Though i'd share a bit more of my Judo progression.

Fought in my 2nd competition yesterday.

I had 3 fights. I lost all 3, but I learnt a lot from them. I gave it my all, and tried to be as technical and did my best not to stiff arm or be too defensive.

I felt like I had good control over the guy and moved him around and attended throws quite a bit, then at about 2:30min I got countered when I attempted to throw. Talked to the guy after and he was a real cool guy - it turned out he had about 4 years of experience on me, but I'm not making excuses, he won fair and square.

I lost the second fight early on when I got countered with a nice Tai otoshi.

3rd fight I fought a guy who is a national team member from a I think a middlestern country and got thrown with I think Tsurikomi Goshi. The guy was amazingly fast and all I remember was standing fighting for a good grip, then landing on my face and getting ,my nose crushed into the mat. It was a pleasure watching his other fights, he had beautiful Judo.

All in all I felt I did better then the first time around. I felt I kept my composure under preasure a little better and was trying more things. It still felt really, really tough, but the whole experience has increased my drive to improve. I also learnt a whole lot more about my abilitys and the things I really need to work on.

I hope to compete again in a month.

Found out my 3rd opponent was from the Azerbaijan national team - awsome skills.

Good job Craig, keep it up.

Thanks, Tim.

http://www.judocalendar.com/

Hey Jason, that's very helpful, thanks!

So I have a question for Tim and all you experienced guys: I've read in some books that you should train and Randori/spar and do all your usual train a lot, but that you should not compete too much, or it should be the lesser part of your training makeup (if that makes any sense). So my question is, what do you guys think of this Idea? Or do you think it's best to get in as much competition experience as possible?

I don't know what damage it could do to compete a lot, but maybe through my lesser experience I'm missing something here.

Thanks,
Craig

I recommend competing on a regular basis.

Ok, thanks Tim, I will work on competing when ever I get the chance.

Compete every chance you get. When I lived in Orange County, I was competing twice a month in judo.

I was also training 5 days/week, including kata, randori, cardio, weight training, etc.

Thanks, Abdullah - advice noted.

there's no other way!

you have to see and feel it in person.

with out competition, you are seeing only one way, your particular instructor's way. It may be good, but it is not all.

Good Luck!

Cheers, Jason.

I think in my specific case we have a lot of different instructors with different flavors from different countries, but I know what you mean... ever time someone from outside comes in to give a clinic I always see something differently, or when I've competed (not much yet) I've always learnt valueble things about the opponents and about myself.

the main thing is the absolutism;

whoever goes fastest, hardest, or most technical.

"Absolutism" - I've been told I need to work on fully commiting to my throws. I find myself hesitating sometimes. I think it's because when "trading throws" I try to work on good body mechanics, but when I randori I sometimes get worried about commiting to the throw when I feel like I "don't have it" or "forcing it", out of fear of building bad habbits. I've been told that I just need to keep fully commiting and driving through even if the throw isn't perfect, and my technique in randori and competition will improve - We'll see!

i think what I mean to say is

"there's an element of absolutism in true competition that cannot be recreated without the desire to win above all else"

hence, certain truths will be distilled from competition. Like strength matters. Aggression matters. Endurance matters. The willingness to hurt/maim etc matters.

Those who tell you otherwise have neither fought for survival nor competed completely.

Ok, I think I understand what your getting at. Yup, I've got ways to go!