Jiu-Jitsu Games

(photos courtesy of David Martìnez)

Apparently the Cornhusker State Games Jiu-Jitsu Tournament took place yesterday.  I didn't really get to experience much of it, because I was too busy running around like a chicken with it's head cut off!  I believe my official job title was "gopher", or maybe "bracketing slave", and my duties consisted of "doing whatever we tell you to, ASAP!". 

I did enjoy helping Amy and Patty do the bracketing for the tournament, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that we were done with the brackets by the time they were finished with the competitor's rules meeting!  This year we also decided to make copies of the brackets and post them on the wall, which really cut down on the number of people interrupting us with endless questions. 

I did not compete in the tournament (and my knee and I are happy about that).  I had made the decision that if any blue belt (or above) woman signed up, I would compete, but none entered.  I really didn't want to be added to the white belt division (and take home their gold ;).  I was hoping that Lorissa (my competitor from last year) would enter in the Master's (old ladies) division with me, but she is having health problems and she was advised by her doctor not to compete.  Bummer!

David Tòmas Mateo Martìnez

There were some fun times, like when we were weighing people in and I decided to jump on the scale and see what it said.  I was expecting about 120, but it kept climbing past 160, and I was like "There is something seriously wrong with the scale!", but then I realized Sara was behind me, and she had slipped a toe on the scale. Phew! 

One of the best things about the tournament was that I got to see Harvey my Hero, who volunteered his time to help us out.  Seeing Harvey is like opening up a present filled with sunshine, smiles, and sparkle dust!  I believe he officially adopted me as his daughter yesterday, and any girl would be lucky to have him as her dad.  His absence from our Jiu-Jitsu class (due to physical reasons) has created a void for me that I don't believe can ever be filled. 

Other than that, I don't remember much else about the tournament.  There were some matches, and some people tapped!  I would like to forget about how my impromptu randori with Martìnez ended, but when he froze with me in mid-throw, in an epic pose demonstrating his full control, even I had to applaud him (after he kindly put me down).  Then I played dirty and sneak-attacked him with an RNC, so I guess we're even.

Back row: Ryan, Harvey, Conan, Shawn, Will, Mike, Fuji, Ray
Front row: Amy, Jerad, me, Claire, Joe
Sara (and her Ring of Power)

Luckily, I know that Joe captured a lot of the matches on video, so I should soon be editing and uploading them, and then I will actually get to watch some of the tournament!  I'm not sure of the official number of competitors, but I know it exceeded that of Karate or Judo, so Jiu-Jitsu wins the numbers game this year (as I predicted it would!).  Despite having more people, we were still done about the same time as the other two tournaments, so I think it went very well.  It was nice that this one was in an air-conditioned location (unlike the others), but I thought I was going to die from hypothermia because it was so cold!  At the end of the tournament I awarded myself a gold medal for my awesome gopher skills.  Amy said I only deserved silver, but I already have enough of those in my collection!

I would like to thank all of our volunteers who spent their day helping out.  I think this was the best Jiu-Jitsu State Games so far!