#rollapalooza

[vivid-pink10]

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[vivid-pink10]

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[noegobjj]

Extremely proud of how these guys showed up everyday for competition training and fought with all their hearts during today's Rollapalooza tournament. It was an awesome experience coaching them, especially for the 1st time competitors, who went out of their comfort zone to handle pressure and push themselves to do their very best. As for me, it was excellent prep to get my feet wet for next week's Asian Open at Japan. On to the next one👊

[sleepingwiththesunrise]

Circa 2015👊🏼 Just a few moments before this shot was taken, we had our game faces on, dying to throw/take the other down for the 2 points😂😂 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one hell of a competitive sport, but I'm happy that at the end of the day, we are all friends who share the same passion and love for it, regardless of what team we're on❤️🥋🏆(Dahil hindi kita nasama sa post ko last time😝) #rollapalooza #bjjgirls #penagirls #deftac #atos #ribeirojiujitsu #bjj #girlsingis #jiujitsulifestyle (at Fisher Mall)

[fxckmnm]

[noegobjj]

Rollapalooza pics.

Pictures were taken by me.

[noegobjj]

Easy Like Sunday Morning.

I don't like waking up early on Sunday mornings.

Last Sunday, July 1, was no exception. But then, I decided to join the Rollapalooza, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, held at Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) at 8am (supposedly). Upon making that decision, I made a commitment to myself to go and everything else followed such as waking up early for my pre-competition rituals. 

Me and my SS (you're not supposed to know whatever that means) buddies Mr. Mori, Nikko and Ace met up at our gym, BAMF MMA, to ride together in 1 car. Since we were still early, we stopped by Mc Donald's at C-5 to have breakfast. They took time having breakfast and then had an easy Sunday drive to Katipunan to head to ADMU. This is what Sundays are supposed to be: relaxing. Just the same way teammates have told me that Rollapalooza was "chill" jits at its finest.

We arrive at the event on time despite getting lost in the university. Everyone was pretty much relaxed and so was I. Andrew, who always advises us white belts, said to just play our game and enjoy. A spark hit my mind with a thought of doing a move I've never done before but always wanted to pull off, a flying triangle! So I'm called to my 1st match, I approach the mats with little to no hint of nervousness in me. I circle around the opponent for a while, grab his lapel, jump, put my right leg over his neck for an "attempt" at a flying triangle. Haha! It was so nice to try to pull something you've never done before. It makes things fun. I've never actually done that before but I've always "fantasized" about it. Of course, I never was able to pull out that submission but at least I did something I've always wanted to do. I won the match despite a 0-0 score, I'm assuming because of my aggressiveness. Honestly, even if I did not win that match and still attempted to do the flying triangle, it would've been fine with me. Bottom line, I thought that was fun. I'm trying to enjoy every bit of jiu-jitsu, this time by experimenting. But on a serious note, Andrew and May said I have to work on my sweeps from the closed guard. Advise very well taken and will focus on improvement on that skill. On my 2nd match, I lost via arm-bar within a minute. This was the very 1st time for me in competition to lose via submission in a minute's time. Boo-hoo. I cry. Not! For me a defeat and also victory is part of the past that the ego should not carry.

Let me put it this way, if I lose a match, that doesn't mean I'm no good and a loser. It simply means I have to put on more work on my game and learn from mistakes. Remember? Win or Learn. Simply put. Also I've also come to the fact that though we train hard, some guys went ahead of us. I mean its simple hierarchy, that we have to accept. Some new practitioner may work harder than us but if we've been training ahead of him for years, I'm pretty sure that he'll have a pretty difficult time catching up, if you continue to do what you do, which is training. 

With winning or eventually becoming champion (which someday I will become), I don't think we should carry that mentality that I'm forever champion. That takes the drive and motivation to stay on top and stay hungry for more. This so called "swag" you hear nowadays is for me stupid without the drive, motivation, passion and hard work. Being a winner is not how you carry yourself, it's who you are and how you act and how you perform. Period.

After the tournament, we stopped by a resto and had a little snack and grabbed a couple of beers to unwind. It was nice having ice cold beer after a tiring day and chilling out with my teammates, Mori and Nikko. Jiu-jitsu in the day, cold beer after with good friends. What more can you ask for in a Sunday? Waking up early wasn't that bad after all.