Triple Crown

Triple Crown 6/18/2011

Today was the Triple Crown jiu-jitsu tournament. It's the second tournament I've entered. This time I had a few months of training under my belt and was hoping to have a better performance than my first tournament when I got tapped out in both fights in under a minute. There's a lot to talk about so I'll start with the negatives just to get them outta the way.

So I've heard that the Triple Crown has a reputation for being pretty disorganized. Now I've competed in several sporting events in my life: cross-country meets with 2000+ runners, swimming meets, soccer tournaments, running events, etc. And I gotta say, this Triple Crown was by far the most disorganized event I've ever been in. Weigh-ins were scheduled for 10am, me and a bunch of people from my school that were competing got in line to weigh in at 10am sharp. We didn't get to the scales until 11am. Then I found that there were only two scales. Now the Triple Crown staff knew they had several hundred people competing and for an $80 per person entry fee they can get a few more scales. Plus they were handling all check ins by hand along with walk-on registrations. Again for $80 per person they could use a computer and have a program developed to make everything run smoother. Get an automated check-in process and quicker process for walk-on participants. That way the Triple Crown staff won't have to mess with all the paperwork to make sure everybody got checked in and all the walk-on participants got added to the roster. Plus, we won't have to wait in line so long.

By the time we got weighed in and went inside I figured the kids tournament would be well under way but it hadn't even started yet. I also found there were only 6 mats. Several hundred people and only 6 mats. Plus the seating area was very small and many people had to stand and all the walkways got packed. I don't think they really thought through the amount of space needed for all the participants and their families that would be watching.

Then there were the refs and scorekeepers. They barely paid attention to the matches. I often saw refs watching other fights going on and not the one they're supposed to be reffing. A few times points weren't given because the ref wasn't paying attention. Same thing for the scorekeepers. I saw them on their phones, watching other matches, or just zoning out. When the ref would signal to add points to the board the scorekeeper missed it. People train hard for this event and drop a lot of money to participate, the least the staff could do is give them a fair deal and pay attention.

The wait was brutal too. I got there at 10am, weighed in at 11am, then waited until about 7pm to be called to the warm up area, then waited until past 8pm for my weight division's turn to go. This sucked on several levels. First I was nervous as hell going into the weigh-ins and the nerves kept up for a while afterward. Then I just got bored. Then I reached a point where I was just meh about the whole thing because I had been there all day waiting. To make it worse, I had some friends show up to watch and they ended up waiting around all day and had to leave before my division was called up. I felt bad about them having to wait around all day just to leave without seeing what they came for.

So there's the bad stuff – looking back that's kind of a lot. Anyway, I finally got my turn to roll so here's how it went.

My opponent seemed like he'd be tough. He was a little bigger than me and he looked pretty athletic. When the match began we shook hands and started to circle. I wanted to grab his collar and try a single-leg take-down I learned this past week. I faked with my right and shot in with my left and got a hold of his collar but he beat me to the punch. Just before I was about to drop down for his leg, my opponent got a hold of my collar and pulled me down. He tried to roll back and lift me up with his legs to throw me over but I was able to adjust my weight and block it. I got a hold of his leg and was able to land in side-control. I got 2 points for the take-down. I was in a good spot. I felt heavy on him and was able to maneuver around they guy and block his attempts to regain guard. I moved from side-control to north-south. He tried to push me away but I kept heavy and moved to his other side. Back in side-control. I probably could've kept that up for a while but I didn't want to stall, I wanted to try making a move.

I used my hips to push one of his arms away and create some space. I heard one of my coaches yell that I could go for the mount position. Now I'm not good at mount but if I got it that's 4 more points so I went for it. I pushed my opponents legs over and tried to step over. But the guy moved just enough to get me off balance and my leg never made it over. The guy scrambled and sat up to try and push me onto my back. I adjusted my hips and got both my knees on the ground (now we're both on our knees and he's still trying to push me back), I grabbed his knees put my shoulder into his chest and swept his legs out from under him. I put the guy on his back but he had one of my legs between his. I remember thinking “ah hell I do not want to let this guy close the half-guard” so I kept a hold on one of his legs and passed around him. I was back in side-control. I thought that since I passed over one of his legs I got 3 points for passing guard and thought I was up 5 to 0.

My opponent was trying to push me up but I kept heavy and I noticed that the arm near my head was in a spot for me to isolate it. So I did. I pushed my forehead into his armpit and wrapped my left arm around his and grabbed my own collar. His left arm was mine. I looked up and saw one of my coaches, Clinton, nodding and gesturing to keep a good grip on my own collar. I heard him yelling out the steps to attack the arm, “hold his other bicep down, roll him and go.” Now this technique is an armbar that I've only pulled off once in training, I don't have a high success rate with it but I went for it anyways. I kept my grip, pushed his other arm to the mat, came up a little and stepped over his head. The step over is where this technique usually goes wrong for me in training and the same thing happened here. The guy got his arm back, we scrambled for a moment, and we both ended up on our knees again. He had me in a headlock and was going for a guillotine choke. I grabbed his knees and swept them the same way I had done earlier making sure I went left so that he couldn't get the choke. I popped my head out and was in side-control for a moment but the guy recovered the full guard.

I wasn't sure if I earned any points for that but regardless I was in my opponents full guard. He immediately went to control my wrists so I got a grip on his gi and kept my elbows in. He wasn't able to get wrist-control on me so I started working to break and pass his guard. I made a mistake here and slipped up with an elbow. I let it go a little far out and my opponent moved his legs up my back into a high guard as he got a hold of my right arm. He was going for an armbar. I heard my coaches telling me to posture up. I pushed down on his chest with my left hand and exploded upward and got my arm out. But my opponent was quick. He got a grip on my right wrist as I stood up. He threw a leg across my face and attacked the armbar. He had it pretty tight. I still had time to make an adjustment to work free and he had time to make and adjustment to finish it but at that moment my elbow popped. It wasn't the kind of pop like something in the joint just got injured, it was the kind of pop that happens when you stretch out. I wasn't ready to tap yet and was going to work to get free but my opponent suddenly let my arm go.

Now I gotta say something here. My opponent let go because he heard the pop and thought my arm was hurt. That's a classy move. Just goes to show that he was there as an athlete to compete and not hurt anybody because he was legitimately concerned. My hat goes off to the guy because I really appreciated the gesture and thanked him for it after the match.

I actually thought the ref had stopped the match (the ref can stop the match any time he thinks a submission attempt is good) and for a moment my opponent and I sat there looking at each other and the ref. The ref said to keep fighting. My opponent and I shook hands and went back to it.

I was back in his full guard and went back to trying to get out. I got a hold of both his collars with my right hand and got a grip on his hip with my left hand. I shifted my right knee to the middle but the guy shifted his hips to counter the move. I heard Clinton yelling to push down on his hips and I thought, “oh yeah I gotta do that” because I just had my hand there but wasn't doing anything with it. I put my weight onto my left arm until I felt his hips firmly on the mat. Then I got my right knee back in the middle and extended my left leg back a bit to drop my hips.

As I moved my hips it felt like I broke the guard but they guy immediately went for a scissor sweep. It knocked me off balance but I was able to recover. I moved back to reestablish my base but I wasn't quick enough. My opponent went for the scissor sweep again and got it. Now I was on my back and he was in side-control. He just got 2 points.

I could hear Clinton and Broc (another one of the coaches) yelling out the steps I needed to take to get the guy into my full guard. I tried to step over and trap one of his legs but he was quick to avoid it and got heavy. At this point I relaxed a bit and tried to figure out what this guy might be planning to do based on his body position. In the moments I relaxed he didn't move at all. I figured just to forget it and go back to work on getting this guy into my guard. Now I heard Broc closer telling me to get the sea shell, which is a hand position for defending against side-control. I worked my elbow under my opponent's belly and cupped my hand around his ribs – sea shell. This is where I made my mistake. I forgot about my legs. With my hands in place I tried to bump and create space but my legs weren't in the right position. My opponent used the space I created to put his leg over and mount me. Now I'm in a bad spot on my back with this guy sitting on my chest. And he got 4 more points.

I heard Clinton and Broc yelling to trap his leg and bump. I bumped several times, not sure if I really had his leg trapped each time but I couldn't get the guy off of me or reverse position. He put his weight down and got heavy on me. His arm was near my head so I trapped it with mine, trapped his leg on the same side, and bumped again hoping to roll him over. But his base was solid and I couldn't get it.

At this point I realized that bumping wasn't working for me so I had to switch to something else. I also noticed that my opponent wasn't working for any submissions and wanted to ride out the rest of the match in mount. I tried to create some space. I worked my left elbow inside of his thigh (I could also hear Clinton yelling out these steps too, good coach), and I put my right forearm across his belly. I had two ideas here: hip out and create space to get a leg free, or bait him into going for an arm so I could roll with him and regain the top position. He went for the arm.

As my opponent pulled my right arm up toward him I was holding my wrist with my left hand. The momentum helped me sit up and I knew he wasn't going to get the armbar and I would regain the top. But time ended.

I thought I had at least 5 points. I might have scored a few more but I wasn't sure. But to my surprise when I looked at the scoreboard I only had 2 points. I think my opponent had 6 or 8 points, not sure because I was a little shocked to see I only had 2. I lost the match by points.

I'm disappointed not so much with the outcome of the match but with my mindset going into it. At the beginning of this blog I mentioned that throughout the day I went from nervous, to bored, to just meh. Well, I had a “meh” attitude when my fight began. I didn't really feel like I was competing but felt more like I was just going through the motions. As a result I didn't stick with the strategy I had. I'm more comfortable on my back fighting from the full guard but instead I tried to fight from the top position. I also figured that if I ended up in side-control I would attack the americana/keylock. In training I've been successful getting the americana. I've also used it as a distraction to get mount or knee-on-belly position or switch to an armbar depending on how the americana is defended. But instead I went for an armbar that I've only pulled off once before.

Thinking back on it, the “meh” attitude really did me bad. I didn't really feel like I was fighting until 3 minutes had gone by. I was just going through the motions. What brought me back was when I realized that I wasn't controlling my breathing. In training I maintain calm, steady, deep breaths. When my opponent had me in his guard I realized that I wasn't breathing. As a result I was out of breath and winded. This probably took away that extra umph needed to bump the guy off of me when mounted. I was just very lackadaisical leading up to and during parts of the fight.

That mindset confuses me because I've never been like that before a competition. I get pumped up. I put on a game-face and get the attitude of “let's get it on!” Maybe it had something to do with the all-day wait but still yet, when the moment came I wasn't able to get my mind right.

Well, that's how the match went. A bit bummed about my mindset, but I think I performed okay and I didn't get tapped out. But what was awesome was seeing how well Gracie Barra did. I gotta say, GB is awesome. The school did phenomenal taking 7 medals (I think it's 7). In my weight division, we took 1^st and 2^nd. The women also took 1^st and 2^nd. We had two other golds and a bronze (2+2+2+1=7, all right!). That's awesome. Just goes to show that our team is solid. One of the golds was won by Clinton, who entered the competition on the fly replacing Broc who got injured just a few days ago. The guys I train with are champs and our instructor is also a champ. Good to know they're those guys are in your corner. Clinton and Broc never gave up on me during my fight, I could hear all their advice, which was really helpful. Their support along with rest of the team's support was fantastic, I just wish I could've pulled of the win for them.

Next time I'll be better prepared to handle the whole event. Get my mind right for the fight. Hopefully I'll continue to get better and perhaps even bring home a medal for GB.

Changes

Been thinking about how things, well mostly people, change. Sometimes sudden and obvious. Other times gradual and subtle. The sudden ones are a shock for sure. Like losing a job – or getting one, breaking a bone, meeting someone new. But the subtle changes are the ones that sneak up on you. When you realize that something is different you start to wonder how long it's been that way. I'll share something from my experience.

I had a friend, let's call this friend Mike. Now Mike was a pretty good guy, watched out for the people close to him. Wouldn't back down from a fight if it meant sticking up for a friend. Good laughs and good times with that guy. But one day I noticed a change in him that I hadn't noticed happening. What I first noticed was a difference in the way he talked. Lot's of the word “I” in the things he said. Mike couldn't help but talk about himself when before he often talked about others or general ideas. Even if the conversation was completely unrelated to him Mike would find a way to make it about himself, something he did, somebody he knew, or something that rooted back to him. Once I noticed that it became difficult to listen to the guy. I mean, how much can you really take of somebody who only talks about themselves?

Next Mike became increasingly angry with things. Small things, big things, thing out of his control, and imaginary things. Just irritated at stuff whenever it came up. Like if it was too cloudy outside he'd be annoyed. If his boss gave an extra assignment the sky would be falling down. A burger was overcooked the cook must have it out for him. Even things in video games irritated the guy. At times I would just think, “relax dude, just breathe it'll be all right.”

So there I was with a long time friend who had grown annoying and aggravated. I even tossed around the idea that Mike had grown into a narcissist. What to do? Well, that's a different story, what really bewildered me was how he had changed. It was gradual to me because I hung out with the guy so often I just didn't notice. It's like watching hair grow. It's short until one day you realize it's gotten kind of long. Not much of a middle ground.

But it got me wondering how I've changed. I don't really bother to find out what people think of me. Wonder if I should? I would like to say I've become more independent but that might be seen as being solitary and isolated. I'd like to say I've gotten more in tune with my creative side, but that's more of a personal journey so many may not notice.

I guess the point of this is to say that things change and people change (as they should) but I never really look at myself and how I've changed. If a good friend can change in such a way, how can I say that I haven't undergone something similar? When I realized how Mike had changed I started to watch myself. Make sure to not mimic Mike's newer habits. If it felt like I was talking about myself too much I would either shut up or swap myself for somebody else. Try not to sweat the small stuff – I prefer my burgers well done anyway.

Well, my train of thought just derailed. Not really sure where I was going with this one. Just something I was musing about.

Taste of Hawaii

The weekend of gluttony is on! Well, it's actually over now but about 12 hours ago it was on! The Taste of Hawaii held at the Smith's Tropical Paradise – a botanical garden near Kapa'a. A nice setting with plenty of greenery and nice looking plants that I know nothing about. So onto the food!

The event is all-you-can eat and drink. Stands are set up throughout the garden serving food and all you do is go up and grab. The first stop was a pork adobo fried rice dish. It was wrapped in egg giving it an omelet feel. There were only a few pieces of pork on the plate but they were good. All and all it was good stuff. Right next to the adobo stand was a honey french toast with some kind of fruit topping, I think it was guava. Nevertheless, it was awesome. So there was an omelet and french toast. Felt like I was having breakfast, good start.

Up next was an onion tart. It looked like a small pop-tart with an herbal cream cheese spread with caramelized onions on top of it. Sounded odd, looked odd, so why not? Good thing I tried it because it was awesome.

We moved onto the next section of the garden. First we hit up a seafood stand. Not my thing because I'm not much of a seafood fan. It was a sweet-potato, a piece of grilled ahi, some type of sauce and a ginger foam on top. The foam was...well it was weird. But overall it was pretty good, especially considering it was a seafood thing. That area also had cookies, spaghetti and meatballs, wine, beer, a beef skewer, and a shrimp tempura. The spaghetti was pretty good but the were pretty bad. Cookies...can't mess up a cookie. Wine – good, beer – good, shrimp – not bad, meat skewer - pretty damn awesome.

The next area had some interesting stuff. First up was a kalua chicken tostada drizzled with poi. Yeah...drizzled with poi, that was different. Tasted pretty good because the kalua flavor masked the poi (not a poi fan). Next was a fried tako, skipped that, it looked gross. Then there was Chef Roy's stand. He served a “pepa” shave ice with raw fish. It looked really unique and people were saying it was really good so I gave it a try. Yeah, it was fish flavored shave ice. Gross. Then I had some sort of chili looking dish with a large slice of Portuguese sausage. Had a good spice that gave it a sort of southern feel. It was really good. Then there was smoked meat which was okay but would've been better if it hadn't been sitting out for a while.

By this time I had sampled a lot of food, most of it good, and I was halfway through the Taste of Hawaii. I finished the beer I was drinking and headed to the next area.

I was greeted by free-love music, a liquid aloha stand, and “all natural” food stands. I quickly realized I was in the hippie zone. My nose started twitching and my eyes felt hazy. Have I ever mentioned that I'm allergic to hippie? Anyway, I tried some humus - nothing special, and skipped most of the other “all natural” foods because they were mostly chips or some herbal thing that really didn't look too appetizing. I moved on.

My sinuses cleared up remarkably fast once I left the hippie section. I found a Chinese pork dish with some kind of 5-spice sauce. It was really damn good. Then I found a stand tucked behind a tree serving wasabi braised beef. Not a wasabi fan but the beef was so good it didn't matter. The thing was delicious. There was Indian curry, grilled chicken pesto, duck lumpia, and grilled bbq chicken served on a potato chip. The curry was good, but I think I'd still rather have Curry House. The chicken pesto thing looked like a green crab cake...but with chicken. Wasn't that good. I took two bites and tossed the rest. The duck lumpia was really good. Only problem was it was a hot dish and by now the sun was high and hot. The bbq chicken seemed odd because it was served on a ruffle potato chip but the saltiness of the chip went very well with the sweetness of the sauce. It was good stuff. Jamba Juice had a stand in that area. They offered coconut water combined with strawberry lemonade. It was really good and refreshing.

I crossed over an arched Japanese-style bridge and made my way into the final area. I was starting to feel full but had enough room to sample a few more things. I tried a taro patty served on top of bread. One bite was all I wanted to take. It went straight into the trash after that. There was another braised beef dish that was good but nothing special especially after the one I had earlier.

Then I found the drink stand I had been looking for: Honey Mead. I had heard about this drink. A fermented honeyed spirit. A strong drink with good taste. The drink of the Vikings! I was excited to try it. I approached the stand and saw a golden drink poured over slices of pineapple. Wait a sec...pineapple? I doubt the Vikings had pineapple in their drink. What the was this? I talked to the people serving the drink and learned that it was white wine with guava, pineapple, and honey. I guess the fact that there was honey in it gave them the idea of calling this drink mead, but this was certainly not mead. It was white wine with a hint of pineapple. Despite my disappointment in not getting to sample some mead I still had two cups of the false-mead...hey the advertising may have been misleading but there's nothing wrong with wine.

I had come full circle, my stomach felt satisfied, and there was just one thing left to do: go back around and get seconds of my favorites. Got me another beer, an onion tart, a beef skewer, and a cookie...can't go wrong with a cookie. I finished the day off with some Lapperts ice cream, good stuff.

Back at home we all enjoyed the kanak-attack. My brother lied on the couch playing Plants vs Zombies on his phone. My mom, dad, aunty, and uncle relaxed in their seats while talking story. I lied back in a bed that's set up in the living room and played on my dad's guitar. We basically lounged around the rest of the day like a bunch of lazy cats. It was awesome.

So the glutton-fest comes to an end. Good eats, good people, good times. I wonder how much weight I've gained over the weekend...