The Difference (Or Lack of Difference) Between Tournament and Academy Jiu-Jitsu – A Breakdown of Two NJU Competitors During Last Saturday’s NAGA Tournament

The 16^th century Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was the Dan Gable of his day. I’d wager that he was history’s best sports psychologist as well. He relentlessly studied the parallels and symbiotic relationship between martial arts, politics, the arts, and day-to-day life. He’s also the originator of the often-reiterated “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.” For some people, that “tomorrow” is a literal tomorrow; for more stubborn people, it may be years later. But for my teammates Pauline Nassimos and Kat Silverstein at the NAGA North American Championships last Saturday, “tomorrow” was the matches immediately following their first matches.

Both of these ladies are experienced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu white belts, but Pauline competed for the first time last Saturday. Her first gi match was against a very talented white belt who pulled guard on her quickly. From here, Pauline made a minor mistake in letting her opponent isolate her arm from open guard and lock in an armbar. After speaking with her coach and teammates, she went into her consolation match and immediately adapted to her new, more aggressive opponent. She pulled open guard, transitioned to half guard, won the underhook-battle, and swept her to get on top. From here, Pauline slowed down the pace of the match. She transitioned smoothly to mount and blocked all of her opponent’s escapes while gradually improving her positioning. After three minutes, she was up 13-0 on points and won via arm-triangle.

Kat’s actions told a similar story in her best-out-of-three no-gi matches against a competitor with stronger takedowns and throws. Of course, her opponent’s talents didn’t exactly create the best circumstances for an introduction to competition jiu-jitsu. During her first match, Kat was hesitant to engage and got hip-tossed to eventually lose on points, looking very tired during the match. But like Pauline, she later made the right technical and mental adjustments with her coach and teammates. Instead of being drawn into a downward spiral of defeatism, Kat faced the same opponent again, but won on points by shooting for takedowns, pulling halfguard after failed takedowns, winning the underhook-battle, and continually improving her position after sweeping to get on top. From here, she took mount and maintained the initiative by always hunting for chokes and isolating her opponent’s arms.

In Kat’s final match, her opponent also made good adjustments, resulting in a technical, heart-attack-inducing back-and-forth battle that was amazing to watch. During the match’s closing seconds, Kat’s patience and good timing allowed her to move from side-control to mount, granting her the win by a margin of one point. Through adaptability and consistency, she took home the gold in her division.

Some people say that tournament fighting is worlds apart from the fighting that you do in your academy. I believe that this difference CAN exist, but only if you let it. Initially, Pauline and Kat let that difference become an actuality that worked against them. Afterward, however, they had the guts and the control to get right back on the mat and manifest the full extent of their abilities.

JJ Mike

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