A few months ago I decided I needed some grappling experience, so I signed up with the rest of my gym to compete at NAGA. I didn’t know what to expect. I just stuck to going to jiu jitsu class as much as I could, and rolling as frequently as possible.

The event was in Newark, NJ at Essex Community College in their sports gymnasium. It was a decent size gym, but for event like this they definitely needed a bigger venue. There had to be a thousand or so people, mostly being competitors. There were people from all around the world, from Venezuela to Toronto.

The way things were run went real smooth, but the volume of competitors made you wait for a long time. Basically, your division was called to a designated Mat (they were numbered). Then you give the ref a card that had your weight and division, then they create the brackets. Once your called up, and you get to work. You have to win by submission or points. Points are awarded for better positioning (mounting), take downs, and submission attempts. If you win, you go onto the bracket, but losers go home, unless you’re competing for 3rd place.

I ended up losing my first match, 2-8 which kind of sucks. I realized that I have to train harder because my competition is probably training harder. Competing is a real eye opener and not only that it tells you where you are training wise.

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