Won my first match on points (teammates told me after that it was 16-4, but I had no idea — although I was fairly sure I was up). Then lost the second.

Again, a big drop off in satisfaction between my first match and second. Obviously, I’m fairly chuffed about getting my first win. But also, for most of the match I felt in control. I pulled guard quickly, which was according to my game plan. Then swept promptly. At this point I hit the issue that he was stronger and more athletic — at least he certainly felt that way. So he was able to push the pace. Nonetheless, I was just about able to keep up and felt that I had the edge on technique. We shifted through various positions and sweeps, but I stayed ahead. At one point I nearly had the back, and when he came close to getting me in side control I was able to scramble for a single leg to put him on his back. Towards the end he got to double underhooks and was stacking me hard. To be honest, in the club I’d have tapped at that point, but I was determined to hold on in competition.

The second I lost because I just hadn’t recovered from the adrenaline dump and intense first match (which is not at all to say that I wouldn’t have lost anyway — I just don’t know). Physically and mentally I just wasn’t ready to go again. Really need to work on this, since obviously only being able to do one tournament match a day is going to be a rather serious limit on my competitive career.

Slightly regretted chickening out of the absolute. Think I’ll try to have a rule that if I qualify, and I’m not banged up or injured I’ll throw my hat in the ring — at least while my main aim is just to build up experience.