NSW International Open & Marist judo club report

Its that time of year again. The ol nsw open. It always a good tournament with high level Judo there due tot the fact that people have been training consistently opposed to the ACT open in Feb where its had been school holidays and many players are out of shape and fighting in a higher weight class.
That means that even though i fought -66kg this weekend it doesn't mean I'm outta shape ok.
I decided to fight -66kg this weekend in order to get some good match practice in, not just because they are heavier, but because that weight division is stacked with so much talent that i knew i would have some good fights with hopefully as many people as possible.

I worked all day at the service station on Saturday i did 7am - 6pm before Samantha and I drove to Sydney. Whenever Sam and i drive somewhere we always have a great time singing and dancing and just chatting about a stack of random stuff. Luckily enough Mum had booked a hotel already so we just crashed there on Sat night.

Last week in Sydney Sam and i went there with no street map and winged it to everywhere we needed to go. This time though we tries to use google maps and see how that worked out. Its wasn't too good so one of these days we are going to invest in a Sydney street map.

The NSW open wasn't the most exciting competition this year i must admit. It was held inside a Velodrome but this meant that the atmosphere wasnt that intense due to how big the room was. In saying that though, when your fighting everything is blocked out except for you and him and your coaches voice.

My first round i drew a tall guy from New Caledonia, i have fought him and beat him before but it was a tough fight then but more of a tactical fight this time. It was also a massive penalty fest and the referees at one stage didnt even know what was going on. Our fight went the whole five minutes and with 4 seconds to go in the contest i got penalised for a crappy attack and lost the fight on that penalty. I was very disappointed because i was behind the whole fight and with 30 seconds to go i was doing alot of attacking and finally got him penalised so then i was ahead on points. Then i dont know why but decided to change My game plan from stopping his right hand gripping me to letting him get a hold on which case he forced me to do a crappy attack and got penalised to lose the fight.
I was very disappointed weight division aside i didn't lose the fight from being too light or too weak i lost the fight due to making a bad decision with 15 seconds to go, but i will learn from it for sure.

The new caledonian then went on to win his next round against Josh Cook one of the best guys in 66kg so this put my second fight against my good Friend and room mate from the Worlds trip josh Cook. Josh has very nice Judo and you will see when i put the fight up on youtube the difference in styles we both have.
We had a really nice bash with both of us going at it trying to throw each other and with 1 minute to go i was building alot of momentum and i thought to myself "you've got this" but Cooky just wouldn't go over, i would tip him but just not enough to throw him on his side or back. I ended up losing only by a throw where he turned me inside out to throw me on my side. It was a good score and he won on that.
Josh then went on to win his next 2 fights to take 3rd place.

I was telling Samantha that this is the 2nd time in my whole life that i have come away from an Aussie competition without bringing home a medal. Although i am disappointed i lost i have definitely grown as a player which is something i may not have got if i fought in the -60kg weight division.

Marist Judo Club report
Moe fought very well upholding her groundwork prowess by holding someone down but unfortunately losing the final to Margi in -63kg.

Sarah in -70kg did a very nice drop seoi nage on her fellow Canberrien in the first round. Sara's fight for third was a very tactical left vs right match up but she stuck to the game plan and did the right thing to beat her opponent on penalties. Sara has a big task ahead in bringing down Catherine Arscott from QLD who is a strong contestant with good groundwork skills but with a bit more focused training she can do it no problem.

Duke fought very very well controlling the grips but still letting the weaker people come inside which could one day prove him being thrown for ippon. But he fought a superman of a unit in the first round but pushed through to throwing him for ippon.
His second fight alot more controlled ending in a huge pickup (i still dont know how he does it.) And in the final duke controlled the fight very smoothly and transitioned nicely into a hold down to win the mens -100kg.

Oren was the highlight of the day because he hasn't competed very often in the past. With 5 fights in 1 day in the -73kg weight division.
He adjusted very well with the clashing of styles but adapted well and utilised all his skills ranging from sodes, tai otshis, seois but not enough groundwork in there.
Oren had 5 fights im not going to comment on them all but his best was perhaps against 2008 Olympian the very experienced Dennis Iverson. Oren put a scare in Dennis and frustrated him with his strong grips and his uncanny ability to escape his attacks. There was at one stage where Oren was awarded an Ippon for Dennis failing an uchimata switched into a sumi gaeshi attack. It put a little worry into Dennis but i think that switched Oren into thinking he could've won the fight.
In the end Dennis's years of international experience paid off by not being controlled fully by Oren and fighting a very exciting fight form where i was sitting.
3 fights later and Oren was in the 3rd place fight against Dulac from New Caledonia. dulac is very strong and Oren was being dominated but with a pure Judo style only needed 1 opportunity to throw his opponent with his 'secret weapon' to win 3rd place in -73kg.

Dave Bergimeister had 2 very tough opponents on Sunday in the mens -81kg. He drew Patrick Waite first round and dominated the grips and took Dave to the ground where he transitioned beautifully into a reverse triangle hold down and then into a muni gatame (side control) to finish the fight by Ippon.
Dave's next fight in the repercharge was against Ivicia from New Zealand an experienced young fella who utilised his tallness and threw Dave with a nice Uchimata for ippon.

All in all we have alot of stuff to work on technically as well as tactically. Our club must work on grips grips grips in order to control the fight to where we want it to go.

Matt

me and Benny Z


me and Moe


Me and Brownie
Below me and Beau