Promotions and Spelunking...

So, I've been going to BJJ a lot recently and whatnot, and on Tuesday night, Carmen announced that one of her friends was going to be running the class.  I see this girl walk in, wearing a judo gi, and got SO excited.  She had been doing judo since she was 8, and had been a black belt for about 8 years, fights on the Australian national team....so...pretty much a badass.  She worked with us a lot on standup, and I learned so much about breaking grips/getting grips, that it was just a really cool class.  I found out that she has trained judo at Yong-In too!  That was so exciting to find another person who has trained there!  And, how convenient, I was wearing my Yong-In t-shirt under my uniform that day :D

After practice, Carmen told everyone to take off their belts and form 2 lines, making a tunnel of people, at the end of which, the black belt (Kit) stood, in front of the crash pad.  Nobody knew what was going on, until suddenly Carmen started calling people to run through the tunnel while getting whipped by belts, only to get thrown by the black belt.  Then at the end, Carmen started tying on new belts.  Suddenly, I hear MY name called!  I got promoted to my next stripe!  So I am currently 2/4 stripes on my white belt, hoping to get my third before I leave :D

As for recent activities, today.....I went spelunking.  Technically they call it caving, but it's not as interesting sounding, so I'm sticking with spelunking.  Now you might think spelunking involves walking through big open spaces in caves?  Not OUR spelunking.  This involves repelling down into the cave with helmets/headlamps, being told by our guides that they weren't going to tell us the way out, and to find it for ourselves......So as we started wandering through, people somehow decided that I should lead the way....

This was freaky, given that I had no idea where I was going, and could only see within the beam of my headlamp, in the otherwise COMPLETE darkness.  The caves also weren't exactly open spaces.  On SEVERAL occasions, the only way to move forward was to squeeze through an opening on your stomach or back or slide down a rock, all of which, were COVERED in mud.  SO needless to say, upon leave the caves....we.....were GROSS.  My pants are completely covered in dirt/mud/cave grime.  And I LOVE it.

41 days, 6 hours, and 52 minutes before the day I leave Melbourne.  Where has the time gone?

BELT TEST!

I officially have the greatest friends ever.  Andrew from YMD brought his laptop to the belt test, and after connecting to the internet, set up a video-chat with me via our macs so that I could watch the test!  It was the coolest thing ever!  It was SO good to get to see everyone again, even though it made me miss them that much more, and I can't believe how awesome Melanie did on her test!!  It just got me even more excited to get back to YMD and train hard.

Though it was pretty funny to be able to hear all the conversations around me, but have nobody be able to hear me.  Did that stop me from audibly cheering and clapping in the downstairs study room of RMIT at 3 a.m.?  NO!

My fighting spirit is renewed (not that it needed renewing in the first place, but you get the point), and I am heading back to kickboxing today to make myself even more tired than I already am, due to my lack of sleep and insomnia.  WOO!

I love my YMDers!

Sore Arm

So not much has been happening in the post-competition week.  School has finally toned back down (though I BOMBED my microbiology exam, but so did everyone else, so I guess it's not just me).  Tuesday's practice was hilarious, as it involved the entire girls team sitting on the crash pad watching the videos of our fights and talking about how massive the other girls at the competition were (Amazons, pretty much...) and drank wine and had pizza while the guys had a legitimate practice.  Standard...

Wednesday Richard made me do a CrossFit workout with him, which was evil, especially since I had inhaled a bunch of ramen immediately prior to said workout.....Afterwards we watched the Family Guy movie, which I now plan on purchasing, given how freakin funny it is :D

Thursday was mostly bumming around and trying to work again before practice, which was no-gi this time, for a change of pace.  We were all in a really weird/giddy mood at practice though, so we blame it on the spandex....Afterwards we went to grab dinner since it was Suzy's last practice, and got Korean (my favorite :/)  During said dinner, Robin and I decided that we're going to make instructional videos for our new pioneering field of martial arts.....cozy-jitsu.....stay tuned for further updates.

Today consisted of me getting multiple needles stuck in my arm :/  I had to go get a bunch of vaccines before my month of traveling in July so I don't die in some SE Asian jungle....Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Influenza, and Polio.  OW.  Also got a "Gastro Kit" for any food poisoning adventures that I might run into....lovely.  

Tonight is bowling with the BJJ team.  Should be....interesting?  I think?  hmmmm

Victorian State Championships

Yesterday was....a tiring experience.  I woke up at 8 just due to sheer nerves, and because I wasn't sure if I was going to make weight, I could have an apple initially for breakfast until after weigh-in, so I was kind of tired and grumpy on the way there :/  I arrive and initially don't feel any nerves, since I was still outside the mat room, but as soon as I crossed inside to drop my bags off, it kicked in HARD.  I tried to just not think about anything, and went to weigh in, and thank god, made weight!  

However, upon checking the fight tree, I saw that my friend Suzie and I were in the same division, and if we each won our fights, we'd have to fight each other for the title :/  I had no earthly idea when I was supposed to fight though, because there was NO fight schedule anywhere to be found, so literally I had put on my uniform to get ready to warm up, and I was called to the ring.  GREAT.  

I then found out that the girl I was supposed to fight was not only almost a blue belt, but was the DAUGHTER of the guy who runs the competition.  Lovely.  This'll go well...So I step onto the mat, heart absolutely POUNDING in my chest, and get ready to fight.

The refs hand drops, and the fight starts, and my brain starts looking for the flying armbar.  I get my sleeve grip, am aiming for the collar grip.....and she tries to pull me into guard.  Plan foiled.  This is the part of the fight that my brain apparently blacked out during because I have NO memory of any of this happening....weird huh?

As she was trying to pull me into guard, I stayed standing and tried to pass from there.  Somewhere during this process I got swept onto my back, but managed to pull her into guard.  This is where she scored her only points during the fight.  The rest of the fight was MINE.  I kept my guard tight and high under her arms, and spent the next 5 minutes of the fighting breaking her down low and going for the choke.  I had to tune out all the screaming from the sides, and only hone in on 2 voices, Carmen's and Rob's (our black belt).  I listened to Carmen, kept my hips tight and right on my opponent, and managed to break her down enough to feed for the choke.  Then I popped her head up with my legs and worked my hand under and the choke was ON.  It was tight, it was precise, and I was cranking it.  This girl's LIPS were turning purple.  But she WOULDN'T tap!  So by this point she managed to feed a hand though and break the choke, so it was back to square one *sigh*.  I was SO close to ending the fight.  I opted to try for the armbar instead, but didn't get her arm tight enough to shoot for it.  By this point, the fight ended, and despite being the technically better fighter, I lost :(

After the fight, Rob came up to me and told me that I fought incredibly well, especially for my first BJJ competition, and that I was a "machine" haha.  I wasn't overall disappointed in my performance, because I know I fought well, but I'm just frustrated that I lost a fight to someone who wasn't as technically sound of a fighter as I am, and that my main issue was nerves getting to me.  So that put me out of the shot for the title, which made me sad, because I really wanted the chance to fight again :(

However, later in the day, we started to realize that the judging at the tournament was.....less than objective.....Apparently referees had been docking points from fighters who spent the entire fight in their opponent's guard, and didn't appear to be trying to pass or anything (EXACTLY what my girl did), yet they didn't dock points from my opponent, which would have caused me to win the fight.  How convenient that the director's daughter doesn't lose points?!  Arg, that was really annoying.  They also apparently broke up MULTIPLE fights of our competitors BEFORE they tapped out, claiming safety reasons, even though they were about to break the submission and keep the fight going.....

However, there were redeeming factors to my loss.  First off, I was talking to the guys, and apparently BECAUSE this girl is the director's daughter, she is pretty much not ALLOWED to tap out of fights, so even if you break her arm or choke her out, she won't submit, and YOU'LL probably get DQ'd for hurting her.  So there really isn't a way to win.....But I did make her cry after our fight.  A combination of her almost losing the fight with me choking her that hard I guess made her sad?  Oops....

Anyway, I did learn a lot from my fight, and now want to improve more than ever, so I guess the training is ON.  Congrats to everyone who fought yesterday, you all did incredibly well.  Though.....let's NEVER stay at a tournament from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EVER AGAIN

Cheers to being the #3 female white-belt under 55 kg I suppose!

Pre-Fight Jitters

Tonight is the big night.  Tomorrow morning, I will wake up, pack some breakfast (can't eat until after weigh in), and take a taxi down to the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Center to take part in my first ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition.  My gi is neatly folded and resting in my gear bag, I have clif bars and powerbars (thanks Michelle), a freshly mixed bottle of powerade is cooling in the fridge, my spare clothes are laid out.  Everything is ready.  Except for ME.  

I am feeling the nerves.  I have that pit in my stomach that I always get right before I fight.  I know I have nothing to prove to anyone, but the standards I have for myself are high.  I want to make Carmen proud, I want to make everyone back in Berkeley proud, and I want to be proud of myself.  But then again, I also want it to be fun and light-hearted and not overly serious competition.  Funny how my brain works, huh?

I think I'm going to go for the armbar.  It's risky and tricky and the timing has to be spot on, and I know I've had this debate a million times, and will probably have it a million more times before tomorrow, but I think I'm just gonna force myself to go for it.  Why not, right? (rhetorical question, don't answer that).

I'm really excited to watch everyone fight.  I'm a little nervous though, b/c my competitive spirit tends to mirror that of my opponent, so I don't want to walk into it thinking it'll be some nice friendly fun and get ROCKED.  That would suck.  Hrm...constant vigilance.  I'm going to mentally go through my game one more time before bed, and then tomorrow I will face the moment I have been directing my training towards for two months.  

Of course, that is assuming that I get sleep.  Which could be hindered by the fact that Shuyen has decided that tonight would be an excellent night to badly play loud, out of tune guitar.  If this keeps up much longer, I will go break that guitar on her FACE.  And THEN flying armbar her for good measure.... 

Wish me luck! (not that I will receive said luck by tomorrow, but who knows, a time change might save me :D)

To any martial artists reading this, I want to say thanks for helping me get this far in my training, you all are the BEST!