Tag: Team Work

Nashville Winter Open Team Information

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I have written up a list of who is competing on which mat, and their approximate start time. Please keep in mind that the times update in real time on this website.

I have had matches start an hour before the original start time, and up to 2 hours after. It really just depends on how quickly the matches before yours go. I have included the match number first so that you can track how quickly the matches are going on each individual mat. I wrote a blog post a while ago about how to help streamline your competition experience, check it out here.

Make sure to check your weight on the test scale in the bullpen area before going to the official weigh ins. There will be a lot of us there, so if you have a question just ask. The instructors and senior students will be doing their best to coach every match, but if they don’t make it to yours, know that they are doing their best.

Here is part of a rather candid video with our head instructor, Shawn Hammonds, from training this morning. I missed the first part, but the rest of it is still good.

Jason Mattherly, Madison Sperry and Kenny Cross don’t have anyone in their divisions (they scared off all opponents), so they will wait until the open class divisions later in the evening.

For blue belts and up, after collecting your medal at the podium, make sure to sign up for the open weight class immediately. The sign up is usually right next to the podium. Only two from each team will be allowed to compete in the open, but give Shawn options so he can select the chosen ones from the list. He can’t add you if you don’t sign up, and sign up is usually due right after you get your medal.

It is a long day, but if you are able to stick around until the team awards at the end, absolutely do so! You don’t wanna miss being a part of the big team photo on the podium!

That all said, here are all the matches in order for each mat. Use the times as a general guideline – I find the match numbers more useful myself.

Mat 1

#4 – 10:06 – Bryan Tidwell – Black Adult Feather

#6 – 10:30 – Eric Ingram – Black Adult Middle

#7 – 10:42 – Chad Hardy – Black Adult Middle

#14 – 11:57 – Javier Arroyo – Black Master 1 Middle

#15 – 12:05 – Matthew Maskovyak – Black Master 2 Super Heavy

#30 – 1:50 – Andrew Pardee – Purple Master 1 Feather

#38 – 2:49 – Wyatt Baxter – White Adult Middle

#48 – 3:59 – Jacob Taylor – White Master 1 Middle

#49 – 4:06 – Christopher Gardner – White Master 1 Middle

#52 – 4:27 – Brenton Meadows – White Master 1 Super Heavy

 

Mat 2

#2 – 9:38 – Matthew Bush – Blue Adult Middle

#8 – 10:26 – Charlie Alexander – Blue Adult Middle

#9 – 10:34 – Taylor Cross – Blue Adult Middle

#15 – 11:23 – Chance Miller – Purple Adult Middle

#24 – 12:42 – Alexei Pergande – Blue Juvenile Middle

#31 – 1:33 – Alex Holguin – Blue Master 2 Medium Heavy

#33 – 1:47 – Shannon Goughary – Purple Master 1 Light

#36 – 2:09 – Jonathon King – Purple Master 1 Medium Heavy

#43 – 3:01 – Paul Jeong – White Adult Medium Heavy

#46 – 3:22 – Cole Gordon – White Adult Medium Heavy

#49 – 3:43 – Griffin Hill – White Adult Medium Heavy

#51 – 3:57 – Michele Czech – White Adult Light

#54 – 4:18 – Kyle Haack – White Master 1 Heavy

 

Mat 3

#1 – 9:30 – Keith Roberts – Blue Adult Feather

#3 – 9:46 – Russell Bracey – Blue Adult Feather

#14 – 11:06 – Nichole Herold – Blue Adult Super Heavy

#24 – 12:40 – Nicholle Stoller – Purple Adult Light

#25 – 12:49 – Anthony Cairns – Blue Master 1 Medium Heavy

#35 – 2:01 – Rob Gortney – Purple Master 1 Ultra Heavy

#51 – 3:57 – Breana Kenworthy – White Adult Feather

#57 – 4:39 – Erin Mercer-Swayze – White Master 1 Light Feather

 

Mat 4

#1 – 9:30 – Troy Yang – Blue Adult Light

#4 – 9:46 – Aaron White – Blue Adult Light

#9 – 10:34 – Brittany Dickman – Blue Adult Light Feather

#14 – 11:15 – Joseph Kaiga – Purple Adult Feather

#21 – 12:16 – Guerin Lewis – Purple Adult Medium Heavy

#22 – 12:25 – Andrew Kordower – Brown Adult Middle

#37 – 2:19 – Paul Gibson – Purple Master 1 Middle

#38 – 2:26 – Kevin Patterson – Brown Master 1 Middle

#41 – 2:49 – Jimmie Hayes – Brown Master 3 Heavy

#42 – 2:56 – Robert Wake – White Adult Light

#46 – 3:25 – Ray Mullen – White Adult Heavy

#48 – 3:39 – Connor Ridings – White Adult Light

#49 – 3:46 – Caleb Tenpenny – White Adult Heavy

#53 – 4:14 – David Hall – White Master 1 Medium Heavy

#56 – 4:35 – Michael Rohus – White Master 2 Light

#60 – 5:03 – Zachary Hudson – White Master 3 Heavy

 

Mat 5

#3 – 9:46 – Will Caplenor – Blue Adult Medium Heavy

#21 – 12:18 – Kevin Harmon – Brown Adult Light

#27 – 1:08 – Palmer Gibbs – Blue Master 1 Heavy

#28 – 1:15 – Michael Kenner – Blue Master 2 Middle

#35 – 2:04 – James Harrison – Purple Master 2 Ultra Heavy

#36 – 2:11 – Johnathan Hill – Purple Master 2 Ultra Heavy

38 – 2:25 – William Wolf – Brown Master 4 Medium Heavy

#45 – 3:14 – Jackson Mena – White Adult Rooster

46 – 3:21 – Christopher Corey – White Adult Super Heavy

#47 – 3:28 – Jaylen Bolling – White Adult Super Heavy

#50 – 3:49 – Preston Akers – White Master 1 Light

#55 – 4:24 – Kyle Moffett – White Master 1 Ultra Heavy

#57 – 4:38 – Bojan Jovanovic – White Master 1 Ultra Heavy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s In A Team?

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I was never much of a team sport player during my growing up years. I was just your classic socially awkward, coke bottle glasses wearing nerd. I found that when I was working on projects in school, being in a group would take twice as long to turn out an inferior product as if I were to do the work on my own.

So I stopped trying to be part of a group.

If I was forced into a group, I would just find a shadow to hide in and do whatever grunt work was tossed at me as I attempted to ignore all the inefficient processes going on around me.

I never really “got” what being a team member was all about.

Until Jiu Jitsu

I was used to doing everything on my own. Maybe the Aspergers had something to do with my inability to connect with others, but I found that working inside my own little bubble of systems was too efficient to make expansion worth the effort.

There is only so much Jiu Jitsu you can do by yourself. I woke up one day, and found that I had somehow managed to integrate myself into a real team – without even realizing it was happening! There was a two part pivotal moment that made me a believer.

  1. My coach (a new concept as well!), decided to teach me how to do a few moves from spider guard. He told me that most people start out working in closed guard, but that he thought I would be able to make good use of the position. I practiced the moves, all the while thinking “This is silly. I will never use this.”
  2. My first competition a couple weeks later. It was a crazy whirlwind, but I fell back on the move that I thought I would never use, and it worked. My first competition submission was a triangle choke, set up from spider guard. I won 3rd place that day.

Going out to eat (buffet!) with the rest of the team after that competition, for the first time in a long while, I felt like a contributing member of a team. I have come to understand quite a few things in the last several years because of this.

  • There is a limit to what I can achieve as an individual.
    • No matter what the field is, I have limits of knowledge and ability. However, with good team mates, we help each other beyond what our own individual limits are. Together, we are more.
  • On a good team, everyone has the same or similar goals.
    • In my school, some are there to get/stay in shape, some are just having fun, some are hobbyist competitors, some are serious competitors. However, our base goal is all the same: to improve our Jiu Jitsu.
  • It’s okay to feel like the weak link on a team.
    • I was the weak link when I first started out, and some days I still am. However, I came to realize that if I am the lamest duck on the mats, I can only improve from that point. It means I have effectively surrounded myself with people who are more successful that I am. That mojo is gonna rub off, and I’ll be there to collect it!
  • I have a responsibility
    • Just as I find myself bolstered where I hit my limits, I have a responsibility to my team mates to help them when they hit their own limits. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses within a team – but as a team, we fill in the gaps for one another and it becomes one amazing impregnable force!

Conclusion

Jiu Jitsu has been a major touchstone in my life. This is just one of the aspects in which it has affected my world view. How has Jiu Jitsu affected your life? Please share!

For more information on spectrum disorders and BJJ, I wrote much more detail in an earlier post “Jiu Jitsu and Aspergers Part 1“.