In house competitions.

EnjoyChoke

How would you rate the value of these vs open competition?

Chris89

Apart from the obvious marginal increase in effort, there isn't much diff between an in house comp and rolling during a class as far as I can tell.

Some people do treat rolling like it was the abu dhabi pro trials though!

In saying that, they are definitely fun!

Dermighty

Chris89 wrote: »

Some people do treat rolling like it was the abu dhabi pro trials though!

I find it a bit ambiguous to be honest. I generally respond with the same amount of force I receive.

Lack of technique means I'll use more strength. Something that goes away with more training. So be patient with me :P

dasmoose

I think they're great to use as well as open competitions, Gracie Barra tends to have them shortly before bigger comps and QUB has actually started having one every month inviting one or two other clubs along, it's definitely good for guys who are maybe wavering over whether to compete or not as they can get their feet wet without as much pressure and come as close to competition circumstances as possible, its a good halfway house in my opinion.

Good practise as well for those organising and refereeing.

Doug Cartel

I think there great, as long as you don't take them too serious.

For beginners they help you get used to the rules and ceremonies. For more advanced people they let you work on the strategy and tactics you don't think about too much when you're doing regular practice.

They're nothing like real competitions for testing ability though.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Doug Cartel wrote: »

I think there great, as long as you don't take them too serious.

For beginners they help you get used to the rules and ceremonies. For more advanced people they let you work on the strategy and tactics you don't think about too much when you're doing regular practice.

They're nothing like real competitions for testing ability though.

This is more or less my experience of them too.

We'd do some shia randori (I think thats the spelling) coming up to competitions & gradings.. Tbh, I treat it like the real thing.

Esp for the beginner preparing for competition I think they're an invaluable learning tool as one of the biggest, and first, mistakes an inexperienced Judoka will do is fail to follow the fight to the ground after a throw. Or if they do, they stop almost immediately to see if the ref has scored them a point - it helps the experienced get over this little hurdle.

EnjoyChoke

dasmoose wrote: »

I think they're great to use as well as open competitions, Gracie Barra tends to have them shortly before bigger comps and QUB has actually started having one every month inviting one or two other clubs along, it's definitely good for guys who are maybe wavering over whether to compete or not as they can get their feet wet without as much pressure and come as close to competition circumstances as possible, its a good halfway house in my opinion.

Good practise as well for those organising and refereeing.

This to me is the perfect way to use them, small informal comps on the run up to bigger ones, possibly with an invite to other clubs to have a bash if they want.
I've seen a couple of submission grappling competitions recently that are closed door only. Haven't seen any of their guys compete in the open comps either. Any thoughts?

dasmoose

EnjoyChoke wrote: »

This to me is the perfect way to use them, small informal comps on the run up to bigger ones, possibly with an invite to other clubs to have a bash if they want.
I've seen a couple of submission grappling competitions recently that are closed door only. Haven't seen any of their guys compete in the open comps either. Any thoughts?

Name some names

I'm sure you've the same opinion as i do, it's self-deluding, i'd rather get knocked out in the first round of a big comp than be the big fish in the tiny pond of a single club...altho that wouldn't be an option either unless several people all got hit by a bus one morning...

Doug Cartel

Wait a sec, you guys are talking about formal closed door competitions? Those are super lame-o.

I thought you were talking about the situation where the coach says "OK boys and girls, today we're sparring one pair at a time, I'm going to apply all the rules strictly, one of you will be declared a winner, and if you eff-up in any way, there's not going to be any second chances".

If you're talking about the situation where somebody keeps a record of who won, or god forbid, there are meddles handed out, that's not something I condone.

EnjoyChoke

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Wait a sec, you guys are talking about formal closed door competitions? Those are super lame-o.

I thought you were talking about the situation where the coach says "OK boys and girls, today we're sparring one pair at a time, I'm going to apply all the rules strictly, one of you will be declared a winner, and if you eff-up in any way, there's not going to be any second chances".

If you're talking about the situation where somebody keeps a record of who won, or god forbid, there are meddles handed out, that's not something I condone.

Can't say I disagree with you Doug.
Begs the question why would a club only participate in formal in-house competition, without inviting any external competitors and then not compete in any open ones?

mmaireland.com

We run an inhouse one twice a year ourselves. It's great for lads that are still very early on and aren't really sure whether they like the idea of competing at all. We invite other clubs to join in from time to time. Doug hit the nail on the head really; great to get used to the "ceremony" and the feeling of being "watched by everybody as you try to win" but ultimately, a fun start on the competitive ladder with no risk. Some people are happy to "compete" amongst friends but are just to nervous to compete "outside".

I think, in fairness, open amateur competition is taken so seriously that it puts off those that are less competitive by nature from getting stuck and and enjoying themselves (fear of embarrassment).

So, we do them for fun, we sometimes invite outside gyms and associates, and everybody has a great laugh and gets a feel for "competing in front of an audience".

Doug Cartel

Off topic, but I just noticed that last night I wrote "meddles" instead of "medals", and it caused me to spray my drink all over my keyboard laughing. In the office at work. With everyone looking.

Barry.Oglesby

We've had one or two in house comps, but we only do them for a laugh and usually we'll have a big vs. little, tag team or some other nonsense thing in them. We actually did an amateur MMA one last year which was good craic too.

The benefit is questionable though. It's good for getting your game face on and you might get a wee adrenaline dump. But really thats about it. If you get around a few gyms you'll know that every gym has a different feel to it in terms of how they roll and how they compete. The techniques might be the same but the aggression and the way people go about achieving the techniques can be totally different. So in terms of preparing you for competition I don't think it's any better than a good hard training session. We had a good buzz at our last one and there was a few beers afterwards too which was the real benefit .

As for only doing in house comps... well I've heard of gyms where external competition is banned, or where competing at certain events is banned. It smacks of fear more than anything else. If people go in and lose then they might leave right? I think that's something unique to martial arts. This idea that there's some "master" across the road who is better, taking steps to ensure no one leaves. It's probably sound business sense too.

My opinion is simple enough- you compete, you win some, you lose some, but you learn. I encourage my lads to get into sub wrestling/BJJ competition as early as possible. It only costs you €20 and you get priceless experience. The rolling classes in my gym would be competitive enough so I'll only hold competitive nights for a bit of fun.

Chris89

Dave ran a cool ow last Xmas. Prizes of toblerones and beer. A round robin format.
For some reason not many people showed up, too busy eating turkey and pud.
Dave had a bag of ping pong balls with submissions written on them. The more experienced guys needed to pick one before each roll and that was the only way they were allowed finish!
Evened the playing field out nicely so everyone was in with a chance of winning.

I had a great laugh and left with a few beers too.

Barry.Oglesby

Chris89 wrote: »

Dave ran a cool ow last Xmas. Prizes of toblerones and beer. A round robin format.
For some reason not many people showed up, too busy eating turkey and pud.
Dave had a bag of ping pong balls with submissions written on them. The more experienced guys needed to pick one before each roll and that was the only way they were allowed finish!
Evened the playing field out nicely so everyone was in with a chance of winning.

I had a great laugh and left with a few beers too.

Was that just a sneaky way of saying "I won our club's in house tournament?"

I like the ping pong ball idea and I will be stealing it.

Chris89

I didn't win!! Darragh did as usual. The runners up prizes just happened to be as generous as te 1st!!

Yeah the balls were cool. Great fun too when your opponent susses out what the move is, the ball picker an Dave were the only ones to know the move. Until it became obvious you were looking for a rnc and they just lay on their backs!!