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!