Silver in the Steel City!

Yep, that's right I took second in my division in the PA Open. Out of two. I fought a 275 orange belt. He was just a little bit faster, more aggressive and skilled then me. But it was enough. He pinned me the first round after I gave up a pin and a submission. We were playing double elimination and due to the fact he was the only other competitor in my weight class I fought him again loosing a handful of seconds into the round from an Osoto-Gari. I didn't even see it coming.

Overall I thought the tournament was well run, a little discombobulated with a wide variance in the quality of the judging but overall it was well attended and well run. I would gladly drive to Pittsburgh again next year.

As a personal reflection, I need to loose some weight, a lot of weight. I need to improve my ground game especially my pin escapes. I've known this for a month or two now but I really need to focus on it. I may see if one of the Sensei in my club can work with me and really focus on escapes, once I got caught in the pin the first round I panicked and I need to not do that. My standing game.... I need a standing game. I know throws yet I find it hard to execute them in both practice and competition. But most importantly I need to get used to the higher intensity of competition play and the only way to do that is to go out and fight in another tournament.

Overall, I thought it was an amazing experience and I'm looking forward to my next fight.