Observations from A BJJ tournament and a TKD Tournament!

[Gorilla]

I was at a TKD tournament on Satruday TKD October Fest Las Vegas(250 competitors) . On Sunday I attended BJJ Grappler X (100 competitors). One of our competition team girls does both BJJ/TKD. She won a gold at the TKD tournament and two gold at the BJJ tournament Gi and No Gi. She submitted all three girls she fought in less that 30 seconds. She has been doing BJJ for 2.5 years ans is a Orange belt. She is a BB in TKD.

Observations!

1. Organizationally the tournaments ran smoothly so I would say that they are about the same. One major difference is that in TKD tournaments are run by the Local Masters. The BJJ tournament seems to have been run by a group from California who travels around throwing tournaments. I have no problem with this but I doubt that it would work in the TKD World to much politics.

2. The level of fighter at the BJJ tournament seems to have been higher. The Mid range and the beginner levels the BJJ fighters seemed to be much better. The TKD tournament had a better set of fighter at the Elite Level.
Overall if you compare the Level fighter at both tournaments the nod would go to BJJ.

3. The adult kid Ratio at the TKD tournament was 80\20 kid. The BJJ tournament was 80\20 adult.

4. The Tattoo ratio was clearly much higher at the BJJ Tournament. Boy they love the Tat's

5. Their were several people at the BJJ Tournament that do both. The consensus of the group is that TKD takes a much longer time to master and is more of a Sport. They also stated that BJJ is more relevant as a fighting art. The transition for TKD to BJJ is much easier than it would be from BJJ to TKD. It is also the consensus that most BJJ practitioners would never consider TKD. I spoke with a BJJ Black Belt and School owner. He said that he likes to get kids from TKD because they are very flexible and have very good body control. He really likes the kids because they are more open to new things. He said many adult martial artists carry to many bad habits and are not as open to change.

6. The BJJ kids have more Patches on the uniforms and more stripes on their belts than the TKD Kids. I attribute this to much slower belt promotions. I saw a BJJ kid with a Camo Gi! Lots more colored uniforms in BJJ.

7. I also noticed that in the BJJ tournament that you would see a more mismatches among the belts than in TKD. In TKD among color belts the experience levels are about the same. Because of the slower promotion in BJJ the difference in skill within the belts is much greater.

8. The level of sportsmanship at the BJJ tournament was much higher. No yelling at the Refs and no complaining. I can't say the same for the TKD tournament.

9. TKD is much more of a body type sport favoring the Tall and Thin based on weight.

I was very impressed with both tournaments and they both have their good and bad! This was my first BJJ tournament all the people were very nice and many had great respect for TKD. My respect for BJJ went up 10 fold. All though we have differences we are much more alike than some would like to admit! Great Weekend!

 

[Steve]

Just reffed my first kids' tournament. Reffing for kids and for adults is very different.

Glad your experience was a good one.

 

[dancingalone]

6. The BJJ kids have more Patches on the uniforms and more stripes on their belts than the TKD Kids. I attribute this to much slower belt promotions. I saw a BJJ kid with a Camo Gi! Lots more colored uniforms in BJJ.

Patches seem to have exploded in popularity within the last 20 years or so. Remember Royce Gracie's gi in the first UFC? It was relatively spartan with only a big Gracie BJJ one on the back that I recall. Now there's 13 different legal spots you have sew one on for tournament matches.

I attribute the patches to the desire to 1) wear popular gi brands and 2) a desire to emulate sponsored MMA fighters.

SteveBJJ, I love the dyed gis you've treated our eyes to. Keep them coming.

 

[Tez3]

Orange belt in BJJ, does this mean she's a junior in BJJ?

Usually the reason the belt process takes a long time is that BJJ has very few belts, it usually goes white to blue, then purple then brown then black with long training times in between.

 

[Gorilla]

Orange belt in BJJ, does this mean she's a junior in BJJ?

Usually the reason the belt process takes a long time is that BJJ has very few belts, it usually goes white to blue, then purple then brown then black with long training times in between.

13, yes I also say grey belts on kids and yellow belts....Tal

 

[Gorilla]

This was my first BJJ tournament but from my observation a BJJ Blue Belt seems to carry allot of respect. I would say the equivalent of a 1st Dan BB in TKD. I saw allot of blue belt coaches.

It would seem to me that a Brown Belt in BJJ is the equivalent of a 3 Dan BB in TKD and a Black Belt is more like a 4th Dan or above.

Just a observation not sure if I got this one right?

Thoughts?

 

[Tez3]

13, yes I also say grey belts on kids and yellow belts....Tal

I'm saying this interestedly not combatatively, how does she feel being a junior grade in one style and a black belt in another?

 

[Gorilla]

I'm saying this interestedly not combatatively, how does she feel being a junior grade in one style and a black belt in another?

She understands the difference. She is looking forwarded to the coveted blue belt when she is 16. She is clearly the best BJJ practitioner in Las Vegas in her age group. She is the best in BJJ Gym. In TKD she is very good but not at the level that she is at in BJJ from competition stand point. She medaled at Pan Ams in BJJ. I think that his has allot to do with body type. She is very strong but short-legged not a great combination for TKD but it seems to work in BJJ. She is a very good all around Martial Artist. Her flexibility from TKD is a big plus. She said that her transition from TKD to BJJ was very easy for her. She never felt like a beginner because she knew that she was a Martial Artist and a Black Belt and that this gave her more confidence. She learned what it is like to train hard in TKD and that helped allot. She did say that the hardest work out that she does is the TKD work that we do at the track 3 days a week. It gives her a big stamina and explosion advantage over her competitors in BJJ. This is a very hard working girl who trains 6 days a week 2-4 hours a day. I am bragging about her but she is a very humble girl.

 

[Steve]

This was my first BJJ tournament but from my observation a BJJ Blue Belt seems to carry allot of respect. I would say the equivalent of a 1st Dan BB in TKD. I saw allot of blue belt coaches.

It would seem to me that a Brown Belt in BJJ is the equivalent of a 3 Dan BB in TKD and a Black Belt is more like a 4th Dan or above.

Just a observation not sure if I got this one right?

Thoughts?

That's about right. An experienced blue belt could run a school, but that's a stretch. I'm a newer purple belt, and don't feel like I know a thing.

Regarding this young lady, how big is she? Any chance she could compete as an adult in her weight class? We've had a few young men who at 14 or so were big enough to test the waters as white belts. It was good experience for them and pushed them a little harder than the kids divisions could.

 

[Tez3]

Just reffed my first kids' tournament. Reffing for kids and for adults is very different.

Glad your experience was a good one.

Yeah you have to fight the parents off lol!

 

[Gorilla]

That's about right. An experienced blue belt could run a school, but that's a stretch. I'm a newer purple belt, and don't feel like I know a thing.

Regarding this young lady, how big is she? Any chance she could compete as an adult in her weight class? We've had a few young men who at 14 or so were big enough to test the waters as white belts. It was good experience for them and pushed them a little harder than the kids divisions could.

She is about a hundred pounds. I think that she would do fine with a women under 110 lbs( I don't know the BJJ weight classes). As long as they aren't cutting from 130lb. A natural 110 lb women she would be fine. The girls she fought were 16-17 anyway.

 

[Steve]

Yeah you have to fight the parents off lol!

Parents were fine in this one, as were the coaches. At this tourney, at least, all of the adults knew it was about the kids having fun and learning.

Gorilla, that's something she might look into then. Women don't tend to cut as severely as men. At least, that's been my experience. Also with women, weight classes can vary significantly depending on how many competitors there are.

I'm sure, though, that her coach is taking care of her. Sounds like she's going to be a force in a few years.

As an aside, a young lady was competing last saturday at the tourney I reffed. She was 9, I think, had cute pony tails, a bright pink gi and a big stuffed bunny rabbit that she never put down. Achingly cute. She went out and squared up against her first opponent, a 10 year old boy who was thicker and a little heavier. They fought for grips for a few seconds and she stepped in and took him down with a very nice osoto gari. She established position, moved to mount, got reversed and then swept him from her guard. She ended up winning her second match against another boy who was bigger than her and got first place in her division. Really cool to see. After each match, she scampered back over to her bunny rabbit and watched the rest of the matches.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Interesting that you said it was 20% adults to 80% kids in the tkd. We have our club championships this weekend and I would say our ratio will be about the same. There are plenty of adults training at our club but they just dont seem interested in competing. I know personally that I have no interest at all in competing, I was very competitive in many sports when I was younger and these days I enjoy training in something that I dont have to compete at. I find this is the general attitude of many of the adults I speak with. I train with a 5th dan who would just wipe the floor with everyone at the championships but he , too, says he just does it to keep fit, flexible and learn self defence. A question for stevebjj, is competing encouraged more in bjj? and is competition a big part of the art? I know a lot of traditional tkd clubs that discourage competing because the ruleset for competition goes against what they teach. Our club is like this, we are taught not to headkick yet headkicks are encouraged under the competition ruleset.

 

[andyjeffries]

I'm saying this interestedly not combatatively, how does she feel being a junior grade in one style and a black belt in another?

I don't know if that question was aimed purely at the OP to get a junior's point of view - but I've been a Taekwondo black belt for over 20 years and am now a 6-months-in white belt in BJJ. It's completely different so I absolutely agree that I start again as a white belt (and regularly get owned by blue belts!).

Don't get me wrong, after so long as a black belt wearing a white belt feels a little odd

I love both arts individually - but they're very easy to keep separate and I have completely separate grades in each (with no jealousy toward the BJJ guys that are more senior than me!).