Oxford School of Martial Arts

Bristol Open 2007

Never again in a grading week! Usually after a grading day, OSMA staff need a few days to recover, but Sensei Mary decided it would be a good idea to enter the Bristol Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition on her day off. So she hauled herself out of bed to get there for a 10.30am registration, and spent 6 hours waiting to fight - plenty of time to wonder why she already felt like she'd gone 5 rounds with Rickson Gracie.

Unusually the women's heavyweight category was well attended, with a high class field from all over the country. OSMA's coach, Braulio Estima was away giving a seminar in Poland, so his brother Victor was deputising as mat coach for the day. Unfortunately the waiting got to  him and by the time Mary was finally called to the mats he had disappeared. So during the first round, she formed a strategy combining instinct and reversing the advice of the other girl's coach :) In Victor's defence however, Mary won the fight by submission using a special variation on the arm bar Victor taught her in her pre-competition training session.

Mary doesn't usually have a stamina problem, but was surprised to find she was numb and woolly after the first round. The second round was against the current European Silver medalist, and was a tough fight which took in nearly every positional variation of BJJ. Mary held her in guard for the first 2 minutes, then her opponent tried to pass - so Mary seized the opportunity to throw her and take the mounted position. From here she worked for a choke but could not break the opponents defence. Mary had just got a rear naked choke on, when time was called, so she won by several points.

However, only 5 minutes later it was round 3 against a girl who had had a bye in the first round and was fresh and ready for more! Mary went in with as much energy as a wrestling dummy. She avoided the takedown and frustrated her opponent by keeping the fight vertical for 2 minutes - knowing that the longer she kept it off the mats, the  longer she would last. Might have been a good idea to share this strategy with the coach - poor Victor (who had reappeared after his lunchbreak) could not understand why she kept passing up the opportunity to take the girl down and finally shouted - "Take her down Mary - do something!!" Mary looked at him and smiled, shrugged and  said "ok coach!" and took her down, could not keep her in guard and  spent the rest of the fight avoiding submission through pig  headedness. So it was Silver Medal, and a realisation that she was in fact suffering from a flu virus, which went some way to explaining why she ran out of gas in Round 1! 

But hey, the flu goes away but the  medal doesn't and it was excellent to get some more competitive mat experience against the best fighters in the country.

Some basic BJJ Terminology

Guard
A basic position of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One person has their back on the ground with their legs wrapped around the waist of their opponent who is facing them. The opponent typically keeps a low centre of gravity by resting on their knees.

Mount
Another basic position of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One person is laying with their back on the ground while their opponent is sitting on top of them above the waist.

Submission
Any kind of technique, be it a joint lock, choke, etc..., that causes the opponent to "tap out" or face serious injury or knock-out. A successful submission stops the match and gives victory to the person performing it.

Takedown
Any move from standing position that brings your opponent to the ground with you in a dominant position over them. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, takedowns must be performed with control.

Passing the Guard                                                                                                                                                       The fighter is in base within their opponents guard. From this position, the fighter must escape from within their opponents legs. This action is called passing the guard.

Rear Naked Choke                                                                                                                                                     This is a chokehold  applied from an opponent's back. Depending on the context, the term may refer to one of two variations of the technique. Either arm can be used to apply the choke in both cases.

ArmBar                                                                                                                                                                              An armlock which hyperextends the elbow joint is called an armbar.

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