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