Combat Corner Tournament Recap - Milwaukee, WI

Last weekend we took 8 fellars up to the Combat Corner tournament in Milwaukee, WI. 

A special thanks to Dan Knipp for loaning us his van, probably not the most ideal vehicle for the blizzard we drove through (in April, yeah Midwest). However, Mike D conquered the inclement weather with the steely nerves of a Green Beret taking enemy fire.

We arrived in Milwaukee around 7:30, were approached by a pastor looking to tell us about the good Lord and all the guys made weight. We jumped back in the van, Mike drove through another blizzard, we made it to Dostal’s parents’ house and we ate ourselves sick (I was just coaching, so I was sympathy eating).

 

The next morning we rolled to the tourney around 9:30. I was under the impression there was a seeding meeting, turns out I was wrong (the first of many poor coaching moments for me). The tournament got underway relatively on time (major victory for a BJJ tourney). They were pretty organized and efficient on running the whole shindig.

The Positives

We took our coach’s son, Gabby (not his real name, he just talks a lot) to compete for the first time. I think he is like 14 or 16, or something like that. Anyway, I have been coaching him since he was 9ish. He lost his first match due to an issue we have been trying to help him correct for a few years. It would have been easy for him to pack it in and get beat in his next 3 matches. However, he corrected the error and went 3-0 to win silver and gold. Really cool to see him put it all together.

Cael with his Gold

Trav, another one of our white belts won bronze and silver. He has been training BJJ for less than a year. To have success at a fairly large tournament was a really good start for him. He also corrected mistakes in each one of his successive matches, which is really promising to see.

Trav thinks looking at the camera is for losers....

Our two brown belts had the unfortunate draw in the absolute division of facing off against Dante Leon and Gutemberg Pereira, look them up (spoiler alert, they are pretty good). They both had good matches but ended up losing. Really two ways we can look at those losses; 1). real bummer to lose your first match in any division, 2). if you are going to lose, lose to the two best guys in the division and learn from the rolls. I think our guys will view the matches through the lens of the latter option.

Other than that, everyone else had good showing, the matches just didn’t go their way. I came away with a few things we can work on to help our guys that want to compete.

 

The Negatives

I try not to criticize the refs at tournaments, it is a crap job that ends with the ref being yelled at. That being said, we had one of our guys get DDT’d (see head first slam) into the concrete near the mat. In addition, we had several matches where action was continued when one or both of the competitors’ heads were on the concrete boarding the mat. I realize that no one wants their match to be stopped while the action is still going. But, when it comes to the hierarchy of a ref’s responsibilities, competitors’ safety has to be number one. Letting action continue into dangerous areas was borderline habitual and needs to be addressed for the next tournament. One of our guys ended up with probable concussion from an easily avoidable situation.

Something like this. 

One of our white belts got his arm broken in a bicep slicer. It was a real freak incident that I am not sure was avoidable. To his opponent’s credit, there was a loud crack and he let off the sub immediately. Robocop (our competitor) had never seen a bicep slicer before, so this was a great way to learn the move. Unfortunately, he has 6-8 weeks to watch videos of bicep slicer escapes.

 Watch this one at your own risk...

I certainly could have studied the rules more in-depth. There was more than once I was getting the modified rules they use and standard IBJFF rules confused. This is totally my fault and I should have prepared better.

Could have used something like this.

Misc.

•  Trav is impressive in his ability to eat. He order a Fire House sub for dinner and one for the road, but ate the second one while we were still at dinner.
• Clarence (a converted wrestler) has really started to integrate BJJ into his game, it is fun to watch.
•  Calley and RoboCop are tough dudes! One got a concussion and one broke his arm. Both stayed for the whole tourney and neither went to the hospital. It is a fine line between tough and stubborn, they walk it well.
• Dostal’s Mom and Dad are great hosts. I would suggest invading their house to anyone in the area.

Sans the freak injuries and WWE style rules regarding competitor safety, we had a great time. I got to spend time/get to know several of my teammates that I had not interacted with much. I would suggest the tournament to both beginners and advanced BJJers.