The In-House tournament that was postponed by Snowpocalypse came off today. it went much better than I had anticipated. The light classes recently had me concerned about the turn out, but, if anything, there were too many people there. Beth had a funeral that night and I refereed all day after doing a lot of bracketing. I had to leave before the No gi division happened as I was running very late.We had 5 purple in round robin division, a fair number of blues and a lot of white belts. I was disappointed that more girls weren't there, though. At least 8 clubs were represented if you count the Judo club as separate. The refereeing was a grind and really more than I wanted to do (my back was killing me for the next few days) but, it was good to see the club so well supported.
I saw a few old friends who came to show their support which was good. I didn't realize so many people had a problem with Regis. I think that was big part of the turn out from the other clubs, people felt they were treated unfairly or worse by Regis and wanted to show some support. I don't know all of the details for all of them of course, or how true some of it was, but I was a little surprised to hear so many people tell me different versions of the same story. I renewed some relationships and had a lot of requests to come train with other clubs, which was good to hear. I think I am going to start making a circuit visiting some of the other clubs. It will be good to see some different faces and training partners and be welcomed back into the BJJ community.
Not going to comment on any of the matches. I had 4 Judo people fight, Lex won his white belt division, Eric took second in Purple and Will and Shannon lost their first match in Blue (both losses shocked me. I didn't see Will's match, but Shannon was working on pulling guard, if the match was important to him, it would have been different, I think.) I saw some good ones and some bad ones and saw some things that need to be addressed as coaches.
The most common question I heard was about Zak and how good he really is. I told them he might not be the next American to win worlds at black belt, but that he will do it. Their was a lot of doubt. I actually bet one of the balance guys I know pretty well, $50 Zak will win a black belt mundials in the next 5 years. I also told him my idea if I was his manager. I always thought its a shame to see one of the best Americans in the sport living in his mom's basement and teaching white belts and blue belts when guys who aren't as good as him are making a crap load of money and flying all over the world competing and making dvds. The shelf life for a competitor to make his reputation and make some real money is short. One injury or missing some time or just failing to convert the opportunity and it's gone. I see JT Torres, Mike Fowler, and before JT, Ryan Hall flying all over competing in Japan, Brazil and Europe and doing super fights with the top guys in the weight class, making DVDs and a ton of money and fame. I don't think any of them are any better than Zak, but they are marketed and supported properly. Competitors are supposed to compete. I wish I had Zaks chance I would go to Lloyd and join his system. Lloyd is a good coach especially for competitors and is the best businessman in the sport and has made a career out of taking brown belts and making them into BJJ rock stars and those guys weren't as good as Zak is. JT has a DVD line out on taking the back. Zak should be doing one on the Oma Plata with videos all over the internet, signing autographs, beating off the BJJ groupies and fighting all over the world. Instead he's scrounging for sponsorship money to fly to San Diego and teaching white and blue belt classes in someone else's club. Youth is wasted on the young.
No sunday Judo class due to the In-House touornament. I have to skip Monday class because I spent so much time at the club on sunday so Beth will hve some time to get her work done.
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