I have been bombarded by emails and texts over the last tournament so I feel it is important that the following is read and taken into consideration as far as Montreal Grappling's growth.
THE STATE OF MONTREAL GRAPPLING:
1)Gi season takes place in the first half of the year as NoGi season then takes place in the second half of the year. All Montreal Grappling tournaments will now be Gi and NoGi and will correlate to the season we are in. April 28 will be the last tournament in the Gi season so we will be giving out trips to the Mundials in California. Our next tournament is scheduled to take place afterwards on August 4 which will start NoGi season. NoGi season means NoGi divisions will start our tournaments and Gi divisions will then follow. In NoGi season we'll also include sponsorship trips to the NoGi Pan Ams as well as the NoGi World Chanpionships for our NoGi competitors. We treat Gi and NoGi equally and unbiased.
2)We acknowledge our referees must be talented and educated as well as make the fewest amount of mistakes possible of the course of the tournaments. We have already taken the steps to bettering our refereeing squad as well as adding additional staff to help the tournament run smoother and under less chaos. We ask that you please in the future do not beak the referees and make their job more difficult than it already is. Last tournament we had spectators literally cursing at the top of their lungs at one of our referees, such language is not appropriate for a public gathering such as our tournaments. We ask that everyone stays professional and takes it up with the event coordinators once one is available during the course of the day. Please acknowledge event coordinators cannot just go around reversing the decisions of referees and adding on additional points to scoreboards. Our staff will be bigger and better each time we have a tournament.
3)April 28's Montreal Grappling Grand Prix will be the last time competitors will have the chance to register at the door in a Montreal Grappling tournament. Registration will take place for the tournament between 9am and 11am.
After April 28 the only way to register for a Montreal Grappling tournament will be to PRE-REGISTER ONLY online via our website which will be launched shortly. Our new PRE-REGISTRATION method will feature everything being done online along with payment.
The tournaments from then on will feature two weigh-in periods which will take place 90 minutes before the start of their division, be it NoGi or Gi. For example, since August 4 is our first tournament in NoGi the season of this year the weigh-ins will take place from 8:30am to 10am for NoGi and 12:30pm to 2pm for Gi. You will have to select your weight class online while pre-registering and confirm it by weighing in during your slotted time. Since everything will be done before the tournament, both the brackets for NoGi and Gi will be posted on the wall before competitors and spectators even begin to arrive for the tournament. We'll also be doing our best to release slotted times beforehand to when divisions should approximately start in the day.
4)A lot of people ask about the videos and when they are to be posted, after tournaments these questions are constantly asked even multiple times by the same people. Please note all videos are posted to www.youtube.com/MontrealGrappling within 10 to 14 days after EACH tournament of ours. Each mat at the tournament is recorded in full and then must go through editing which consists of the fights being cut apart, our sponsors added to the fight videos, and then uploading time. Some people do not like the fact they cannot videotape, please understand our sponsors want the most exposure and with their logos on the only released videos of the fights then their exposure can be maximized. This is nothing more than a smart and loyal business decision between Montreal Grappling and their sponsors. Please additionally note that we are also the ONLY tournament who records and distributes all the fights from their tournament for free meaning that everyone gets to see their work, not just some people.
5)Some people complained they did not receive all 4 of their round robin fights, some people were even really mad about it regardless that they still received 2 or 3 fights. We are upset when occurrences such as this happens however I will refer to the Montreal Grappling Rules and Description sheet which describes such a case occurring in our round robin format:
"If a competitor has to forfeit some of his matches, due to injury, his opponent will be declared the winner. Although we understand perfectly that competitors might have to forfeit matches, we expect competitors to complete all four of their matches as respect to their opponents. For example, even though you lost your first three fights, if you refuse to compete in your fourth match not only are you passing out on the grappling experience we are offering you, but most importantly you are depriving your opponent of his experience as well."
6)Please note that you cannot compete if you have an infection or disease which can be transmitted easily. Competing with ring worm for one is prohibited in our tournament. If you do compete with an infection that you hid from us while registration, weigh-in, and competing and we do find out about it we will automatically disqualify you without hesitation. Last tournament a competitor hid ring worm from us when registering, luckily he was caught and we could put an end to the dat. This is not only disgusting of a person to do but besides immature, should be illegal.
7)April 28 will run 4 mats. We are already considering alteration to this for our upcoming tournament to take place August 4. Please be patient with us as any alteration will be an expensive one which needs to be researched and properly discussed.
8)If you do not like something about our tournaments, please do not send us emails or texts which are nothing short of aggressive, disrespectful, and insulting. We are open to everyone's critiques and complaints as long as they are formally structured. We are also open to everyone's compliments as well as opinions on what they would like to see added in future tournaments.
9)We are the first tournament chain to open in Quebec and invest into making a pure NoGi and BJJ grappling tournament that was both fair and unbiased but could draw the masses. Everything we make has been put into the tournament to continue its growth and development. We do not respect people who judge us for becoming a major player in the tournament industry in the country, that was our mission and with such growth we will continuously make our tournament more attractive and prestigious. Montreal Grappling is also currently the only tournament chain in the province of Quebec, against tournaments that locally pop up Montreal Grappling must rank number 1 in price, number of fights offered, free recorded vide