Reaping at the IBJJF 2013 European Open

Image from graciemag.com

I am disappointed.  An inspiring story about the return of one of the greatest competitors in Sport Jiu-Jitsu history was derailed by a disqualification due to a leg reap.  This is after an update to the rules that was supposed to make reaping a much less serious offense.

Here is the match between Terere and Claudio Calasans:

Terere is clearly reaping.  Having the leg over the arm doesn't negate the torque placed on the knee.

However, given that Terere is reaping, the Ref should have stopped the match and restarted in a safe position.  Instead the ref appears to warn Terere, but doesn't physically move the leg.  The referee has a chance to move the leg to the "last safe position" during a restart from out-of-bounds, but instead opts to do nothing.

When the ref tells Terere that penalty points are being awarded for the reap, he still doesn't fix the position.  This ultimately results in one of the highest profile matches at the tournament ending due to an embarrassing technicality.  If reaping is taking place, the referee should immediately stop the match and restart it in a safe position.  This is both for the safety of the competitors and to avoid situations like this.

I understand that this is the first tournament with this new rule set, so perhaps the IBJJF is already advising referees to stop the matches, and this debacle is just a matter of poor training.  Hopefully this oversight is corrected before the 2014 rules update.  The IBJJF is making progress with the rules, but if this is where we stand with reaping, we still have a ways to go.

I haven't written anything about leg reaping yet, so I'll leave with a couple of videos showing the official definitions.

This video defines the basics of reaping.  It was filmed before the recent rules change, so disregard the talk about instant disqualifications :

This video further clarifies the reaping position from De La Riva and One Leg X-Guard:

The IBJJF Rules Changes for 2013

Alvaro Mansor is a walking rule book

The IBJJF is finally addressing the complaints of the BJJ community!  A preview of the updates can be found at GracieMag, with an updated rule book to be released any day now.  The major changes and my thoughts are below:

Takedown Score:

Starting in 2013, the referee will award two points for a Takedown after the athlete who initiates the Takedown stabilizes the position on the opponent on the ground for three (3) seconds.

This update streamlines the takedown scoring rules by removing the "Ippon Rule".  I agree with this change because the rules for takedowns are already overly complex before taking Ippons into account.  Presently, I've refereed hundreds of matches with these changes because US Grappling has used these rules for scoring takedowns for as long as I can remember.  This works out really well in practice because as a referee you can devote one hundred percent of your attention to the guard pull and not worry about how the competitors land.

The only thing I dislike about this update is that it becomes harder to score with a takedown.  Takedown points are already rare enough because of the prevalence of guard pulling, so I hate to see a change that has the potential to make takedowns even harder to secure.

Scoring Primer: Guard Passing

[This is the second of a planned four-part series covering each of the ways to score in submission grappling.  The first article, covering takedowns, is available here]

Guard passing is one of the most misunderstood scoring methods in competition.  The confusion comes from the common misconception that controlling your opponent from side control is worth points.  Before I continue with this article allow me to clearly state:  There are no points for side control!  Side control is just a position.  It's the action of passing the guard that scores.  Now that I've got that out of the way, we can continue.

As with my previous article in this series, I will be using the commonly adopted IBJJF rule book.  Under IBJJF rules, passing the guard is worth three points, which makes it unique among the ways to score.  I've heard that in the (very) early days of competition a guard pass and a sweep were both scored equally, but guard passes were eventually bumped up to emphasize the advantage of being on top in a real fight.

Guard passes (like sweeps and takedowns) are "Actions", meaning they are made up of an initial position, a transition, and an ending position.  As with other actions, all three requirements must be met in order to score points for the pass. 

Scoring Primer: Takedowns

[This is the first in a multi-part series covering each of the different ways to score points in competitive jiu-jitsu.]

Takedown   

noun    [teyk-doun] 

When an athlete forces his/her opponent to the ground after having been standing at some point during the movement

The first opportunity to score in any grappling match is with a takedown.  Understanding how takedowns are scored is vital for seizing the initiative before your opponent.  In this article, I'm going to take an in-depth look at exactly how a referee determines if a throw, a shot, or a trip qualifies for points.

Unfortunately, since competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu doesn't have a unified rule book, I'm only focusing on competitions that use IBJJF-based scoring.  Under these rules, takedowns are worth two points, which makes it part of a three-way-tie for the "least amount of points that can possibly be awarded" along with sweeps and the knee-on-belly position.

A takedown is considered an "Action" for scoring purposes, so the focus is on how you perform the move.  I've already briefly written about "Action" points and "Position" points in BJJ, but basically a takedown (along with all other "Actions") has three components:

Initial Position  =>  Transition  =>  Final Position

A referee is going to look at these three requirements and make sure each one is fulfilled before awarding points.  I've dedicated a section below to each of these criteria.

8 Things To Do Before You Compete

Preparing for a grappling tournament is stressful.  It's easy to get caught up in training and forget about all the little details that come along with competing.  This is especially true if you're new to the competition scene or competing in a promotion for the first time.

Based on my experience competing and as a referee, I've come up with a list of important things that people often overlook before stepping on the mat.  These tips are probably common sense to seasoned veterans of the grappling circuit, but newer competitors should find some benefits.  Remember that ignorance is not an excuse.

1. Read over the rules

I'm surprised by the number of people I encounter who train every day, cut ten pounds, and drop $100+ on an entry fee for a tournament, yet never bother to look at the rules.  Most tournaments have a rules meeting before the event starts, but that's not a great time to be exposed to the rules for the first time.

To make matters worse, BJJ doesn't have a unified rule set.  Most organizations use rules based on the IBJJF, but usually with some minor differences.  Keeping the differences straight among all the different events is headache.  To keep from getting confused, take the time to briefly read over the rules.

Below are links to the rules for some of the popular grappling organizations:

• IBJJF
• NAGA
• Grappler's Quest
• USGrappling

Scoring Breakdown: Kayron Gracie vs Ian McPherson

Ian McPherson has some of the best hair in BJJ

A fellow referee recently asked for my opinion in scoring a tricky match.  This match turned out to be full of hard-to-call situations.  I'm glad to be watching it on video, because I'm sure I would have messed up some of the calls without the benefit of rewind.

The difficulty in scoring this match comes from the way certain points are earned.  Sport BJJ has two distinct categories of points:

• Positions:  (Knee On Belly, Back Control, and Mount)  These points are given simply for holding a position correctly.  There is no requirement for how you get there, as long as you end up in the right spot.  When the position has been held for three seconds, points are awarded.
• Actions:  (Sweep, Takedown, Guard Pass)  Points are scored based on how a technique was performed.  The criteria include the starting position of each competitor, the final position, and the path between the beginning and the end.  An action only scores points if the entire sequence is correct and the final position is held for three seconds.

Actions are responsible for many more arguments than positions.  Scoring sequences happen fast and can be very subjective.  Additionally, concepts such as "continuous motion", which seem well-defined, leave too much room for interpretation.

Protect Yourself At All Times

Apparently to Rousimar Palhares this hand signal means crank harder.

One of the worst situations in combat sports is being caught by surprise.  The most common way this happens in BJJ is during a match stoppage, especially when the referee is indecisive.  If one competitor thinks the match is stopped and the other is still attacking, the situation goes FUBAR quickly.  These scenarios are exactly what I want to look at in this post.