What is the benefit of competing in Jiu Jitsu Tournaments.

First let me say that I think it a huge benefit to all to compete.  I have several  very good friends that just don't want to compete.  I understand the anxiety that comes with competing.  I also understand the ego bruise that can result if you don't fare well in your competition.  I also understand the pressure building up to the competition and how it may affect your personality and of course I understand the hated weight cutting that is also associated with competing so with all that going on with competitions you may ask why I think it is a benefit to compete so let me explain.

1.  When you compete it makes you a little more dedicated to BJJ.  It does not matter who dedicated you are if you are signed up for a competition you will be a little more motivated to make it to practice.

2.  It is a good opportunity to see where you stand in comparison with others in your division, weight class and belt rank.  If you think about it this is not like running etc where you have no chance to getting a medal because of some of the top notch people involved.  Sure they still have age groups in other sports but have you ever been to a swim competition where they only have you compete against people your same size?  Belt Rank is a little different because even though most other sports do not have belt rank they do have novice, beginner and expert divisions which can differentiate the athletes skill level.

3.  It is good to practice the discipline it takes to make weight and get ready for a tournament.  I had a tournament last weekend and because of some confusion  on my side ended up with no one in my weight class.  (It is a long story but I they sent me an email and I thought I had a match but didn't)  I still feel I benefited by the preparation it took to get ready for the tournament.  Just think about how hard you would study in school if you were never required to take a test.  I think everyone in the gym benefits when some of the people compete.

Not just to give a simple way to deal with the above issues of competing.
Anxiety can be dealt with by just becoming more familiar with the competitions.  I still get butterflies every time I compete but the more I compete the better I seem to be.

No one wants to be embarrassed in front of their family and peers.   I can tell you all the team mates I have that have competed have received the utmost respect from everyone at the gym.  Maybe a family member or friend might not understand the courage it takes to compete but that is okay.  They have to understand that there is only one winner in your division and sometimes the other guy is just better.  No big deal.  That is just life.  In fact as funny as it sounds losing actually helps in this instance because it lowers the expectations of your friends and family.

You can be a little edgy before a competition and add cutting weight into the mix and you can be a whole different personality.  Last week I h
ad one daughter turn 22 the week before I had a daughter turn 29 and that sandwiched Father's Day.  I had to limit myself on some of those dinners and desserts that I would usually partake of.  I could not just sit around and snack with the family.  I felt it made me irritable and not very fun to be around.   I have to say that all of that was caused by me.  I could have chosen to go at a weight I would not have to cut for and that would have made me much happier.

I think you should try to compete at least every 4 months.  That would be 3 times a year.  I think if you do you will see a noticeable difference in your progression.  The difference does not really come from the few minutes on the mats during the competition but the hours in the gym preparing for the competition.

BJJ has really increased my Social Circles.

I am not sure how the rest of you feel about this but I can tell you in the 2 1/2 years I have been doing BJJ my Social Circles have really increased.

It used to be I just new some people that I worked with or saw at Trade Shows or other work related functions,  People from Church and people from our swim team and parents of swimmers that my daughters have competed and continue to compete with but now that I am doing BJJ I have 100's of new friends that I did not even know existed and these guys really are true friends with what seems to be no hidden agendas.

The beauty of this is that we all need each other to improve.   You cannot be the guy that always wants to do the technique but never have the technique done on you.  We all benefit by the other guy being there.  I have trained on the East Coast, West Coast, Mid West, Rocky Mountains, and China and Hong Kong and it is the same at all places.  People welcoming me with open arms regardless of my age, experience, or other factors that may cause me to be stereotyped in other sports.  I find this as truly one of the best aspects of the BJJ Journey.  I have been around a while and played Golf and Tennis in the past when I traveled.  With Tennis you pretty much needed to show up to the Courts with a partner and if you got there without a partner it was only fun if you found someone who has a similar skill set to what you had.   If they are too good and you couldn't even return their serve then it is not fun for you or for them.  If you are a lot better then your opponent it is also boring for you and not fun for them.  Golf is a little different as long as you can keep the ball in play and not slow down your foursome you can show up as a Single and still be okay but there is still not the camaraderie that you see in BJJ and if you get someone you are playing with that is super intense then it can ruin the whole round for the whole group and we are talking ruining 4-5 hours not just a 5-8 minute roll if you get stuck with an idiot.

A good example is the other day I was working out at Brea Jujitsu

.  There was a new guy there.  He was from Sweden.  He had competed as an Adult Blue Belt at Worlds and was staying over to see Southern California.  Dan being the good guy he is offered to let him stay at his gym.  (He had several people stay at his gym leading up to Worlds and I was able to meet and roll with them and then he had a few stay afterwards and Simon was one of them.  He did not have a car and was living on the mats at the Gym.  After Saturday AM workout I was going to the Beach to drop off my daughter for a Swimming Birthday Party and asked him if he wanted a ride to the Beach.  He said sure I took him to the Beach.  I live very close to the gym so I asked him if he wanted to come over for Sunday Dinner if he was still around.  He said yes.  He came over and taught my wife some Swedish so she could talk to a Nephew she has in Stockholm and if was all good. He told us about his BJJ journey.  He had left Sweden a few months ago went to England to train at Roger Gracie's place in England and then wen to Brazil for 3 months to train.  He stopped by after worlds and that is where we met him.    Then he took off later that day either heading North to Santa Barbara or South to San Diego.  He knew Jujitsu and the people who practice it would take care of him while he was here.  I'm not sure I would ever just take off hoping BJJ would take care of me for 6-8 months but I do feel a certain camaraderie at BJJ that I don't feel at other places.

OSS!

JiuJitsu with a Mormon Missionary.

I am a member of the Mormon Church.  I have been for over 50 years.  Currently my job in the Church is to take care of the Missionaries that serve in our local unit.  I talk to them a few times a week and usually feed them when no one else in our Ward (name for a local unit) is available.

We see these guys come and go and they are all different.  Different sizes, shapes, personalities and background.  They always travel in two's.  The Missionaries are called Elders.   Currently the Elders serving our area are from Idaho and Indiana.  The Elder from Idaho is a big kid.  Probably goes about 240 and is about 6"5' has some wrestling experience and is a pretty good kid.  He has that personality that everybody loves.  He seems like an easy going laid back kind of guy and people are attracted to him.

So we have them over quite a bit and I have a room set up for working on my BJJ.  It has mats in it and I have showed it to the Missionaries and several members of my ward who have come over to work out with me.

So after dinner the big Missionary says he would like to see how he would do against a Jujitsu guy. He was pretty confident had about 80 lbs and 35 years on me and felt he could take me easily.  So after Dinner we take the stuff out of our pockets go  into the room and I tell him we should probably start from our knees because with him being a big guy we could have easily rolled through the mirror or wall if we started doing take-downs.  (We went in just regular street clothes.  I was wearing a hoodie sweat shirt and a pair of shorts and he took his tie off but was wearing a white shirt and slacks, in retrospect I wish I would have had a Gi big enough for him and we could have changed into Gi's. but I was thinking this was just going to be a demo of sorts).

So anyway we get on our knees and he asks me what our goal is.  I say it is to get the other guy to tap by choking him or putting him or some sort of joint lock etc.  I then said I will probably try to take your back so I can choke you and I started to move around his back to show him what I meant, when he grabbed me with a head and arm and threw me on the mat.  It was on.  He was very aggressive.  I was not ready to start so he caught me completely off guard.  (I was thinking that I was the old guy that should have been my trick)  He was on top of me with a scarf choke and I had his full weight on me.  I thought this was not my plan.  I slowly worked out of it bringing my leg around the back and getting back was able to get a reverse triangle choke on him but it took me about 2 minutes to get there but he was exhausted after that.  At that point he was totally worn out and as we continued I was able to get two armbars (I did not put a lot of pressure on them just enough to get the tap) and then finished him with a mount to Arm Triangle that I had in pretty tight.  At that point we were done.  I would guess about 10 minutes.

I asked him why he went so hard at first and he said he thought I was trying to get some position on him so he needed to react quickly.  We laughed and he gave me a hug and said he has a new respect for BJJ.  I told him to stop by and train if he had some free time.  My wife told me I was an idiot and his companion from Indiana said that he recorded  it on his phone to show the other members.

I learned a couple of things from this.

1.  Never think your opponent is going to go slow.  I remember once I was with Royler Gracie when I as a White Belt.  We took a picture and I put my arm up on his shoulder and he pushed it off.  He told me never let anyone get their arm that close to your neck or they might choke you.  I bet he has had some idiots at Photo Ops try to choke him before.  Always be ready.

2.  Jiu Jitsu really does work for a smaller older guy against a younger much more athletic guy who is much larger then you.  I am just glad it was not a real fight and punches were being thrown.  He could have pummeled me.

3.  I need to set some rules and pull out some Gi's before I just start sparring with people I don't really know  at my house.