Submission Challenge – Des Moines
Tournament Review
Three weeks ago we took a group of guys to compete in the
Submission Challenge tournament in Des Moines. I have been thinking about how
to write this review in a way that suggests I appreciate having a tournament in
central Iowa, but also offer some constructive criticism. So, here goes my best
shot.
The SC organization runs submission only tournaments with
rules similar to the EBI rule set. It is a great chance to compete and work for
submission, without worrying about scoring points. Our team competed well,
though we could have taken sometime to go over specific situations that are
inherent to the rule set. Overall, I really like the format of a submission
only tournament.
How was the
tournament run?
It was a pretty standard setup. There was some confusion on
if people could do day of registration when we showed up (though the website
said you could not). People who were pre-registrations showed up, checked-in
and weighed-in. Competitors could weigh-in up to an hour before their match,
but were “encouraged” to weigh-in earlier. If you have been around BJJ guys,
“encouraging” them to do anything usually means they will do whatever they
want. In general, the organizers kept the tournament moving. It is a major pain
when there are 5 open mats and workers just kind of chilling. This phenomenon
was avoided for the most part. The medals were great and the people running the
tournament were super friendly.
Pros of the
tournament?
-It is local. Normally, we have to drive to Minneapolis, StL,
or Milwaukee to compete. A two-hour drive was super-nice.
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| For those of you who are not down with the 515. |
-People running the tournament were friendly and helpful.
-For the most part, competitors and coaches were able to be
both competitive and friendly. So much so, that we had a referee make a rule
mistake and I was able to talk with the opposing coach and come to a pretty
fair compromise on how to resolve the issue. There are always people yelling,
“break his arm”, “take his F*cking knee home” which I think is ridiculous. The
person yelling “break his jaw if they won’t tap” is probably also making social
media posts about how BJJ is a brotherhood and we need to respect each other,
blah blah blah, OSS! For the most part, it was a great group of competitors and
coaches.
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The medals were beautiful.
-We had several kids compete and the refs were great working
with the kids.
-For the most part, the refs did a great job. I realize they
are paid minimally and would probably like to be taking a nap on Saturday. So, I
really appreciate what their service.
-There were a ton of white and blue belts competing, so it
was a great tourney for our white belts to get a lot of rolls in.
Cons of the
tournament?
-We had two guys who didn’t get a match. They signed up in
advance, were placed in a bracket, weighed-in, waited all day and then didn’t
get to roll. Let me first say, they got their money back with little issue.
However, if there is no day of registration and people check in an hour before
their bracket, this should not happen. Also, the guys who didn’t get to compete
were upper belt gi competitors. So, they waited all day to do nothing.
Honestly, the tournament is small enough that purple, brown, and black should
be combined and the age groups should be folded into each other.
-This has nothing to do with the people working the
tournament, but the rule set (as it was explained to me during a somewhat terse
interaction with a ref) is, when there is a submission (loosely defined) and
competitors go off mat, they keep competing until there is an escape or the sub
is finished. That is great if there are spare mats lining the “out of bounds”
area. However, this venue is just hardwood floors. On several occasions people
were on the basketball floor, with spectators walking around them, sometimes
rolling under the folding tables. The referees were instructed to “let them
work through the submission.” I understand, people want to finish subs, but
safety should be paramount. We had a competitor get a concussion because he got
suplexed on concrete at a different tournament with a similar setup. His
opponent felt like crap about it, our guy was out for a few weeks, it was a
pointless occurrence when it could be easily solved by resetting the match to
the center. The rule should be something like, the second guys touch a non-mat
service they stop and reset on the mat. Competitors and coaches can debate
position if they like, when they reset in the center of the mat. Having an
annoyed competitor is way better than dealing with a brain bleed or concussion.
Seriously, Submission Challenge needs to fix this. Final note, after my terse
interaction with the ref I explained my concerns and we hugged it out like true
jitz-broz.
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| Dramatic interpretation.... |
-White-belt leg reaping (banned for white belts) and stopping
overtime when there was a transition from one submission to another (time
should continue to accumulate) happened multi-times. The way these issues were
addressed varied from mat to mat, and form referee to referee. There should be
a consistent protocol to deal with those two issues. Before people flip-out on
me, this is a referee training issues, not a personal attack on the referees,
they are just doing their best.
-Finally, the venue is not ideal. There are a lot of people
around the mats, on them…just milling about like cattle. It is cool, to have
such an up-close experience. But, it is a safety issue. A high school gym with
roped off mat areas is the way to go. I understand you work with what you have,
but a change in venue would really take the tourney to the next level.
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| Even more dramatic interpretation.... |
Summary:
If you are a white belt or blue belt and want to do a
tournament where you don’t have to count points, this is a great start
(especially if you are in central Iowa). The staff is helpful and friendly, the
tournament moves at a nice clip and the medals are really cool. If you are an
upper belt, you may get a match or two…or none. At $80 for two divisions to
roll with the same guy 2 times seems steep. However, some of that is on the
Iowa BJJ community. A tournament can only put out competitors who pay and show
up. Hopefully, all those white and blue belts keep coming to the tourney when
they are purple and brown.
