Tuesday, November 23
In today's news, my plan for the Challenge of Champions worked and didn't work. It worked in that I did in fact end up being the only female grappler over 35 years old, between 135 and 150 pounds, and at novice (position only, no submissions) level who applied. Unfortunately, they didn't solve it the way I'd hoped, which would have been by giving me my trophy and sending me home sweatless. Their solution was to combine several different divisions from the poorly-attended women's grappling competition, and they wanted to put me into a division with full submissions, white to RED belt (i.e. two below black), and weight from 140 pounds UP. They enclosed a waiver for me to sign, acknowledging that I'd be fighting out of my weight level, belt level, and experience level, and would pretty much be going home in a Jersey ambulance. My senseis agreed—a little more quickly than strictly necessary, if you ask me—that I shouldn't fight, so I'm scratched. I'm taking a seminar anyway, and volunteering at the competition, but a little disappointed. On the other hand, now I can eat like a pig for the next two weeks. (ok, I was doing that anyway...)
4:40 PM
