How to Take the Mat like a Pro During Your First Grappling Tournament
by Scott Buendia
My first grappling tournament was a nerve-racking experience. I had not eaten in four hours, which is a long story, before I hit the mat. So I saw a little bit of adversity even before it hit the mat but I still did, as I placed second in the grappling tournament because I was able to stay relaxed in bad situations. Even against opponents who I knew nothing about and especially didn’t know how long they had grappled in their careers, I was able to stay relaxed. So the first key in your first grappling tournament, and if you can do this you will do well, is to stay relaxed, and with that in mind here some tips to help you get ready for your first grappling tournament
Experience tells me in my grappling tournament experience and also coaching other people in their grappling tournament experience that the rules are very important, which seems very obvious but it’s really not. You should always check the rules to see what moves are allowed and which moves are disallowed. I have seen many competitors be disqualified because they use illegal moves or slam their opponent to the mat (which has never been allowed in any grappling tournament Ive seen or been involved with).
This is a really easy thing that a lot of people overlook when they get into a grappling tournament. I’ve seen in the people’s days come to an end, because they just did not look at the rules. Do not let this happen to you. Do not let yourself get into the championship round only to lose because, you did not look at the rules carefully. So my best advice to you is to train inside of those rules at least three to four weeks outside of the competition, whether if its with a partner, youre grappling dummy or in your mind, you should be ready to grapple underneath those rules. This will help you tremendously when you get into the grappling situation.
Pre-match rituals will help you be as prepared as possible before you roll on the mat. NBA players are notorious for having rituals before they shoot their free-throw shots. This helps them feel relaxed and at ease amidst of the distractions of the game.
So you would do well in programming yourself with the pregame ritual. You must feel as relaxed as possible before you start rolling with someone you know nothing about, because you never know what moves they may pull out of their hat or what sweeps they may use. You must be prepared for everything and you must be prepared to stay relaxed, no matter what situation comes to you, because if you feel stress it will weaken you it will cause your adrenal system to flood and you will feel tired. Before, you should so make sure you have a pregame ritual worked out for yourself whether it’s stretching exercising, whatever it may be make sure you have it.
You should have the in match ritual as well. This idea come from NLP, this term refers to the ability of the brain to encode a feeling of an action. For example, Jason Kidds in game ritual of making a kissing gesture towards the basket conjures up the feeling of being relaxed for him and the image of making the shot.
So an action as easy as snapping your fingers could conjure up the feeling of being relaxed in the match. This will be tremendously helpful if you get caught in some sort of situation where you’re about to get submitted and you feel stressed. You just need to block the stress out and feel relaxed and find your way out, if you’re too worried about being submitted, you will not find your way out, and you will be locked in to the submission much faster. So you must have an in match ritual, and you must have it down pat. You must train this is much as possible, so when the time comes you can pull it out, escape the maneuver, whatever it might be at maximum speed, with maximum efficiency.
The most obvious thing I’ve kept for last because you know you should be doing this anyway, but I’m going to tell you a particular way that you should be doing it. You should, of course, be working out before you into your grappling tournament as much as possible. Now, what you want to do when you’re working out is to keep the movements as close to the tournament that you are going to be competing in for example; if I am doing a basketball tournament then I am not going to grapple for many hours on end because it makes no sense. The movement is not related to the activity that in doing so, I am going to feel tired more quickly than someone who has been playing basketball for a couple weeks. So you should keep your exercises to things that are similar to ground movements. If you can do this you will have an edge up on everyone else. You should make your grappling with your strength training with an interval format; if you can do this you will find great benefits in your cardio and your strength when you grapple.
I hope you’ve taken notes, because all these tips will help you tremendously when you get into your grappling tournament and hopefully all the skill that you have cultivated will come out as long as you stay relaxed and you are properly trained for the tournament mentally and physically. And remember you should have the right rituals to go along with those attributes. Staying relaxed will keep you out of trouble in the grappling tournament when you roll into submissions as you will, and will help you get out of them. You must stay relaxed. I wish you luck in all your grappling endeavors
Scott Buendia is an expert author and martial artist and he gives lessons at his Hillsboro martial arts school. Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.