So the time had arrived for my first dan grading contest. I
did compete in February at brown belt in a points scoring competition but this
was to be my first actual dan grading. Graeme very kindly drove me to High
Wycombe and I was very thankful for that especially as I was extremely nervous.
On arrival I did what most people do, eye up the
competition. This wasn’t a good idea as sat next to me was a giant of a man who
stood at least 6ft 6 and weighed in at 113kg. Then there was the French guy,
full of muscles, who weighed in at 115kg. Both of these guys I felt sure would
be opponents of mine; however I only weighed 89kg so I would be giving away a
lot of weight.
Also present were some guys from Witley Judo club which was
nice as I was able to warm up with them before the fights started. Unlike the
competition I attended in February where I weighed in and that sat around for 5
hours waiting to fight, this was well organised and no sooner had we warmed up
than we called over to the mats to start fighting.
What normally happens at dan gradings is that they split you
in to groups of light, middle and heavyweights. I normally weigh anywhere between
89 – 94kg so I’m usually classed as a HW, albeit one of the lightest ones. The
fights soon started and there was some lovely Judo on display. I was
particularly impressed with the newaza skills of a couple of the lighter guys and
was surprised that the referees gave plenty of time for the newaza to progress
before calling matte.
Before long my name was called out along with my first
opponent who didn’t appear to be a heavyweight, in fact he was considerably
shorter than me, although he was fairly stocky. What I didn’t notice at the
time was the GB patch on his back so perhaps I shouldn't have been too surprised when
I was thrown not once, but twice with a drop seoi nage for wazari scores.
Bugger I had, as I always do, lost my first fight. On reflection I could have
done better and probably would have done had I been better prepared mentally. I’m
not saying I would have won but I was just caught cold a little.
I walked over to the side of the mats with a look on my face
which said “here we go again”. I was now thinking that if I can just win one
fight I’ll go home happy. Before long I hear my name called and again my
opponent was smaller than me. I would probably guess he weighed around 80kg. This
guy was someone I recognised from the tournament I entered in February at
Worthing so I figured he was competition hardened. When the ref called hadjime I
quickly took a dominant grip and was able to really bully him. At one point I
threw him to the mat just using my arms. It wasn’t long before I was able to do
that again but this time I got my foot in for a sort of Kosoto gari and he fell
flat on his back. “IPPON” shouted the ref and all of a sudden I was a happy man.
I had achieved my goal of getting 10 points at my first dan grading. If Graeme
had said lets go home at that point I would have probably gone home content.
However winning my second fight meant I had another fight and even if I lost
that I might still be in someone else’s line up.
My wait for my next opponent went really quickly as all the
fights in between seemed to end in Ippon. Yet again my opponent was smaller
than me and I knew him, it was one of the guys from Witley called Jack. Jack
was just under 80kg so was giving a lot of weight away, however he was, at 17
years old 25 years my junior so I figured that evened things out a bit. Now I
have never done tachiwaza randori with Jack before but I have done Newaza and I
felt I definitely had the edge should we go to the ground. When the fight
started we were both a little too defensive and the ref stopped us at one point
and told us to attack more. With less than a minute on the clock I managed to
throw him for Ippon. I couldn’t believe it, 20 points at my first dan grading and
now I had a line up and the chance of actually getting all 100 points.
Out of the 20 or so guys that were present I think there
were five who qualified for a line up. The tall giant guy and the French guy
had both gotten a line up so I knew I wouldn’t have to fight them. The guy that
beat me in my first fight had also gotten a line up so I knew I wouldn’t fight
him. I think the organisers had a hard time matching us all up to be honest as
a couple of other guys had been choked unconscious, one to the point of
fitting, so they were not allowed to fight. Eventually my line up was called and
of my three opponents two were ones I had already fought and beat. My first
opponent however was what Graeme had called “a stopper” he was 102kg and was designed
to present me with a problem, a real test, which after all this was supposed to
be.
I was quite quickly able to establish a good grip and felt
confident that I was going to be able to throw him. I probed him tentatively
with some foot sweeps and noticed that he had his weight mostly on one side of
his body so I tried a Hiza guruma and he toppled over for ippon. Within seconds
I was fighting my next opponent, the guy I had beaten in my second fight and
this time he had upped his game and was moving around quickly, making it a lot
harder for me to control him. He attempted a drop seoi nage but I was easily able
to step off and attacked his turtle. I was trying for the Juji-gatame turnover
but his arm was stuck in good so I baited him by sliding off his back and hoped
he would take the opportunity to attack me on my back. When he did I quickly pushed
his left arm outside my guard and slapped on a really tight san gaku jime and
got the tap almost immediately. That was two wins and I needed one more to get
my 100 points. I was fighting Jack again and to be fair he really went for the
win but I was coming off of 4 ippon wins so my confidence was sky high. Again
it was a cagey affair and I was really reluctant to over commit to anything as
I feared being countered. Then, in what appeared to be a blink of an eye, he
attacked me with Kosoto gari and I was able to counter with Uchi mata for the
Ippon. I was stunned; I couldn’t believe I had actually done it, 100 points and
within touching distance of being a black belt. Jack had been my hardest
opponent by far and I’m sure he’ll get his 100 points at his next dan grading.
He ended up being in the tall guy’s line up and actually beat him with two
wazaris. I called him Jack the Giant Slayer afterwards and told him he should have
that put on his black belt when he gets it.
Next up for me is the dan grade theory test so I need to
swat up hard. As I didn’t expect to be in this position I assumed I would have
at least a year to prepare but now I want to grade quickly, in a month or so,
so I have a lot of work to do. In the gym on Monday I felt a severe pain my
left bicep whilst doing chin ups which is exactly the same injury I had this time
last year. Hopefully it won’t keep me off the mats for long but at least I don’t
have to worry about shiai and fitness now, just technique.
Below is the video of my line up
