HVJJ In House Tournament.

So on top of my car, and my finals being this week, I'm starting to feel sick. I'm not going to elaborate on this too much, I just needed a second to bitch and no one is around that feels like listening to my bitching.

I've had a headache for the past week or so, I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep in the last two days, I can't eat anything worthwhile, and my weight seems to be stuck. I don't know why, maybe too many fucking pistachio's?

Anyway... I do have some good news. Brian had a tournament last night at HVJJ. Just a small, in house thing that consisted of maybe 10-15 different grapplers, only two of which were not Brian's students (I think). Brian had me roll in the experienced division with the likes of Karl and Brian Kim, where I was heel hooked once and got caught in two straight ankle locks. Man, do those guys like to attack the legs.

Anyway, I also went with guys who's time training more closely matches my own. I won that division, hitting two triangles and a 10 finger. My first match was with B-Man, Marine Joe. Joe has the body structure of a guy that I don't usually like to try and triangle because he's very big in the shoulders which makes it difficult to fully close. This time, it was there and I had to go for it. As usual, I couldn't close it. I got it as tight as I could and tried to get a good angle and hope for the best. I wrapped his leg and squeezed my knees together as hard as I could, but he wouldn't tap. I tried again to pull my shin into my foot but it wasn't going anywhere. At this point I knew if I was going to get it, I had to get a ridiculous angle on him. I pulled myself to his leg and when that again didn't do the trick, I went passed his leg and under him. By the time he tapped, I was almost past his other leg. That man is a monster.

My next match was with my new friend Brennan, a guy who trains in Highland. He's very explosive and strong, but I caught him with a 10 finger when he dropped his head shooting a double. I managed to jump guard and get the tap after he rolled me around a few times and almost shrugged me off. I was actually looking for the front naked, which I always am, but I'll settle for the 10 finger I guess, heh.

After him I rolled with Kevin who is a Town of Poughkeepsie police officer. That guy is strong, intense, and has great control. It is very difficult to do anything to him, especially from your guard because he stays so tight. It's frustrating, but I'm sure it keeps him out of a lot of trouble with others as well as me. Anyway, not much happened and time ran out with him in my guard. We did a two minute overtime from the feet, and he shot a single. Kevin can't make it to every class because of his work schedule which worked out for me. Had he made the last few classes he would likely have quickly taken me down. But, I pulled my leg out from between his legs and kicked out to the side. I knew I wanted to do this at some point during the evening and I was pumped! I jumped for a flying triangle, and for the first time in my experience, he stayed upright. I didn't slow down though and kept working. He shifted me to one side and I transitioned to the omoplata while he still stood, which drew from Pantene "Oh my god, a flying omoplata!" At that point we hit the mat and Kevin timed it well enough to pass himself over me and get out of it...and get points for passing my guard. I managed to scramble before he could clamp down on me, and I caught him in a triangle for the win in OT. Yay, go me.

I even won a prize! Brian bought a bunch of jiu-jitsu and MMA related books and DVD's for the winners choose from. Yes, I'll end that sentence, and this one, with the word "from." I picked Randy Couture's Wrestling for Fighting or something that sounds like that - the book is still in my car so I can't look. I haven't had the chance to look through it yet, but it should be pretty cool.

Anyway, I've taken my little break from studying and paper writing. Back to work. Be safe out there...