winners get sandwiches

Ever since Brandon & I decided we'd go to that jiujitsu tournament, people at our school have been saying, "You guys are going to tear it up." I'd never heard that expression before, so my mind would immediately fill with the same kind of images that result from hearing about actors chewing the scenery. I had trouble not laughing.

It was a good prediction, though - I won my three-woman division, though I doubt I'd have done as well in the much larger men's lightweight bracket. There was a lot of variety in the matches I had - my two opponents were very cool and very different from each other.

My first and third matches were against J., a woman who was about my size and had killer takedowns. I spent some time trying to get the takedown myself, but she up and threw me, surprising me both times. I always landed with guard, though, and in the first match this led straight to a cross-collar choke. In the third (my second with her), I caught her with a sweep and the match ended (much later than the first one) when I managed a sleeve choke from mount.

My second match was with H., a woman who was much bigger than me - she was the only person in her weight class, so she got mixed in with mine. I was a little concerned about that at first, since size really is an advantage, and she was 1-and-1 with the first girl. But this time I got the takedown, and she kept giving me chances to go to her back. It seemed like her thoughts were, "She's got a better position, I have to get away," and getting away meant turning her back. So I went to the back and she squirmed partly out of it, but when she was on her side I hit an arm bar. I didn't get it very tight at first, and she fought it and rolled us both over, but eventually tapped. At first I didn't hear her (maybe because of the upside-downyness), and I felt pretty bad about that, but she turned out to be OK.

I didn't realize it would make such a big difference, but having coaches really changes the way the game is played. At least two or three times in this whole thing, one of Dan or Mike or Jack pointed out an opportunity I didn't see, or didn't initially think I could make. I'd try it, and it would work, and that would really change the match. Those guys are excellent.

H. was actually from the school my brothers are about to start going to. I met a couple of the girls from Michigan, and they were great. I hope I get to visit them when I'm up there in a couple of weeks.

Oh! And my parents came to see the tournament. I sat with them for a while at the beginning, and they asked things like, "Why is that guy upside down?" But they saw a day-long tournament's worth of matches, I sat with them and helped explain what was up for a while, and by the end they were cheering: "Squish him, B!" My dad even noticed the Jiujitsu Faces on people and asked about it (I'm glad I'm not the only one). After my bracket was all done, we hit a grocery store and made a huge sub sandwich to pass around. Everybody loved it. All those macho guys I go to school with wish their moms would come watch them.

It was funny when Jack met my mom, though. He started saying, "OK, don't freak out, KC's not going to get hurt..." and my mom was all, "Are you kidding? Do you think I don't know this chick?" And I was in the middle, thinking "Ja-ack, you're embarrassing me!"