USG’s Submission Only IV is a two-day event, with all nogi on Saturday and all gi on Sunday. Update: all results are posted on the NHBGear forums.
We drove up last night to Richmond. Even with leaving a little later than we’d planned, we still got there before the weigh-ins started!
Sundance (Clifton’s nickname — I dunno why I never caught on to calling him Sundance on my blog before; am silly girl) and Yoshi made weight. I made 125, only taking off my shoes! Erik, who trains with us during the school year but is back home in Richmond this summer, met us at Andrew’s academy and then took us on a wild drive around Richmond to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The food was good, but I didn’t want to eat too much unfamiliar food the night before a tournament. (Sundance’s girlfriend is Thai, however, so I may have to trade her some baklava for some of her cooking.)
The guys had talked to TKD Mike earlier in the week, who’s also back home in Richmond. They stayed with him last night, while I drove up to my aunt’s. Went to bed almost straight away. I was up and out of the house by 10 am. My aunt lives only about 15 minutes from the high school where the tournament was, but I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time. I don’t like to be late.
I think I heard someone say that there are about 150-200 competitors signed up for both days. Small group in the gym, though I preferred it to the noise that is NAGA.
Ran in to a couple of guys I knew — Enrique, who trains in Roanoke at Hybrid, and Fred, who used to train with Tim before he graduated and moved to NOVA. They were asking after everyone back home.
The gym was hot. Hot hot hot. And it smelled like a new car because of the new mats. The mats are nice, though they get very slippery when wet.
I started working on warming up, since I think that was a real problem last week at NAGA NC. (Wow, was that really just last weekend?) Very easy to warm up when it was that hot in there. I like it that way; I do better once I’m sweating good.
They had the referees meeting and then the Rules meeting. After the Rules meeting, Andrew said, “And we’ll get started as soon as I finish talking here.” I went to get my water and mouthpiece and then wandered over to see what mat my division was on — and then heard my name being called!
Scampered to mat #2, and the ref handed me the ankle bracelet. Out on the mat, quick rules review, handshake, and go! Meep! So fast!
She pulled guard, I think, and then started working her legs up for a triangle. I got both arms out, though, and started around her hips. She caught my head with her legs in a reverse triangle; my arms were out, but she was trying to pull the far one across my body for an armbar. Grabbed the far arm at the bicep with the other and worked to push it back; also worked my near knee across her lower stomach. Still stuck, but I thought to just chill and breath and let her wear her legs out. Finally felt some space and pulled my head out. Geez, she was squeezing hard! To side control, though she was wiggly. Fuzzy on the next bit: somehow she turned to turtle and I went to establish control, thinking to take her back, but she sat up and her neck was out so I grabbed the guillotine (remembered Justin’s advice on it, too!) instead and finished.
I think that match was about 2-3 minutes. Didn’t seem to be very long.
But then found out that we were the only 2 in our division, so that was it. So we got our medals right there (and had to give back the ankle straps — we both walked off with them!).
Talked to her later and found out that she was actually in the Novice division, but there wasn’t anyone else there so they moved her up with me. She’s been training for about 3 months, and at the last minute decided to enter just for fun. She said she figured that the worst that could happen was that she’d have to tap and that she does that all the time in class, anyway, so what’s the big deal? Heh, point.
Once my match was over, I wandered over toward the purple belt girls on mat #1. Sundance, his girlfriend, Yoshi, and TKD Mike all came in almost right after. They missed my match by less than 5 minutes, so I don’t have any pictures from it.
I had also signed up for the Beginner Absolute. But since there was no one else in my division, there wasn’t a match for me. I talked to Chrissy, and she gave me the choice of finding that girl again and asking her if she wanted to do the Absolute or of going against the only girl signed up for Intermediate Absolute. I said I’d move up for Intermediate.
That girl, Shannon, had just finished up a fast-paced, ~24-minute match in her weight in the Intermediate division. So they gave her a break first, which meant I got to watch the purple belts go. They were also fast and really good. I think theirs was the largest women’s division. We all stood there a while to watch them roll.
And I met Elyse! (I’ll have you know, you’re the first female purple belt I’ve met in person for reals.)
There was finally a break in the guys who had taken over Mat #2, so they called for me and Shannon. The guys got some pictures and video this time. Pictures and video coming when I get back home.
I initiated a takedown!! I’m happy with that. I did it! And it was the one Justin showed me and that we’d worked (well, I’d worked very little of) on Wednesday. She nearly guillotined me for it, but I did actually attempt a takedown. Made me happy. Anyway…
I don’t remember most of what happened. I got under side control — typical — and was having trouble getting out. Blergh. But was fighting for it; just couldn’t get anything done. (Watching the video now, I see why: she was keeping her hand cupped under my leg, which kept me from getting my hips out. Hmmm… I’ll have to start trying that. π ) She was threatening D’Arces, but I saw those and defended those. I was there for a while, though, a lot of her trying to run around to north/south and me chasing her to keep her away from it. After a long while of that, I somehow got to half-guard, maybe, or even back to full guard, and at some point I actually swept her and landed in mount with one of her arms slightly trapped under one leg. Almost started going nuts and getting in a hurry, but Sundance slowed me down and told me to work the position. Oh, right, I knew that… Worked on head control and then looking for where to go. Heard her corner tell her I was sliding up too high, so started trying to work back down. So slippery all around, though, and it wasn’t favoring me.
I ended in her half-guard at one point and saw the D’Arce for myself. Justin had just shown a few tips on D’Arces at the end of Wednesday’s class, so Sundance was feeding me the same tips that I was working through in my head. My legs started sliding back out from under me, though, and my fingers were slipping off my bicep. (Her corner was telling her my arms were tiring, which wasn’t true — I was just too sweaty and couldn’t keep a grip on my own arm!) Also with all the sliding around, I couldn’t quite get my weight on her the way I wanted to. It was close, though, and she said afterwards that it had been good and right but that she was just trying to hang on as long as she could. My hand finally slid all the way off and she was out.
I ended up turtling a few times to get away. Couldn’t reach her legs, though, because she’d immediately sprawl. Tried hitting the switch from under there once, though I don’t think I had enough intention behind it; didn’t quite get out and we started scrambling. I think that’s when I stuck my own neck out and got caught in the same guillotine I’d caught the first girl with! Doh. She got it deep, and my brain claimed it didn’t have a defense for that (liar!), so I tapped.
That match was over 12 minutes long. Wow. I was exhausted, and so was glad that that was my last match. I think I was done in less than an hour with both divisions.
Sundance and Yoshi finally got to go for their divisions. Sundance lost his first weight division match in ~10 seconds to an armbar, then won the 3rd-place match in ~20 seconds with the same armbar. Yoshi had only 1 other guy in his division, and he won (I think on a guillotine).
Sundance lost his first Beginner Absolute to an ankle lock, which we really don’t drill, not even the defense for. He fought it a little too long, though, and had to ice his ankle the rest of the day.
Yoshi had only entered the 1 division, thinking there would be a lot of people there like at NAGA last weekend. But since he’d only got the one guy, we talked him in to asking Chrissy if he could sign up for the Beginner Absolute so he could get at least one more match. She let him (thanks, Chrissy!), and he did awesome! His first match was against the largest guy in the division — I think someone said 205? Yoshi’s 149 — and took somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes, and he won! He started bouncing around when the guy tapped, he was so excited. He said later that winning that match felt better than winning 1st in anything. The guy was big and strong and technical, and Yoshi just hung with him and kept working and finally caught a triangle.
He lost the next match within just a few minutes, though the other guy crawled over to the warm-up mats and collapsed while Yoshi continued bouncing around. He’s not this hyped up in class! But he ended up in the 3rd-place match in Absolute. That took 24 minutes! Holy moly! And he was pressing and attacking and going the whole time. The other guy finally caught him, though; triangle, I think.
It was about 3 p.m. then. There were still a few more matches going on, but I think most of them were Absolutes and were probably finishing up shortly. We left, though, to get food. Yoshi had to leave after that; he has class Monday.
Sundance and I will head back tomorrow morning for gi…