34th OJJ, April 20

Cross posted (kind of) at the OJJ blog.

Last night was the 34th gathering of OJJ.

As usual the training was very high level. Lots of coloured belts and tough guys. We had people from Paraestra Kumamoto come to visit in preparation for the All Japan BJJ championships, being held next weekend.

After a really great warmup (10 reps of any takedown drill followed alternately by ten situps, pushups, burpees, back-ups, etc.) we got straight into the business of sparring.

We sparred seven-minute rounds for about an hour and a half, so it was killer. I went up against Yamauchi-sensei, the purple belt teacher of the Kumamoto school. Naturally he submitted me a few times but I feel that I was able to hold my own a little. My confidence in my standup game has improved beyond belief. Probably because my confidence before was “zero” and so any kind of confidence feels good.

I feel that I am in good condition for the competition. If I lose, it is because the other people were better than me, not because of me not being in shape or not ready.

I managed to De La Riva sweep then triangle a very, very large blue belt which made me happy (although my shin didn’t speak to me for a while after that.)

I guess you could say my cauliflower ear status can be upgraded to “Brutal.” I am actually vaguely worried that it will affect me in the competition as it is very painful to the touch. But now that I think about it, you never notice small things like that when you are competing. Only when the adrenaline has worn off.

The dojo that cleans together, wins together! Or something.