Crunch Time

The National championships are on Saturday and I'm pooing my pants. I don't know why I entered for my weakest event (groundfighting) but I'm worried of making a tit of myself. True, I have been cramming my training in BJJ but only for four weeks and it's too little too late. Despite this, my BJJ instructor seems to have faith and is coming to watch. He's even offering me free private sessions this week to work on more techniques. I'm afriad I will disappoint him but I've got to do it now and I just hope I don't get my arm or neck broken.

The anxiety I have with the contest is several-fold. First, the weight divisions are unfairly split so that I (at a meerkat friendly 57Kg) will possibly face competitors of up to 74 Kg. Secondly, I will probably face competitors who have trained in BJJ or judo for many years. Thirdly, I have heaped an undue amount of pressure on myself by entering in this event, with my club, family and friends all watching to see how I do. Finally, the event is not like BJJ and there are many favourite techniques (like standing up and running away) that I am barred from doing, drastically reducing my options.

Having said all this. On my side there is the fact that I have done many of these contests before (sparring and randoms) and I actually enjoy the build up of energy and nerves. Also, I don't think anyone thinks I will do particularly well so even though I am a black belt, the expectation is not so high. It's also my first time doing GF and I will have built up good experience for future fights - maybe in pure BJJ for the future?

So there you go, my next entry will report on my efforts and let's hope I actually have working fingers that can type...