Well the competition is over so I will start with my usual tournament critic then move on to the matches. Part one is the rant Part too will be the actual matches. If you are not interested in hearing me complain you can tune in tomorrow for Part 2.
What they did WRONG
First off, in my opinion the rules are extremely poorly written. The description of the forbidden techniques is vague and the rules in general are full of typos. Normally I am not a critic when it comes to spelling or grammar since mine is among the worst but they had around 1000 competitors at this 1 tournament. At $100 per competitor that is $100,000 gross….for JUST this one event. For that kind of money there really shouldn’t be typos in the rules. Rules will always be a little ambiguous, but they could clarify things with an observations page. The leg lock rules are what I find frustrating. See below, the rules for 13-15 year olds clearly forbids knee locks and leg locks (see bold), while under the blue/purple belt section they only state leg locks. To me that implies knee locks are ok (which they are not). Why can’t they just say no knee bars?
FROM THE AGES OF 13 THROUGH 15:
SLAM FROM THE GUARD
BICEPS LOCK
WRIST LOCK
TRIANGLE PULLING THE HEAD
FOOT LOCK S(ANY KIND)
KNEE LOCK, LEG LOCK
CERVICAL LOCK(ANY KIND)
FRONTAL NECK CRANK
EZEKIEL
CALF LOCK
SCISSORS TAKEDOWN
HEEL HOOK
FROM ADULT THROUGH SENIOR (BLUE & PURPLE BELT)
MATA LEO WITH FOOT
SLAM FROM THE GUARD
LEG LOCKS
CERVICAL(only without chokes)
BICEPS LOCK
CALF LOCK
SCISSORS TAKEDOWN
HEEL HOOK
Planning – Again we are talking about a multimillion dollar organization, why can’t they plan ahead? I did not find out when I was fighting or when the tournament even started until the night before. Totally ridiculous, you should be able to tell people what time the event starts months in advance. To me it shows a complete lack of respect for other people’s time. I also really didn’t like that the brackets came out late. When that happens it really makes me think the brackets get sent out early to certain high level Brazilian coaches for a “once over” to ensure their guys get good match ups and byes. Either publishes the brackets right away so everyone can see them or don’t publish them at all. I am sorry, but if it is truly random it does not take DAYS the computer software to generate the brackets, it takes minutes (if that).
The venue – Harlem is not exactly the location I would have picked. While it is true this was in a very nice part of Harlem and security was very tight, there was no one watching my car. I was able to park fairly close, but if you had to park 3 blocks over and walk back to your car alone at 9pm it would not have been ideal. I know some of you that went will disagree and say the location seemed fine, but the reality is the location was not the best. On the plus side the venue did have a large locker room with working showers. For me that is a huge plus.
Announcers – Seriously, we are in NY, the VAST majority of the people at this tournament were English speaking Americans. Why on earth was everyone calling out the names from Brazil with a deep Brazilian accents? Get some Americans on the microphones to announce the names, invest in some signs to indicate what brackets are fighting and what brackets are up next. If you want to have one or two people also making announcements in Portuguese fine, but for peat sake have AT LEAST one American on a mic.
What they did RIGHT
I don’t know if they started the actual event on time, but they started my division fairly close to on time. I was pretty impressed by that because I went later in the day. The event started at 9am, Masters was set to kick off at 3:20 and I think they kicked us off around 4:00ish or maybe a little sooner. That is actually very impressive given the number of competitors in the brackets ahead of me.
Weigh ins – The officials were diligent about checking IDs to ensure the person weighing in was the same person who registered and was fighting. A “practice” scale was provided so competitors could check there weight before making the official weight and the scales seemed well calibrated.
I like the idea of weighing in with the gi than fighting, but I would rather be able to weigh in when I get to the venue. I didn’t like having to wait until 4:30 when my division was finally over to eat something. That is more a matter of person taste. Admittedly the way they do it is much safer then letting people weigh in the night before. This process will keep the black eye that wrestling has off BJJ, which in the long run is certainly a good thing.
Refs – I thought the refs were pretty good. I only saw 1 wrong call and 1 controversial decision (more on that in Part 2 and yes Sarah yours was the controversial decision I am referring to). I didn’t watch a ton of matches, but it usually is not hard to find tons of bad calls so only seeing 1 wrong call is very impressive.
I would have like to see them stop every once in a while to clean the mats, but I can understand why they don’t.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Find our school by googling any of the terms below and look for Osagame Martial Arts and Fitness!
Osagame Martial Arts and Fitness South Philly Judo BJJ South Philly Judo South Philly BJJ Judo BJJ Self Defense Jiu Jitsu Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Philadelphia BJJ My BJJ Class – Tue 6:00 – 7:30 Jiu Jitsu Schools South Philly Learn BJJ BJJ Classes BJJ Philadelphia BJJ South Philadelphia BJJ School Philadelphia
Or if you are interested in Judo check out the Philadelphia Judo Club by googling
Philadelphia Judo Club South Philadelphia Judo Philadelphia Judo Judo School Philly Judo Philly Judo Club
Tag Cloud
Osagame Martial Arts and Fitness South Philly Judo BJJ South Philly Judo South Philly BJJ Judo BJJ Self Defense Jiu Jitsu Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Philadelphia BJJ Jiu Jitsu Schools South Philly Learn BJJ BJJ Classes BJJ Philadelphia BJJ South Philadelphia BJJ School Philadelphia Philadelphia Judo Club South Philadelphia Judo Philadelphia Judo Judo School Philly Judo Philly Judo Club