Monday was a pretty tough day at judo. It is so hot here that you sweat your butt off. We had 2 training sessions 10-1230 and then 3-350. In the first session we did only stand up fighting 16 rounds of 5 minutes but there are 2 groups so you can usually do 8 9 or 10 fights a session. After this the head coach from Germany taught some technical and so did one of the Oceania coaches.
The only problem is after the sessions you have a stretch and you finally get back to your hotel at 1pm and the next sessions is at 3 so we didn’t really get any time to relax and have a snooze or anything. By the time you order some food from the bar you quickly eat and get going. Because we sweat so much in our sessions we are starting our second sessions still dehydrated from the first session. But you can’t help it because with only 2 hours in between sessions you just get completely full of water and can’t drink any more.
The arvo sessions were ground stand up and groundwork again for 2.5 hours. One of the kiwi coaches is an animal on the ground and completely owned me big time. Then after the session the German coach did some more technical coaching and so did the Aussie head coach Gavin Kelly. Gavin taught a fantastic version of a sode tsuri komi goshi.
After training because Brownie is going home tomorrow we decided to take a kayak out to this shipwreck about half a kilometre out from shire. So Nik brownie duke and I paddled out and had a look at the ship wreck. It was really good fun even though we were wrecked from training it is good to see a bit more of Samoa besides sitting in our rooms watching DVDs. The shipwreck was pretty cool we don’t know how it got there but in Australia I’m pretty sure it would not be allowed. We got home around dark and had to walk back to our hotel but some locals gave us a lift in the back of their Ute.
A lot of the Aussies are going home in the morning so we all went out to this Italian pizza restaurant that duke brownie and I went to last night. It was good fun and everyone ate so much food and there was plenty left over. Then we went to a pub next door to the restaurant for about 20 minutes because it’s the law that all clubs’ close at 10pm. The Police even came in and told us we had to leave. So we walked home and most of us had a beer walking along back home. We thought it was strange that we can walk the streets with beer and that’s ok but clubs must close at 10pm.
Once we came home I gave Samantha a quick call and then went to sleep. I was dang tired and slept until 630 when brownie woke up packing his bags.
I’m very keen to come on home now. It’s been a long year and I really hope next year they bring this comp closer in the year because if you train all through January for ACT open its just a long year of travel and dieting and training hard. I’m so keen to come home and see Sam and my family. When I get home we are going to the Britney spears concert and then hanging out in Sydney on Saturday and Samantha and I are going to eat our faces off at a small Japanese restaurant we found. Then we are starting to save for next year and rent.
Matt
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday
Today we didn’t really get up top too much; Nikola Brownie and I got up pretty early and went to a place called sliding rocks. It’s a place where you can slide down the rock face into a pool. It was a great little place to visit and I took some good photos of brownie and Nikola jumping off the rock into the pool at the bottom.
We had maccas for lunch and it wasn’t too good. This arvo was our first training session. We did a quick 5 minute warm up then 5 minutes technical before 16 rounds of 5 minutes each. The group is split so each group does 8 rounds each. It was so so hot training and no amount of water could keep you hydrated as judo suits are so heavy and really do make you sweat.
Afterwards we did 20 minutes of technical work where one of the Oceania coaches taught 2 variations of a crocodile roll strangle and the other coach taught a good uchimata from an over hook grip.
Most people wanted to see how Flavio Canto does his strangle. Canto is 2007 World champ (or maybe 2nd?) and 3rd at Athens Olympics -81kg. He has weapon groundwork that even Brazilian bjjers say he’s good. (Although he has never fought a bjj comp I think.) I actually fought him 2nd round today. He didn’t have a partner and I was having the one off so I asked if I could fight him and he said yes. Although he was 81s and could bash me easy his judo was very smooth and technical (like most of the Brazilians.)
Canto is famous for his strong ground work and in the competition on Friday I didn’t get a chance to tape all his fights. He won the first by arm lock, 2 and 3rd fights by an awesome strangle something I have been meaning to know how to do forever and he actually lost the final by penalties. So I missed 3 of his fights which sucked big time.
Anyway watching him do his strangle I think I now know how to do it.
Tonight duke, brownie and i found a good Italian restaurant and for only 8 bucks each we ate our heads off, the pizza was so good. Then we just sat around and relaxed before training tomorrow, we have 2 sessions of similar structure as before.
Matt
We had maccas for lunch and it wasn’t too good. This arvo was our first training session. We did a quick 5 minute warm up then 5 minutes technical before 16 rounds of 5 minutes each. The group is split so each group does 8 rounds each. It was so so hot training and no amount of water could keep you hydrated as judo suits are so heavy and really do make you sweat.
Afterwards we did 20 minutes of technical work where one of the Oceania coaches taught 2 variations of a crocodile roll strangle and the other coach taught a good uchimata from an over hook grip.
Most people wanted to see how Flavio Canto does his strangle. Canto is 2007 World champ (or maybe 2nd?) and 3rd at Athens Olympics -81kg. He has weapon groundwork that even Brazilian bjjers say he’s good. (Although he has never fought a bjj comp I think.) I actually fought him 2nd round today. He didn’t have a partner and I was having the one off so I asked if I could fight him and he said yes. Although he was 81s and could bash me easy his judo was very smooth and technical (like most of the Brazilians.)
Canto is famous for his strong ground work and in the competition on Friday I didn’t get a chance to tape all his fights. He won the first by arm lock, 2 and 3rd fights by an awesome strangle something I have been meaning to know how to do forever and he actually lost the final by penalties. So I missed 3 of his fights which sucked big time.
Anyway watching him do his strangle I think I now know how to do it.
Tonight duke, brownie and i found a good Italian restaurant and for only 8 bucks each we ate our heads off, the pizza was so good. Then we just sat around and relaxed before training tomorrow, we have 2 sessions of similar structure as before.
Matt
Some photos of World cup
For all the results of the comp click on this link
http://www.judoinside.com/uk/?factfile/tournament/5497/world_cup_apia
here are a few photos of me fighting
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022571&l=7e88ff4e74&id=731281095
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022277&l=f019448a5e&id=731281095
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022576&l=5ad3c83f69&id=731281095
http://www.judoinside.com/uk/?factfile/tournament/5497/world_cup_apia
here are a few photos of me fighting
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022571&l=7e88ff4e74&id=731281095
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022277&l=f019448a5e&id=731281095
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4022576&l=5ad3c83f69&id=731281095
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Comp day (I Came 3rd)
Competition day.
I had a pretty horrible sleep the night before the comp. We had a live band downstairs in the bar and on top of that our bedroom is above the kitchen so I heard the clunking and clanking of the employees cleaning up downstairs.
Whenever you sleep 2 or 3 kilos dehydrated you never really sleep to well and you are always wondering whether you have sweated just enough while lying there so you start thinking you could afford just a sip of water.
Trial weigh in was at 6am so we were up at 545am and ready to go I weighed in at 60kg on the dot so no water for me before weigh in. Brownie and I the night before made ourselves some pasta for breakfast and we had that along with a stack of powerade with a dang lot of salt in it to help hydration.
My warm up was pretty good besides the fact the warm up areas were inside a squash court, it was very steamy in there that’s for sure.
My first fight was against a guy from New Zealand and I beat him by a hold-down. He turned in for a drop seoi nage after about 1 minute of feeling each other out. I stepped to the side and threw him over with a sumi gaeshi and ended up in a half guard. Then I wrapped up his head and shoulder with his gi and got my leg out and held him down in side control (yoko shiho) to win the fight.
My second fight was against a guy from China, he was chiselled to the bone, young probably only no older than 20. I started off playing him quite well but started getting very tired in my arms after around 2 minutes. He was a lefty and so so fast with his lapel snapping but I just kept breaking grips and working for a sumi gaeshi but wasn’t committing enough with my attacks, especially on the ground.
He ended up throwing me for a drop seoi about 20 seconds in and although the referee said matte because we were off the mat, about 40 seconds later the referee’s commission looked at the video and gave him a waza ari. After about 3 minutes of so I followed him right onto a seoi nage for ippon.
My fight for 3rd was against a local guy from Samoa. He had some alright attacks on my but I dominated grips and ended up throwing him with a right drop seoi for ippon.
Then I had to get drug tested. Because I was so dehydrated it took me about an hour and a half to wee. And even then it was still very very yellow and dehydrated. Drug testing is so so annoying, but It needs to be done.
Finally after drug testing we had the official function where all the teams got together and there is speeches and everything and then a buffet with a stack of food. I was so hungry because I hadn’t eaten a proper meal for days and the dinner for me was a bit of a letdown.
We got home around midnight and I was absolutely stuffed, getting up at 545am with a crappy sleep to begin with plus warming up and fighting for 3 fights really does take it out of you.
Today we didn’t really get up to too much. It is a Sunday here so all the Samoans are at church and don’t work on Sundays. So we luckily enough found a taxi who took us to a place called sliding rocks, it’s just a place where there is a waterfall and its nice scenery. Then we went to MacDonald’s no we are having a rest before training this afternoon.
Regarding the new judo rules the competition was very good but many penalties were given due to leg grabs and direct attacks. The positive out of this tournament in particular was no fight went to golden score. Not one fight. On Saturday ALL fights were won with ippons. No fight went the full distance. So the rules are definitely here to stay.
I think I really struggled with the new rules. This is the first tournament we had with the new rules and I did feel a little hesitant with some attacks but after a few more months of training and competing that should be fine.
As always after every competition you always have heaps to learn from and practice in order to get better. In Australian tournaments you don’t notice as much because you can make mistakes and not get beaten. In international comps 1 mistake is 1 mistake too many. So I have had a talk with Gavin and Daniel Kelly regarding what I need to work on and now I feel like I have a new goal in working on new techniques.
Today the training camp starts we are doing 2 sessions a day and its going to be so so hot. One of the coach’s from Bath university will be running the sessions so I think there will also be some technical sessions as well. I’m keen to fight alot of people and develop my strategies alot more.
Well I’m off to have a snooze
Catch ya
Matt
I had a pretty horrible sleep the night before the comp. We had a live band downstairs in the bar and on top of that our bedroom is above the kitchen so I heard the clunking and clanking of the employees cleaning up downstairs.
Whenever you sleep 2 or 3 kilos dehydrated you never really sleep to well and you are always wondering whether you have sweated just enough while lying there so you start thinking you could afford just a sip of water.
Trial weigh in was at 6am so we were up at 545am and ready to go I weighed in at 60kg on the dot so no water for me before weigh in. Brownie and I the night before made ourselves some pasta for breakfast and we had that along with a stack of powerade with a dang lot of salt in it to help hydration.
My warm up was pretty good besides the fact the warm up areas were inside a squash court, it was very steamy in there that’s for sure.
My first fight was against a guy from New Zealand and I beat him by a hold-down. He turned in for a drop seoi nage after about 1 minute of feeling each other out. I stepped to the side and threw him over with a sumi gaeshi and ended up in a half guard. Then I wrapped up his head and shoulder with his gi and got my leg out and held him down in side control (yoko shiho) to win the fight.
My second fight was against a guy from China, he was chiselled to the bone, young probably only no older than 20. I started off playing him quite well but started getting very tired in my arms after around 2 minutes. He was a lefty and so so fast with his lapel snapping but I just kept breaking grips and working for a sumi gaeshi but wasn’t committing enough with my attacks, especially on the ground.
He ended up throwing me for a drop seoi about 20 seconds in and although the referee said matte because we were off the mat, about 40 seconds later the referee’s commission looked at the video and gave him a waza ari. After about 3 minutes of so I followed him right onto a seoi nage for ippon.
My fight for 3rd was against a local guy from Samoa. He had some alright attacks on my but I dominated grips and ended up throwing him with a right drop seoi for ippon.
Then I had to get drug tested. Because I was so dehydrated it took me about an hour and a half to wee. And even then it was still very very yellow and dehydrated. Drug testing is so so annoying, but It needs to be done.
Finally after drug testing we had the official function where all the teams got together and there is speeches and everything and then a buffet with a stack of food. I was so hungry because I hadn’t eaten a proper meal for days and the dinner for me was a bit of a letdown.
We got home around midnight and I was absolutely stuffed, getting up at 545am with a crappy sleep to begin with plus warming up and fighting for 3 fights really does take it out of you.
Today we didn’t really get up to too much. It is a Sunday here so all the Samoans are at church and don’t work on Sundays. So we luckily enough found a taxi who took us to a place called sliding rocks, it’s just a place where there is a waterfall and its nice scenery. Then we went to MacDonald’s no we are having a rest before training this afternoon.
Regarding the new judo rules the competition was very good but many penalties were given due to leg grabs and direct attacks. The positive out of this tournament in particular was no fight went to golden score. Not one fight. On Saturday ALL fights were won with ippons. No fight went the full distance. So the rules are definitely here to stay.
I think I really struggled with the new rules. This is the first tournament we had with the new rules and I did feel a little hesitant with some attacks but after a few more months of training and competing that should be fine.
As always after every competition you always have heaps to learn from and practice in order to get better. In Australian tournaments you don’t notice as much because you can make mistakes and not get beaten. In international comps 1 mistake is 1 mistake too many. So I have had a talk with Gavin and Daniel Kelly regarding what I need to work on and now I feel like I have a new goal in working on new techniques.
Today the training camp starts we are doing 2 sessions a day and its going to be so so hot. One of the coach’s from Bath university will be running the sessions so I think there will also be some technical sessions as well. I’m keen to fight alot of people and develop my strategies alot more.
Well I’m off to have a snooze
Catch ya
Matt
Friday, November 13, 2009
Day 3 in Samoa (Day before comp)
Day 3 in Samoa (Day before comp)
Today was the first day of the judo competition, heavy weight men and lightweight women. I didn’t watch too many fights as I am making weight and not to keen on sitting round all day in the hot sweaty gym when I could be at home snoozing in the air-conditioning.
Today flavio Canto fought today and he is a weapon. 3rd in Athens and 2nd at 2007 Worlds and he won all his fights on the ground, he groundwork is sweet I only filmed one of his fights though and that sucked because I was filing another aussie in his 2nd fight and on his 3rd fight my camera froze and stopped working not happy at all.
For weight Brownie and I did about 20 minutes of judo and dropped an easy 1,5kg and then bi sat in the sauna for another 900grams so at the moment after a can of full coke (need the sugar) I weigh around 59.6kg. We are going to make some dinner watch a movie and hopefully get an early night.
I fight tomorrow against a new Zealander and if I win that one I have the winner of the aussie arnie and a chinse guy. I’m definitely keen on fighting tomorrow.
Talk soon
Matt
Today was the first day of the judo competition, heavy weight men and lightweight women. I didn’t watch too many fights as I am making weight and not to keen on sitting round all day in the hot sweaty gym when I could be at home snoozing in the air-conditioning.
Today flavio Canto fought today and he is a weapon. 3rd in Athens and 2nd at 2007 Worlds and he won all his fights on the ground, he groundwork is sweet I only filmed one of his fights though and that sucked because I was filing another aussie in his 2nd fight and on his 3rd fight my camera froze and stopped working not happy at all.
For weight Brownie and I did about 20 minutes of judo and dropped an easy 1,5kg and then bi sat in the sauna for another 900grams so at the moment after a can of full coke (need the sugar) I weigh around 59.6kg. We are going to make some dinner watch a movie and hopefully get an early night.
I fight tomorrow against a new Zealander and if I win that one I have the winner of the aussie arnie and a chinse guy. I’m definitely keen on fighting tomorrow.
Talk soon
Matt
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Day 2 in Samoa
Day 2 in Samoa
I had an awesome sleep last night I slept nearly 10 hours which was sweet. Training today was the same as yesterday and after training I also weighed the same as yesterday at 62.2kg. I may not have to use the sauna tomorrow because I may train a little bit with brownie and sweat that way. The sauna is a bit of a hassle to go to because you have to ring and book in to it and then catch a taxi there.
We didn’t do too much today after training we went in to town and bought some competition food, and boy was that tough. There is no proper food here, no lollies, no muslie bars no ham or chicken in little packets like a woollies. We have no cooking facilities so we can’t cook toast or pasta or anything. You don’t really want to eat the fruit because they wash it in Samoan water and you don’t want to get an upset stomach. But we have settled on buying a loaf of bread tomorrow and some vegemite and hopefully at the breakfast after weigh in they have better food. But we don’t want to take the risk because you should never ever ever run out of food or water on a competition day ever.
This arvo brownie and I just watched a few documentaries and went for a swim in the pool downstairs. Tonight we are about to head into town and get a coke float from Maccas and then come home and watch a movie before bed. I weigh now 62.3 so half a kilo overnight and a sweat tomorrow I should be fine with weight.
The competition starts tomorrow so duke will be fighting and I am excited to see him fight at this level. I may be able to write a blog tomorrow but we will see I would probably rather just sit.
Talk soon
Matt
I had an awesome sleep last night I slept nearly 10 hours which was sweet. Training today was the same as yesterday and after training I also weighed the same as yesterday at 62.2kg. I may not have to use the sauna tomorrow because I may train a little bit with brownie and sweat that way. The sauna is a bit of a hassle to go to because you have to ring and book in to it and then catch a taxi there.
We didn’t do too much today after training we went in to town and bought some competition food, and boy was that tough. There is no proper food here, no lollies, no muslie bars no ham or chicken in little packets like a woollies. We have no cooking facilities so we can’t cook toast or pasta or anything. You don’t really want to eat the fruit because they wash it in Samoan water and you don’t want to get an upset stomach. But we have settled on buying a loaf of bread tomorrow and some vegemite and hopefully at the breakfast after weigh in they have better food. But we don’t want to take the risk because you should never ever ever run out of food or water on a competition day ever.
This arvo brownie and I just watched a few documentaries and went for a swim in the pool downstairs. Tonight we are about to head into town and get a coke float from Maccas and then come home and watch a movie before bed. I weigh now 62.3 so half a kilo overnight and a sweat tomorrow I should be fine with weight.
The competition starts tomorrow so duke will be fighting and I am excited to see him fight at this level. I may be able to write a blog tomorrow but we will see I would probably rather just sit.
Talk soon
Matt
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