Hi,

I gave a few thoughts about my previous 2 Judo comp. experiences, and I competed again this past Sunday, which felt like a little bit of a break through, so I thought I'd share some of my experience.

Don't worry, I won't make a habit telling every single experience I have, but this one felt a bit more important to me.

So I fought in the adult novice division - I was light for my weight category, but I'm learning that that is going to be my fate a lot of the time (plus it's good experience).

I ended up taking 2nd place with 1 win and 1 loss - small category as there were only a few guys even close to my weight.

I was feeling kind of tense and weak during the 1st fight (maybe it was the nerves getting to me) and it made it easier for my opponent to control me, but I gave 110% anyway, but ended up falling on my ass and lost.

I felt a bit more warmed up for the 2nd fight, and I felt mentally determined to work "my" fight. I worked hard to apply a lot of the things I had been working on recently, breaking grips, moving my opponent etc... and went for a combo of Sa Sai to Ippon Seoinage to kouchi, and ended up throwing my opponent for Ippon.

I learned that having confidence in one's technique and not holding back made a big difference. Also, aiming to dominate the game rather then fall into the opponents game. All in all it was a great experience, in both matches as I learned what I can actually do outside of the dojo, and received info as to what I need to work on more. It felt great to be able to work my techniques and combos under the stress of that kind of context. Lots of lessons learned.

Ok, thanks for reading.

thanks for sharing

My pleasure.

"I learned that having confidence in one's technique and not holding back made a big difference. Also, aiming to dominate the game rather then fall into the opponents game."

Very good!

Cheers, Tim - it was an all round great experience.

game plan is key.

being able to say " i will walk out and do this. it will force my opponent to do a or b, and then I will respond like this. he will then fall down. " is a huge breakthrough. It's so much easier to concentrate. You know exactly what you have to do. Congrats Craig!

2nd place is a good thing.

Thanks, Jason - Always learning.