2014 continues to be a good year for me on the mat. So far I’ve attended 4 tournaments and have won my weight category in 3 of them. This past weekend (Saturday, April 4th) I participated in the 27th Annual Liberty Bell Judo Classic on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and won my weight category. With the win, my national ranking in 48kg jumped up to number 7.
The weekend was a long one, but rewarding, nonetheless. The weekend started with a four hour trip to Philly (right after work) on Friday, in order to make it in time for registration and weigh-ins. I easily made weight (47.6kg), saw some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while, then headed to get some grub at Chipotle. Saturday was quite exhausting (as you can probably imagine). The tournament started bright and early at 9am—I don’t think I got on the mat until after 1pm. While I was waiting to fight, I was able to watch and cheer on some of my teammates.
I only had 3 matches, but two of them were against girls I had never fought before—so it was nice to experience a fighting style different from my own. All three of my matches were won on the ground. Two were won via a move called Sankaku-Jime (or triangle choke/pin) and the other was won by a pin called Kesa Gatame. Winning this tournament gives me a “D-level” ranking on the national roster and 3 points. It doesn’t sound like much, but it puts me one step closer to reaching my goal for 2014—to be ranked #1 in the US in 48kg.
The weekend was a long one, but rewarding, nonetheless. The weekend started with a four hour trip to Philly (right after work) on Friday, in order to make it in time for registration and weigh-ins. I easily made weight (47.6kg), saw some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while, then headed to get some grub at Chipotle. Saturday was quite exhausting (as you can probably imagine). The tournament started bright and early at 9am—I don’t think I got on the mat until after 1pm. While I was waiting to fight, I was able to watch and cheer on some of my teammates.
I only had 3 matches, but two of them were against girls I had never fought before—so it was nice to experience a fighting style different from my own. All three of my matches were won on the ground. Two were won via a move called Sankaku-Jime (or triangle choke/pin) and the other was won by a pin called Kesa Gatame. Winning this tournament gives me a “D-level” ranking on the national roster and 3 points. It doesn’t sound like much, but it puts me one step closer to reaching my goal for 2014—to be ranked #1 in the US in 48kg.