On Friday, April 22 Bonny and I flew to Honolulu for the NAGA Pacific Jiu Jitsu competition. We stayed at an over priced, shady hotel not far from the airport. It was the most affordable accommodations we could find on the island in close proximity to the venue.
On Saturday morning we arrived at Radford High School shortly after 8 am, where the event was being held. I immediately reported to weigh ins and came in at 155 lbs. This put me into the light weight masters division. NAGA separates competitors by weight, age and experience. This was my first time competing as a blue belt. The competition started two hours late, with children’s divisions going first. My no-gi match started around 2 o’clock. I lost my first match by two points and found myself wishing I would’ve pushed harder. In my second match I did exactly that and submitted my opponent with a rear naked choke at around the two minute mark. Unfortunately this would leave me in 3rd place and bringing home a very dull looking bronze medal, gold looks much better on me.
Next up would be my gi match where I hoped to do much better. At this point the event was so far behind schedule that my gi match wasn’t going to start until at least 7 pm. I took my time in the warm up area and checked the roster to see how many people were in my division, much to my surprise they had me listed as a white belt so I had them move me to the appropriate blue belt category, upon further inspection I noticed they had me in the wrong age group, so once again I had them make the necessary corrections. They announced the rounds would be shortened from 5 minutes to 4 in order to make up for lost time. By the time I finally got on the mat it was 7:30. I ended losing by 3 points, 3 points I could’ve gained and possibly surpassed had the match been the scheduled 5 minutes. Ultimately I have no one to blame for my loss other than myself but I was rather disappointed with the lack of organization put on by the NAGA officials. It was a good experience and I feel like I gained a lot of knowledge from it. The next tournament that comes anywhere close to Hawaii will be NAGA, again, in October. I’m planning on returning to compete. Hopefully with better results.
