Irish BJJ over the next few years!!

EnjoyChoke

Just to mirror the thread on the MMA forum and having just found out that BJJ and MMA aren't the same thing:

"Where do you see Irish MMA BJJ progressing to over the next 2 -3 years? ...............Discuss "

arybvtcw0eolkf

Good question/thread.

It's got the potential to become huge, its only in its infancy at the moment and its a style that has been marketed very well and has captured the imagination of a new generation of people wishing to become involved in M.A..

Jason McCabe

Should it be called Irish Jiu-Jitsu?

NG-DOC

I think the most obvious progression will be in the number of homegrown higher belts.

I think it's fair to say that 3 years from now we could easily have 3/4 more black belts and anywhere between 5 and 15 more browns.

This too presumably will lead to more clubs being opened. Whether this is a good or a bad thing i suppose is a different discussion.

I feel like we could easily have 500 odd people competing at the Irish Open, making it attractive enough for players from england to want to compete.

I would also hope for a stronger competition scene. While there are lots of people making efforts to run tournaments, for the most part they simply don't get the attendance. So i would hope for more regular, better attended and most importantly properly run tournaments.

Pontificatus

I expect it to go from excellent to awesome.

The Irish BJJ association could have a very positive impact on the competition scene by having a hand in organising more events in each province. Having two events in each province (one gi and one no gi) every year as well as the Irish open would make nine events minimum per year. Obviously there would be others but having that many well organised and well attended events each year would be the making of BJJ in Ireland.

The inclusion of U16s in more events will also ensure the strength of whats to come.

EnjoyChoke

Jason McCabe wrote: »

Should it be called Irish Jiu-Jitsu?

Yes of course it should. Leave it with me, I'll get the entire sport renamed.

EnjoyChoke

NG-DOC wrote: »

I think the most obvious progression will be in the number of homegrown higher belts.

I think it's fair to say that 3 years from now we could easily have 3/4 more black belts and anywhere between 5 and 15 more browns.

This too presumably will lead to more clubs being opened. Whether this is a good or a bad thing i suppose is a different discussion.

I feel like we could easily have 500 odd people competing at the Irish Open, making it attractive enough for players from england to want to compete.

I would also hope for a stronger competition scene. While there are lots of people making efforts to run tournaments, for the most part they simply don't get the attendance. So i would hope for more regular, better attended and most importantly properly run tournaments.

Much as I'd love to see it, I can't see us hitting 500 competitors at an Irish comp within the next 3 years.
We'll break the 200 mark, with a bit of luck, and have the first brown belt division.
This year has probably been the best year so far for homegrown competitions, 9 Gi/NoGi including the upcoming ones. I'd like to see all these as regular fixtures and the attendences stepped up.

weemate

A positive note for me was at the referees course in Cork.For the first time most of teh main coaches in the country were in the same room so the calendar for grappling tournaments were able to be organised so that they dont clash with anything.I think there should be a gi/no gi event every month for the next few months starting in Belfast [ no gi ] Dublin [ gi ] Dublin [ no gi ] then Belfast [ gi ] etc.
I predict that we should have at least two/three more black belts in the new year along with a few new browns.There should be an Irish team at the European event in january to compliment the bigger Irish turn out in Portugal.
From there,with the formation of the IBJJA I can only see big things for the sport.

NG-DOC

EnjoyChoke wrote: »

Much as I'd love to see it, I can't see us hitting 500 competitors at an Irish comp within the next 3 years.
We'll break the 200 mark, with a bit of luck, and have the first brown belt division.
This year has probably been the best year so far for homegrown competitions, 9 Gi/NoGi including the upcoming ones. I'd like to see all these as regular fixtures and the attendences stepped up.

Maybe i over estimated a little

I guess the Irish Open this year could be an indicator of how much BJJ has grown.

Out of curiosity does anyone know what the biggest attendance at an irish open has been? or what the best attendance at any tournament has been? 100/200 people?

Barry.Oglesby

We had 130 at the first informed performance submission tournament in August 2009. I think that was the biggest but Dave Jones reckons there was more at the first King of the Mat. either way it's around the 120-140 mark.

I'm hoping to have that at the next informed performance tournament in November.

Liam_B

The Sports only going to get more popular in my opinion.

We're getting more organized in Ireland & with regular competitions that are run by IBJJF regulations, which will help the competitiors familiarize themselves with the rules.
As mentioned getting everyone together on the same page does help a great deal.

A Sport that has has a Senior II III category in competition , is a statement in itself ,that you can enjoy Jiujitsu into your mature years.

Plus, a lot of Irish boys are competing Internationally and taking positions on the podium representing their Country. As long as we can support the growth of the Sport here and the Irish practitioners/Competitors, it will only Grow Bigger in the next couple of Years.

Jason McCabe

EnjoyChoke wrote: »

Yes of course it should. Leave it with me, I'll get the entire sport renamed.

good chap

Barry.Oglesby

I think it will grow but as I'm sure everybody knows I'm a pessimist. I just don't think the competitive element is high enough yet. The Irish Open last year had a lot of uncontested divisions and it wasn't nice to see lads going home with medals but no fights. It's a shame because there are so many people training.

As for the level of practitioner, well it's easier to be optimistic about that . There's some savage lads about! that being said greater cooperation and cross pollination is needed, especially among gyms like mine where the highest belt is purple. I'm already rolling with loads of lads from other gyms right now and I think there's a general recognition that we all need to do that more.

EnjoyChoke

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I think it will grow but as I'm sure everybody knows I'm a pessimist. I just don't think the competitive element is high enough yet. The Irish Open last year had a lot of uncontested divisions and it wasn't nice to see lads going home with medals but no fights. It's a shame because there are so many people training.

I not sure we should ever see it as "high enough", there should always be a drive to be bigger and better.
The Munster open was a huge step forward for Irish BJJ competition IMO. Not many uncontested divisions there. This can easily be built upon.

wrote:

As for the level of practitioner, well it's easier to be optimistic about that . There's some savage lads about! that being said greater cooperation and cross pollination is needed, especially among gyms like mine where the highest belt is purple. I'm already rolling with loads of lads from other gyms right now and I think there's a general recognition that we all need to do that more.

Agreed