Everyone's a Winner, or a Title Worth Having?

At events run by The International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), the brackets are published several days in advance of the event. If the athlete has no other competitor in their category, then they can request to be moved to a different weight or age category in order to have someone to fight. 

This has happened to me on several occasions, and I have always asked to be moved up a weight, or down an age category in order to ensure I had as many fights as was possible for a medal. 

If you are the only competitor in your category, in addition to moving to a different category, the IBJJF also give you the option of remaining in your weight category, on your own. You then turn up to the event, weigh-in, get your Gi checked, and then go to the podium to collect your gold medal. A gold medal 'won' without having actually stepped onto the mat, a gold medal 'won' without actually having a fight. 'Would anyone want to receive a medal under those circumstances', I hear some of you ask. 

Well the answer is yes and I have personally witnessed this on more than one occasion. At one IBJJF event held in Brazil, a British fighter collected his default gold medal as outlined above, and was seen posing for photos on the podium. 

Some time later I was sent a copy of a report and photo that was published in his local newspaper, the report included the line,

" XXXX was crowned World champion, having remained undefeated throughout the whole tournament" 

Several years ago, as the organiser of the BJJ British Open for the juniors and juveniles, I had contacted a parent to explain that we were not running his child's category, and as there was not a safe alternative category to offer, I would be issuing a refund. The parent enquired as to the possibility of his child attending the event in order to collect their 'gold medal'. This would have involved them making a 300-mile round trip, to not have a fight and simply stand on the podium, collect a medal, and be crowned 'British Champion'.

At a recent event I saw an adult competitor fight in the category above what he actually weighed. His reasoning was there were 8 competitors in his weight category, but by fighting in the weight above, where there were only three other competitors, he was guaranteed a bronze medal. He lost his fight and seemed very pleased with his medal.

I personally really struggle to understand this mentality. As a Judoka I fought many times in the British Opens that were held at Crystal Palace in the 1980's. There were often 70+ competitors in my category, and I entered knowing I could be facing Olympians, World or European medalists. The chances of a medal were slim to nothing, but it was a challenge that I undertook many times.

I started BJJ at the age of 40, and age 42 I entered the adult (blue belt) division of the CBJJ (IBJJF) World Championships held in Brazil. I lost my first fight. The following year I returned to Brazil to compete again in the same event against the young guns! In a bracket of around 70 competitors, I managed to win two fights. This was still a long way from a medal place, but those two victories in that event mean more to me than many of the medals I have won.

As a coach, I want my students to test themselves in the toughest competitions against the toughest competitors. As a club we have attended events in Brazil, America, Europe and we have traveled the length and breadth of the UK. Many of my guys fight in the adult categories, despite being eligible for the Masters 2 or even Master 3 category. Many of my juniors have competed up a weight category in order to make up the numbers in some categories.


In my opinion, The BJJ British Open is the most prestigious BJJ event for juniors and juveniles in the country, and I personally think that it should be a challenge to be crowned British Champion.

As the organiser of the BJJ British Open for juniors and juveniles, I firstly categorise the juniors by gender and then by weight. The weight increments start at 3kg for the youngest of the competitors moving gradually to 4kg and finally 5kg increments for the older juniors and juveniles. This is very much inline with the policy of The British Judo Association (BJA). Where a competitor is on their own in a weight category, I may, after taking into consideration their age and experience, offer them a place in the next weight category up. This is subject to approval from not only their parents, but also their coach.

The divisions are then further subdivided by age. The three year increments used are again similar to those used by the BJA. Again, lone competitors may be offered a place in the next age category subject to it being suitable. Where there is no safe alternative category, a full refund is issued.

Over the years I have been asked on a few occasions why I do not further sub-divide the categories by belt, I have also recently received a few e-mails asking the same question.

One of my reasons is that there is such a huge disparity between the grades of the juniors from different teams in the UK, so there is little point in doing so. 

Some teams do not follow the IBJJF belt system, white belts with coloured stripes are used by some, whilst others completely omit the grey series of junior belts.

The disparity between junior grades is regularly highlighted at events throughout the country. At the 2014 BJJ British Open, juniors, who were not the highest grade in their category, won 21 of the 32 categories.

At the 2014 Nottingham BJJ Open, juniors, who were not the highest grade in their category, won 20 of the 29 categories.

There are countless other examples at events throughout the UK (where categories are not sub-divided by belt) of juniors defeating higher graded opponents. This is not limited to just one belt level. I have seen grey belts defeat orange belts, white belts defeat green belts, a junior grade beat a juvenile blue belt, etc, etc. These are not one off incidents and, as highlighted by the figures above from the 2014 British Open and Nottingham Open, it is a very common occurrence that the highest grade in the category, does not win that category.

Another reason not to further sub-divide the categories is that we simply do not get enough entries.

At the 2014 BJJ British Open we had just over 200 junior entries. If I had followed the IBJJF format for junior events (sorting categories by weight, age and belt), we would have had 36 straight finals.  So 36 juniors would have been crowned 'The 2014 British Champion' after winning one fight. The same number would be British Open silver medalists, for losing one fight.

There would have been 3 categories with 3 competitors in. This would have been a little more challenging, with the gold medalists having to win 2 fights for their title. However, the third place fighter would get a bronze medal for not winning a fight.

There would have been one category of 5 competitors. This would mean 2-3 contests for the gold medalist.

The remaining 114 competitors would have had no one to fight, and following IBJJF protocol, they would have stood on the podium on their own, been given a gold medal, and crowned 'The 2014 British Open Champion’ without them actually having set foot on the mat.

For the 2015 BJJ British Open there were over 280 entries. Using the IBJJF format, there would have been 23 straight finals, 10 categories of 3 competitors, 5 categories with 4 competitors and 2 categories with 5 competitors. Over 170 competitors would have no one to fight.

Is this really what coaches and parents want, or would you rather we give the juniors a worthwhile challenge, and have the title of 'British Open Champion' something actually worth achieving?

BJJ: More than just a Martial Art / Sport.

The 2015 UK BJJ Youth Team

As a 9-year old I remember going to Crystal Palace for the first time to compete in the British Judo Association Junior National Championships, yes that is over 40 years ago, and no Dick Turpin didn't hold our coach up. 

After our normal Friday night training session several of us would pile into our Sensei's car and head to his house where we would spend the night prior to heading off to Crystal Palace the next day.

Sensei's Son, my friend and training partner, Richard and his younger brother Danny, plus a few others would have pillow fights, make farting noises with our hands under our arm-pits and eat sweets that we'd smuggled into our room, before finally tiredness overcame excitement and we drifted off to sleep. 

On the Saturday morning we would rise early, Mrs Hornby (or Mrs H as we affectionately called her) would not let us leave the house without having consumed her bacon butties.

Suitably fueled for the day we headed off to Hereford railway station and embarked on a 3+ hour train journey to London Paddington, (in later years this was on the new fangled high speed train, the inter-city 125, the fastest train ever, we were informed, it's funny the things I remember!). If I remember correctly our arrival at Paddington was followed by my first time on the London Underground, another BR leg to Crystal Palace and a night in a hotel.

I remember clearly the smell of chlorine the first time I walked into the Crystal Palace sports hall and was excited to think that after fighting, we could go for a swim.

I do not remember many of my fights from my first trips to the Palace, I know not how many I won or lost, but what I do remember it was an adventure, it was fun and I was with my mates.

Me (centre) Crystal Palace around 1976

I recall on one subsequent trip to the Palace, when I had just hit my teens, that Brian Jacks and Dave Starbrook were there, they were our heroes and we got to meet them.

Both had won medals at the 1972 Olympics, Starbrook (Silver) and Jacks (Bronze), I had seen their photos in the Judo magazine, but Starbrook had recently appeared on the BBC programme Super Stars and was the more familiar face to many (Jacks was yet to appear in the programme).

Smithy, one of our younger juniors was tentatively waiting to get autographs, spotting this Brian Jacks moved towards him as if to start randori with the excited youngster. "Hello young man, what would you like" said Jacks,

"Excuse me Mr Starbrook can I have your autograph" Smithy replied to Jacks, Dave Starbrook nearly fell over laughing. We all got signed photos, and I still have mine to this day.

I would return to fight at The Palace many times, but those early adventures remain clear four decades later.


Last week a group of 21 youngsters from the UK, including two of my own students, traveled to America to compete in the IBJJF Pan Kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament.

No inter city 125 to Paddington, for them it was a Boeing 747 to Los Angeles.

After the Competition

I have very few photos of my junior Judo days, so this week it has been a pleasure that my Facebook news-feed has been filled with photos of the kids at Heathrow, at the tournament, some on the podium, with their BJJ heroes, and later on many sightseeing adventures around LA.

Their memories will certainly be reinforced with the number of photos that this trip will generate, but I would imagine, just like me, their memories will last forever.

I hope in years to come they look back on their trip with the same fondness and clarity that I do mine, whether they won or lost, I hope they remember it was an adventure, it was fun, they were with their mates and they made even more friends on the trip.

Post Event Medal Photo

I also hope they remember the people that made the whole experience possible with the same fondness that I do.  The work that Neil Simkin and Jimmy Johnstone put into preparing the UK BJJ Youth Team and making the trip happen should go down in UK BJJ history. No doubt the future holds many more BJJ adventures for these kids, but I'm sure this one will remain very special.


For me my first Judo adventure was made possible by Stan Hornby Sensei, mentor, role model and all round good guy.

Does UK BJJ need the help of The British Judo Association?

On Monday January 12^th 2015, The British Judo Association (BJA) announced a “new affiliation with the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu UK Association.”  (BJJUKA) (http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/news/british-judo-announces-new-affiliation-with-the-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-uk-association)

As an active member of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) community in the UK I was rather surprised by this as I had not before that day even heard of the BJJUKA.

As the secretary of the United Kingdom Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association (UKBJJA) I was absolutely perplexed at this announcement.

The UKBJJA (not to be confused with the BJJUKA) is a not for profit organisation set up by three long-term members of the BJJ community, Richard Martin, Simon Hayes and myself. We are all BJJ black belts with a combined total of nearly 45 years of contributing to the growth and development of BJJ in the UK.

The objectives of the UKBJJA are:

1) To preserve and protect the integrity of BJJ as a performance based martial art

2) To promote BJJ and encourage wider participation in all areas of the sport

3) To provide a framework for national recognition of the sport

4) To preserve the integrity of the ranking system

5) To provide a framework for competitions and individual schools to follow to ensure minimum standards of safety and good practice

6) To represent all clubs and members in a democratic and transparent manner

The UKBJJA has been in existence for just under 18 months and currently has over 80 registered clubs and over 1000 members. It is currently working towards being recognised by Sport England as the official governing body for BJJ in the UK.

The website for the UKBJJA can be found here http://ukbjja.org/

Digging a little deeper into the announced affiliation by the BJA, I found the following document on the BJA website

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/sites/default/files/aBoard24.6.14-BoardPRECISforweb.pdf

The document highlights the key discussions and decisions made at a BJA board meeting in June 2014, including the proposed affiliation between BJJUKA and the BJA.

I will now take direct quotes from that document and add my own thoughts below each section.

“Brazilian Ju Jitsu: Ray Stevens and Ed Semple from Brazilian Ju Jitsu attended the meeting.”

Besides the fact that Mr Stevens holds the rank of black belt in BJJ, trained for sometime with Roger Gracie and iirc may have been involved in establishing a BJJ club at the Budokwai, and Mr Semple co-authored a book on BJJ, I personally am not aware of any further links they have with the UK BJJ community. Additionally I am not aware of anything further that these two gentlemen have done during the past 15 years to contribute towards the growth and development of BJJ in the UK.

 
“BJJ competitions tend to be rather ad hoc in terms of structure and organization.” 

Says who? I am aware that Mr Stevens attended the Surrey BJJ Open, his feedback, that doesn't really tie in with the above, can be seen below. So which other BJJ events have Mr Stevens or Mr Semple attended to come to this conclusion?


I personally organise, or act as an advisor for many of the BJJ events in the UK, including The British Open and English Open.

During my time as a member of the BJA I organised and worked at many BJA events, and held several relevant BJA qualifications to do so. Many BJJ events in the UK are run using the exact same structure and with the same degree of organisation as any BJA event.


“Some BJJ techniques are allowed in BJJ competitions that are not permitted in Judo competitions and vice versa.”

As a former BJA referee and a current IBJJF qualified BJJ referee, I am struggling to think of any techniques that are allowed in Judo competitions that are not allowed in BJJ competitions. I have posted on several BJJ and Judo forums asking this question, there has been a healthy response but no one can think of any. If any of the readers of this blog know of any, please let me know.

“The BJJ British Championships is the largest annual competition with approximately 2000 competitors.” 

 
As a co-organiser of this event I can confirm that this approximation is good. The BJJ British Open has been achieving +1000 competitors for many years with closer to 2000 at our last event.

Let us now compare these competitor numbers to those of the BJA British Open.

Over recent years has the event even reached a few hundred competitors?

Despite looking on the BJA website, I've not yet found the exact competitor numbers for recent BJA British Opens. I do remember competing in the -78 kg category in the mid 80's at Crystal Palace and there were 100+ competitors in my category with many of these from overseas. Those heady days at Crystal Palace seem to be long gone.

When comparing the 2000 competitors at the BJJ British Open to the few hundred (approximately) at the BJA’s event, one could conclude that it is the BJA who need advice on how to put on an event, not the other way around.

“BJJ is keen to affiliate under the BJA umbrella . . . . .”

Besides Mr Stevens and Mr Semple, who have, to say the least, tenuous links to UK BJJ, there are few, if any, in the UK BJJ community who are ‘keen to affiliate’. When a link to the proposed affiliation was posted on The UKBJJ Underground (a Facebook group with nearly 7000 verified members) the group nearly imploded. Of the 259 post on the subject, I found only one person who had something positive to say about the proposed affiliation.

In the days following the posting of the link about the proposed affiliation, the UKBJJA actually saw a surge in membership applications.

“Although BJJ would wish to retain its independence it would work closely with the BJA and benefit from the recognition of the Association’s brand, professionalism, standards of coaching and officiating, technical standards, governance and infrastructure in terms of policies/procedures for clubs and membership.“

The UKBJJA already have much of the above in place.
As identified earlier, the BJJ British Open attracts 2000 competitors, compared to a few hundred for the BJA equivalent, seriously who needs the advice here?

Also as identified earlier regarding the rules, the BJJUKA 'committee' appear to lack an even basic undrstanding of BJJ contest rules, and they are claiming that BJJ would benefit from their standards of officiating?


Final thoughts:

The UKBJJA is a not for profit organisation run by members of the UK BJJ community for members of the UK BJJ community. Our members are encouraged to use the internet, social media etc to voice their opinions.

Recently several members of the BJJ community requested a change be made with regards to individual members joining the UKBJJA. Within days a proposal was made and the board of directors approved the change. The UKBJJA listens to and cares about the opinions of its members.

Now can the same be said of the BJA?

Let us consider the response of the BJA hierarchy when many of its paid up members voiced their dissatisfaction on the official BJA forum regarding the way the association was being run.

Did they address the concerns being raised?

The answer to this question is no. Their response initially was to delete any comments that did not follow the party line, and when the posts of dissatisfaction kept coming and coming, they removed the forum.

As a member of the BJA for over 40 years and a member of the UK BJJ community for over 15 years, my advice to the UK BJJ community is simple, do not to touch the BJA with the proverbial barge pole. The BJA have seen huge declines in their member numbers over the years and their only interest will be to boost their membership (to achieve funding targets) and subsequently increase revenue. Their flagship event, The British Open, has gone from a highly prestigious international event that attracted huge numbers, to an event that struggles to attract a few hundred. Members are leaving the BJA in their droves, according to the minutes from their board meeting in June 2014, their numbers had declined by 1065 members in the previous 12 months.


Where was the BJA 10-15 years ago when BJJ was in its infancy in the UK? Did they offer to get on board and help the fledgling sport that was not so dissimilar to itself, of course they didn't because there was no financial (or statistical) incentive for them to do so.

I'll tell you what I was doing 10-15 years ago, I was teaching BJJ to 4 or 5 students, I was making a regular 120 mile round trip to train with Braulio Estima. I was spending every spare penny that I possessed, and using up all of my holiday entitlement in order to travel to Brazil and train BJJ at Gracie Barra HQ.
I was also organising BJJ competitions for the few people who were practicing BJJ at the time in the UK. Most of these competitions were run at a financial loss, or if I was lucky, they broke even. I was also traveling around the country helping and advising others with their competitions. Again many of these were run at a loss, and I subsequently refused to take any payment, or claim any expenses from those who were also contributing to the growth and development of our art. 

The BJA can see the rapid growth in the popularity of BJJ as a way to boost their falling membership numbers and make a few £’s in the process.


Sorry BJA you are 15 years too late.