This past weekend, my student, Sarah, competed in the Louisiana State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu championships. Though prior obligations rendered me unable to attend, I was certainly there in spirit. Through the magic of Youtube, we happen to be able to view the matches that were filmed any time we want.
Here was Sarah's First match in the gi division:
My thoughts as a coach / instructor:
Nice tomoe nage (circular throw) in the opening. Most BJJ players pull guard. Those of us with a Judo-inspired background will try to take someone down, as it leads to a dominant position.
The juji gatame attempt from guard was good. You can hear the coach yelling for the opponent to pull her elbow out slow. That was good advice, and in direct contradiction to what he coached next...
You can hear the opposing coach yelling for his player to go "fast fast fast!" in her guard pass attempts. "Fast" may win positions at this level, but is an unsure strategy for a more advanced player. We train to do things "better" - not "faster," "harder," or "stronger." Sarah demonstrated excellent patience, and did eventually win by her favorite movement, juji gatame.
This competitor was a three-stripe white belt at the time... not far from BJJ blue belt. Sarah dominated the match. It is my speculative opinion, based on this match as well as the results of Sarah's matches the past few months that if she were to train under a BJJ instructor, she would almost immediately be ranked a blue belt. Probably with several stripes. Outside chance that some BJJ instructors might rank her at purple.
At this tournament, Sarah won Gold in both divisions - gi and nogi. At NAGA last fall, she won gold in nogi and silver in gi... competing with the same opponent in the gold medal match both times. At this tournament, Sarah also won Silver in the absolute (no weight limit) division... only loss of the day was to a competitor her same rank and 60+ pounds heavier.
Given her performance, as her coach, I will advise she enter future tournaments in the next higher skill category.
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