Jujutsu Competitions

flynny51

Hi

I'm a "German Jujutsuka". German jujutsu has a bit of everything, we do a lot of self defence, judo, wrist locks, boxing, kicks and some ground work.

The club has a good few members but most only come for the self defence element. There's 2, maybe 3 of us that would be at a level where we could compete. We've had a few restrictions this year in that we've had a small hall and there haven't been any other experienced members to help out. Now we've secured a bigger hall for the coming college year so we're expecting the club to really take off.

I'm looking for an area we can compete that would be suitable. Strikes and grappling with the gi. I would imagine a lot of potential members for next year would be looking for a style that would allow them to compete. Also the more clubs compete, the more money we're given, so it will allow us to grow even more.

This is the wikipedia entry on german jujutsu competitions

wikipedia wrote:

The Fighting System involves one-on-one combat. Three phases are distinguished, each with slightly different rules. The round begins in the distance fighting phase. Once a grab has been made, the second phase is entered and strikes are no longer allowed. The third phase is entered when the Jujutsuka are down on the mat. Switching back and forth between all phases is possible, that is, if the Jujutsuka managed to stand up again the first or second phase would recommence.

Are there any competitions along these lines in Ireland? I know there's another german Jujutsu school in TCD and I've made contact with them. We're hoping to organise a few training sessions and maybe have a few friendly fights.

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Doug Cartel

You with Lars in TCD?

flynny51

I made a mistake in the OP. The other school was TCD We're in UCC.

Doug Cartel

Well I guess the first thing you could do would be to see if you could organise some randori with the judo club - see where you stand with regard people outside your club. Unfortunately as far as tournaments go, judo tends to be very bureaucratic, so you won't be able to take part in any real competition without joining organisations, getting insurance, etc.

Your other option is BJJ/sub-grappling, these competitions are usually a lot more open to people just signing up. I will say though, that unless you do a lot of ground work, you'll get torn up - even at the lower end of the skill level brackets.

You might also be interested in taking a look at the MMA league, and san-shou competitions. The MMA league is MMA (of course) but as far as I know it's geared towards newcomers. San-shou is a Chinese kickboxing format that allows a good bit of throws. There's one or two Opens each year, and I don't think you need to be a member of any organisation to enter.

flynny51

Thanks Doug, sadly that's exactly the post I was expecting. I really don't see any competitive avenue for the club. There doesn't seem to be anything like what we do in Ireland. I know it's huge in mainland Europe and there's a lot of full contact jujutsu in Poland and other eastern European countries.

For myself, I've rolled with a few bjj guys and been wrapped up in knots (I'm starting BJJ next week), my judo is poor enough - still I'm not particularly interested in judo alone. I've always been a better striker but I like to have the option to take someone down.

I think MMA is my best bet. I'm a huge fan and obviously you can gain loads of fighting experience. My gaf with it is, I've always been curious how it translates to real fighting and self defence. I don't think I'll ever have to defend myself from a sweaty topless attacker or at least I hope I won't!

Doug Cartel

flynny51 wrote: »

I think MMA is my best bet. I'm a huge fan and obviously you can gain loads of fighting experience.

Cool, just don't go rushing into it unprepared. Get some more basic competitions done first.

My gaf with it is, I've always been curious how it translates to real fighting and self defence. I don't think I'll ever have to defend myself from a sweaty topless attacker or at least I hope I won't!

You're trying to beat him up, and he's trying to beat you up, and that's pretty much how it translates to a real fight.

Clive

There's a sambo club in Galway, possibly others - perhaps you could organise an interclub with them?

Doug Cartel

I heard one of the Thai boxing places in Cork had SAMBO classes at one point, but I'm not sure if that's still going on. Wouldn't hurt to check it out.

OLDMAN1

there is a sports jujutsu assocation in ireland it was advertisied in the irish fighter a couple of issues ago, i dont know the full rules but it involves punching kicking and ground work in competitions, i dont know what level of contact they use, there is also a sports jututsu competition being held in kerry at the end of next month, it run by womma.

flynny51

Doug Cartel wrote: »

I heard one of the Thai boxing places in Cork had SAMBO classes at one point, but I'm not sure if that's still going on. Wouldn't hurt to check it out.

I think it's the same guy that teaches BJJ at the boxing clinic. I have a feeling though that it's just to complement BJJ / MMA out there. I don't think they're practicing sambo with the intent to fight in that style or under that rule set.

OLDMAN1 wrote:

there is a sports jujutsu assocation in ireland it was advertisied in the irish fighter a couple of issues ago, i dont know the full rules but it involves punching kicking and ground work in competitions, i dont know what level of contact they use, there is also a sports jututsu competition being held in kerry at the end of next month, it run by womma.

Thanks! That sounds promising. I googled around a bit and couldn't find much. There was an article on RTE about the irish sport jujitsu team. I'll contact Jiu-Jitsu Ireland and the Irish Ju-Jutsu Kai Association and a few others. They might be able to point me in the right direction.

dasmoose

flynny51 wrote: »

I think MMA is my best bet. I'm a huge fan and obviously you can gain loads of fighting experience. My gaf with it is, I've always been curious how it translates to real fighting and self defence. I don't think I'll ever have to defend myself from a sweaty topless attacker or at least I hope I won't!

Um... I'm sorry but you haven't spotted the dischord between having doubts about MMA and wanting to enter sport jujitsu competitions which - as far as i'm aware - are basically point sparring (i.e. resoundingly not full contact with 10 seconds of groundwork allowed?)

flynny51

dasmoose wrote: »

Um... I'm sorry but you haven't spotted the dischord between having doubts about MMA and wanting to enter sport jujitsu competitions which - as far as i'm aware - are basically point sparring (i.e. resoundingly not full contact with 10 seconds of groundwork allowed?)

I never said I don't have a have a problem with sport jujutsu either. I'm looking for a competitive avenue for the club to attract new members. Sport jujutsu is perfect for that.

There was another part to the thread. For my own training I would prefer something along the lines of MMA just with the gi. Obviously there's loads to gain from practicing MMA and I'm happy enough with that.

dasmoose

Sure, but in that case as someone who's interested in self-defence, why would you get new members to compete in something like that?

flynny51

I'm not getting them to compete. I'm giving them the option to compete if they want to. People like to compete, it's enjoyable and it allows them to put into practice a lot of what they learn in training. Surely you can see the benefit of that? If not purely for the enjoyment factor alone...

onlyasuggestion

flynny51 wrote: »

I think MMA is my best bet. I'm a huge fan and obviously you can gain loads of fighting experience. My gaf with it is, I've always been curious how it translates to real fighting and self defence. I don't think I'll ever have to defend myself from a sweaty topless attacker or at least I hope I won't!

While i see what you mean in many situations training against a topless attacker can be more similar to real combat than using a gi. For instance your average kind of clothing like a cotton t-shirt isn't going to hold if you start trying to use it like a gi to throw people around. That being said techniques involving the gi could obviously be duplicated on say a jacket's lapels. But somebody wearing a coat or a gi isn't going to stop your from using underhooks or wrist control or whatever so in some ways the nogi style is more transferable in a broad sense.

Doug Cartel

onlyasuggestion wrote: »

While i see what you mean in many situations training against a topless attacker can be more similar to real combat than using a gi. For instance your average kind of clothing like a cotton t-shirt isn't going to hold if you start trying to use it like a gi to throw people around.

You can choke someone out with a t-shirt and even a light jumper is enough to get grips for a throw. The big, heavy gis used in judo etc. are designed to survive hundreds of training sessions, not just one throw. The big thing you learn from MMA is dealing with someone who's seriously trying to fight you, what particular grips you use isn't as big a deal.