First Tournament

You guys!  I don't even know where to start.  Yesterday was AMAZING!  Bradyn competed in the Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships at BCIT.  Her first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu submission tournament.  (notice I said first?)

I won't lie.  I was not on board with her competing until this week.  Let's be honest. Bradyn has been to what, 15 classes in total so far?  And some of those were kick-boxing classes, not even Jiu-Jitsu classes.  How in the world was she going to compete in a tournament and not get killed?  OK, maybe not killed, but definitely injured.  Not that I don't think she has progressed nicely but let's be serious... I didn't think she was ready to compete.  Bradyn really wanted to do it, Kevin was all over it, and Bradyn's coaches both said that even if she didn't win a match, it would be great experience.  Against my better judgement, I caved.  At 7:40 am we headed off to Burnaby.

This is Bradyn's "Fight Face".  I swear Kevin believes she's a mini Ronda Rousey.  She even downloaded a special 'entrance' song to pump her up - Fight Song by Rachel Platten.

Since this was a last-minute decision, we had to get Bradyn registered.  Not a long process, but I admit my nerves started to kick in about then.  Thankfully, we ran into 3 of Bradyn's teammates in the line so we gathered some strength in numbers.  Once we entered the gym, the 5 West Coast Martial Arts kids were off running around and playing under the bleachers.  Kevin kept telling Bradyn to slow down or she was going to wear herself out before the tournament even started!

Once Coach Quinn arrived, the kids were all smiles and ready to get serious and warm up.  

As the kids were warming up, a pretty young blonde girl and her mom came and sat on the benches beside us.  I noticed the girl had on a rash guard MMA top and tights (running tights and what looked like one of those short-sleeved sun shirts) so I figured she was in the No-Gi submission grappling group and thus nothing to 'worry' about for Bradyn.  Then her mom started to braid her hair.  After watching the kids for a bit I turned back and saw she was wearing a Gi.  Yikes!  Then I noticed she had a grey belt so it was OK.  Bradyn was a white belt so surely she wouldn't be fighting her.

I was also noticing a group of tough looking boys in impressive looking Gis.  Yellow belts, orange belts...  You know the group of 'bad kids' in the Karate Kid movie?  The Cobra Kai guys?  That's totally what these kids reminded me of.  Not because they were bad, but because they looked tough!  Again, it was OK because Bradyn wouldn't be fighting them.

Finally around 9:45 am or so, all of the submission/grappling competitors gathered on Mat #9 to have the rules of this particular tournament explained to them.    

A submission tournament means there are no judges - only a referee. The only ways to win are by submission ("tapping out" or verbally giving up), medical stoppage, or by referee stoppage (the referee may stop the fight due to rule infringement or if a competitor is in a submission hold that may put his/her health at risk). Three points for a win, one point for a time-limit draw, and zero points for a loss.

For this tournament the rules were a somewhat short (and scary) list including no striking, kicking, biting, fish hooking, gouging, hair pulling, heel hooks, toe holds, or neck cranks. Chokes with forearm or wrist to throat? Absolutely legal! In fact, chokes are one of the valid ways to submit your opponent.

Before I go further, I want to share this chart with you.  Bradyn is a white belt (top line).  Brand new.  As you go down the chart, the experience levels increase.  After white belt comes grey-white, grey, grey-black, yellow-white and yellow.  Within each belt level you can get white, red and black stripes for various skills.  Keep this in mind as we go on.

After the rules, they started with the Junior division and sorted the kids into groups according to age.  Not belt colour.  Bradyn was in division #128 for boys and girls aged 10 and under.  I'd been told they also match the kids to their skill level, so I was expecting to see a big group of white belts.  Once they separated out the group of 9-year olds, I quickly realized that Bradyn was absolutely at the bottom of her group's skill levels and she wasn't going to be fighting only white belts.  I started pacing.  At one point I seriously thought I might puke because my nerves were so bad.

Once they were organized and ready to go, Bradyn was up first!  Against a grey-black belt.  That's right.  3 belts above hers, which means he's probably been training for 2 1/2 years.  Size-wise Bradyn was taller, but he definitely looked tough and skill-wise he was obviously way ahead.

Although Bradyn lost her first match (after a strong minute and 45 seconds), I was elated.  She was pretty good and definitely held her own!  I started to relax a bit.  And this was fun!

We've got videos of all of Bradyn's matches but they're too large to upload to this blog.  I'm going to keep trying to figure out a 'fix' because I really do want to share them with you.

Remember the blond girl that sat down beside us?  Kevin started chatting with her mom because she was in Bradyn's age group.  Turns out she's 4 days older than Bradyn but has been training for nearly 2 years.  

While Bradyn's group was barely underway, we realized that the 6-year old group was done and that Carlos (one of Bradyn's teammates) had won a silver medal!  So cute.

Since we were filming Bradyn's matches, we didn't get any pictures of her matches.  Too late in the day I realized that I can actually take pictures while filming the matches so at least I was able to get a few. (yes, I'm an iPhone rookie)

Fighting against her new BFF Kyndra from Bellingham.  The girls had been chatting the whole time while their divison was competing and when it came time for them to fight each other, it was a bit strange.  See the boys with their backs to the mats looking on the table?  The kids kept checking to see who had the most points while the matches were happening.  Bradyn actually confessed afterwards that they knew this was the deciding match as to whether or not Kyndra was going to win gold for their division so Bradyn wanted to "let" Kyndra win.  Kyndra is a grey belt, has been training for nearly 2 years and hadn't lost a match yet.  Kyndra is VERY good and VERY strong!  Sweet of Bradyn to be altruistic towards her new friend, but Kyndra was going to kick Bradyn's butt whether she "let" her or not.  (although Bradyn did know Kyndra was going to win)

Even stranger than Bradyn fighting Kyndra was when Bradyn fought against the two boys from her Jiu-Jitsu school.  During her fight with Liam, I remember hearing his dad say "put a choke on her" and I thought "Hey - NO - that's my baby!  They're supposed to be friends!"  Coach Quinn was cheering Liam on while Coach Don was in Bradyn's corner.  Very weird.

Out of the 9 kids in Bradyn's division, 3 of them were girls.  2 of them won Gold and Silver.  Amazing.  Definitely inspiring for our girl.  (Oh, and by the way.... the yellow belt that that won silver?  She beat Bradyn in 13 seconds by putting a Kimura arm lock on her.  Impressive.)

The new BFFs.  We exchanged contact information so the girls can keep in touch and hopefully see each other at the next tournament.

The West Coast Martial Arts kids got a second medal yesterday - Nico won bronze for his age division (7 year olds).

In addition to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu division, Kyndra also participated in the No-Gi submission grappling division and took home a silver medal for that.  One amazing girl, and definitely a great person for Bradyn to meet at her first competition.

Bradyn was the least experienced competitor in her division, but she fought hard against every opponent - even those with years of training and competition experience behind them - and she managed 2 time-limit draws (3 minutes) in her 8 fights.  She got 2 points!

Most of Bradyn's losses were due to referee stoppage (because the referee stopped the matches - not because she tapped out or gave up).  Bradyn fought her way out of several choke and armbar submission attempts, and she later told us she was in the process of escaping many of the submissions that led to her matches being stopped. Thankfully, referees don't take any chances when it comes to a competitor's health, and they are quick to step in if they believe a fighter is at risk. 

I can't even tell you how proud Kevin and I are of Bradyn.  She had her game face on, never once showed any nervousness or fear and got right into the ring with no hesitation.  After every match she got up, straightened her Gi, shook her opponent's hand and waited for the referee to announce the winner.  She wasn't upset when she lost and never once got frustrated at being the 'underdog'.  She showed great sportsmanship.  My heart kept swelling all day.

At the end of day while Bradyn was off changing into 'civilian' clothing with Kyndra, Bradyn's Head Coach, Don, commented to Kevin and I how calm and mentally strong Bradyn was.  He said "when she's fighting, you look at her face and she looks as relaxed as if she were reading a book".  A number of the boys lost control of their emotions during their matches, but Bradyn remained detached - just like they had been taught. 

I admit that we enrolled Badyn in Jiu Jitsu with the intention that it was her and Kevin's thing.  I've taken Bradyn to swimming lessons, gymnastics and dance classes for 8 years.  This was Kevin's turn.  I have my spin class on Sunday morning and they go to Jiu-Jitsu.  Until the tournament, I was interested, but honestly, not that involved.  As they talked incessantly about Jiu-Jitsu and watched videos to learn new holds, I only half listened.  That all changed at the tournament.  You know those beauty pageant moms?  I swear Kevin and I turned into Jiu-Jitsu parents in a few short hours.  I told Bradyn she needs to bring me up to speed on all the holds and techniques so instead of just yelling 'Go Bradyn', I'll know when it's appropriate to yell "Go for a Triangle Choke!"  

Bradyn's current career submission record is 0 - 6 - 2 (wins / losses / draws) and we couldn't be prouder.

Next tournament?  Sunday December 6.  

Happy Birthday to me.

:-)