Hollis Park Judo Tournament

Yesterday morning, I got up at 6:30 (earlier than normal...) and was at the gym by 7:45 AM!!  I was too excited to sleep, so I got there early.

At 8, Sensei Jeremy pulled up with Reagan and Mikey in tow.  Threw my bag in the back of the hummer, and off we went!  We were headed to Hollis Park, Illinois.  Hollis Park is right outside of Pekin, which is about 2-3 hours away from home.  Depending on who drives  😎

We had to make a little pit stop in Tremont, which was only about 20 minutes from the recreation center in Hollis Park.  Why did we have to stop?  Well... we were all sworn to secrecy by Sensei Jeremy... but the end result was a full tank of gas and a Casey's stop!  We did enjoy the scenery... and a big THANK YOU to Earl and Angie Clark!  They were also on their way to Hollis Park.  Their youngest 2 daughters (Izzy and Lacey) were also competing.  Earl saved the day for reasons I have been sworn to secrecy, and Angie saved the day by remembering the cheese danish for Reagan!

We made it just in time for weigh ins.  I don't know what anyone else weighed in, but I weighed in at 272.  To be honest, we weren't sure if anyone was going to be there for me to fight.  Judo is split up by age, rank, and weight.  However, after some discussion, I was found an opponent.

After weigh ins, Reagan went through her process - eating a bagel, and then a cheese danish.  She also wore her lucky shirt, and brought her lucky gi.  She has done all of these things since her first fight, and considering she is a National Champion... I won't sit here and lie and say I didn't eat the same breakfast.

I tried to get a clip of everyone's fights, but some of my teammates were fighting at the same time as me.

Judo has a belt system, like MOST martial arts.  Every new beginner starts out as a White belt.  From there, the Sensei in charge (in my case, Sensei George Stanich) determines when a student will advance.  I am a yellow belt, which is a step up from a white belt.  The young lady I fought is a green belt.  Green is 2 steps up from yellow.  Being a yellow belt, I will earn my stripes before I advance to green.

I didn't win... HOWEVER!!  I have some thoughts about my fights.  I gave it everything I had.  Even more than what I thought I had in me.  I never did throw her, but she never did throw me either.  There is one point in the above video when you can hear Sensei Jeremy say "You are doing good" I may have been pinned, but I didn't quit.  I didn't give up!  And if you think about it... We had a long match!

Judo matches are 4 minutes long.  In that time, you either throw someone flat on their back for an Ippon, or submit someone.  I was beat due to submission - basically she held me down and I couldn't move or get out.  She won both matches by that submission.  And I am 100% ok with that!

I proved something to myself this weekend.  I proved to myself that even though I am overweight, I can still do something.  I may have been completely out of breath afterwards, but I felt ALIVE! I felt like I could do anything!! (I think it was the adrenaline...)

One of the fights that I didn't get video of, and I am super bummed about, included a young man by the name of Adnon (I think...)  He is visually impaired... and he beat every single person he fought!  It was amazing!  I had never seen anything like it.  He did so well, he earned Master of the tournament.  I really wish I would have gotten video of some of his fights.  It was incredible!  He even submitted someone via armbar!

When all of the fights were complete, it was time to hand out medals.  I sure did not think, for one split second, I would be getting a medal.  Since there were only 2 of us in my division, she won!  She gets the medal.  Even though I lost to her, I earned the second place medal!  That was a great feeling!  There is even a picture of me giving the young lady who beat me a high five!  She deserved it.  She fought hard as well.  She gave it everything she had!  It was great!

We also got to see 2 people advance to Black Belt, which was super cool!  The whole atmosphere was just incredible.  It was all about having fun, and doing your best.

The ride home was simple... I slept.  I slept the whole way home.  Woke up for about 2 minutes to see where we were, and I was right back out.  And yes... I wore my medal the entire rest of the evening.  Even after I got home.

I learned some very important stuff this weekend... You have to work hard if you want to succeed.  You also have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone to find out what you are truly made of.  I have watched the video of my fights at least 30 times already, and I am STILL not bummed that I lost.  I see a young woman who is refusing to allow her weight to hold her back anymore.  I see a young woman who is going to break barriers within herself AND for other people.  I also see where I will need to improve, and what I need to work on.

What do you see??