Your child will be preparing physically and technically in class. During class, coaches go over rules and help mentally prepare them for the tournament. It would be beneficial to go over these mental preparation tips with your child at home. Also, see our complete guide to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament to learn more.
Competition is a part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Even when we play games, you are using what you learned to win or survive. When we have battles before and in class, you are tuning up your technique and competing. Whenever we go live, we are having little competitions with each other to test our Jiu Jitsu and ourselves.
Competition can be tough, it can be scary and it can be hard, but so is life, and it isn’t avoidable. We are going to have to go through tough, hard and scary things in life sometimes. But doing it in a safe place with friends and family, can really help us to prepare and get ourselves ready for life’s battles
We highly recommend everyone try a BJJ tournament at least once, especially if you have been doing Jiu Jitsu for a while and have a couple stripes, to see how good your Jiu Jitsu is and to test how tough and brave you can be.
When we compete, here are some things to remember:
- Show who you are, conduct yourself appropriately, in life it’s not about what happens to you, it is how you react that defines you. You can win like a loser and lose like a winner, be a good sport, control your emotions and have good manners no matter what. You are representing your academy, your coaches, your family, and yourself.
- Effort over outcome. When there is a winner, a loser and medals on the line, we can worry about that too much. All you can control is you, so focus simply on your effort, try your best and let the result go. Be proud that you were brave and courageous. That you tried your best!
- Have fun! We have talked a lot about being tough and testing yourself but you should also have fun. We are going to put on a show for everyone to watch! We are going to battle and wrestle and scramble and roll and struggle and it is going to be a blast. Enjoy it, because there are kids who cannot compete, competing is a privilege and a special thing, so treat it as a treat.
- Notice we didn’t say anything about winning or losing! We have a saying in Jiu Jitsu that you either win or learn. If you win, you know your technique is working…if you lose, you now know exactly what to work on to get better.
Parents, there will likely be tears. Console your child and have them take some deep breaths. When they are calm, wipe those tears away, give them a big hug and tell them how well they did, how tough and brave they are, how proud you are, and that they will get to try again.
