The title says it all...
BJJ Tournament - Louisville, KY - April 9th, 2005

I don't have a link to any information yet but I thought I'd throw it out there for anyone interested. Until, I find an official link, all of my info is just what I was told and probably needs verification.

I was told it was $30 until April 1st, then it goes up to $40.

I will try to get more info.

If any of you are interested, jump in here and let the world know.

Are you going to compete?

Yes, we are. Paying tonight.
I don't have great expectations. I am generally a pessimist. Prepare the best you can, expect the worst. If things turn out better than expected, be pleasantly suprised. May not be the best attitude for a BJJ Tournament but I'm rarely disappointed. Besides, I watched the brackett that I would have been in at a tournament in Bloomington, IN, and I would have gotten dusted. Hopefully, I have gotten much better in the last 4 months or some of those guys got promoted. :)

Great to hear you're competing. I think everyone should.

Here was my secret to success before my one Mickey Mouse tournament, in case you're interested.

Weeks before it, I was talking to all these others guys getting ready for their first fights, and they had all sorts of concerns.

"What if I gas out in the first minute?"
"What if I go blank and he taps me in 30 seconds?"
"What if they are training right now and I'm not?"
"What if I don't know enough techniques?"
"What if he does some techniques I don't know?"
"What if what if what if..."

For some reason I wasn't worried though. So I actually stopped and asked myself, "Wait now, maybe I'm not considering all the factors here. Should I be worried about losing?"

One second later I decided.

"No, I'm gonna rock their faces off."

I wasn't psyching myself up or anything. It was just a positive decision. I knew I was at least good enough to beat another WHITE BELT.

It seems to me that as competition nears, a lot of guys go into a frenzy trying to learn NEW and ADVANCED techniques, like learning something a black belt did to win ADCC is going to help them win at blue belt in the state championships. It's this idea that they need to learn EVERYTHING because "What if he does move X and I don't have counter Y! What if I need move X to win!" That's getting pretty unattached to YOU and YOUR fights.

I'm was sure there were a million things that COULD go wrong, and there are always a million more techniques I COULD learn, but I realize "I know enough jiu-jitsu to win as a WHITE BELT." I don't need to worry about what the top black belts are doing to win now, I didn't even need to really worry what the top BLUE belts were doing now. I just needed to work on what I am doing now and what I am likely to run into against another white belt.

And so I did.

And so I won.

Best of luck!

I'm competing for the first time on the 26th of march in Copenhagen, in bot the open and -79kg classes. If I don't tap, I'll be happy with my performance.

Where is this tournament located in this city? I live in Louisville and I would really love to go and watch this tournament. PLease email me some info about the venue and what street its on and how much it costs to be a spectator! What time does it start and all of that!!

I believe it is being organized by Louisville Martial Arts Academy, not for sure though. I will try to get more info over the weekend and get back with you.

Thanks. Just get the location of the venue and the price for a spectator and the time it starts and I am there!

The guy running it was in my class Saturday, very nice guy. I didn't ask for spectator cost though, sorry, I forgot. He said where it was going to be but I'm not from Louisville so I already forgot what it was called. If any of you Louisville members could find anything out and post it, it would be much appreciated.

It would be cool to watch, but oh well...

Spectator Fee
$5.00

Unfortunately, Allen (the guy organizing the tournament) picked the exact day that Caique is teaching a seminar at our school in Louisville. I highly doubt any of our guys will be competing in the tournament (it would probably look bad to skip our main instructor's seminar to compete. Stupid politics.). I'm still not sure if I'm going to the seminar, but I if not, I will at least watch the tourney. Man, this sucks.

I know of that BJJ school in Louisville. I studied there a little while and found them to be pretty good BJJ guys. They also teach shaolin kempo there too right?

Yeah, I think they do teach Kempo there. I've rolled with a couple of their guys, and they are under Bruce Shepard, a Black Belt in Evansville, Indiana (Bruce is under Marcelo Ferreira). Nice guys. The time I sat in on one of their classes, they worked on strategies for dealing with non-grapplers. Seemed like they were really interested in practicing BJJ as a martial art, not just a sport. Always nice to see.

It is to be held at the E.P. Sawyer State Park.

I guess that none of you Louisville folks are going to be there...
Oh well, even though my wife can't compete due to injury, I still plan on trying it out. I was thinking about it a little while ago and felt like I was going to puke. I hope I'm calm when it's go time. I would hate to humiliate myself by barfing on the mat due to nerves. Maybe I'm too old for this. :occasion1