Ugh, where I do I even begin? The event was a combination of near total failure (the facilities) and success (our team’s performance).

First off, the failures. This was the first Sub Hunt that was held in partnership with the Diamond National Karate tournament. And because of that…a new venue. The old venue was the Champlin High School gym. Big. 8 large rings on a wrestling mat. Plenty of space and bleachers for the spectators. The Sheraton hotel lacked all of the above. We were cut down to 5 rings, on overly firm mats. There was almost no observation area, the mats were crammed into a hotel ballroom. It was hot, stuffy, crowded, and occasionally smelly.

But onto the successes. In general, everyone performed pretty well, and some did extremely well. Purple Belt Matt won the Absolute gi, Short Josh won in Gi, Rod won, plus others. I’d have some pics or video, but my phone wasn’t cooperating.

I even had a chance to coach. Jesse was up for one last gi match for 3rd place in his division, and Damian and others were busy, so it was up to me. Felt a little weird, but I helped him as much as I could. In the end, he ended up getting triangled, and it’s too hard and too long for me to explain how to escape as it’s happening. He wasn’t the only one to get triangled…so perhaps we as a team need to review that escape and defense some more!