Hudson Promotional

I really dont know what to say in this blog. Normally after a tournament I really just want some time off to relax and heal a bit. Normally after a tournament the only thing to talk about is how you won and why you lost. This tournament was much different but Ill start with the basics.

OK first things first Pocono Mountain Judo Club Did a really good job. Joe won 3 matches in a row to get his next belt. Chris Costello our instructor did a great job and had 3 great wins. I had 2 wins. Definately a solid performance in a tough competition. Also Tommy Costello, had a win and earned his last point for his black belt promotion and that was real cool to watch. His fights were really cool to watch.

Ok my fights. First this tournament is a lil different. Its a line up. Two guys go out to fight. Winner stays on to fight a new fresh heavier opponent all the way up the line. So you definately see some interesting matchups.

My first fight was against a guy my size. I had good grips the entire match and was really in no danger of being thrown. I tried a bunch of pick ups like uranage and te guruma but couldnt get scores and 2 of those throws counted against me both wazari and I was done. I felt horrible I didnt even get how I lost and was really down and out.. what helped was Matt and Chris. They didnt give me the oh you tried hard or ohh do better next time.. they both just said "Hey you got screwed.. go out there and throw the next guy through the mat.. dont leave anything up to the judges." Good advice and exactly what I did next time through.

In my 2nd time through the line I fought a good lefty player for Tech Judo. I had watched this guy all day and had fought him once already. I knew he would let me take my outside lefty grip and that if I got that I needed to attack quick. We came out, got grips and I threw with lefty KataGuruma for ippon. I will say Chris did tell me to look for this throw. Made me more confident when I realized it was there. I had a lil bit of a different finish then most KataGurumas but it was a big definite ippon.

The next guy was about 30lbs heavier then me. Again I had good gripping and wasnt really in any danger of getting thrown. I was having difficulty throwing him but was all over him with counters and pickups. Near the end of the match I got a very nice uranage for ippon. I was getting tired at this point :)

Last match.. stinks.. I was kinda manhandled to be honest. I fought a 190lb jacked up maniac .. thats a compliment. He was a black belt in judo and a good wrestler. About a minute into the match i got sloppy... and a lil lazy. It was the 2nd or 3rd attempt he made at choking me and he got enough time to work it in deep... and I tapped..No shame losing to a good player but still very frustrating. I KNOW that if i was in better shape I couldve won.

What was cool is that guy won his next match and then fought Chris... Chris had no trouble with him.. threw him on his head with seonage and got the ippon.

So anyway for those keeping score at home that is six wins in seven days. Not bad... Ive won with Pickups, Seonage, Kataguruma and Guruma/Gake. My main focus for the next month or so will be conditioning. I really want to be able to win some easy matches on strength alone.. and I want to be able to take every fight the distance if necessary. One of the things I'm most happy with is the fact that I have not been thrown these last 2 tournaments.

Also there is a lot of behind the scenes type goodness that I just dont really feel like talking about now but I have to say that going to this tournament with Chris to fight in his promotional at his Sensei's Club against some of the best people in this area really means a lot to me. Kinda got that whole.. your not in this alone type feeling..

Im really lucky to be training with the people that I am training with.