J
JDenz
Guest
The usjjf nationals were held last weekend in Ohio and I just want to say it was the worst tournament I was ever at. Just so you guys don't think I am bitter about losing I went undefeated at the tournament and won my class. First off we get to the wieghins the day before the tournament about 5 minutes late, (the weighin's were on the 5th floor and on there website they said the lobby) at first they were not going to let us win but our coach a returning national champ got us in. I was in for a big shock since what we weighed in on was a dial bathroom scale and they barly looked at it. To top off the whole weighin thing, after they were about to send us home without being able to compete (we drove four hours) they let other people weigh in the morning of the tournament.
We arrived at the building where the tournament was being held at about quarter to 8, they said make sure you are there by 8 because they wanted to start propley at 8:30 Well there was also a karate tournament going on and they wouldn't let us in till the head people from the tournament got there which was about 8:15. By the time we were allowed on the floor to warm up it was about 9:30. They had two mats but only ran one. So by the time they stopped us at 10:15 for opening ceramoneys it was about 2 matches into the tournament. Well the tournament was supposed to be double elimination so in there mind that meant that every one had to lose twice to be out of the tournament even the first and second place guys.
Finally my instructer got to fight. The guy he was fighting is a pro kickboxer and a 5th degree blackbelt in Judo, but also more significley he is on the board of the usjjf so he is friends with everyone that is someone involved with scoring and reffing the tournament. To make a long story short my coach got screwed he was hit in the face so many times his face looked like a ballon when he came off the mat and he was repedley hit on the ground. In Usjj it is legal to strike but the face and ground striking are illegal, it is like point karate and bjj mixed together. Every chance the ref got he stuck it to my coach they penalized him for not bowing before he left the mat (NO ONE ELSE DID AT ANY POINT IN THE TOURNAMENT) At the point that Primo (my instructer) was very close in the scoring.
On the ground where Primo is best the kept restarting the fight on the feet, twice while Primo had good submissions applied in tow diffrent fights. At one point Primo had a triangle the guy stood up and Primo switched off to arm bar they stopped the fight and restarted them on the feet nothing for Primo it was sicking to watch.
Since they were running out of time it was about 5 oclock by the time they got to our division they decided they no longer had time to go double eliminition for us so one loss and you were out and oh ya they started running a second ring, on top of that they made Primo a ref and he was a ref for my trianing partner Bill who was also a Primo student. Now I have to say if anything Primo was harder on Bill for scoring then a regular ref would be but still this is supposed to be the national championships. Bill won but If I was that guy I would protest (even though that was the best reffing I saw at the whole tournament) By the time my match came almost all the karate mats were tore up and they were starting to tear up the USJJF mats I think they would have skipped over my match if I didn't make such a stink. Anyways they were going to dq me before the match even started because I was pacing around and I looked "like I was ready for a fight not a compition" Agian Primo talked them out of dqing me. In my fight I counted I took 9 face shots my oppent ending up getting dq after I was repeditily told not to street fight, ( I only through punches to the chest I think he didn't like my body lock takedowns)
I have to say this was the worst tournament I have even been to in 15 years of competing in sports, and they are being considered for a spot in the olympics at a time where they are considering eliminating a stlye of wrestling give me a break. That was the biggest waste of money ever, The only thing good about the whole weekend was watching Bill win his first tournament and hanging out with the team.
Jeff Denz
We arrived at the building where the tournament was being held at about quarter to 8, they said make sure you are there by 8 because they wanted to start propley at 8:30 Well there was also a karate tournament going on and they wouldn't let us in till the head people from the tournament got there which was about 8:15. By the time we were allowed on the floor to warm up it was about 9:30. They had two mats but only ran one. So by the time they stopped us at 10:15 for opening ceramoneys it was about 2 matches into the tournament. Well the tournament was supposed to be double elimination so in there mind that meant that every one had to lose twice to be out of the tournament even the first and second place guys.
Finally my instructer got to fight. The guy he was fighting is a pro kickboxer and a 5th degree blackbelt in Judo, but also more significley he is on the board of the usjjf so he is friends with everyone that is someone involved with scoring and reffing the tournament. To make a long story short my coach got screwed he was hit in the face so many times his face looked like a ballon when he came off the mat and he was repedley hit on the ground. In Usjj it is legal to strike but the face and ground striking are illegal, it is like point karate and bjj mixed together. Every chance the ref got he stuck it to my coach they penalized him for not bowing before he left the mat (NO ONE ELSE DID AT ANY POINT IN THE TOURNAMENT) At the point that Primo (my instructer) was very close in the scoring.
On the ground where Primo is best the kept restarting the fight on the feet, twice while Primo had good submissions applied in tow diffrent fights. At one point Primo had a triangle the guy stood up and Primo switched off to arm bar they stopped the fight and restarted them on the feet nothing for Primo it was sicking to watch.
Since they were running out of time it was about 5 oclock by the time they got to our division they decided they no longer had time to go double eliminition for us so one loss and you were out and oh ya they started running a second ring, on top of that they made Primo a ref and he was a ref for my trianing partner Bill who was also a Primo student. Now I have to say if anything Primo was harder on Bill for scoring then a regular ref would be but still this is supposed to be the national championships. Bill won but If I was that guy I would protest (even though that was the best reffing I saw at the whole tournament) By the time my match came almost all the karate mats were tore up and they were starting to tear up the USJJF mats I think they would have skipped over my match if I didn't make such a stink. Anyways they were going to dq me before the match even started because I was pacing around and I looked "like I was ready for a fight not a compition" Agian Primo talked them out of dqing me. In my fight I counted I took 9 face shots my oppent ending up getting dq after I was repeditily told not to street fight, ( I only through punches to the chest I think he didn't like my body lock takedowns)
I have to say this was the worst tournament I have even been to in 15 years of competing in sports, and they are being considered for a spot in the olympics at a time where they are considering eliminating a stlye of wrestling give me a break. That was the biggest waste of money ever, The only thing good about the whole weekend was watching Bill win his first tournament and hanging out with the team.
Jeff Denz