I'd like to begin by saying that I believe that the more tournaments we have the better our sport will be. Positive steps have been made towards this end by the CJA and Dan Maroney in particular.
This year we have had or have scheduled: GTA, Bravado, CJA, OSWI, GTA2, and Joslins. Not bad. I would like to see a tournament per month.
It is not enough to have tournaments. We must make sure tournaments are well run and INCLUSIVE.
It always saddens me to see tournaments anounced that don't have pre-set weight classes for kids, teens and women.
THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE it deters kids, teens and women from competing.
The first thing virtually every adult male competitor asks about a tourney is what are the weight classes.
Very few guys would train for an event where they would find out the weight classes the day of.
I see the same misguided argument against pre-set weight classes everytime. "Well last year we had a low turnoutfor those divisions".
OF COURSE YOU DID.
WHY? Because you failed to Pre-set the weight classes for kids, teens and woemn last time.
Or misguided argument #2 "but there are only two of them at this weight".
SO WHAT. I have seen tons of tourneys where there were only two guys in a division.
Look at what NAGA and GQ do in terms of kids, teens and women and you see the model to follow.
You can always give lighter fighters the option to move up a weight class if they have no one to compete against or hold an absolute division.
Since we know its true that many guys would not go to a tournament where they don't know what divisin they will be competing in, it is rediculous to think kids, teens, and women would react any differently.
Next point.
Standardize the weight classes in a way that makes sense. For adults we should follow CBJJ weight classes.
Every tournament should have the same weight classes.
Use the same weight classes for GI and No-gi.
agreeed
The CJA makes is mandatory now for all tournaments to follow the weights set in the sanctioning rules. Also levels of experience must be followed. If you want a tourney run in ontario, then follow the sanctioning rules. They are there to protect the competitors to assure that every tourney they compete in have the same weights and levels of experience. We will be possible adding in a 3 to 5 year experience and 5 years and up in the future.
Thanks for the info. What is the CJA's website?
I think its great that the CJA is helping standardize weight classes, I just think that the CBJJ weights are more appropriate.
Also, it is obvious that the CJA could change the weight classes to conform to an international standard.
I noticed that the BRAVADO tournament does not pre-set weights for kids.
But you are to be commended for having pre-set weights for women.
What will we do about kids when they are ready to compete as adults?
I mean, take Keenan who just competed at GQ, he has been training longer than me, does that mean that once he is no longer considered a kid he will go straight to advanced?
In terms of safety I think it is more important in kids divisions to watch out for weight discrepencies than experience or belts.
Wow, awesome post Kashk.
Pre-set weight classes for women and kids are a must.
Standardized weight classes are a must.
Standardized experience levels are a must.
Conforming with international standards would better prepare Canadian athletes for transborder and international competitions.
rene r. my thoughts exactly. Plus, these weight classes seem to work well. Also, Grapplers Quest has good weight classes for children.
What everyone needs to understand is that Danny and the CJA have been doing a great job in terms of sanctioning more events. So this is in no way an attempt to take a shot at them.
What I was hoping to establish was a discussion conducive to really making our tournaments great.
Tournaments are very important and we need to take this seriously.
Kashk,
Right now the Kids division doesn't support the belt structure or standardize weights. We do however, make it clear that weight must be within 15 pounds from the lightest to the heaviest, depending on experience we can put a more advanced competitor up a weight.
I know that a lot of tourneys do this right now and yes it must be standardized. Safety is first and we must ensure that the competitors are able to compete in proper conditions.
Dan
Dan, my point is that if a tournament pre-sets the weights it will attract more competitors. So the argument that there aren't currently enough kids actually almost prooves my point.
So pre-set the kids weights. Trust me, if you do this, you won't end up with less kids.
Forget kids belts, its not really relevant, just weight.
Pre-sets are a must. I took my son to a NAGA event once, when he was 10. He had to fight kids as old as 13 (already in fucking puberty, with testosterone fueled strength) and fatties that outweighed him by 40 lbs.
We've never been back. I'm sure other parents feel the same.
Thank you Bunkou.
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Glad to see this topic rehashed.
This was all topics we tried to discuss 2-3 years ago, but never got very far.
Nothing new here, just glad to see more people on board.
From what I see the CJA has set weight divisions. Just because they are different from our US counter parts doesn't mean shit. People got on here and complained before about no tourneys, now everytime you look on this forum there's a tourney happening. Things take time and change doesn't happen overnight so instead of dwelling now on weight divisions for adults, cheer up and train hard for the next tourney as the weight divisions are known by all. (just look at Bravado tourney divisions)
I am sure change will happen in reference to weight classes.
Like the old saying "Good things happen to those who WEIGHT"
WILEY
tttA
Wiley, calm down. First off, this is not a complaint. Second, I know things take time but we might as well start discussing it now. As for your comment about "our US counterparts", These weight classes come from Brazil. I don't believe in the philosophy of "well before we had nothing so be happy with what we got, don't try to improve it becuase before we had nothing". Now that we have tournaments, this discussion is relevant. Standard weight classe4s for adults, and making them the same as the CBJJ ones, would better prepare us to compete on an international level, and the cbjj weight classes make more sense.