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Once you have been studying BJJ for a while, it’s natural to wonder if you should compete in tournaments. While this is a matter best discussed between you and your professor, the following are tips to keep in mind should you decide to try out your game on a bunch of strangers through organized competition.

First, take time to digest and “field-test” new ideas and actions before you try them out in a tournament. For example, I am sure that at some point a well-meaning friend will give you “last minute” BJJ advice. Instead of executing the new advice as planned, your brain may find itself over-loaded. The result may be that you “freeze,” and you find yourself swept or submitted before you know it.

This phenomenon is called Hick’s Law. In short, Hick’s Law states that the more choices you face at one time, the longer it will take you to make a decision. This is because you first have to decide WHETHER TO RESPOND AT ALL to the situation you face. Then, you have to decide WHICH response to make.

Instead of trying to deal with too many different ideas at once, it may be helpful to focus on only one to three actions during each match. Maybe your club holds competition team classes or hosts friendly in-house events. These would be good opportunities to practice any new actions before you bring them to a higher-pressure environment outside your club. As always, take notes about what new things you are doing, and how they work.

Second, setting appropriate goals is also important, although sometimes there are certain frustrations that may come from setting outcome or competitive goals. For example, you may set an outcome goal such as, “I am going to beat all my opponents,” or “I am going to win a medal at the X tournament.” Setting outcome goals is often not beneficial — especially for those just starting out — because success in reaching these kinds of goals is usually out of the control of the individual athlete. Instead, one should focus on mastery goals, which are within your control, and which allow you to take credit for improvement of your skills or effort over time.

A friend of mine, Michael Mack, recently competed in his first tournament in eight or nine months. In the days leading up to the tournament, Michael found that he was confronting a lot of nervousness in ways that he didn’t expect. But he took this state of affairs as an opportunity to learn to deal with what was going on inside. For every worry or fear that he identified, he made a conscious plan to deal with it. Then he prioritized the list and rewrote his fears as commands that he would follow during the competition. With Michael’s permission, I’d like to share most of the list:

• I will not allow myself to get injured or overly exhausted.

• I will address any worries or fears my subconscious brings to my attention, like a great combat leader addressing issues that his subordinates raise during battle.

• I will warm up correctly and eat and drink correctly and show up to the mat on time.

• I will not intentionally injure my opponent.

• I will have fun.

• I will play to win with my Jiu Jitsu style of flowing in the moment.

• I will be kind to each person I meet.

In the end Michael won one match by submission and felt that his effectiveness level was about what he would expect from himself, a one-stripe purple belt. More importantly, Michael followed all his written commands, and met all his goals for the tournament. As a result, this very positive learning experience makes it likely that he will return again to compete and learn some more.

Finally, there is no blueprint for victory. Everybody, sooner or later, makes a mistake, which will lose her the match. The trick is to not repeat those mistakes, and to take the lessons you have learned, and to move forward. It is frustrating, but some BJJ players just have better coordination, physical stamina, or problem-solving abilities. What you can control is to remember what you have been taught, apply it at the right time as best you can, finish what you start, and just enjoy the chance to be on the mat.

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