Chop Wood, Carry Water

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Competition, Motivation and the Prego Rant of the Day.

Ok so here goes......

         First off I would like to congratulate Team Roberto Traven for taking first place at the IBJJF Atlanta Open this past weekend.    Everyone trained their tails off for this and there is not a team around more deserving of the title.

         Secondly, holy wow I miss Jiu Jitsu!    It has been 27 weeks since I have been able to train (we found out about baby Roman after 8 weeks) and it has gone by relatively quickly.  I will say that after a month of not being able to train I looked down at my callus healed fingers and said "this is going to suuuuuuuuck building these bad boys back up."  However not being able to train due to being pregnant is much more manageable than not being able to train during an injury.  I think it's due to the fact that I know that I can't train for x amount of time whereas when I'm injured I never know when I will heal, whether it be 3 days or 3 weeks.  I have been able to lift weights and do cardio which has helped me a lot mentally during these months not to mention the baby seems to like it (I am absolutely making that last part up).
         As I mentioned above the IBJJF Atlanta Open was this past weekend and this was the first local tournament I have been to and not competed in in I don't know how long.   It was interesting to take everything in although I get so nervous and excited for teammates (especially Jeff) that my body reacts like I am about to compete;  the jitters, frequent bathroom breaks, and endless pacing had me in a tizzy not to mention I think baby Roman was nervous because I'm fairly certain he turned Saturday and is no longer breach.  LOL. Anyway onto the main point....

         Since I was able to watch and coach all day it was unavoidable that I would observe some great AND ridiculous actions by competitors and coaches.  This post focuses on the ridiculous and to be specific the way coaches coach their students.   I will start by saying that I am not going to mention any names or affiliations/teams.    Most of the ridiculousness was put forth by the same coach the entire day, I just happened to be watching/coaching near the same mat.  I first noticed this behavior around 11 am: as the competitors walk out onto the mat each coach/set of teammates usually yells something along the lines of "let's go (insert competitor name here) or come on or get it or, well you get my point.  In this particular case I heard "This is your match Dumbledore, he ain't got nothin' for you!"  I'm inserting the names of Harry Potter characters so as to not let on to any particular person (you're welcome).  Immediately I looked at this coach in disbelief.    Oh, that's your idea of motivation?  That's not motivation, that's heckling and its ridiculous.   I heard this same line, or at least some variant of this line multiple times throughout the day.   Really people?!   This is disrespectful.   I can honestly say I have never heard Professor or any of his coaches say something like this and that's probably because they know how to be coaches and not jackwagons.  I honestly don't understand how this even forms in one's brain for him to say...."hmmmph; my way of motivating my student is to let the other team know that I think their competitor is garbage."   Seriously.   I'm sure some competitors don't notice this, I never have when I've competed just due to the fact that nerves are running amok and there is so much going on and you're in the zone ready to go.   But from any spectator, coach, or ref's point of view this is just plain silly and unnecessary.    Pump your student up by being encouraging to THEM, not by trying to bring down the other competitor who worked just as hard getting ready for this competition.   Maybe it just boils down to the fact that this particular coach didn't mean any disrespect but just sucks at using words.  Either way you need a new method.
        I really wanted to highlight the above scenario because it stuck out in my mind.   However I had some other observations and I would like to list them for you:

                        - Dudes love to argue with referees
                        - If you insult someone with a terrible slur during a match this person may stand up and headbutt you.
                        - Digital scoreboards are waaaaaay easier to read then the cheap card-flippy ones (thank you Pan Ams and Worlds for spoiling us).
                        - Dudes think they are going to win arguments with referees =)
                       

The tournament was great indeed and word on the skreet is that the IBJJF is going to start to have two tournaments here each year.   I hope one day they actually have the tournament in Atlanta Proper instead of "Atlanta" which is really College Park so that that people think that there is more to this city than an airport and a Citgo with a really crappy selection of sundries.  Until next time.....