13. Stress Relief

I competed in the 2014 BYU/UVU Jiu Jitsu tournament as a capstone to my BYU martial arts class. I had a good time competing at the end of the year. The competition taught me a few things on how to improve as a Jui Jitsu fighter, things that would have been good to know before my first tournament. Hopefully I will be able to internalize them moving forward. First of all, don’t rely on the scrambling process I learned through wrestling. I was a good wrestling scrambler, which helped me to gain and maintain position throughout the tournament. Unfortunately wrestling scrambling doesn’t account for triangle chokes (see picture), which I learned the hard way in my finals match. Also I learned the value of going to the BYU Brazilian Jui Jitsu club. By spending time after class and in the club with people more knowledgeable and experienced than myself, I was able to learn a few new moves that I utilized at this level of competition. By knowing moves your opponents have never seen, you have the ability to surprise your opponent and get a submission when they thought that they were safe. This martial arts class has been a great way for me to stay active and enjoy myself this semester. I am so glad that I was able to translate over from wrestling, to keep part of that history with me. This has been an awesome thing for me.