A look back on February: the month of competitions

I feel like I blinked and this month is already gone! Working out in California has continued to be an incredible experience and every week brought something new with it. I still have a hard time believing that this is really my life right now and that I'm getting to train out here. It honestly feels like I'm getting paid to take a vacation! This past weekend I went to San Francisco for an IBJJF open and I was sitting right next to Caio Terra, Gui Mendes, Keenan Cornelius, the Galvao's, and Kurt Osiander. It was like Instagram had come to life and I kinda felt like a high school girl at her favorite boy band concert trying to talk myself into having the courage to introduce myself to them.

The Highlights
-I got to meet or see a lot of the big name people in the JiuJitsu scene. My opponent was coached by Andrea Galvao and I think that's a pretty cool thing to get to say.

-I visited 3 new schools, the highlight of which was the Ralph Gracie Academy in San Francisco. This was a really great experience that deserves its own post sometime.

You will sweat if you show up to Kurt's class

-I traveled to San Francisco and Phoenix for a tournament and got to explore both cities for the first time.

-CSG 360 has continued to be my home base and has very much become a part of my extended family. Getting to share stories after class and celebrating wins with their team has really been special to me.


Competitions
February was the month of competitions for me. The first weekend I was able to win the Best Warrior Competition for 30th Brigade and will represent my unit at the North Carolina state competition this weekend. I also drove out to Pheonix to do a NAGA, and was able to win my first championship belt in the expert no gi division, which is something that I have wanted to do for many years now. I also drove to San Francisco for an IBJJF open there and got my first taste of what West Coast competition looks like. I was soundly beaten in both my weight and the open class divisions, but it was a great experience that was eye opening and I left even hungrier to train than ever.

My home during competitions

I always try to keep my costs down whenever possible and gas and tournament fees aren't cheap. In order to spend as little money as possible, I ended up sleeping in my car on both trips. This gave the trip much more of an adventure feel to it and helped to make it more affordable

NAGA

Best Warrior Competition

IBJJF

The Office

What I Did Well
-At the beginning of the month I set a goal of visiting a new school once a week. I ended up coming close with a total of 3 schools added to the list, but was sick one of the weekends and had to cancel my plans. Overall though I'm going to count that as a goal successfully accomplished.

-It was great to jump back into the competition scene! I really enjoyed both of the tournaments and I walked away from both of them with a lot to improve upon.

What I Can Improve Upon
-Drills drills drills! Competition exposed some weak spots in my game. Weaknesses that wouldn't exist if I dedicated more time towards drilling. I'm a rolling junkie and will drive anywhere to get just one more roll in. While rolling is fun, drilling can be more like work to me, and it's consequently easier to skimp out on. My instructor has talked with me about this several times, but sometimes it takes the teacher of experience to give a painful lesson for things to finally sink in for me. I have realized that if I want to hang out with the big kids in the competition scene, drilling will need to become a part of my regular routine.

What I'm Looking Forward To
I've always been more of a go with the flow type of person.  My work schedule varies every day which can making planning a visit to a new school more challenging. The trip to Phoenix happened when I found out on Friday that I didn't have to work on Monday. I started looking online for nearby tournaments that day, and when I found that one, I jumped in my car and decided that I'd figure out the rest as I went. There are about 5 more big name schools that are on my must visit list before I leave here, so my goal is to get all of those in during March, as my time here gets closer to ending every week.

I feel like every day I am learning something new here, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final results when I leave here!

About the Author:

Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his  BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He trains out of Cornerstone BJJ in Fayetteville, NC. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combatives tournaments.