Today is my Birthday. I started BJJ just over 2 years ago, in February of 2013. Two years ago today I showed up for a Wednesday morning afternoon class and told them it was my Birthday. I had told some of the guys before hand that my Birthday was coming up and they joked around that I should come to class that Birthdays were special.
I showed up for Class and everything was good. People were telling me Happy Birthday and then it came time to roll. The instructor asked me to get in the Middle of the Mat and said I would be rolling with everyone because it was my Birthday. I had no idea what was going on. I thought they were all going to let me submit them as a present to me or at worse it would be like regular sparring and I would just get a chance to spar with everyone. As I had only been doing BJJ for a few months my stamina and cardio and general BJJ skills were not great and I was not relaxed at all during sparring. I was very tense and using way to much energy. The first guy to come at me was a Brown Belt who weighed 60 lbs more then me. When they said go he came at me Super hard I tried to match his intensity but he was throwing me around like a rag doll and even though I fought it I tapped maybe 4 times in a minute. Then the next big upper belt came at me and just beat me up something terrible. 7-8 rolls later the White Belts were having there way with me. Then I thought it was done and the Black Belts just smiled. I laid their and could not move. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I seriously thought I was close to having a heart attack. I was totally exhausted and I was spent. I could not believe what had just happened. I was totally ambushed. I had never seen this done to anyone else before so did not know what to expect. All the guys were just laughing at me. I was embarrassed and ashamed that I was put up for public humiliation in front of my peers to get beat up while everyone just sat and laughed at me, it was very difficult for me.
The real problem here was not understanding what was going to happen or what to expect. I was upset and maybe it was just me being too sensitive but as a new guy who had never seen this happen to anyone else before (or since) it caught me off guard. When I left class that day I am pretty sure no one thought I would ever come back.
I missed going last year on my Birthday so did not get the beat down but I plan to head on on over to class in about an hour let them know it is my birthday and if they want to give me the beat down again I am okay with it because
1. I know what to expect.
2. I understand they are not trying to humiliate me in public and
3 I will not try to match their intensity but just play defensive for the minute each of them has their shot at me. I am sure I will take the beating much better this time but I also am sure I will still take a beating.
Wish me luck. I must be a glutton for punishment.
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