{"id":449,"date":"2016-05-02T09:52:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T07:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/?p=449"},"modified":"2016-05-02T15:29:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T13:29:38","slug":"flanders-bjj-cup-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/main\/lifestyle\/flanders-bjj-cup-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Flanders BJJ Cup 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the key aspects about Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) is the fighting part, commonly referred to as \u201crolling\u201d. For that reason BJJ training sessions consist not only of a warm-up phase and a part where techniques are studied\u00a0but at the end there\u2019s a part where you fight. This part is crucial as it gives you the chance to try to apply the techniques you just learned under much more realistic circumstances. That being said, competition in the gym is fun but going out into the world and testing your skills out there is a great way to see how good your skill set is outside of your gym. On the 27th February 2016, I and a few members of my team went to a bigger regional tournament for exactly that reason. I want to share my experience of this tournament, the Flanders BJJ Cup 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Road Trip<\/h2>\n

With my weight on track (68,2 kg) and after a light breakfast\u00a0we (my editor in chief and myself) were good to go to start our\u00a0trip to the Flanders BJJ Cup. For the next 3 hours, we had Spotify running\u00a0and plenty of sunshine. Our\u00a0destination was Brakel, which is a few kilometres West of Brussels. The drive was fun and over time I started to get a little nervous. My first bigger tournament and the area we were driving through looked like we were completely wrong. We drove through small villages and it felt like travelling back in time. Until the moment\u00a0when we took the right of way of a two-horse coach. We were staring at the coach and the cabby (and her teacher) stared back at us. As no one was moving we slowly, while being utterly confused, started driving again.\u00a0We barely managed to get our confusion under control when the next weird road trip event manifested itself\u00a0in front of us. There was an excavator blocking the street. Not very special, I agree. But the excavator was behind a truck, pushing said truck with its shovel right onto a field of grass.\u00a0Minutes later we arrived at our destination. After a short walk, as parking space was very limited, we entered the hall hosting the Flanders BJJ Cup.<\/p>\n

Flanders BJJ Cup<\/h2>\n

After spotting and talking to my teammates, I walked around getting some information about the further development of the Flanders BJJ Cup. I’m a person that needs those kinds of securities, otherwise I feel uncomfortable and lost. Once I checked that from my to-do list\u00a0I changed into my gi, starting to get mentally ready. I quickly checked my weight and had a small snack and some water afterwards.\u00a0As I wasn’t scheduled to fight for another two hours I took it slow, just making sure during my warm up to never to fully cool down and remain flexible.<\/p>\n

\"Official<\/a>

Official Flanders BJJ Cup 2016 t-shirt<\/p><\/div>\n

I was lucky when my first fight ended up with a free ticket, which immediately made me move forward to the last 16. Then, finally, after a long wait: my first fight! I almost missed it as I never heard my name being announced. The sound equipment was terrible.<\/p>\n

The fight started and I almost immediately jumped into the guard of my opponent. And the fight stopped there. I’ve been told that we would fight IBJJF rules and wasn’t aware that white belts weren’t allowed to jump guard. After sincere apologies, both to my opponent and the referee, the fight continued. I was a little hesitant, as I didn’t want to cause another foul out of ignorance. Nevertheless, I fought well and after some back and forth I managed to win via armbar submission. You can check it out here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/VID-20160404-WA0000.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Man, I felt amazing and I was very excited and pumped. All I wanted to do was to get on the mat and start with the next fight. That didn’t happen for another 40 minutes, though. I still felt good and was happy about the fight. Not only about winning\u00a0but about finishing with the hanging armbar. It was something my coach and I were drilling a lot during the weeks prior to the event.<\/p>\n

So I made it to the last 8 in a very competitive tournament in a very stacked weight class (white belts, -70kg).\u00a0I had my next fight. This time, I really almost missed it. None of my teammates saw that I had to step on the mat and I didn’t hear anything either. I randomly looked at the screen and saw my name, told my coach that it’s my turn again and ran to the mat.\u00a0The fight wasn’t very long. I quickly ended up in my opponent’s full guard. Once I worked on breaking his guard, he applied a triangle choke. I defended it but I lost my equilibrium at one point. He quickly capitalised on this, transitioned, and finally finished me with an armbar.\u00a0I was very disappointed about that loss. The main reason being not the actual loss, which was well deserved as my performance was bad, but rather what led to the poor performance.<\/p>\n

Insights<\/h2>\n

I took some time to think about my fights and what happened, trying to figure out why I lost. I lost my fight because I was<\/p>\n