Getting ready for states and worlds 2010

Today was a productive day of training and conditioning. Feeling sharp for States and Worlds. Gonna diet down so im comfortable to enter Pluma. I normally enter leve but noy anymore. Im done entering weight classes i know i dont belong in lol.

Gonna sleep soon and get up for yoga with dad in the morning then finish up some school stuff.

Night ladies and gents ^^

My experiences this past month of travelling/competing 2/2

A few days after i got back home I left for California with my brother Kevin for the Pan Ams. We both had a lot of confidence that we were going to dominate the Pan Ams this year. We got to the hotel and we just chilled. Hung around the big malls in Orange County and went camera shopping. Ended up getting a pretty hot camera to take pictures and record everything in Cali. On Thursday it was kevins day to fight. Im checking on ring coordinators and making sure when he goes and etc. He has his first fight and wins real quick. He told me he felt light headed though which isnt normal for Kevin, i dont know, i was worried. Second fight was kevins but one little error cost him the match and he lost by points which was unfortunate. His head wasn't right. He's going to fight in Abu Dhabi, UAE this week. I know he will be focused and ready to fight to his best and perform then. Friday is my time to fight, i feel calm and ready to perform. im not to nervous or anything. I recall looking into the mirror and not feeling cut up or anything lol.. I mean in Poland less than two weeks earlier I fought at 143lbs and in Cali im fighting at 167lbs (u weigh in right before fight with gi on). so ya its good to not cut weight. But its reasonable to think that i probably lost some strength from my cut to 143. But ya whatever i hate making excuses, long story short I didnt really get a chance to get my game going. I had moment where i had sweeps, but i didnt complete them for the points, so that was frustrating. Ended up losing by points and it was disappointing. But its okay.. Even after that loss i became more motivated than ever to compete at the right weight class and perform. I felt just as motivated in defeat as i did after my big win in Poland. Thats whats going to make me better. Motivation will always make me train harder, open my mind always and let my game grow and diversify.. For the rest of the weekend me and Kevin just watched the Brown and Black belts and it was a treat to see the newest variations of guard games that are being played. Really openned my mind to so many possibilities that work right into my game that i cant wait to implement and play with when i get back into the gym.

I also met up with a buddy of mine Chris who I've known since middle school that i met online, so that was pretty cool to finally meet him and chill and stuff.

Me and kevin didnt see much in Orange County really as far as sights and attractions go. But i had an amazing time there and cant wait to go back for Worlds in June.

I left for the airport sunday evening and said bye to kevin and wished him luck and all that stuff for him at Abu Dhabi. He's fighting this week and has to drop down to 149.9lb which isnt the easiest of cuts for him. But i know he'll make the weight and put on his BEST performance to date.

I just boarded onto this plane to Atlanta. I should maybe wrap this post up. Fortunately im about done ^^!!

This experience was amazing and I cant wait to get back to training to only evolve my game further and continue living my dream and making my many dreams come true.

I've made many dreams come true, but I have so many more to chase.

My experiences this past month of travelling/competing 1/2

so im sitting against a pole in Denver, Co waiting to board on a connecting flight to Atlanta, then one to Fort Lauderdale.

I feel that nows a good time to make a post about my experiences the past month or so of travelling and competing.

In the past month of travelling i have had some all-time high's and some unfortunate lows in competition.

On March 24th i flew out to Krakow, Poland to compete in the 3rd FILA World Grappling Championships as part of the Usa national grappling team. I didnt know what to expect, i just reminded myself that being part of this tournament and this experience is huge already. FILA's ruleset for Grappling will most likely be the ruleset that will be the official olympic rules once Grappling becomes an official olympic sport. So when FILA hosts these world championships, countries from all over the world come out to fight. This year there were a record number of countries attending this year. One fighter from each country fought in each weight class. My division was 65kg gi, which wasnt an easy weight for me to make. But i made it with the help of Coach Sheldon. I weighed in Friday and was scheduled to fight on sunday so I decided to scout my competition saturday during the no-gi day. It was amazing to see how this sport has really separated itself from jiu jitsu and american wrestling. There were fighters from all different walks of grappling arts. You had high level Sambo guys catching Jiu jitsu guys. Catch wrestlers footlocking the shit out of sambo fighters. It was nice to see and it openned my eyes to the possibilities of this young sport. When sunday came around I was obviously nervous, not sure how things would turn out but a big part of me knew I had the skills to go out there and perform to the best of my abilities. I saw my buddy and training partner Din lose his 1st fight right before my 1st fight and it kinda woke me up about how careful i gotta be with the rules and etc. The ruleset could fuck over jiu jitsu guys if they arent careful. So i stayed sharp and my first fight was against a tough Sambo fighter from Azerbaijan. I stayed sharp and won the fight a couple minutes in. Between fights i chilled in sitting split with my chest on the floor, its a powerful yoga stretch my dad always has us do in his yoga class. I told myself that i need this and thought of all the positive energy my friends and family are throwing my way. When my second match came around against Mongolia, i felt dominant. Played a smothering top game, but match went to overtime. Was really close, i got the sweep in the last 20 seconds and won. Before the finals i remember listening to Minus the Bear - Throwin Shapes and the best part came on right as it was time for me to step on to the mat. I remember throwing the headphones off as I was walking onto the mat for the finals. My final fight was against Poland, which put together a tough team since we were in their country. The match starts and i get a point for a sweep right away and play more of my top game. It turns into a butterfly defense match. At one point i got caught in a slick armbar and scrambled harder than i have ever scrambled to get out of a armbar and survived and landed into side briefly. I rode this guy out and won in an intense as hell fight. Was my biggest win to date and it felt great. Afterwards while eatting with the team and etc i remember feeling more motivated than ever to improve and just perform 10x better next time.

After the tournament was done I stayed in Poland for an extra 3 days or so to see the city and etc. It was really nice, i stayed in a hostel which was interesting. I saw auschwitz which was something i knew i had to see if Im in Poland. Then i just hung around the city center and sampled all the tasty foods that Poland had to offer for me. I went shopping and got me some nice polishy clothes lol. I could of seen more sights and etc but I just wanted to relax and see the city and come home. I was real homesick, i just wanted to come home and celebrate with friends and family.

When i came back home i was thinking maybe everyone forgot about my win in Poland or something. That wasnt the case at all, everyone was real happy to see me and congratulated me. My instructor and training partners were all proud of me, and it felt great. I missed all my friends and family so much.

.

10 more days.

good training, feeling sharp

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Poland!

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good weekend, good tournament!

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