Now I know how Marie Antoinette felt…

We are on week out from the tournament today. I’m starting to get nervous thinking about it. It feels different then any of the other sports events I have done in the past. I was nervous before the half marathon I ran last year but this is very different; It’s one on one. Just you against someone else. I am looking forward to the challenge. Also, I am looking forward to getting an idea of how I stack up against other people the same level as I am. I often roll with people who have a lot more experience then I do, and while it is a great way to learn, it makes it hard to know where you stand.

My biggest concern is making some stupid mistake and getting guillotined in the first five seconds of my first match. I say that because it happened yesterday in class. I was rolling with a more experienced fighter and I tried one of my favorite passes. It’s the pass where your opponent has butterfly guard, so you wrap both his legs in a bear hug, sprawl your hips out and then switch them to one side and kind of walk into side control. Where I went wrong was that you need to keep your head tight to your shoulder and bury it in his side, but I left mine sitting out there and he put on the deepest guillotine I have ever been caught in. I tapped right away, not because I couldn’t breath, but because I could feel the cartilage in my Adam’s apple being crushed. It hurt like hell and it still hurts to swallow. I am glad it happened in training though, it was a lesson I won’t forget anytime soon and one I needed to learn for next Saturday.

~ by blairturton on July 19, 2008.