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Fitness

Athlete Journal: Valerie Worthington, Entry 12 – Just That

I competed at Worlds on Saturday and I lost. I’m not happy with how I competed because I feel I regressed to old habits. I’m not taking any opportunity for growth or looking for the lesson.

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

Written by Valerie Worthington Last updated on June 7, 2012

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Welcome to the Athlete Journal of world-class grappler Valerie Worthington. Follow Valerie as she trains and competes in various events over the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition season. Val’s journal will be posted every Thursday.

You can catch up by reading her previous journal entries!

Well, I don’t really have a deep, meaningful angle for this entry. I competed at Worlds on Saturday and I lost. I’m not happy with how I competed because I feel I regressed to old habits (through no fault of my coaches’, of course. This was pure, unadulterated Worthington). At this moment, I’m not taking any opportunity for growth or looking for the lesson in all of it. I’m not even doing a good job of enjoying my post-competition indulgences; I ate a lot of junk food on Sunday, but I kind of had to force myself, and I woke up in the middle of the night because the bile had risen to my throat and I had to dry heave. (Not my best showing there either.)

I’m just weary, as I imagine this year’s winners (congratulations to them, by the way! Lots of amazing action) must be, but they have more to show for it. Meh. So the plan once I settle in back home after my redeye is to take a few days off and then try to get back in touch with why I train in the first place: because I love it and it makes me happy. Back to first principles and simple motivations. Those seem to get lost during tournament preparation, so it will be nice to get reacquainted.

And I can say that I did catch most of the season finale of Game of Thrones. I was lost through a lot of it, but it definitely engaging, with the chopping and the hacking and the intrigue and the English accents, which make everyone sound smarter.

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

About Valerie Worthington

Valerie Worthington has been moving her body since before she was born, for many reasons and with many outcomes. She really started to pay attention to how, when, and why her body moves when she began training in Brazilian jiu jitsu in 1998. From then on, she became hugely invested in educating herself about how to optimize her body movement for BJJ and how to support it in doing so. She has observed that these endeavors require her to invest herself not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, fueling a particular interest in the influence on her life of these dimensions of athletic activity.

Valerie has developed as a BJJ practitioner via her own training and competition preparation, teaching and coaching other practitioners, and writing about her life as a jiu jitsu devotee through the lens of her education, personal experiences, and professional background. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a doctorate in educational psychology from Michigan State University. She is a first-degree black belt in BJJ, as well as co-founder and proprietor of Groundswell Grappling Concepts. She trains at Princeton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Princeton, New Jersey.

Most recently, Valerie is the author of How to Love a Grappler: A Guide for People Who Love People Who Love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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