Why I Started Competing

Why I Started Competing

When I started Jiu-Jitsu, I loved it. I was obsessed. I wanted to train all the time. However, I trained for almost two years before I jumped into a competition. Why did I decide to compete? Like many women, I was often the only girl on the mats at my gym and usually only had the opportunity to train with men. I wanted to test myself again other girls who were the same size and skill level. I wanted to get an accurate measurement of my Jiu-Jitsu skills. I competed at several local tournaments, with success, then decided to try a big one. Now I wanted to test and see how I could hold up against the best in the world. And I found that I could still hang. At this point I started to think, “Well shoot, maybe I could actually do this.”

Why do I compete now? Competition is a constant test of my abilities and improvement. When you train with the same people everyday, it can be difficult to see improvement. Your training partners know your game. They are also improving at the same time. Every time I compete, I notice an area of growth.

I also learn a lot from competing. Competition points out my weaknesses in a very blatant way. In the past, when I would lose in the gym, it was easy sometimes to blame the loss on a size or strength difference. Against someone my size? There were no excuses. I needed to be able to beat her, and I was going to figure out how. Every time I compete, win or lose, I go back home, study the matches, and figure out what I can do better.

Competing pits me against styles I don't normally deal with and forces me to problem solve on the spot. It forces me to perform under stress, with the pressures of the tournament weighing on me. And finally, it is a big motivator for my training. I always push myself harder in daily training if I know I have a competition coming up. 

I always gain a lot from competing, win or lose. And, of course, it's always a great feeling to win. 

By

Nikki Sullivan