Jiu-Jitsu, One Year Later

One year to the day (at the time of writing) I walked into Gracie Barra University for the very first time. And what a journey it's been since. I still remember that first day too. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect. I also couldn't find the place and had to call for directions (I drove by the building twice without realizing it). Donning an oversized rental gi and clueless about what to do I hit the mats for my first lesson. A Brazilian guy with a black belt, shaved head, and thick accent came out. Professor Caveirinha taught us a hip-throw, sit-up sweep, and kimura.

It was awesome to learn a submission. Something I'd seen in UFC and MMA fights. I was stoked. And the technique flowed smoothly. Just that one technique and I began to understand how movement and leverage could overcome size and strength. I was hooked. After training, Gamba pulled me into an office to talk. He asked if I could come back the next day for another class: absolutely!

That first day I went in nervous about the possibility of getting hurt, the closeness at which we'd train, not performing well, not knowing what to do, the type of people that would be there, the list goes on and on. I was immediately struck by how friendly and helpful everybody was. I didn't feel like I was being judged at all. It didn't take long at all to feel comfortable at GB. The training was physical and bruises came easily and often but I quickly learned that injuries are few. I can tap out at any time and my partner will stop whatever they're doing. Even if I'm not fully caught in a submission, if I know it's coming or just feel really uncomfortable I can tap and end the discomfort without enduring any pain. I can stay in control of what's going on to a pretty good degree. And the closeness thing, I got over it quickly...really no choice about that.

I've entered two competitions since joining. Didn't win a single match. All good though. My instructors supported me the whole way and focused more on gaining from the experience than winning or losing. Not sure if I'll enter another competition anytime soon. I'm finding that competition isn't as important to me as learning and understanding jiu-jitsu. I don't feel I need to compete to do that when there are plenty of skilled training partners at GB already.

Gracie Barra has done quite a bit for me in the past year. More than I can write here so I'll just glance over the highlights. First, and most obvious, I learned some jiu-jitsu. Triangle, armbar, kimura, and a few other submissions. I know how they work and every now and then I can catch somebody in one. I watch MMA and UFC fights on a different level than before. I can recognize submission set ups and understand ground game techniques and positioning, which is pretty cool.

One of the reasons I joined jiu-jitsu was for fitness. And let me say, it will get you fit. Only Bikram Yoga had me sweating more than jiu-jitsu and that's only because Bikram takes place in a room heated to 111 degrees. Rolling (the hip way to refer to jiu-jitsu) leaves me more drained from the workout though. Here's a more practical way to put it: I use a belt to keep my pants up, I tightened it to the 3^rd hole for a snug fit when I first began jiu-jitsu. After two weeks of rolling 3-4 times each week I had to tighten the belt to the 4^th hole. Within two months I trimmed down enough to use the 5^th hole on the belt. Yeah, rolling will up your fitness.

The people I've met at Gracie Barra are great and I made some new friends over the past year. Some of those outside of jiu-jitsu and martial arts often have a preconceived notion that if you're training jiu-jitsu or muay thai you must be training to be a fighter, and if you're a fighter you're of a certain, rough around the edges, personality type. Troubled youth, tattooed, surrounded by chaos. Ya know, that type of thing. Not the case at Gracie Barra. The people I train with are pretty laid back, pleasantly casual people doing their own thing. Most of the time you wouldn't even know they trained a martial art just looking at them.

The blend of personalities make for great training and diversity on the mats. I'm even starting to see how some personalities translate through their own jiu-jitsu style (that might make a good blog, more on it later).

What else has jiu-jitsu done for me? Reminders of humility, a dash of discipline, and a nice dose of stress relief. But by far the most important thing I've gotten out of it is a boost of confidence. I walk a little taller, can look people in the eye, I feel a little better about myself, I speak a little more clearly, and some of those butterflies that have made a home in my gut for so long have flown away. By nature I'm a quiet, timid, shy person. I got a thick shell as they would say. I've been working for years to break that shell, or at least thin it down, by trying to go outside of my comfort zones and force myself to work through difficult situations. Jiu-jitsu has done the most to crack that shell.

That boost of confidence has resonated through every aspect of my life. At work I've taken on new roles and volunteered for things that I would have avidly avoided a year ago like giving a presentation to an audience of over a hundred people. I'm more apt to initiate conversations with new people when in the past I would remain quiet unless spoken to. It's even affected my writing. I share my writing, my blogs, and I don't mind letting it be known that my ambition is to publish a novel, which I am currently working on.

I promote jiu-jitsu and the Gracie Barra University often. I always encourage those who are interested to give it a try. Most people are apprehensive about it because of the closeness and the thought of getting hurt. But I let them know it's safe, the instructors are very understanding, and the people who train there are friendly and helpful. I say is if you're even slightly interested in trying jiu-jitsu, come down to Gracie Barra and try out a class. Just try it. There's nothing to lose and so much to gain. It's worth a shot.

Xterra Trail Run

The day began at 5am. My phone alarm blared in my ear and I fumbled around with my TV remote thinking it was my phone. Took a couple minutes to figure things out. But something was off. It was still dark. I'm not used to waking up when the sun hasn't risen yet which meant there was something important going on today. I got out of bed, ate a light breakfast, drank some water, gathered my things, drank some more water, and headed out to Kualoa Ranch. Today was my first trail run.

Sunrise at Kualoa Ranch looking at Chinaman's Hat

I signed up for the 5k event at the Xterra Trail Run Series. A little background about the event: Xterra hosts a series of trail running events, mostly half-marathon distances, across the globe and the event held in Hawaii's Kualoa Ranch is the final Championship event. In addition to the half-marathon final, there's also 10k and 5k events. I did the 5k, which is just a little over 3 miles.

I got out to Kualoa as the sun rose. I parked and looked to meet up with some friends. The first thing I saw when I stepped out of my car was a solid pile of cow turd. Those things were all over the parking area, the staging area, even the course. Mind your step, don't want to slip in one of those things.

Before the races began there were some military guys skydiving onto the field. I think they were Rangers because one of their parachutes said “Rangers” on it. They jumped from 14,000 feet and all of them landed exactly on target. In fact, one of them did a loop with his parachute starting about 300 feet above us and swooped down perfectly, gliding about 15 feet above the ground to the landing spot. I didn't know you could do a loop with a parachute. It was pretty sweet.

Race time came. I wanted to push the run and see how good of a time I could get. I knew my conditioning would be okay for a 5k but I've only been running once a week for the past two months so I wasn't sure how well my legs would handle a difficult run. Not to mention I didn't train on any trails and not too many hills. Regardless, I was going to push myself on the run. I got to the front of the starting line with my buddy Waimea, who's a seasoned distance runner and triathlete. My strategy was to pace with him.

The start gun fired with an echoing bang and we took off. Waimea was right in front of me at the start but within five seconds he was a good 50 feet in front of me. I got swallowed in the crowd. Everybody near the front shot off fast. There went my plan to pace with Waimea. I had two choices: keep steady and pace myself, which risks being dropped from the front-runners, or push the pace and try to catch up to Waimea and the rest of the front-runners. I decided to push, that was the point after all.

I spent the first ¾ mile catching up to Waimea. It was brutal, in fact the entire first mile was brutal because it was pretty much all uphill – got me thinking I should have trained on a few hills. Those hills got my legs burning and feeling heavy. At one point I wondered if I'd be able to make it the whole way running, my legs felt so heavy. But quitting was not an option. The challenge was to push and I was not about to fail in the first mile. No way. I pumped my arms and kept moving. My lungs burned, my legs grew heavier but step-by-step I made it up the hills.

Waimea was struggling when I finally caught up to him. He shot out too quickly at the very beginning and his legs were shot. I wanted to pace with him but he told me to run ahead. Dude must have been hurting. I pushed on.

The first mile was done. Next came a long downhill. It was probably about a quarter mile of downhill over uneven ground littered with holes and cow patties. The safe thing do would be to take my time and choose my steps carefully. But I was too tired to slow down. It was way easier to let the legs go and have gravity do the work. I was leaping over holes and cow turds gaining more and more speed. It was the fastest part of the course.

Kualoa Valley

The rest of the race course didn't offer anymore challenging terrain (thank god). It was a steady trail with slight inclines and declines but nothing that could be called a hill. I settled into a steady stride, found a good pace, and went a little faster. Hey, pushing a run doesn't mean stay comfortable. I run just outside of my comfort zone. But I was able to take in the scenery. Kualoa Valley is beautiful. Lush mountains reached skyward with the sun's rays shining through a light layer of clouds. Sunny but not hot, scattered showers but no downpours. Good stuff!

Throughout the course there were a lot of turns and intersections. You have to keep a lookout for where the signs point in order to stay on the race course. A few volunteers hang out by the signs to make sure you go the right way. Thankfully there was somebody at the last turn because I didn't see the sign at all. The volunteer saw me going the wrong way and yelled for me to turn left. I quickly turned left, followed the path through some trees, hopped over some rocks and came out onto a grassy field. Just ahead of me was a lane of orange cones. I a bit further and saw the finish line about 150 yards away. I opened my stride and kicked for the finish. The crowd at the finish line was great. They cheered and clapped as I did my best to sprint across the finish line.

After the race my friends tailgated in the parking field. We had a grill for steak, chicken, and hot dogs plus several coolers of beer and Gatorade. There was also salsa, chips, salad, pumpkin crunch and I brought Ginger Ale spiked with whiskey along with a melon flavored whiskey cocktail. The tailgate was fun. Good food, good people, good times. A few of us even played a little soccer while being careful to avoid the cow patties.

My results for the 5k run: I finished in 25:46, an 8:35 per mile pace. I was 15^th overall out of 427 and 3^rd in my age group. Not too bad, I think.

I enjoyed the run. It felt good to push for time. And it was great having a group of friends there to support each other and hang out afterward. Up next is the Great Aloha Run. I'll be running that one for time too. I'll definitely have to run more than once a week to be ready. Training begins next week.

Back: Charlie, George, Norman, Ernest
Middle: Sheri, Jen (J-Badger), Greer (me), Jen
Front: Kalani, David (Waimea

Getting Game

My jiu-jitsu instructors constantly talked about developing your game when I was just starting out. Pretty much, what they meant was developing your own style of jiu-jitsu that works for you. Some prefer the top position to control their opponents. Some prefer the bottom and playing from their guard. Some prefer closed guard, some prefer open guard. But eventually something will “click” and you'll naturally evolve a style. You'll develop game. At least that what I've heard.

Ever since I became a blue belt I've been wondering what my game is. Honestly, I don't know yet. I don't really think I have one. It hasn't really clicked yet. There are a few positions I prefer and some that I'd like to be better at but I'm not entirely sure what really works for me overall. What's that fallback technique I can go to that puts me in a comfort zone? Still figuring it out. And it got me wondering: is game really something you can figure out and create, or does it just evolve on its own?

When I first began rolling I was really excited to learn the triangle choke. It was my favorite submission move to watch in MMA and UFC fights. There's something about fighting from you back and using your legs to apply a choke that appealed to me.

I learned the triangle and was surprised at how many steps there are to apply the technique. It took a lot of practice to get it down. Even more practice to do it without speaking the steps to myself. Eventually it became fluid and it was the first submission I ever caught somebody in. It's still my favorite submission to this day.

I focused on getting good at the triangle. I went for it a lot during resistance training (sort of a controlled sparring session). It was a choice to work hard at the triangle and it got me wondering if I could dictate how my game evolves by choosing which techniques and positions to work on. It was time to start trying new things and selecting how I wanted to roll.

Top position holds a lot of advantages, I thought. Your weight is on your opponent tiring them out and gravity is on your side if you attack a submission. I wanted to get good at it. Yeah...that hasn't worked so well. I really like the far-side armbar from side-control. It looks slick when you spin over your opponent and attack the arm. However, for as many times I've attempted it I can still count the successful submissions on one hand. It just doesn't work for me (don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up on the technique it just hasn't worked out yet...yet!). The technique I had selected to incorporate into my game wasn't working out.

Two examples that conflict with the idea that I could shape my own game. I want to be good at the triangle and the far-side armbar. I chose to practice those techniques more than others. Triangle works well, armbar does not. So now what? Can I still shape my game or do I have to fall into it? Do I just keep trying different techniques until I find the ones that flow?

It felt like I was back at square one but I kept on thinking about it and I'm starting to lean towards the idea that game naturally evolves. Take the triangle for example. My legs are good for that. They have a little length and they have a little strength so of course triangles were going to work well for me. It just so happened that it was also my favorite submission. The top game hasn't clicked for me yet but I'm comfortable fighting off my back. I think that sort of matches my personality. The top position is perceived as a dominant position, which ties into being a more aggressive position. I don't really have an aggressive personality. I'm more on the passive, I think, so it makes sense that I prefer fighting off my back and working from the guard given the premise and perception that top position relates to aggression. It seems that the positions and techniques I'm comfortable with and better at fit me.

Now this doesn't mean I'm only going to train guard techniques and endlessly go for triangles. Ideally, I'd like to have my comfort zones that I can go to but I'd also like to perform well from every position whether it be top or bottom. It just means that although I'm a blue belt, I'm only getting started. Now is when I need to explore different techniques, refine the fundamentals, and continue developing my game - whatever it may evolve to.

Hike: Moanalua Valley to Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven – Nov 2011

Today a group of friends and I hiked from Moanalua Valley up the mountain ridge to the Stairway to Heaven, came down the stairs and ended in Haiku. We started at 10:30am and finished at around 4pm. It was a long hike with a few bonus features. Here come the highlights!

The hike started out easy with a trek into Moanalua Valley along an old road. Then the rain came. A gentle shower that eased up. It was nice, it was refreshing but the clouds were just getting started. Next thing I knew it was pouring. So much that I started to get concerned about flash flooding and how the hiking trail on the mountain would look. But no matter, we continued along the road dodging mud puddles as best we could and made it to the mountain trail. Time to start the climb!



The path was easy to navigate and the rain let up as we started up the ridge. But then the wind came. It was cold and it was gusty. I couldn't decide if I preferred being soaked by the rain or chilled by the wind. Regardless, we pressed on.



Marlon, Jen, Ronny, David (aka Waimea), Kalani, David (me), Ernest, Kelli



The ridge climb got pretty steep at times. There were ropes at a few areas of the trail to assist with the more sketchy parts. I was thankful for those. We climbed higher and higher and the trail got narrower and narrower. Before long we were hiking on the ridge with sheer drops on both sides. If you fell to the right you'd break a leg or something for sure. If you fell left, certain death. Not to mention the rain and wind continued to take turns soaking us and blasting us. It was like the elements were having fun with us.

Now, a challenging hike will always have moments of pure misery. I experienced a few of those today when I was drenched, my jacket was completely soaked, I was cold, muddy, and the wind was knocking me around. But the challenge always comes with a sight you would never want to miss.

At the upper region of the ridge the rain stopped and the wind died down. To our right we could see some clouds moving over the valley and the mist cascading from the sky to the lush valley floor. The mist came down gracefully, spiraling and coalescing like a dance. It looked like streamers gently falling through the air with more and more streamers joining the dance until there was an entire curtain of mist waving in front of us.

It was quite a show nature put on for us. And nature let us know when the show was over by turning the rain back on. The ridge climb continued.

We got closer and closer to the top, which always seemed to be only 5 minutes away, and the wind really picked up. It looked really cool to be in the clouds and watch them rush up the side of the valley right at you and then spill over onto the other side of the ridge. At times the wind gust with such force that it knocked me off balance and I had to squat to anchor myself down. It was all good though, I just rested while I waited for the gusts to die down then kept on going.

We finally reached the top of the ridge and the trail leveled off. The wind and rain let up and it seemed like it would be easy going...yeah, that wasn't the case though. This part of the hike I label mud slide. Things got dirty. Our feet sunk into mud pools up to the ankle. I was glad my shoes stayed on my feet. We reached a tricky section where the trail sloped down but the ground was slicked over with mud. Traction did not look promising. Kalani took the lead and showed the technique to slide down in a squatted position. Pretty much, squat down and use controlled pressure on your feet to slide down and steer. Yeah...it didn't work out so well for me.

Up to that point I had been able to keep the mud off of me except for my feet and lower legs. I didn't really want to get completely mudded up. I tried to crouch and use the length of my legs to find areas where my feet had some grip. That didn't work at all. I slipped and slid on my rump and side a few feet. Mud was all over my right leg and backside so I figured screw it and I slid all the way down. I tried to slide sideways on my feet, left leg leading in a sort of sprawled out side-lunge. Then the mud just took me and as the trail curved my lead leg got ahead of me enough to make the rest of me roll over and I went the rest of the way on my stomach. All I could hear once I rolled was Waimea laughing his lungs out. I gotta say, it was a fun slide but had to be hilarious to see. Hopefully Kalani got it on video and I can get a hold of it and post on my Facebook page (I just checked and Kalani did catch it on video, check it out here).

After the slide, a few more mud pools, and slippery areas - one which I actually lost my balance completely and fell to my hind quarters – we reached the Stairway to Heaven. We took a break to eat a bit (kudos to Ronny for the beef jerky) and rest. Then it was time to descend the stairs.

The stairs were pretty sturdy. I was still careful with my footing because the weather had dampened things. It was a steady descent. The air grew warmer as we left the clouds and got closer to the ground. The view of Kaneohe materialized when we broke through the clouds, very nice view indeed! Near the bottom I heard a commotion up ahead. I saw Kalani reaching for something off the side of the stairway with his camera pole and then his bag rolled away. He set it down on the stairs while he reached for whatever it was he was going for and the wind took it. The bag rolled down the stairs, through the railing, off the side of the ridge, and fell into the valley below. Huge bummer but better a bag than a person, I thought.

We reached the bottom of the stairs, it was about 4pm, and Kalani wanted to search for his bag. Given the overcast weather, I figured we had 1½ hours of daylight left, 2 hours at best. It was time to get to work. This was the bonus adventure. The others stayed back while Kalani, Waimea, Ronny, and I went into the valley in search of the fallen pack.

The attitude got serious and our caution increased. We blazed our own trail through loose rock, trees, and dirt until we reached the area where the bag fell. No sign of it. Perhaps a little further in we'd find it. The ridge walls on both sides were near vertical so we used the tree roots as ropes and branches as ladders to climb through. It reminded me my younger days in California when my friends and I would blaze our own trails in the mountains. It was fun yet serious because one slip could lead to serious injury. I made sure I had a firm handhold and tested my footing before putting my weight down. Slowed things down a bit, but caution was paramount.

It wasn't long until Kalani found his bag. He got it down and we carefully made our way back to the Stairway to Heaven where the others were waiting. It was a short trek out of Haiku Valley into the neighborhood of Waipao where some of our cars were parked. Some went straight home while the rest of us went back to Moanalua Valley Park (thanks to Waimea for the ride). By the time we got back to the park the sun had set and the sky was dark. We washed off as best we could at the park and ate some cupcakes in celebration of Kalani's birthday - happy birthday dude!

Definitely a good hike. The rain and wind pushed the challenge. Emotions went from misery to victory and at the end the day was ours.

back: Ernest, Kelli, Marlon, David (aka Whitepinapple/me), Jen
front: David (aka Waimea), Kalani, Ronny

Puka Pali & Likeke Falls hike

It was bargain day on the hiking trail today. 2 for 1! Puka Pali and Likeke Falls. We met up at the Pali Lookout this morning to hike up to the Pali Puka...yep the cliff hole...or hole in the cliff if you want context.

The hike to the puka was short but challenging. It was up, up, up the whole way. Not to mention we traversed along a ridge with a vertical drop down the right side. I kept thinking favor your left, favor your left. If was going to slip and fall I wanted to fall to my left where I could land in some shrubs and trees. If I went right it was down the cliff into instant death. Yeah, favor the left.



Puka Picture!



It wasn't long until we reached the top of the trail and the hole in the cliff. I actually thought the hole would be bigger but it was still pretty cool to see. There were six of us and the hole was just large enough for us to cram in for a picture. But we still had to be careful, there's nothing on the other side of the hole except a vertical drop and more instant death. It's a dangerous hole.



The rain started falling just as we started to head back down to the Pali Lookout. Made things slippery and now I kept thinking favor your right, favor your right. Going down was tricky. The rain didn't help. We had to take it slow and be sure of our footing, or at least I did since I hike in worn down running shoes. But we got out relatively safely. Only one person fell but got right back up, wiped the dirt/mud off, and kept on going.

Back at the Lookout, the rain continued to fall while we waited for some more people to join us for the next hike: Likeke Falls. The falls hike was pretty easy, the first half followed an old paved road which ran alongside the Pali Highway. The trail began when we actually had to go underneath the highway. It was an easy trail, just a little slippery from the rain, which had now subsided.

Likeke Falls. You can sort of see us.

We reached the falls and stopped to enjoy the sight and take some pictures, throw a go-pro camera into the water, and generally mess around. For some reason I had the inclination to climb up the rocks along the side of the falls. So I did. As far as I could safely go, at least. Then we posed for a group pic in front of the falls. Again, I had an urge to climb something so I went for a tree branch that hung over the area. It looked like a comfortable seat and it was.

We met another hiker who came to the falls from another trail. Older guy. He was dressed rather nicely for a hike. Long pants, belt, and an aloha shirt. He even had a spiffy hat. Nice fellow. Gave us a little history lesson about the trail and how it was an old cobblestone road.

Getting back to the Pali Lookout from the falls was a bit tiring for me. I mean, this was hike #2 already and it was all uphill. But we made it. Just in time for the rain to start up again. And it rained hard. But hey, at least it rinsed the mud off us a bit. Good hike!

NAGA - as a spectator

 Today was the North American Grappling Association (NAGA) tournament. It's a submission grappling tournament but it's primarily made up of jiu-jitsu practitioners. I didn't participate but was there to watch and support my teammates from Gracie Barra University of Hawaii.

When I arrived the kids tournament was winding down and the woman's competition was getting ready to go. The event took place in a high school gymnasium and mats were laid down above the basketball court to make up 12 rings. The place was packed. The bleachers were crowded and spectators surrounded the mats. It was standing room only and luckily for me, GB had taken up a spot along the end of the mats. We had a pretty good view of all the fights.

With almost 12 fights going on at all times there was plenty to watch and teammates were constantly rolling. It wouldn't be practical to recap every match I watched so I'll go over some highlights and a few key matches I was able to watch. Oh, I should mention that I'm purposely leaving out names.

The first medal match I saw was for the younger age group. One of our 16 year old blue belts made it to the finals of his division. It was a good match. The 16 year old ended up in top-position and was able to mount a good offense and defend several attempted sweeps. But eventually he was caught off balance and ended up on his back. I didn't see exactly how the match ended but I think our 16 year old tapped out to a choke. He rolled well and took home silver.

Our women were next to roll in the no-gi competition. Two of our own teammates got paired up and had to go against each other. Always unfortunate when that happens. I don't know who to cheer for so I usually just keep quiet. Both rolled well and scored points but the match ended with an armbar. The one who pulled off the armbar went on the the finals. In the finals the opponent quickly attached the neck with a standing guillotine choke. My teammate tried to pull guard and escape but the choke was in deep. So deep that my teammate ended up going unconscious, a rather scary moment. Tense moments passed as all of the GB people hoped she would be okay. She came to a moment later and as soon as she smiled we knew she was all right. Hats off to her, she took home silver.

When the woman's gi competition started up our newest blue belt took the mat. Unfortunately she got a tough draw and went up against a teammate, who is a three-stripe blue belt and an instructor for the woman's class. Yep, our new-blue was up against her instructor. But she did well. She jumped and pulled guard and was able to keep our 3-stripe under control for the first few minutes. But our 3-stripe would not be controlled for much longer. She methodically broke out of guard, passed, and worked for a submission. An expected result but it was great to see both ladies laughing together before, after, and even during their match. Good job ladies!

The men's no-gi competition was going on and one I was able to catch part of a finals match involving one of our guys. This guy is one of our more experienced white-belts and helps instruct one-on-one intro classes for new members to our school. My vantage point was a bit far from the match but I saw some nice take downs, sweeps, and reversals. The moment that stood out to me was when our guy was in top-position, the opponent threw his legs up high in an attempt to catch a triangle choke but instead ended up throwing a knee into our guy's nose. The match had to stop for a moment to make sure there was no bleeding and that our guy was okay. Our guy finished the match strong, likely invigorated by taking a knee to the face, and won on points. He did awesome. Although he ended with a swollen and blueish nose, it went well with his gold medal.

The while-belt gi competition was next to get underway. I've watched most of the these guys progress since they first joined and I was excited to see them roll. One of our guys had a very exciting match. He had my favorite take-down of the day as he began the match with a sacrifice-throw. FYI, a sacrifice-throw is any throw in which you expose your back to your opponent. There's an inherent risk with that, hence the name sacrifice-throw. Anyway, our guy did a beautiful sacrifice arm-throw then immediately went to work. He passed his opponent's guard, went to the mount position, and even took his opponent's back. Our guy got reversed and ended up on his back but was able to work back to guard and get a sweep. It was a non-stop, action-packed match and our guy won by submission.

Another white-belt I was eager to watch just recently got his third stripe (so I guess you could say he's a third-degree white-belt) and is one of the most motivating and positive guys in our school. He's a big, strong guy and one of the things we've been trying to instill in him is “technique, not strength.” Today, I think he was able to keep that in mind. When the match started our guy pulled guard right away. He worked non-stop to control his opponent's posture, constantly breaking him down and keeping him low. This kept his opponent from mounting any sort of effective offense, plus it tired him out. After a few minutes our guy started to work for a sweep. He nearly pulled off a sit-up sweep but was stuffed just before he got it. His opponent stood up to try and break the guard but our guy didn't let him escape. Our guy immediately went for a pull-feet sweep. He wasn't able to get it but it kept the opponent off balance so he went back down to his knees. The match ended scoreless and went to a referee's decision. The ref awarded our guy with the win because he was more active and attacked several sweeps. Very good job. With the win, our guy took home gold.

The blue-belts gi competition was next and I was very excited to watch one my instructors compete. He's a three-stripe blue belt and was sporting a Chuck Liddell like hair style. In every match he jumped into guard and went to work playing spider-guard and attacking sweeps. FYI, spider-guard is a type of open guard where you control your opponent by keeping a grip on his sleeve and keeping your foot against his bicep. It's a great way to control your opponent's upper body and easily move with your opponent as they try to move around you. Our guy worked his guard beautifully. He had my favorite sweep of the day. I believe it's called a helicopter sweep. Our guy was on his back with his feet on his opponent's hips and a grip on each of his opponent's sleeves. The opponent was trying to shift his weight but our guy was able to extend his legs and lift the opponent completely off the mat. He kicked his legs up, pulled his opponent's sleeves down, and flipped his opponent over onto his back. The beautiful part of it was that our guy not only flipped his opponent but also rolled with him and finished the sweep in the mount position. 6 points! Our guy won that match en route to the finals.

The final match started out just like all the others. Our guy pulled guard and went to work attacking sweeps. And much like all the other matches, our guy got the sweep. He then passed guard and ended up in side-control. Our guy was up 5 to nothing. His opponent was no slouch and kept active. The opponent was able to reverse position and get on top but that didn't last long as our guy quickly reversed position again and passed the guard and got into side-control. Our guy dominated the match by controlling position and racked up the points. I think the match ended 14-2 or something like that. Our guy deftly won his division and won the gold.

NAGA was fun to watch and it was great to see so many of my teammates step up to the competition and to see several of them win medals. Our school had a large cheering section and I was joined by several teammates who weren't competing but showed up to show our support. Makes for a great atmosphere. My hat's off to all those who competed. Keep up the great rolling, see you all in training!

Hawaiian Overthrow

Ok so I'm going to do something way out of the ordinary and actually write about a serious topic. I've been living in Hawaii for about 10 years and truth be told I do not know a whole lot of Hawaiian history. In high school history class we spent a whopping one week on Hawaiian history and none of it covered the events of how Hawaii became a state (I went to high school in a small mountain town in California, not much interest in the topic there). And I really didn't learn too much more while at the University of Hawaii.

As I understand it, The Kingdom of Hawaii was basically overthrown greatly due to the political influence of sugar plantation owners. There were great profits to be made and plantation owners wanted to ensure land use for their own gain (greed strikes again!). The Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown, the royal lands ceeded to the United States, Hawaiian culture and language was discouraged, and it all resulted in a lot of resentment and anger among Hawaiian people to this very day. I feel I should also mention that the American president, Grover Cleveland, was sympathetic and felt America violated law along with a trustful relationship with Hawaii, but he didn't have much more time in office when Hawaii was annexed and the following president was so sympathetic.

Ok so there's the brief history as I know it, feel free to correct or add anything. But what spawned this blog was a short essay I recently read speculating what Hawaii would be like today if the overthrow never happened. In short the gist of the essay is: 1) If the royal lands were never ceeded the Hawaiian Kingdom would still have land 2) if the US military didn't occupy Hawaii there would be no US military in Hawaii, and 3) if the US didn't suppress Hawaiian language the people would be bilingual speaking both Hawaiian and English.

Yeah, so I figure these points are pretty much no-brainers. Now the author of the essay is no idiot, which leads me to believe the intent of her essay is to stir the emotions of a certain audience rather than to really explore alternative histories. So it got me wondering, what might have realistically happened??

First of all, let me say I have no idea. But before we go off completely vilifying the United States there are a few other things to consider. The United States wasn't the only major country that found it's way to Hawaii. I believe the French also had a sizable stake in the islands during the plantation era. Native Hawaiians were not the majority population during the plantation era and they weren't the only group being supressed. I believe the Chinese were the majority and they were the most militant in response to plantation owner suppression. Perhaps if given the opportunity the Chinese would have risen in power and eventually claimed the islands. Hawaii is without a doubt a profitable place and greed is universal. Finally, Hawaii is in a strategic military position in the Pacific Ocean.

With all these other factors it's hard to believe that Hawaii would have been left alone. Sure, the Kingdom was recognized and on good relations with other major countries making it seem as though the island nation would be left independent. But the Kingdom was recognized and on good relations with the United States too before the overthrow, which diminishes the notion that other countries would not have done what the US did.

I guess my whole thing is I'm disappointed at the essay. It's too easy to peg the US as the villain because hey, in regards to the overthrow the US was a villain. That much is clear and has even been acknowledged by the federal government. But to stay in that perspective and not even consider the reality of the situation and plausible alternate histories in a writing that claims to do so in its title is just...well it's just boring!

I was hoping for something more. Like, did the Hawaiian Kingdom realize it's position on a global scale and the interest many other countries may have had in it? If not what could have helped them to do so? And if so, were there any indications that the Kingdom could have guarded itself against those interests? Or what other countries, if any, were in a position to overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom if the United States had not done so first? What else could have plausibly happened?  What might Hawaii plausibly look like today if the United States did not overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom?

Writer's Indecision

I haven't written a blog in a while. I thought I had a case of writer's block. I couldn't decide if I wanted to write about my fitness training, hiking, the struggles I'm experiencing as a writer (or should I say aspiring writer), some general musing, or post another office-related haiku. As I debated what to write about, I ended up not writing anything at all.

I didn't have writer's block. I had writer's indecision.

And I'm experiencing the same thing in other facets of life. As mentioned above, I'm aspiring to be a writer and I'm currently working on a story that I hope to one day see published as a novel. But lately I've been stuck trying to decide where to take the story. I have the end in mind, but not sure exactly how to get there. Should I introduce a new character? Should I take the characters on a brief side-adventure? Should I introduce a villain? Should I do nothing and keep thinking about it? Yeah...

There's a lot I want to do when it comes to fitness. In recent months I've been focused on training jiu-jitsu. But I've wanted to get back in to running and swimming. Last year I ran a lot and did fairly well in some events I entered (see my past blog about the Great Aloha Run for a recap). And swimming is fantastic. There's something about swimming in the Hawaii ocean that just makes me feel balanced and good. Recently I made some new friends that go hiking almost every weekend and I've had a great time on the few hikes I've done. I'd like to do more. But then there's the problem: jiu-jitsu, run, swim, hike...it's tough to fit them all in my schedule. And the more I try to decide what to do, the more indecisive I become.

Take last weekend for example. I wanted to go to jiu-jitsu training and practice some new techniques I've learned. But I also wanted to go hiking. The group was going a pretty fun looking trail I've never been on that offered great views at the top. The dilema: both were on the same day at the same time. I debated with myself all week long. Hike or jiu-jitsu, practice a cool new technique or check out an awesome view, do one or do the other...Yeah, so I ended up oversleeping and missing out on both. Figures right?

I'm pretty sure there's a lesson in there...

Remembering Hawaii

I understand that the title up there may be a bit confusing. After all, Hawaii didn't die or go anywhere. It's still in the middle of the Pacific. And I live in Hawaii so why am I remembering something that's right there...or here, I should say.

It's because every now and then I need a reminder of where I am. It's easy to get caught up in routines and let the blinders fall over my eyes. Does that ever happen to you? 5 days a week I wake up at the same time, eat the same breakfast (oatmeal and a banana...yum!), go to the same place, sit in the same spot, leave at the same time, and report to the scheduled after-hour event (usually swimming or jiu-jitsu training). With such a routine steering the majority of my days I forget that I'm living in Hawaii and it feels like I could be anywhere, really.

Something has to come along and jolt me back to reality. Recently it was a visit from one of my best friends. We grew up together in a small mountain-town in California. To give an example of how small the town was, when I moved away there was only one stop-light. Today I think there's 5, so the town is really stepping it up!

My friend is a simple, hard-working, honest guy. If I even hinted a complaint he would merely say, “yeah, well and least you live in f@cking paradise.” Kept me grounded, but more importantly opened my eyes.

During the week he was here I eagerly showed him around Oahu and Kaua'i. He was amazed at just about everything he saw. Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, beautiful women, and more beautiful women.

At one point we were walking around and it began to rain. What a bummer, I thought. My friend stopped held out his hands, palms skyward, and tilted his head back a bit. He said, “yep, even your rain is warm. You lucky bastard.”

Just goes to show that it's not all that bad. But more so, I think it's the routine that numbs and blinds me. Doing the same thing day in and day out, week in and week out, tends to distance me from what's right next to me. I get holed up in the routine. And I figure if it can happen to me here in Hawaii it could happen anywhere. Does it happen to you?

During my friend's visit we pretty much immersed ourselves in the beauty of the islands. We gazed upon Oahu from the top of a mountain, we swam with turtles, and explored canyons...simply gorgeous. And did I mention the women? Gorgeous!

My friend's visit reminded me that I do live in a paradise. A place where many people in the world dream of seeing but few actually do. And I get to live it. It's pretty good. I gotta get out there more often!

Haiku - Filtered Tap

Purified water

Flowing through Brita filters

To taste just the same

People at the office had issues with drinking water straight from the tap. We used to have a water dispenser that held those 5 gallon water jugs so we could have bottled water. But that got expensive. So then the policy became “bring your own bottled water” and anarchy nearly ensued. After much fuss a water filter was installed in the sink. Now we can have freshly filtered, clean, crisp water…from the tap

Cheers!

Haiku - Corporate Emergency

Office 9-1-1!
The air conditioning's out,
I can't take the heat!

Inspired by events from the office. It's ironic, our building is almost all glass but there isn't a single window. It's like the architects were trying to keep the fresh air out, perhaps it's bad for productivity. Anyways, because of this design when the air conditioning goes out the office swelters, the air gets stuffy, things get rather uncomfortable, and there are plenty of people to make you aware of it.

 Those privileged enough to make their own schedules will flock away to "work from home." It's simply unbearable...

I get a kick out of it.

Haiku: Buzzwords

Buzzword and buzzword
Be a creative thinker!
More buzzwords, buzzwords!

Inspired by my time in the office and in meetings. It's interesting to listen to the upper-ups talk about creativity and then try to inspire it among the office using the same words each time. Think outside the box, accountability, effective leadership, next steps, so on and so on. It's the same thing over and over...and over.

I wonder if the repetative use of language stifles the act of creation within cubicle walls.

Granted, the upper-ups are probably tasked by their upper-ups to inspire creativity. Probably not an easy task. But still, it's amusing.

Lechon Party!

July, 2011

A few months ago my dad got the idea to roast a pig Filipino style and make some lechon. He researched lechon on google, watched YouTube videos, and spoke to numerous people to figure out how to roast a whole pig. The big day finally came and I flew home to Kauai to check it out.

My dad got a 105 lbs pig and it was chillin in a cooler on ice when I arrived. It had been cleaned and gutted so all we had to do was season it, stuff it, skewer it, rig it, and roast it. Simple right? Yeah, no problem.

We hauled the the pig onto a prep table in the backyard near my dads makeshift fire-pit. Oh by the way, my dad named the pig Porkie but also called it porker...so I guess it really had two names. Anyway, we got the raw pig onto the table and checked it out. There was a small slit at the throat and a large one along its gut. I could pull open the gut and see the hollowed-out inside and the ribs. Kinda cool. I often found myself playing with the pig. Moving its legs to make it look like its running, poking its eyes, shaking its hands, checking out its teeth. Does that count as playing with your food? Whatever, I was having fun with it.

To season the pig we used Hawaiian salt and ground pepper. We lined the inside of Porkie with the seasoning and then skewered the thing. We rammed a pointed metal rod down the pigs throat, through the hollowed-out belly, and right out the back end...yeah that back end. With the rod in place we continued to stuff the pig with garlic, onion, and lemongrass. Next it was time to run some skewers through the pig, which also ran through the rod, to make sure the pig stayed attached to the main rod. The pig's skin is pretty thick so we really had to jam the skewers through it. Then we sewed up the pig's gut to keep all our flavorings inside. Skewered and sewed up, Porkie was ready to hit the heat.

My dad made his own fire-pit with a motor to automatically turn the pig. He placed cinder blocks on the ground, laid chicken wire on top of the blocks, and had some sheet metal around the sides to enclose it and trap the heat. The idea was to rig the main rod with the pig to the motor and place hot coals on the chicken wire and let Porkie roast. As we prepped the pig my mom lit some coals and piled them into the pit. However, the heat was severe enough that the grass caught fire. It didn't burn much but there's a nice charred spot in the yard now.



Backup roasting-pit



Unfortunately, we couldn't properly fix Porkie to my dad's motor apparatus and had to resort to the backup plan. My uncle had access to a roasting pit fashioned from an oil barrel and brought it over earlier. It had two side walls and a roof to trap the heat. The pig fit nicely into it. We turned the motor on and Porkie was on a roll.

My dad bought about a dozen bags of charcoal (Costco anyone?) and two large bags of coconut husk to cook the pig. He learned that burning coconut husk will give the smoke some aroma and add flavor to the pig, similar to using hickory or apple-wood to smoke meat. It didn't take long for Porkie to start dripping fat-juices. The juices only dripped off on one side so we moved to coals to the opposite side to prevent grease fires from shooting up and charring Porkie. This is where the first panic moment came.

When my dad and uncle were raking the coals to one side of the pit they accidentally shook the whole apparatus, which shook the rod that Porkie was stuck to off its track. Porkie fell into the fire, or the coals I should say. Panic ensued. We had to break down the roofing and side panels of the fire-pit so we could lift the pig off the coals all while Porkie was burning up. It took a few minutes but we got Porkie back on his rig and all was good. Only the underside was slightly charred...okay well it was straight up burnt.

After that incident we got the coals all situated and added some coconut husks. Porkie was turning steadily and cooking nicely. And then garlic started to fall out of him. Turns out that as the meat cooks it'll shrink a bit, thus the hole in the pig's gut will become bigger, and the stitch we made will become looser. So every time Porkie rotated a garlic fell out.

Porkie wouldn't be done cooking for about six hours so in the meantime my uncle and I drove across the island to pick up my brother in Hanapepe. He missed all the fun of stuffing and skewering the pig. When we got back to the house Porkie was still spinning and roasting. But we missed another incident. The pig fell in the fire...again.

One of the skewers that held the pig to the main rod came loose. As the pig turned the skewer caught on the roof of the fire-pit and the skewer bent out of shape. The main rod came off its track again, the whole fire-pit started leaning and almost fell apart, and Porkie was back on the coals. Luckily my parents reacted quickly and fixed the whole thing. They got Porkie rigged back up in no time.

With a missing skewer the pig's hind legs began to dangle a little low. They dipped into the coals with every turn. My parent's solution was to wrap Porkie up with rope...well not exactly rope, not exactly a string but something in the middle like a sturdy yarn. They used it to tie the legs tighter to the pigs body and half mummified Porkie. It worked really well!

My dad learned a trick to prevent the skin from burning while the pig roasted by spraying some water on the pig. So we enhanced the idea and used Hawaiian salt mixed with beer to spray the pig. Give it some extra flavor!

Evening came and the pig was fully cooked. Now it was time to take it out of the fire-pit and serve it up. Problem was none of us knew how to do that. To be honest we didn't know what we were doing all along but it would be a shame to mess it up now. People had arrived and they were hungry and eager to try the lechon. It was time to improvise.

We took off the roof and side panels of the fire pit and stared and the pig for a few minutes. If we looked hard enough a solution would eventually come to mind. And it did! We moved a table next to the fire pit and figured we'd just hoist the pig, metal rod and all, onto the table. Trouble was the coals were still hot and the metal rod was just as hot too. My dad put some thin metal sheets, which I think was really just chicken wire wrapped in foil, over the coals to block the heat. I was given two worn out pot-holders that were about as thick as the shorts I was wearing to protect my hands. Good protection from the heat, no doubt.

One of my cousins (I think he's a cousin) had a real heat-resistant oven mitt and lifted one end of Porkie's rod. Since the motor was still running the pig was still spinning at my end of the rod and the thing came of its track...again. Porkie fell onto the coals...again. But this time there was a crowd of people urging me to hurry up and pick up the pig. I panicked to find a part of the rod cool enough to grip and hoisted Porkie out of the coals. My cousin and I placed the pig onto the table and we all stared at it again trying to figure out how to take the skewers out and how to untie all the rope-yarn that looped around the porker. We ended up using knives and wire-cutters to untangle everything. We got it, no problem.



Porkie likes guava



The pig was free of its skewers and untied. We moved it to the party area. I wanted to stick an apple in its mouth Looney-Tunes style but we didn't have any apples. So we used a guava instead, Looney-Tunes Hawaiian style! Then, again, we stood around Porkie staring at it, this time trying to figure out how to carve the thing. After several minutes my dad and cousin each grabbed a knife and sliced into the pig. They did the best they could, which was actually pretty damn good.



Porkie was served! And he was 'ono! That's delicious to my non-Hawaiian speaking friends. Perfectly cooked, tender and juicy, and flavored nicely with everything we stuffed inside. Remember the garlic that fell out while the pig was roasting? Well even those things were delicious. Roasted garlic drizzled in melted pig fat...mmmm mmmm good!



Roasted Garlic



All an all, Lechon party was a success. But, of course, with many lessons learned. Next time we figured to stuff the pig and then line the inside with Ti leaves to keep the garlic from falling out. We'll also purposely roast some garlic on its own because that was a great side dish. We also learned to tie to the legs close to the pigs body from the start to avoid any mishaps with the fire-pit. What else...somebody told us in order to get the pig's skin real nice 'n crispy to poke a lot of holes in it before throwing it on the fire (Porkie's skin was a little tough, but I'm not a skin eater so I didn't mind). We had over a dozen lessons learned, too many to keep track of. Hopefully somebody wrote them all down.

There were about 40 people at the Lechon party. All friends and family. I got so see some of my cousins who I haven't seen in a while, always good. And I got to meet my newest family member, Maka. C ute baby girl, 4 months old. Good food, good people, good times! My dad plans on having an annual Lechon party, and I hope he does because it was fantastic. And hopefully some of you reading this who weren't there can make it next time. It's good eats!



Me 'n Porkie



Evolution in Style - Rolling

7/17/2011

I had an epiphany in jiu-jitsu training today. I was partnered up with a guy who is very athletic and very fast. Good guy, I like rolling with him because he pushes hard but not to the point where things get rough. It was a good training session but I often tried to match his speed and I'd usually end up losing the match. During our roll session the instructor told me, “He's very fast. Not many people can match his speed. So you really gotta work on the establishing position first. Even I have to do that when I roll with him because if you go speed against speed with this guy...forget it”

Such simple words right? But it made something click in my head and I've been thinking about it. I realized that the matches I lost I had been drawn into playing the speed game. The matches that I won I had set up and established position. In the months I've been training I've tried to focus on technique over muscle. Nowadays when I feel myself tensing up and trying to overpower somebody I try let go of what I'm doing. Jiu-jitsu is about technique, not overpowering by sheer force. But it hadn't occurred to me that the same concept can apply to speed. Strength and speed are attributes to compliment your technique, not the technique itself...what a thought!

I then asked myself why was I so drawn into my partner's speed game? When I roll with a stronger person I know to abandon the idea of overpowering them. So why wasn't it the same with somebody faster? I think I figured it out: it's because I used to be quick and fast like that guy. Used to be. I was never a strong person growing up but I was always fast (one of my motto's was if I couldn't beat up the other person I sure as hell would be able to run away). I excelled at soccer in high school because I had speed and quickness – and I knew how to handle a ball relatively well. I guess somewhere in my mind I believe I can still be quick like I used to be and match the guy I was rolling with today. But no, that's not gonna happen. Wear and tear, injuries, and just getting older have caused me to lose a step – or two.

Thinking about this got me wondering how I can adjust my jiu-jitsu game when faced with a faster opponent. Well, the answer is what my instructor had said. Focus on establishing position first, or in other words focus on the technique.

So, of course, I found a way to relate this to when I played soccer. I got injured pretty bad in one game. Missed a quarter of a season and went to physical therapy. Next time I played it was painfully obvious that I had slowed down and my quickness was gone. I could no longer make cuts, especially to the right (still can't today). I couldn't rely on my quickness to slice through multiple defenders like before and I had to adjust my game. Instead of being more of a head-on attacking player I became more of a set-up player. I became more patient, observed the field and how the other teams defense was set up. I timed my runs so that I'd have a step on the defense (they could catch me, but if there wasn't much distance to the goal they wouldn't catch me in time). I worked on holding possession of the ball so that my teammates could get into good positions. That season I scored more goals than any other. I think I averaged a goal per game...until I was injured again and had to bail on the rest of the season. And I wasn't nearly as fast or quick as I had been before. But I understood the game and could still handle the ball relatively well. I had technique.

Jiu-jitsu may be the same way. Strength can be countered with good technique. Same with speed. I'm still trying to find what works for me when I roll. I'm still pretty new to this game and there's a lot to learn. Just means I gotta keep training, trying new positions, keep learning, and hopefully I'll improve. Maybe to the point where I can feel confident about countering bigger, stronger, and faster opponents.

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.