Alabama BJJ Tournament

My student, Sarah, competed on Saturday at the Alabama BJJ Tournament.

Sarah had been winning at a very good clip in the white belt division at NAGA and other venues. She was of the opinion, as was I, that she should challenge herself by competing at the BJJ blue belt level. To be perfectly clear: I do not teach BJJ. Our grappling is more Judo-based. However, grappling is grappling. 

On Saturday, Sarah won:
Gold in Blue Belt - gi division.
Gold in open weight - gi division.
Silver in open weight - no gi division.
(There was not a blue belt no gi division)

Here is a run down from Sarah herself.
Here is an analysis from a coaching perspective of each match:

Match 1:
Funny side note: Sarah was momentarily unavailable when her name was called for match scheduling. I went to the main table and advised the coordinator of such. He thanked me, and made the matches. I met Sarah's competitor for Blue Belt Gi division - Kirsten. As we exchanged information, she naturally inquired about our school. She seemed surprised that we were Judo-based, and that Sarah only has minimal BJJ training. I advised her that Sarah had done well at NAGA and other venues. It did not seem she took that advice to heart.

As the match began, Sarah looked for grips to set up a takedown and hopefully the top position. Kirsten, with a look that indicated her respect for the Judo based arts, pulled guard quickly. Sarah put up defenses so the guard was not closed, and worked a pass. At the moment of passing, Kirsten secured a sweep. Sarah scrambled and closed a guard from bottom.

Kirsten attempted to posture, but fell victim to Sarah's insanely efficient arm traps in so doing. Sarah spun and applied juji gatame to Kirsten's left arm. The referee was not sure of the tap, but Kirsten was a superb sport and admitted quickly to tapping.

This was the only match, so it determined Gold and Silver.


Match 2:
This was the opening round in the gi, open weight division. Sarah's opponent was Kay, a woman with similar experience, though not yet a blue belt in BJJ. Sarah and Kay knew each other from prior tournaments.

They fought for grips, and as soon as they established preferred holds, Sarah changed levels and picked a single leg. Kay was hopping a bit, and Sarah noticed an opening for a double leg, and quickly caught the second leg, too. Sarah lifted Kay up to shoulder level, turned her, and secured a clean takedown. Sarah let Kay down easily, and completely devoid of a slamming motion.

Kay had snagged a front headlock (arm-in guillotine) in the process, and held on for dear life. Sarah calmly passed guard - to be fair, it was only "1/4 guard." Sarah was mounted, and Kay had the front headlock, mistakenly believing she had guillotine choke pressure. This is rarely the case when the arm is trapped, too.

After a moment or so, Kay's arms tired, and Sarah was able to pressure her way out. Immediately, Sarah capitalized on her opponent's tirred arms and moved to secure juji gatame on Kay's right arm. Kay knows Sarah well, and knows that is her favorite technique, so as Sarah moved to the spider web position, Kay yanked her shoulder down and half out of the attack. Sarah immediately secured a T-grip (David Avellan calls this a "Kimura Trap") on Kay's left arm, as it was still inside the spider web.

Sarah moved to top, and realized her grip was reverse from what she needed to finish with an ude garami. OK, maybe she realized this because I was yelling loudly for her to switch grips. Sarah smoothly switched her grip, and finished in total control with ude garami from a wedge position. If you are unsure of what this is, no fear, I'll do a blog post on it soon!


Match 3
This was a rematch against Kirsten, again for gold. This time, of course, it was the open weight class. Sarah sought grips for a takedown, and Kirsten pulled guard even faster this time, having seen the high double leg against Kay. In the ensuing scramble, Sarah passed the guard, and moved to kamishiho gatame (sometimes called "North-South"). Our school specializes in this type of attack. Sarah worked and arm free and attacked with juji gatame.

Kirsten turned, and Sarah locked on with ushiro sankaku jime position, without the choking pressure. Kirsten tried to sit up and out of it, which gave Sarah the angle to apply the juji gatame from inside the triangular position. This tap was also light, but the referee saw it immediately.


Match 4
This was for gold in the no-gi division. Sarah faced an opponent whose name we did not catch. She trained at a 10th planet gym in Colorado. She had beaten Kay with a quick guard pull-rubber guard-triangle attack. She attempted the same on Sarah. Sarah's guard posture was stronger than Kay's but the opponent's patience paid off. She eventually worked the rubber guard and the triangle choke (sankaku jime), securing the tap and the gold for no gi.


I have advised Sarah that if she has this much success in her next tournament, I will mandate she compete in the purple belt division.

For those who ask, yes, Sarah does have a purple belt rank in our school, but our belt ranking is substantially different than BJJ.


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