Who Should Compete, Come to Competition Class, and How Should You Do It

By Adam Peterson

Who should do competition class: EVERYONE! This class is a great class to get more rounds in and
work specific sparring, which is invaluable to learning and getting better. This is not just a class for those
who are going to compete, and the more people who attend, the more it helps competitors out with a
variety of partners and jiu jitsu styles. Don’t be deterred by the name of the class but if you do come, you
must power through and do the rounds. Rests are only designated by coaches. It’s only going to
improve your game and fitness!

Who should compete: Anyone that wants to give honest effort and work hard towards a goal.
Competition is not something to be done “just to experience it” or “to have fun with it”. If you’re going to
compete, the goal should be to win. This is not the guaranteed end result but if you don’t go in with a
Win mentally, you don’t even have a chance.

When am I ready to compete: This will differ from student to student. But if you don’t know basic
submissions/ sweeps/ passes and don’t pull off submissions/sweeps/passes in rounds, you are not
ready to compete. When getting ready to compete, you should be able to hold your own against at least
one belt above your level. You should be giving everyone your size and belt level hard rounds, and
“winning“ most of them. If you’re not, and you don’t know the name and applications of sweeps, passes,
and submissions, you are not ready to compete. It’s better to focus on getting to that point and then
compete. Otherwise, you’re not going into the competition with the Win mentality, rather the let’s see
and have fun mentality, which I’ve witnessed is ultimately never, ever fun.

I get people want to test themselves, but over the years I’ve seen competition ruin more people than
build them up, and it’s usually their own doing by not being properly prepared to compete. You can be
certain that there will be people in the division who are prepared, and you don’t want to face them
without being in that same space. If you are and you lose, it’s part of the game, and a good spot to build
on. There is no shame in not winning, but not going in 1000% prepared is something that should never
happen.

In any competition season, people who want to compete must be doing multiple classes and
Competition Class if they want coaches to be there to support and coach them. If coaches are going to
take their time to be there, the student must do their part by preparing the right way.
Anyone can come to competition class, whether you’re planning to compete or not, the more the merrier.
It always helps our competitors to have as many styles and people to train with as they can and it makes
you part of the comp team, helping push people to get better and give their best even if you yourself
don’t want to compete.

If you’re going to compete, here are some requirements. If you’re planning on competing, this should be
the bare minimum, but we are setting a standard for our school and people looking to compete. This will
give us all our best shot at winning.

Moves- Need to be able to describe moves and apply them in a drilling session

• How to properly pull guard
• How to stuff a takedown ◦ How to do one takedown
• Triangle from guard – Any guard
• Armbar from guard -Any guard
• Sweep from guard – Any guard
• Sweep from half guard
• Recovering to a guard from side control
• Recovering to a guard from mount
• Guard Passing
  • Ability to open and pass a closed guard
  • Passing an open guard
  • Passing a half guard
• Submission from side control – Any submission
• Submission from mount – any submission

If you are looking to compete, you should also understand what that means. Our instructor Josh Griffiths
of Clockwork BJJ recently said, “if you are not doing well against people your own size/age/rank in
class, there is not a real benefit of competing”. You should be in a position of being able to control other
people about your level. Otherwise, it would benefit you more to try and get to that point than to
compete.