drop back down while trying to maintain a bit of the strength I've gained.

In the absolute, I had to deal with the speed of attack that comes from the lighter competitors, nearly having my guard passed in the first match I was able to pull off a half guard sweep, eventually reaching mount and finishing with an ezekiel choke.

I had a diva moment before my second match demanding that the song be changed before I'd step on the mat, I'm not a Metallica fan and no one should be expected to grapple to one of their slower ballads so I insisted on one of their thrashier numbers. This must have also energised my opponent who quickly jumped for a picture perfect flying triangle to oooohhs from the watching crowd, while exceedingly tight I had just enough of my arm out to survive and begin to work an escape. Wearing my opponent like an ill fitting and rather uncomfortable necklace I had to worry about my balance as well as the choke and arm bar attempts, slowly I managed to free my arm sufficiently and dropped to pass. I didn't want to deal with any more of these skillful tricks so sprawled hard, forcing the other guy to turtle and working for a bow and arrow choke.

That was a close escape but I wasn't so lucky in the next match facing another skilled opponent and MMA fighter who was adept both with takedowns and chaining submissions, when I attempted to posture out of an arm in guillotine he was able to transition to an anaconda choke that I could find no way out of.

In the bronze medal match I faced the guy who beat me in my weight division, I wanted to have an exciting, good natured match but didn't want to end up in his guard for a second time. I decided to jump guard and did so at standard hip height, however this forced him backwards and torqued his knee and although he was in no initial pain it was decided best to stop the match for medical reasons, I hope there was no damage and that he's back on the mats.

So I failed to take back the war hammer for the glory of my team and got a tainted bronze in the absolute, putting that aside it was an excellent tournament and great to be surrounded with so many team members even if they're all too busy working to shout advice at me.

World Cup Sweepstake Showdown - Matchday one

Taking a break from normal service to provide a look at my Sweepstake leaderboard in the closing stages of matchday 1.  I should really wait till all the games are over but whatever.

Running this sweepstake is my way to stay interested and up to date with the world cup without having to do something as extreme as sit through 90 minutes of football.

Winners:

• Not sure how Ed has managed to do so well, it's certainly not Uruguay picking up the points. It's the second rate teams that get you the most points so everyone with Costa Rica, USA or Mexico has started strong.
• I expect Alex to charge up the table following today's games with Belgium and Russia still to play. 

Losers:

• My old flat is proving particulary unlucky with the bottom 4 all being connected to it, Vicky made the mistake of choosing England which hasn't helped. 
• Tim may only have one point but with three teams still to play is looking to climb out of the relegation zone.

Prizes: 

Drum roll please......... the third place prize has been confirmed as a second hand copy of Ghost Dog: Way of the Sammurai, a classic featuring assassins, Forrest Whitaker and homing pigeons!!

Chelmsford Open

Returning to the unfairly maligned county where I spent my University education and somewhat ironically sporting my now ten year old Essex hoodie, I found myself in a leisure centre in Chelmsford along with team mates Louis and Yusuf (who mainly attends tournament as a way of getting invited to garden parties).

It was a relief after the British Open to be back at a smaller tournament with a better customer experience, this was more of a boutique set up with herbal tea stalls as well as our own Mill Hill design impresario Meerkatsu showing off his artworks and merchandise.

Louis was up first and his campaign was hindered when he fell foul of an illegal knee reap in his first match. While not malicious, the force of the opponent turn tweeked Louis knee to the point I was unsure if he should continue to compete. While he did go on the injury was a noticeable in his subsequent matches.

I am thankful to have a trained masseur on the team whenever Yusuf is about, I'm still suffering from adrenaline spikes in my first matches which leads to inevitable lactic acid build up in the forearms. I won my first match on points, using a lot of energy to hold down a strong opponent, leaving myself tired and in desperate need of a massage on my over pumped arms.

With matches finishing quickly and efficient table staff I was back on the mat six minutes later, visibly tired showing obvious weakness to my opponent. I managed to counter his sweep attempt forcing him onto his back on the edge of the tatami. When the match was restarted I was given inferior grips but gave up ground conceding points to a sweep, I worked myself back to top position but allowed to much space for the bicep ride and was suckered in by the triangle choke.

I was called back to the mat minutes later only for the referee to assert my need for another five minutes rest, at that point this was more welcome than any victory on the mats as I fought to oxygenate my tired muscles.

My third match was back and fourth and mainly notable for my opponent receiving a penalty for a neck crank as he attempted a can opener from within my guard. Later in the match I attempted an arm crush on my opponent, I heard a disconcerting crunch sound and let go of the hold appologising to my opponent. Both of these were the wrong things to do as the match continued and if I had lost it would be due to my lack of instinctive aggression.

I finally managed to get a submission win in the Bronze place match, torquing my opponents elbow from within a triangle. I had got a twenty minute break between matches and felt human stepping foot on the mat and as such was able to play a more confident attacking game.

So I made it to the bottom rung on the podium (so room to improve), and while writing this with delayed onset muscle soreness still racking my body I guess now is the best time to get back on the mats and start working towards the top for the next comp.

   

British Open 2014

Being such a large tournament it was always destined to be a long and unpredictable day; I had booked the first train to Birmingham and paid for two return fares to prevent a repeat my desperate rush to the bus stop from the Welsh Open.

Turns out I wasted two tickets instead of one, despite my category starting at 4.15 I didn't receive my medal (SPOILER ALERT) until 8pm after the last match of the day and the mats where being piled in the corner of one of the cavernous hangers that make up the Birmingham N.E.C.

After an early start I bumped into Ross and Laurence from Roger Gracie Gymbox at Euston station so shared a pleasant journey discussing such things as the effect of adrenaline on the bowels, or 'the nervous shits'. I had always classed this phenomenon as a positive when you needed to drop an extra couple of pounds to make weight.

My teammate Sophie was on early in the day and came up against ‘a master class in active stalling’ where her opponent effectively judo pinned while switching the hips enough to avoid penalties. There was a long wait leading up to my category that was filled with wandering aimlessly round the N.E.C.

My first opponent played into my A game and it finished quickly enough with a triangle, worryingly he told me he’d seen me do the exact same thing on YouTube and thought he was prepared for it. While being able to pull off a move your opponent is expecting is something I’d wish to master, I’m going to have to start mixing up my game and going for a few more outlandish submissions.    

In the second match he defended my back take attempt which left me in position for an omoplata, I looked to solidify the position, controlling the hips and bringing my foot in front of his face.  Pulling backwards to defend the shoulder lock placed my foot directly in front of his throat, I figured it was worth a shot to reached up and pulled down his head for the tap.  Coming off the mat I was visually shocked to have pulled off a gogoplata in a match, hopefully that will confuse future opponents who bother to Google me.

(One and a half hours later.)

My third and regrettably final match was a nightmare, I managed to get my opponent into position for a triangle on two occasions but couldn’t finish it, I was overly dogmatic in holding on and not switching for the arm or resetting, convinced I could make it work if only I could adjust a little bit more. After having my guard passed I was a broken man holding on for survival, partly due to the toughness of my opponent and partly as he had already crushed my ego by escaping the triangle.

Following the match we were desperate to head back but had to wait for the results to be fed into the computer system and end up an hour later as bits of paper being brought from the other side of the hall. Telegraphs would have been a more efficient form of communication.

After receiving my half pound of bronze we still had to negotiate the car park which despite being eerily empty, required something approaching a black belt or a PhD to locate the exit in the face of counterproductive and contradictory signage.

Many thanks to my team mates Ed, Mike, Dan and Sophie for all their support on the day and especially Ed and Mike for the lift home and staying to the bitter end.

Zurich International Open 2014

Turning 30 a few months back I was faced with the prospect of entering Masters divisions, I was a little concerned that this would be like selecting easy mode when playing a computer game. Not because of the level of competition but due to the decreased numbers of entries. After this comp I'm unconvinced but will continue with Masters at least for IBJJF comps in a vain attempt to boost my world ranking (160 - joint with like 20 other guys).

Being drawn with the extra match in a five person division I was hoping for 3 tough matches but with everyone on my side of the bracket failing to turn up I breezed into the final without a hair out of place. The final went well, I caught a triangle and pushed through to mount. Struggling to tighten while maintaining top position I switched to side control before taking mount and finishing with an Ezekiel choke (not something I use much at the gym as fist in windpipe is awfully unfriendly). So one shot, one kill, one shiney gold medal.

There were a few other UK types over for the comp, was good to see Austin and the 99 crew and I got to watch Roger Gracie team mate Oli Geddes further refine his half guard knee bar, cleaning up in the Lightweight Black Belt division.

I filled the four hour wait for the absolutes by pretentiously reading my Murakami book sitting cross legged on the bleachers, I couldn't help but notice the poor standard of medical provision at the tournament with someone having to wait several minutes for attention after a nasty footlock battle.

My thirst for action was barely slaked by the absolute where in a nine person division I made it to the final after winning only one match. This travesty saw the brackets being re-written after several matches had already taken place, seemingly in an attempt to get a late arriving Gracie Barra competitor back into contention. After a 20 minute break in which all our table staff and coordinator fussed around the administrative desk, the division recommenced with me in a semi final against someone who had likely already had two matches.

During the match I conceded a number of advantages, at one stage failing to position my weight I ended up mounted and then back to full guard in less than the magical three seconds of stabilised time. Ending up in guard my match starts for real and I instinctively switched the angle and started looking for options. I picked up a shoulder lock at the first step of my triangle omoplata sequence but was happy to get a victory against a tough opponent.

In the final I pulled guard against a guy twelve kg lighter than me and struggled to retain guard, I pulled off a deep half sweep but came up in a triangle position. Oli was coaching me to stay tight and calm but I failed to sufficiently control his hips which allowed him to attempt the same hip bump I used in my first match, I managed to block the sweep but lost the war as he cut the angle and finished.

So one gold, one silver, two wins, one loss. While I don't think I did badly and I could only deal with what was in front of me I don't feel particularly satisfied by the experience. However I don't think that Masters is easy mode there are a lot of tough technical guys, some with litterally decades of Judo experience who would disprove that assertion and with over eighteen guys in my division for the British Open next weekend I'll need to bring my A game to stand a chance.

Before

After

Welsh Open 2014

As with most competitions I sign up impetuously months in advance and work out the details later, normally
this means finding a team mate to blag a ride with and in this case sorting out accommodation.

I was heading down with Yusuf, my regular traveling companion and his son Ibrahim. Given Yusuf's fondness for the accelerator we made good speed and decided to stop in on the Grapplethon that was taking place in Bristol to raise money for Kinnergy, a local counselling service.

It was great to stop by and see another side of the BJJ community outside from all the smashing and team posturing which is the preserve of the tournament scene. We didn't have time to embrace the community side of the event but I managed a quick roll with Yusuf and Ibby and 30 minutes with Scott, a purple belt who showed me a few ways to tighten up side control. I would have loved to have had a roll with Tanya Tansiri but we had to be on our way.

The evening in the hotel was spent ironing my gi to try and get it to dry faster (yes I'm disgusting and would normally have a clean gi but it wasn't part of the plan and hard rolling isn't conducive to a grapplethon so it wasn't so bad)

The comp was well run and was 'running to time' due largely to how vague they had been about starting times, blue belts were to start at 1.30 starting at the lighter weights so I wasn't called till after 3.00.

In the first match he pulled guard so I came on top and got stuck in a triangle from another shoddy pass, I turned out of it and ended up in reverse mount(?), after dismounting into side control I made my way into regular mount got rolled going for a cross collar choke and got the tap after switching to a triangle.

My second match saw me pull guard and quickly lock off a triangle, my opponent stretched me out and locked his legs over me which led to a scramble and me ending in reverse mount yet again (???).  This time my dismount was a little undignified and he was able to drive forward into me giving me a deep grip under his chin. With encouragement from my team mate Andy, I switched from an arm in to an arm out guillotine and finished in classic Straussian (that's now a word) fashion.

By this stage it was coming up to 4pm with my bus back to London leaving at 4.30 I was worried that I would miss it. Thankfully my opponent for the final Sean Coates had been quickly applying his 50/50 footlock game and was fresh and willing to hold the final sooner so I could get home.  I knew going into the match what to expect, 50/50 is obviously a position he practices much more than me so I knew I'd be in deep waters if he was able to take the game there. It didn't take long to end up in 50/50 I managed to defend the footlocks and attempted to come on top but couldn't untangle myself without giving him the footlock on the other side. I figured I'd go for a wrist lock but telegraphed the arm bar when I returned for a second go at the far wrist. Oh well, I learnt a lot and felt I'd done a good job defending a tough opponents primary attacks in his strongest position, plus I'd picked up my silver medal made it to the coach stop on time.

Outside of my matches there were good performances from my team mates from the Isle of Wight, with our resident pitbull Andy Law coming out ahead against a mirror image of himself and James 'the Hammer' Dixon taking bronze in my category, regrouping strongly after losing to Sean in the first round. Yusuf needs to remember he's not skateboarding and pull guard occasionally after giving up a few takedowns and Louis did a great job flower sweeping to mount.

All in all a great day, a great competition and I'm likely going to be back to try and win the other half of the ying/yang shaped medal in the Welsh Nogi Open.