How to Avoid the First Time Jitters During a Grappling Tournament

By Scott Buendia_ | April 4, 2009

It can be very intimidating to get ready for your first grappling tournament, especially if it’s a tournament that you have entered without the help of the gym. But there are hundreds of people who go through this every single tournament and you should not be worried about it. If you prepared properly in the beginning he should have no problem in the tournament. Here are some tips to help you get mentally prepared to compete and succeed in a grappling tournament.

First thing to do is make sure you go over all the rules before getting on the mat. If you wrestle in a beginners division. There are often a lot of moves that you cannot use when you are rolling on the mat. If you do not know these moves and you end up using them in the competition. You can be disqualified. So the best thing to do when you’re entering a grappling tournament is to practice mentally, on your dummy, or with a partner all the moves you can use at least three to four weeks outside of competition. You should try to avoid any move that you cannot use so you mind will not automatically go to that move when it’s available in the match.

Pre-match rituals will help you be as prepared as possible before you roll on the mat. NBA players are notorious for having rituals before they shoot their free-throw shots. This helps them feel relaxed and at ease amidst of the distractions of the game. So you would do well in programming yourself with the pregame ritual. You must feel as relaxed as possible before you start rolling with someone you know nothing about, because you never know what moves they may pull out of their hat or what sweeps they may use. You must be prepared for everything and you must be prepared to stay relaxed, no matter what situation comes to you, because if you feel stress it will weaken you it will cause your adrenal system to flood and you will feel tired. Before, you should so make sure you have a pregame ritual worked out for yourself whether it’s stretching exercising, whatever it may be make sure you have it.

When youre nervous and on the mat, I recommend that you also have a ritual here. So that you can feel relaxed as possible, and when I talk about a ritual, we could be talking about something as simple as snapping your fingers three times, if you can code this to the feeling of being relaxed and calm when you snap your fingers together, you should be able to feel calm. This technique comes from Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP, which is the study of how the brain encodes information including feelings. So you can code any feeling you want to any ritual that you need. I recommend a ritual that cannot be stopped in the ring. For example, if you are caught in an arm bar, that is almost there, then clapping your hands together three times is probably not a good ritual because you are not going to be able to do it. So we’re talking about finer motor movements, you’ll just have to be careful that you know your sweeps so that while you’re doing your ritual youre not going to hurt yourself when you roll. If you do choose snapping your fingers you’ll have to be careful so that they’re not crushed underneath you and your opponent as you roll into another position.

Of course before you enter your grappling tournament, you should have already been doing some sort of exercises I recommend some of Frank Shamrock’s home work out because it’s based around grappling. You want a workout be as close to the competition that you’re entering or the activity that you’re doing is possible. So the system best way to be ready for the tournament. You may feel stress, which will help you because you’ve learned how to deal with it before hand during your workouts.

If you follow the steps I have outlined here. You are sure to do well in the grappling tournament. Just make sure you don’t expect too much from yourself and give yourself a letdown that something bad if something bad is to happen. Just showing up and competing is a win in itself and as you do more tournaments you will get better and better at it and you will get better results, because you are more used to the situation. I wish you luck in the future with all your grappling endeavors.

Scott Buendia gives lessons in his Hillsboro martial arts school and teaches: Jeet Kune Do (the art used by Jason Bourne), Filipino martial arts, Catch Wrestling, and Shamrock Submission Fighting in his school.

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