First off, props to the UGF! That was the best run tournament I’ve yet participated in! Everything was on time and very well organized!

I was slightly nervous about making weight since my female hormones were rearing their ugly heads this week – I bloat really badly and will usually gain 4-5 pounds in just a few days. I managed to weigh in with 2 lbs to spare however – yay!

Coach’s directions were “don’t fuck around!”. My Marine brother went with me to cheer me on for morale support.

I’ve never had my gi inspected before at a tournament, so that was a new experience – and I passed just fine.

We had no shows in my gi weight class, so it ended up just being myself and one other girl – so we decided to do 2 out of 3, just so we could roll more.

First round: I got a lapel and sleeve then pulled guard pretty quickly. I closed and locked my guard pretty quickly and dove for the cross choke. I got the first hand in deep right away, but was having problems getting the other one in solidly so I just held on. She rolled a couple times (giving me mount points in process) – then in mount I put my head to the mat and windshield wiped my arm across her neck. She went completely out and the ref pulled me off.

That was my first choke out! Yay! She woke up suddenly, fairly disoriented, asking “what just happened!?” – she said she was having a very nice dream.

Second round: we rested for 5 mins then went at it again. She tried to dive for a single leg takedown and I locked in an arm in guillotine while standing then pulled her down into my guard. She rolled a few times trying to get out, and I wasn’t sure I had it since I’ve never gotten that choke before. I swung one leg up in preparation to go for a triangle in case she got out, but then she tapped. Whole process was done in under a minute.

So that got me gold in my gi division and I sat down to rest until the absolute division started.

There were 7 people in the white belt absolute division. I have to wait for my brother to email me the videos to remember what exactly happened but I’ll break down what I remember.

First round:
I got her turtled and managed to get a hold of a cross lapel grip before putting in my hooks and taking her back. I went for a gi choke from back but she was defending my second lapel grip very well and was able to get her shoulders to the mat. I kept the grip I had and turned it into a no gi ezekiel type choke and got the tap.

Second round:
By far my favorite roll of the night! She was very quick and put me in guard right away, and started working to break my posture. She went after the armbar when I foiled a triangle attempt, I managed to spin out of the armbar and go to guard. She passed my guard and got side control, I reverse elbow escaped out. We had a scramble in which I managed to lock in an inverted triangle and a kimura grip. It was then just a matter of getting the angle right for the shoulder lock and tap.

Third round: (finals)
I don’t remember how it happened, but I ended up caught in a really tight side control. She was going after an armbar setup and went to mount when she wasn’t able to get it. I spent the rest of the time avoiding arm attacks and lost via points. Props to this chick too! She was a good opponent!

2nd place in Gi Absolute! It’s my first time ever doing absolute and I am quite pleased.

My opponents didn’t show up for my no gi division, so I was awarded 1st place for showing up and did an exhibition match for the fun of it. She won by points – I really need to work on no gi grips.

In absolute it was a very small group. I went up against the same person who beat me in gi finals. She locked in a kimura from mount and I tapped before she cranked it, I watched the video and can say I did the right thing – I wasn’t getting out of that one!

Ended up with 2nd place in No Gi Absolute.

All together I was very pleased with my accomplishments. As far as team points go, I was able to get 3rd place in Gi, and 2nd place in No Gi.

My coach called me during a break from a seminar he was teaching – when I told him that I won 2nd place overall team, I could hear how proud he was to yell that to all the people at his seminar.

I was very impressed with the quality of Jiu Jitsu that each of my opponents had! Nice to know there are other girls out there who train hard as well! I made new friends and learned more about my strengths and weaknesses. Can’t wait to train more! Off of the plane, and back to the pain!