How would you handle this?

[Cora Sek]

Mark: I reminded her everyday of her training. I told her she is not dealing with 8-9 boys anymore, its going to be 10-12 year old boys. Everytime she spar, I start her at the worst position possible (side control, mount, back control), then for her to work her way out of them before she can attack. I want her to feel very comfortable in the most uncomfortable position. Even at the gym, her coaches line everyone to beat up on Cora. He knows that she is the only one competing consistently and thus need most of the beating up...

[Chris Herzog]

I would put her into the expert devision 10-12 years old for one tournament and see how she does. Depending how she does keep her there or move her down.

Never move up a division (skill) and then back down, thats poor form. Most promotions wont let you move down anyway.

[Trez "Rat" Reyna]

I saw keep her at the highest level. She knows shes got a better chance of getting hurt but that will only improve her. If she stays competing at the highest level by the time shes a teen shes gonna be a monstrous force to be reckon with. If you guys aren't chasing medals then the goal is to improve anyway you can. Shes already amazing keeping her at the level where she can get humbled will only excel her ability to adapt

[Cora Sek]

I think its all in my head, I tend to think way too much at times. Cora's hasn't got tapped out in so long now. She always put up a great battle, win or lose. So yall are right. I will keep her in the expert division. One thing I don't want to have is someone labeling Cora as a "sandbagger" as we all know she will fight anyone. Now its up to me to prepare her for these boys. Seeing how we are diving in deeper and deeper into the system, I think she is more game than ever before. A testament to Master Eddie system where a little girl with only 2 yrs experience can fight against boys that have 5-6 years experience. We will work it out and make yall proud... and for any of you in Texas that wants to watch her live in action... she is registered for NAGA in Houston on Mar 16, Fight to Win in Austin on March 30th, Grandprix grappling on April 6th in Houston, and NAGA Dallas in April 14th....Thanks again Bruce

[matthewbarnes]

your not learning if your not tapping for me at least. Cora shows a hell of lot of skill keep up the good work

[Cora Sek]

IN one of the MTS, can't remember which one, Master Eddie mention Amir tapping out someone at a tournament from the lockdown. So far Cora has tapped out 4 kids with the lockdown alone... THis also have lead to some contraversy. One of the boy, limped off the mat in pain, he complain to the coach that Cora hurt him. The coach was there watching the match and didn't see anything illegal about Cora's lockdown. True Cora did hurt him while doing the lockdown, but it wasn't illegal. And from my personal experience, that pain goes away once she let go of the lockdown. However, this kid was limping off the mat dragging his feet like someone did an ankle lock on him as if we don't know what this was....it was him finding an excuse not to spar with Cora. And what's worst is that his dad is buying into all his excuses.

[Brian Debes]

Lately I've been thinking about this topic over and over again. Now I'm here to get some of yall's opinion on the matter. Cora is 10 years old now and will start to fight in the 10-12 year old division (NAGA). When she was 9, we bumped her into the expert division thinking that the most any kids would have on her is about 4- 5 years experience if they started at 4 years old. Although Cora has only been doing JJ for 2 years, this wasn't much of a factor as Cora skill is well beyond kids with 2 years experience mostly due to 10thplanetJJ. However, now that she is 10, I worry that if we put her into the expert division for 10-12 years old, she will probably face kids that have well over 6-7 years experience and those 12 yr old boys will be more than she can handle. I'm thinking about dropping her back to the under 3 years experience and have her work her way back into the expert division. I do want her to compete at the highest level, but with only 9 tournaments under her, she doesn't have much experience compare to those kids at the expert division. Its like putting a blue belt vs a brown or black belt. What do you guys think?

Sorry if this is harsh but:

1. Dropping a skill level because your changing another bracket (weight, age, who cares) IS sandbagging, expect tournaments to treat it as such. Since you post about everything on the net, expect to be caught
2. Yeah I know kids can be discouraged by losses, but they are part of this sport. In a way, the kids that lose to her may be getting a better/more important experience. If your entering a division with no fear of loss at all, you’re wasting time.
3. Your concerned that the kids will have 7 years experience? At 12 years old? Maybe, buts its not a “real” 7 years if you get what I’m saying. You’ve watched kids, you know. It’s rare to have someone that young develop at a high pace. I wouldn’t be too concerned about that. To be honest, in your/our area, a “real” 7 years experience is fairly rare in adult.

In other words, go for it.

[Kurzy]

The lockdown hurts people that are not used to it. People that are used to it can take it all day long though.

[Cora Sek]

Brian: yes we are going for it. I'm stepping up Cora's training for it. I'm taking a new approach to training her. Been to HQ and saw how Master Eddie is training, the same way he's training his students on MTS. So I'm taking that route. And yes I understand what you mean by the 7 year thing. Heck Cora's been doing JJ for a little over 2 years now, and I can honestly say that she didn't really get INTO it like this until the beginning of last summer, that's when the change start happening.

Kurzy: I guess she will be tapping out a lot of kids at tournaments with the lockdown then as I don't see any kids doing it at tournament yet... ANd to be honest again, I'm no whoossss, but when she put it on me, it seems like she just have the right angle on me because it feels like someone get a vise grip and squeeze my calves... it hurts like hell.