Return of the King

The King has reentered the building!  No, not Elvis, face it ya'll, that dude is DEAD.  I'm talking about Patrick, a Jiu-Jitsu brother who I once dubbed "King for a Day".  He is the blue belt who stands to my right in line, and I can tell he's my big bro because he likes to pick on me a lot (and vice versa ;).  Sometimes obligations take him away from the dojo, but he's been around, off and on, for a long time.  Several years ago I even helped teach his kids in the tiny kids martial arts class we used to have on Saturdays.  "Tiny Kids" wasn't the official name, but that's what most of the students were.

The reason Patrick got to be King was because a couple of years ago I happened to catch an awesome moment on video, where he did the unthinkable, and submitted our Jiu-Jitsu instructor Conan.  I wasn't even filming their roll, then something told me "Turn on the camera NOW!", and I was just in time to catch the sub.

Conan was a good sport about the merciless teasing I heaped upon him, but in the interest of fairness, both Patrick and I will readily admit that Conan was taking it easy on him, and he let Patrick get him in side control.  Still, Patrick deserved to be named King, because the sight of Conan tapping brought joy to many people across the land.  It's not every day someone defeats The Barbarian (and someone else films it)!

Welcome back to King Patrick, I miss him when he's not around.  Until his duties take him away from the dojo once again, I am happy to stand by his side.  I should've extended his reign beyond one day, because the kingdom needs him!  For every time The Barbarian is defeated, he merely comes back more powerful, and even my wizardry proves to be no match against him.

Super Saiyan

Around five years ago, I was in a karate sparring class at the dojo, and there was a guy there who I had never seen before.  We struck up a conversation (which is unusual for me), and he told me that he'd been in his first amateur MMA fight just the night before.  I said "Well, you don't look too beat up, so I guess you did alright".  He smiled and sheepishly said "Yeah, I won."

He was mainly at the dojo to train Jiu-Jitsu, but he kept coming to sparring class occasionally, and he kept competing in amateur MMA matches.  A couple of months or so later, the two of us finally sparred.  During that bout he threw a kick that I caught, and I swept him to the floor (which totally surprised him).  Then I retreated, because I hadn't started training Jiu-Jitsu yet, and I knew I didn't want to end up on the ground with him!

After we sparred I told him I liked his gloves, because they were silver, and he immediately took them off and gave them to me.  He got new gloves every time he fought, and he had signed that pair to give away to his adoring fans (which he already had by then!).  I've worn those gloves ever since, and his signature has all but faded away.

James Harrington has now been a professional MMA fighter for a couple of years, and watching him grow from an amateur to a finely tuned fighting machine has been awesome to see.  He's won some, he's lost some, but he never loses heart.  All of the time and energy he puts into training is a full time job, with very little pay.  When I told him that sometimes when I go out in public with a black eye people look at me with pity, he said "Try being the guy riding a city bus with one, everyone is terrified of me!".  Which is too bad, because James is one of the nicest, most good-hearted people I know.

I try to make it to as many of his matches as I can, but I don't really like watching him fight. I guess it's too personal for me.  A couple of years ago, he left in an ambulance after one of his fights, and it was heart-wrenching.  Luckily he was just a little dehydrated, but his crappy-paying full time job is also somewhat dangerous, and I don't want anyone hurting Sweet Baby James! 

He will be fighting in Omaha tonight, and no matter how the fight turns out, or where his MMA career ends up, I will always be proud of him.  I just need to get him to sign those gloves again, before he gets so famous that he starts charging for his signature. Psshhh, he knows I will just sweep him if he tries to charge me, and I'm not afraid to go to the ground with him anymore! ;)

Be like Mike

One of the people in our Jiu-Jitsu class whose game I would like to be able to emulate is Maryland Mike. I call him that because he is a college student from Maryland who is in Nebraska studying at UNL. And, um, his name is Mike.

Mike's been training with us for a little over a year, and before that he trained BJJ in Maryland. He received his blue belt from Roseberry's shortly after he came here. I believe he's been training about two years total, and he is technically my junior, but he is light years ahead of me in knowledge and ability.

He weighs about 140-145lbs, and he has said that when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, he considers himself to be a woman. The same kinds of things that apply for female grapplers apply for smaller men. Mike is also predominately a guard player, so our styles are similar.  Watching him roll with the big guys, and be so hard to control, inspires me.  Fuji once said that Mike was like one of those springs inside a pen; when you try to compress him, he just sproings away!

Mike's grappling has a high energy level that would be hard for me to maintain (due to my old-age-ness), but otherwise I think I could physically do the things he does, I have the flexibility.  If only I had his understanding!  It's nice to have a "little brother" to help give me a vision of what my game could be.  I like being Mike's partner in class, not only because we are similar in size, but because he is patient about helping me with the things I don't get.  Sometimes he will even give up his own reps to let me get a few more in if I need the practice.  He also has long hair, so that makes him super cool!

2012 CSG Jiu-Jitsu Highlight

Fragile, handle with care

I had to drop out halfway through Jiu-Jitsu class on Tuesday, and I can't go today, because I tweaked my chronically injured knee again.  It's starting to feel as though I spend half of my Jiu-Jitsu time sitting on the sidelines, either because of injury, or because I'm still usually too chickenshit to ask anyone to roll.  People are asking me now, so it has gotten better.  It really annoys me that Tate asked me to roll on Tuesday, but I couldn't because of my stupid knee.  I really, really wanted to roll with Tate!  I almost did anyway, but I'm trying to be smarter about my injuries.  Not taking time off to let my knee heal when I first injured it is probably part of the reason it's still a problem.  But seriously, would you not regret missing a chance to roll with this guy (he's grappling with his identical twin brother Travis in this video, Tate is the one in headgear, the one who wins ;).

I'm supposed to be grappling right now!  I don't want to be centerfield, but I'm getting tired of sitting on the bench. I should change my name to Fragile (of course that's pronounced "Fra-gee-lay", cause it's Italian), but then no one would ever want to roll with me! Wah!

"What is she doing?" "She's crying, Sir." "Crying? There's no crying in Jiu-Jitsu!"

Patience

"When I first began training in Jiu-Jitsu, I realized rather quickly there were no fast or easy methods for learning this meticulous art. The answers I was looking for didn’t come easily. Many years of hard work and dedication have brought me to where I am today. One of my favorite sayings about Jiu-Jitsu is, “The more I know, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” -Conan Schafer-Sensei

I'm always surprised when new students start Jiu-Jitsu and think that they will be able to master it in a short time. It's like they expect to be able to tap people out after just a few weeks of training, and then they become frustrated when they can't. I want to say to them "Hey, try doing it for a couple of years and still not be able to submit anyone, like it was for me when I started!" Okay, I did tap a few people out in those first couple of years, but I know it's mostly because I got lucky, or they were taking it easy on me.

I think part of the problem is that Jiu-Jitsu looks pretty simple from the outside. When newbies watch people roll, they really have no understanding of all the intricacies involved. One new white belt who watched me grapple with Adam said they couldn't believe I wasn't beating him because he was so "slow". Um, Adam is The Incredible Hulk, and no one of any rank, age, or size in our Jiu-Jitsu class can easily beat him, let alone a 120 pound woman who is twice his age, and who ranks below him. If I ever do submit Adam, it will probably signal the Apocalypse.

There are no easy answers or quick fixes, learning Jiu-Jitsu requires a lot of patience and time. Even the new students who do have success at the beginning will often find themselves on a plateau when they realize that they cheated their training by relying on strength, instead of actually learning the details of the techniques. It will become apparent when they roll with someone who knows enough to not let them get away with it (Conan, Greg, Ray), and then they won't understand why things they thought they "knew" aren't working.

Our women's teacher Amy tells me that I am lucky that my ego was crushed so completely and thoroughly at the beginning of my Jiu-Jitsu training, because I understood that in order for me to be successful I was going to have to take the time to learn it the "right" way. That is the only way it will ever work for me. Amy's early Jiu-Jitsu training involved grappling with a couple of MMA guys who would submit her in 15 seconds every time they rolled, but instead of becoming discouraged and giving up, she made it her goal to last 30 seconds, then a minute, then two minutes, etc.

If you could come into a class and tap out everyone there after just a short amount of training, why would you even want to do it, what would it have to offer you? The fact that new people can't submit me, and I can submit them, should not upset them, it should prove to them that what we are learning in our class actually works. I'm not using strength, or superior athleticism, or Jedi mind tricks, I'm just using Jiu-Jitsu. It's taken me three years to get to the point where I feel like I know a little something, and I'm fully aware that it's just the tip of the Jiu-Jitsu iceberg.

I Told Ya'll

I told ya'll I wouldn't lose, and I totally thought I was lying when I said it, but then I won all four of my matches at the Jiu-Jitsu tournament yesterday! I won the gi matches by submission, and the no gi by points.  I earned my very first gold medals for grappling!

Both of my opponents were white belts, but they were also young enough to be my daughters, and my gi competitor outweighed me by 27 pounds.  That was Claire, an 18 year-old recent addition to the Roseberry's Jiu-Jitsu family.  I have to give her huge props for competing, and she did well for her first tournament, especially after just a short amount of training.  She and I were the only women signed up in gi, so we had to go against each other.  In our first match I got the takedown (which would have been an ippon in Judo, and then the match would have been over...um, remind me again why I don't just do Judo ;).  Sadly, Joe did not get the takedown on film, but I think it was o soto gari.  I won that match by getting mount and submitting her with a kimura.  In the second match she jumped guard on me (because Sara told her "If you don't want to get thrown, jump guard!" ;) and then I spent way too long trying to pass her guard before finally getting her in my guard and tapping her with juji gatame.

There were two other women signed up in no gi, so Claire and I did get to compete against outside opponents.  Mine was Shelby, a 19 year-old who weighed in at 118 pounds. My official weight was 122, so I had a few pounds on her.  Our first match went the full time, and both of us were pretty exhausted, it took us a few seconds to get up when we were done!  I also got the takedown on that match, but it's hard to see on the video because the ref with dorky socks is in the way.  I won the match 10-4, plus I had two advantages.  At the end I had her in a choke and she was gurgling a little bit.  She even tried to tap a few times, but her coach wouldn't let her, and she held out until time was called.  She was a warrior!

In our second match I resorted to jumping guard, so I didn't get any takedown points, but I still won that match 14-0.  With about thirty seconds left I realized she was bleeding, so I alerted the ref (Conan) and he and the medic (Sara) ended the match.  I think I accidentally elbowed her, and she bit her lip pretty badly.  I was afraid she was going to need stitches, but she was a great sport about it, and she even apologized for bleeding on me!  It was an accident, but I still feel really bad.  Coincidentally, I also bit my lip during that match, but not hard enough to draw blood.  A couple of examples of why you should wear a mouth guard when you compete!

I have all of my match videos uploaded on my YouTube channel, but I'm just going to embed my first no gi match here, because it was the craziest, and therefore my favorite.  I even went for a toe hold, but I had my hands backward!  At about 4:22 I almost took her back from standing, which was pretty awesome.  By the way, I am wearing shorts, not gi pants, in this video...my legs are just really, really, really white!

For the most part, I'm satisfied with my performance at the tournament.  I basically stuck to my game plan; which was to have no game plan, just to relax and go with the flow.  Apparently there were several people trying to coach me, but the only familiar voice I really remember hearing was Sara's.  If I had actually done what she told me to, it would've been helpful!  In my final no gi match I do remember hearing Ray yelling like he was Lil Jon "Get low!  Get low!".  He was a little disappointed in me for not sticking to the principles of Jiu-Jitsu at all times, like he told me to.  Conan said I had an uncanny knack for getting underhooks, but then I had a bad habit of just letting them go.

There's definitely room for improvement (lots and lots of improvement!), but I won two gold medals and I have to admit, it feels pretty good.  They're really cool medals too, they have the Roseberry's Jiu-Jitsu patch on them!  They'll just go in the closet with the rest, but it's nice to have a little validation for how hard I have worked, and how far I have come.  I didn't surrender, I didn't back down, I didn't lose, and I didn't get hurt...Woohoo!

Good Times

Our in-house Jiu-Jitsu tournament yesterday was so much fun! We invited a few other schools to join in the free festivities with us, and I think a good time was had by all. Lorissa and her crew even made the two and a half hour drive down from Kearney, and it was great to have them there. We had a good turnout, and halfway through the tournament I really started feeling the desire to compete, especially since there were three other women fighting. Stupid injured wrist!

For me, the best part was that my husband Joe made it through his matches without being killed or maimed! Yay! He lost both of them, but he fought well. His first match was against Tyler, who submitted him with a straight armbar. I wish we had that match on video, since I missed most of it (partially because I was working the bracketing table, and partially due to a physical inability to watch, out of fear). Apparently, Joe made Tyler's face turn purple with a gi choke, but he just couldn't quite finish it. I started watching about the time Tyler put the armbar on, and I knew right way that it was solid, so I yelled "Tap!", and Amy said "He already did." That was pretty much the extent of my coaching for the day.

Joe's second match was against Spencer, which we did get on video (because I begged Ken to film it for me, and he also coached Joe, thanks Ken!). This match went the whole five, with Joe losing on points. He got two for the takedown, but then Spencer racked up eighteen on him. I'm pretty proud of Joe for refusing to be submitted, it looked close a couple of times. However I just have to point out to him that he's always telling me to get off my back, don't be on the bottom...yet he spent the majority of this match there...getting out isn't as easy as it looks, is it Joe? :p

We're planning on having another similar tournament in the next few months, and I'll be ready to compete in that one, so I can't wait! The level of sportsmanship and goodwill among the competitors at this tournament was such a nice thing to see. There were no egos, no anger, no injuries, just people who love grappling sharing it with each other, and helping one another improve. It was one big happy extended family! Joe didn't really lose anything at this tournament, and neither did anyone else who was there.

Where the Boys Are

This week is going to be all about trying to remain positive and confident, which is usually a difficult thing for me to do. So, to put myself in the right frame of mind, I made a video of me kicking dude butt. Rawr!

Crawling King Snake

Yesterday I learned that you should not tell your Jiu-Jitsu Sensei that you think he is slow. If you do, there's a good chance he will prove otherwise by submitting you in less than thirty seconds.

When my teacher Conan grapples, he usually has a slow, methodical approach. He calls it "Anaconda Style". It's very frustrating, because even though it seems like he's moving in slow motion, most of the time I don't realize the extent of the danger I'm in until it's too late. Even when I do know exactly what he's trying to do, I'm usually powerless to stop it. Although I am normally an overly aggressive fighter, sometimes I'm reluctant to even engage with him. I will find myself thinking things like "I can't do that, because it's probably what he wants me to do, so I'll do this instead! Oh no, what if that is really what he wants me to do? Crap!"


Now I think I understand that it doesn't matter what I do. He's usually not trying to trick me, or set me up, he's just taking advantage of whatever I do. He knows so many options that he can adjust his game plan accordingly, regardless of what I might do. For each scenario that I can come up with, he has an answer, a counter, another possibility. I bet most of the time he doesn't even have to think about them.

Conan often says that you will win if you know one more thing than your opponent. If you know four sweeps, but they only know how to defend three of them, you have an advantage. Eventually, he will teach me everything he knows, and I will be able to see all the possibilities as well as he can. Let's see him try to submit me in thirty seconds then! ;)

Danger

Over the past several years, one of our Jiu-Jitsuka has been consistently putting himself on the line by competing in tournament after tournament. I think he's signed up for every one he could get to! He's brought a lot of respect to our school by performing well, and exemplifying what it means to be a good winner, loser, and all-round great guy. You would think someone with the nickname "Danger" would be a scary bad-ass, and well actually, you would be right...but I digress.

I've always been impressed with the dedication David Kluthe shows to training and competing. In the early days he tried a little MMA, but I think he realized Jiu-Jitsu was his true passion. He puts his heart, soul, mind, body (and a sense of humor) into it. It's an inspiration to see. He recently competed at NAGA Chicago, and he brought home the bronze in his no gi division. Not bad for a kid from a small, grass-roots, traditional Japanese dojo in Lincoln.

Even if he had come home empty-handed, I would still be proud to train with him. He lives and breathes Jiu-Jitsu, and it shows. Equally as important to me, he represents what I believe a true martial artist should be. He IS a bad-ass, but he doesn't go around acting like one. True bad-asses don't need to. Of course, he does like to show off his guns a lot, and I mean A LOT! I guess if I had AKs like that, I would want to show them off too.

This video isn't from NAGA, but I think it's a good illustration of why I call him
"The Triangle King".

(Btw David, whenever I say your nickname in my mind, it sounds like this...)

Hot 'n Gold

My first Judo tournament, and I won the gold! Okay, I didn't really win it, I got it by default because no one else showed up to fight. My reputation must proceed me! I'm just kidding, I don't have a Judo reputation, and if I did, it would probably be bad.

So, I asked my big bro Ken Haddix to do an exhibition match with me (after he was already tired from his own matches, I'm not stupid!). It was a lot of fun, and he was sufficiently exhausted enough that I managed to pull off the win. Not by ippon, though, stubborn bastard.  Best of all, I never once got a warning or penalty for breaking any rules!  I can't say the same for my opponent, or my Judo mentor, Amy.  He was warned for illegal entry into mat work, and she got in trouble for grabbing legs.  Haha!  I have to give them a hard time, because they are Judoka, and should know better.

It was a good day, despite the 115+ heat index and no AC! I wasn't as nervous as usual, maybe because I was too hot to care, or maybe because the crowd was small and Donna promised she would make everyone close their eyes when I fought. She lied, but I'm still glad I competed. I've always wondered what it would feel like to put on a gi and do Judo on the surface of the sun! Now I can cross that off my bucket list.

Don't be scared, homie!

There were only two of us in my division at the tournament yesterday, and after complaining that I only had one match at the last Best of the Best, this time they changed it to two out of three. It's awesome that I was able to fight more than once, but if they hadn't changed it I would have been wearing the gold because I won the first match! Ain't that a b....;)

Then in our second match, I was ahead 7-0, and I was about 15 seconds away from winning, when for some idiotic reason I turned my back to Aimee, and she submitted me with a rnc. Ray said "Don't tap!", but it was too late. I wish I had a time machine. Sorrow. Regret. Disgust. Honestly, this loss demoralized me and I didn't even want to fight again. Luckily, Kristy was with me and she was having none of that crap. She told me to let it go, but I haven't been able to completely do that yet.

I lost the last match to a guard pass. I basically just jumped guard and tried to hold it for dear life. I couldn't seem to bring myself to sweep or submit her. I don't remember hearing anyone coaching me for that match (although I know they were), but I heard about eight dudes yelling at her. I think that's kind of funny, it took nine people to beat me!

I have already learned so much from this competition, and I'm glad I decided to do it. Aimee was really nice (when she wasn't trying to choke the life out of me). It's weird, since she was so aggressive and kept trying to choke me, it was like I was fighting with a younger version of myself! All in all, it was well worth the price of admission. Not to mention the fact that they gave out the coolest shirts to competitors. Don't be jealous, homie!

Defeated by Davids

There was no one else in my weight class at the tournament, so I ended up doing an exhibition match with one of my sempai, David Tómas Mateo Martínez. It was also my husband Joe's first jiu-jitsu tournament, and for his match he had to fight David "Danger" Kluthe. Even though Martínez outweighed me by 91 pounds, I still think I chose the right David, because Kluthe has recently been dubbed "Lincoln's Most Dangerous Man". I originally intended to go against Joe, but about halfway through his match he suffered a dislocated rib, and had to drop out of competition. That's what happens when you take on Danger! Only kidding, it was just one of those things.

I want to give a shout out to my coach Ray, who came up with a great game plan for me, that I failed to execute (I tried, Ray, I swear!). He did a fine job with his own game plan though, spending 00:01:45 in total mat time over 3 matches, and ending up with the gold. Respect!

Even though The Davids submitted us, The Ethridges had a great time today. Joe's rib should heal fine, and I did not hurt my knee. I even got to walk out of there with a gold medal. It was a good day!

                                           

I like to call this video "Where is Gina?"

I think Joe did very well for his first match. Especially considering that his injury happened near the start of this video, and David Danger is a reigning purple belt gold medalist!

Do what Ray say!

My next competition is coming up in less than two weeks. This one isn't as scary as the last couple, because I'll be competing in my house, at the Battle on the Plains III Jiu-Jitsu Tournament. However, that means both of my head teachers will be working, so they won't be able to coach me. Neither of them could coach me at my last competition either, so my husband filled in. He's a good coach, but he really doesn't know jiu-jitsu that well. Besides, he'll probably be working as a videographer at this tournament anyway. Sara has also coached me a few times, but there's a good chance I will be competing against her again.

So I've asked Ray Petersen-Sensei to be my coach. He's a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, and a black belt in judo (which he has been practicing since he was a fetus :) In my jiu-jitsu competition video that is embedded on the right of my blog, his is the voice that you can hear saying "Throw her, Gina, throw her!" I'm pretty sure the only reason I threw her was because Ray told me to.

He will also be competing in the tournament, but strangely enough, he has not asked me to be his coach. Haha! Ray is the master of the foot and leg submissions, with which I cannot help him at all. He even baits people into taking his back, and then he taps us out with some kind of evil ankle pain thing!

I have complete confidence in his coaching abilities, and I'm honored that he accepted my request for help. Now if I can just actually listen to him and do what he says, I should be alright.

Joe-Jitsu

My husband is a black belt in Karate and a yellow belt in Judo, but he is a white belt in Jiu-Jitsu. Therefore, it really annoys me that he taps me out most of the time when we roll. It's not because he uses his strength and size against me (well, sometimes he does), but mainly it's because he has a natural ability to go with the flow. While I am technically superior, he is light years ahead of me in the things that cannot be taught. He is very calm when he grapples, and he can feel things much better and faster than I can. We like to call his innate ability "Joe-Jitsu".

He thinks it's because he is comfortable in the chaos. To him there are no positions, there are only opportunities for submission. He always defeats me in the scramble, because he does things that I never expect. He doesn't react the same way someone with more training does. His natural understanding of body mechanics and how submissions work allows him to see them from almost anywhere, which is a skill that I do not yet possess.

As far as training for self-defense, I don't think I could find a better grappling partner than him. Most people on the street who would attack you probably don't train Jiu-Jitsu. They are not going to move and react the same way an experienced grappler would, you never know what they might do. So to have someone to train with who reacts more like an outsider, yet possesses a natural talent for body movement, is the best possible training scenario I can imagine.


Today is our 16th wedding anniversary, so as a gift to him I am going to post our open mat video where he makes me look like a fool. Enjoy it honey, because someday soon my Jiu-Jitsu will surpass your Joe-Jitsu, and when it does, I will pwn you!

Sabotage

I might not have won a gold medal, but I think everyone was totally jealous of my guns, my socks, and my super cool crew, which included my husband Joe, a couple of MMA stars- Kristy and Julian, and my daughter Skyler (who is not pictured, because she took all the pictures. The socks also belong to her).

Tournament Recap

Gi match (italics indicate what I was thinking at the time):

I start with a failed attempt to throw her with tomoe nage. It was half-ass, I didn't commit at all.

Okay, fine, I will just pull guard. Oh snap, she picked me up! I'm gonna monkey boy around to her back and choke her out!

Joe: Choke her!
Me: I want to, but I can't because she has a hold of my sleeve!

(Note to self: Stop talking back to your coach while you are competing. This is not the first time you've done that.)

Hey, we're on the ground in half-guard, how the hell did that happen?!

Joe: You need to get to full guard!

No, right now I need to stop her from mounting me! She will not mount me, she will not mount me, she will not...

She didn't mount me!

Hahaha, she's never going to get that arm lock.

She didn't get that arm lock! (afterward she commented that I was "very flexible"). You can't tell on the video, but she tapped me out with an ezekiel choke...one of my favorite and most successful submissions. Damn the irony.

No gi match:

This match went a little better, but once again, I didn't get the take down. Yes, my hip and elbow are bruised from when we went off the mat. Before I went to the tournament, my teacher Amy told me that if I went for a sub and it wasn't working, to move on to something else. I attempted an ezekiel, a gogoplata, and a triangle (hmmm...all chokes...go figure), before being submitted with a perfect arm lock (which you also can't really see on the video. I think it was an Americana). It was put on so fast and so well that my tapping was completely involuntary. The ref (who btw, if you will notice, was a LADY!) even asked me if I had tapped because she wasn't sure. I was like "Oh, hell yeah!".

Once again I would like to say thanks to my wonderful crew, my guns, and Skyler's socks. Especially the socks.

Soy una Perdedora

Hey look, I won a medal!



Not that one, though. The gold medal is Sara's, she just let me wear it.
This is the medal I won...



If you'll notice, there is no one standing on the bronze podium. Yeah, there were only two of us in my division, so I got a silver medal...for losing.

The tournament was double elimination, but apparently if there are only two people in your division, one loss and you're done. I'm a little disappointed that I only had one match, but I'm not disappointed in my performance. This was the most relaxed and calm I have ever been while competing, which for me is a huge victory.

Besides, how could I feel bad about losing to such a nice girl as Nadia? She seemed a little nervous before we started fighting, and after she submitted me she let out an enthusiastic "yes!" Not in a superior, ego kind of way, but in a genuine release of joy kind of way. I am actually happy for her that she beat me. She was a class act.

I think one of the reasons I felt so comfortable is because my family and my ladies were with me. Amy and Sara both cornered me, which I am very grateful for (even though I didn't really listen to them, they tried :) Sara not only won gold in her division, but she also went on to win absolute.



Overall it was a good experience, and I know I'll learn some lessons from it (#1 stop getting armbarred!) I consider the day to be a success...I didn't get injured, I didn't make a fool of myself, and I got to eat a bunch of tacos afterward. Life is good.