Cora's tournament from today 7/13/13

[Cora Sek]

Before the matches started, the Referee pulled Cora and me over and told us that Cora only have one 9 yr old kid in her bracket. Just the two of them, so she will only have 1 match and get the Belt. But if she wants more matches, she can go into the 11 and 12 yr old bracket. She chose to fight the older kids...

[Cora Sek]

Here is her Gi matches.

[Cora Sek]

Cora was like Houdini in her Final NO Gi match, escaping everything a 12 yr old can throw at her. And she only lost by referee decision in the Gi. Overall she did great, considering it was her choice to move up and fight the older kids. She told me that the older boys are so much stronger. She wasn't able to control them as she control the 10 yr old boys. Definitely will work on that.

[HerbChao]

Props for going up in age!!!

[Cora Sek]

I really need to stop announcing her tournament entry because all the 10yr old boys don't want to come out and play when they know she is competing. As you can see, all these guys are new and she never gone against them before. All the 10yr didn't even show up to the biggest tournamenof the year.

[Blake Small]

Great job Cora, your defense is lookin solid.

[Tori Applegate]

Looking good! That's all part of Jiu Jitsu, facing stronger opponents. It's a struggle, but you have to take whatever they give you, but I'm sure Cora will reset and it won't be too big of a problem for her in the future! Her matches looked really good and hey, her defense is awesome. So she lost to points, that's ok. I say go for the sub! Forget points.

[Cora Sek]

Great job Cora, your defense is lookin solid.

I've been stressing defense a lot. Whatever is being taught at her gym, I come home and find a defense to it. Defense keep you in the game long enough for you to execute your offense is what I believe. Once she feels comfortable and understand that she can defend any attack, her confidence goes up and she can execute her offense.

[Cora Sek]

Looking good! That's all part of Jiu Jitsu, facing stronger opponents. It's a struggle, but you have to take whatever they give you, but I'm sure Cora will reset and it won't be too big of a problem for her in the future! Her matches looked really good and hey, her defense is awesome. So she lost to points, that's ok. I say go for the sub! Forget points.

Yeah we were kind of disappointed that in the whole gym full of kids her size at a NAGA tournament, that there isn't any other 10 yr old her level that want to come and play. All they have closest to her skill and age is a 9 yr old boy that she has beaten a few times already. So when the ref asked Cora if she wanted to stay at the 9/10 yr old div to fight him or move up to the 11/12 yr old div and get more matches, she chose the older kids. The boy's mom got so happy and he ended up fighting an 8 yr old and got the belt. Cora found that these 12 yr old boy are much stronger than the 10 yr old boys and she wasn't able to control them. We really need help with this department. No control, no submission. But at the same time, they can't do anything to her either because she's Houdini...LOL

[Tori Applegate]

She'll probably have to up her clench game Bruce. I'm the smallest one in our gym and it's taken awhile, but with Sean's help and constant rolling with bigger stronger people, I'm getting the hang of it. I believe the same about defense. I think the best thing for her to do is to roll with someone that can muscle her a little bit and has some weight on her. That way when she competes it's nothing new.