Thursday, June 4, 2009

Worlds 2008

men's pluma blue belt

first match- bye

second match- don't recall his name.

i pull guard and almost take his back off something, and he gets out. i get the sweep points. i almost pass, and then get the brabo choke going. he gets out, i get an advantage. somehow he scrambles and attacks a single leg, and winds up taking me down. i recover full guard and am attacking stuff and get another advantage somewhere and win. i paced myself this match and didn't try anything too crazy.

third match- guy from paragon

i pull, and start working de la riva. i think i take his back off the de la riva mendes move. i get 4 points for the hooks, but then he gets out. i contemplated taking the bow and arrow, but opted for the safe points. the rest of the match he tries to pass my open guard but doesn't. i attack a few sweeps but don't commit since i'm pacing myself and already feel the victory. sometime during the match the guy manages to poke me really hard in the eye, disrupting my vision. he also steps on my face and then goes aggro on my ankle. he ends up losing with 30 seconds to go with a desperation illegal twisting footlock. he would have lost anyway.

fourth match- john from renzo gracie

he ended up finishing his previous match in under 20 seconds, and i hobble onto the mat. nice. i plan to pull, but then he pulls. first mistake is engaging his guard. he is on strong side half guard and attacks a kimura, i defend, and he uses the positioning to do a rollover type sweep. from the top he starts trying to wheel pass me, and i let him get the grips (mistake 2). i recover a few times, and then on a passing attempt i belly down and he spins around for the armlock. i try to get out, but he extends and i tap.

if i would have won, i would have at least gotten a bronze! oh well, next time. i feel the way to beat the guy would have been my speed, but that was sort of taken away from me from the previous match's battle scars. i guess the cards didn't fall in my favor this time.

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things to work on (serious list to develop before purple belt)

-precision!
-tightness- top and bottom
-timing and commitment
-physical conditioning
-mental game
-gameplan

i did a few things well this tournament, but i did make some errors this time around.

i'm on the verge of the next level. gotta focus and fine tune my skills.

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