Ben, fought Andy Walker, the eventual winner, in his opening bout of the men's sparring and lost narrowly, one judge scoring in his favour, the other 2 against. Ben says that he is 'well chuffed' that he managed to compete and measure up against one of the best fighters in the whole tournament.
Ben with Peter
Aubrey - had a by in his first round but had to fight two more opponents before reaching the final, where he met Andy Walker and lost narrowly, but gained a silver for his efforts. In one of his earlier rounds, a successful takedown by Aubrey unfortunately got the better of his opponent who required medical attention. Luckily it was just a bad dose of being winded and he was eventually fine .
Aubrey, slightly obscured by the referee who looks like Sensei Brian Herbert.
In all bouts both Aubrey and Ben repeatedly managed to effect the shoot, clinch and takedown drills I had shown them and this aspect particularly pleased me. It has taken me a long, long time to figure this out as the missing key to our stand-up sparring knowledge. Gone are the days of wildly flailing arms and legs in the hope of winning. Strategy and tactics are the most important aspect to our style of stand-up fighting. My personal thanks for this vital bit of knowledge must go to my BJJ and MMA instructor Eddie, and also to the many cage fighters I have been privileged to enjoy watching at MMA fights. Hopefully next year, as my knowledge grows, I can even better prepare our next crop of young fighters in 2006.
On to David, who for the second year made his mark on random attacks. Sensei Steph,who watched his performance very closely, commented that his attempts were very good and very little could be separated between him and his opponent. The decision eventually did not go to David, but he later said: 'I am very pleased and really enjoyed it. I was much better than last year because I learned to relax, which enabled me to perform the self-defence techniques much more fluidly.'
David, relaxed
Steph, finally won Gold after numerous attempts in previous years. Always the bridesmaid no longer as she won her bout against a formidable opponent convincingly. Steph says that she specifically went for a tactical approach, exactly as Ben and Aubrey had been doing - of waiting to shoot, clinch then takedown the opponent. Yet again, I am pleased to say, the approach was clearly a winning one, I am very pleased for her.
Steph, judging
More and more I believe that, whilst competing in tournaments might not be for all, the ability to spar at both stand-up and on the ground regularly is a vital aspect of learning ju-jitsu, and one I shall be encouraging more at the club over the coming year.
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