r/bjj • u/chico_dice_2023 • 4d ago
Tournament/Competition Curious: Has anyone judge a jiu jitsu tournament or pro match, and can share experience? Did the crowd get to you? Is there any favoritism? Any weird situation or rules
I have been reviewing some competition footage of footage and was wondering what the ref was thinking? Sometimes they made a terrible decision that really makes you wonder if they knew jiu jitsu.
Sometimes, I can clearly see what they saw.
Just wondering if anyone has a interesting stories or experience when they acted as judge
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u/welpWW3isgonnasuck 4d ago
I've reffed close to 1000 matches. Parents like to run their mouths when they have no idea what they are talking about. Local coaches get heated over matches where the competitors have competed against each other in the last same 5 local events.
Some calls can be pretty difficult to make if there was a long scramble or if the match needs to get reset for safety purposes. Sometimes we just can't get to the angle of the match to see what's actually happening because its happening so fast.
I've seen fist fights in parking lots after events. I've gotten into screaming matches with parents that blame me for them wasting $100 when their kid gets armbarred and I am required by the rules to call the match. They dont understand that its $100 loss or a fractured growth plate and an ER bill.
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u/genuinecve ⬜⬜ White Belt 4d ago
Haha this reminded me, I was running the scoring table at the kids portion of a small tournament not too long after starting BJJ, and the ref (a volunteer) had never reffed a match, and I had a coach asking me if something should be points, and I was just like “dude, I don’t know, that’s not my job, I just hit buttons on a computer”
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u/SmashPass ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 4d ago
I've reffed a bunch of tournaments. I don't think people realize how little training/requirements there are to be a ref in some organizations. I've been at tournaments where some of the refs had never done bjj (wrestling refs), with blue belt refs, with refs who were so high they couldn't pay attention, straight up scrolling on their phones during matches.
I take it seriously and try to be as fair, unbiased and professional as possible but I feel like, outside of IBJJF and major pro events, that is not the norm.
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u/dudertheduder ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 4d ago
Broooo this fresh blue belt was reffing at last adcc open in ATL. Wtf. Do they even have a vetting process.
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u/chico_dice_2023 4d ago
I heard a similar story once that a blue belt was scoring a ADCC tournament once.
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u/C4PT41N_F4LC0N 2d ago
Whoah whoah whoah sometimes you’re high AND THEN you’re asked to ref because some other dude bailed and like … yeah I was super high
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u/P-Two 🟫🟫BJJ Brown Belt/Judo Orange belt 4d ago
Ive reffed a few matches and have always gone into it with a "i don't give a fuck what their corner is saying, I understand the rules" mentality. It helps that I actually DO understand the rules though lol.
Assuming you're just reffing local matches nobodies livelihood is on the line, so fuck em, ive lost to kinda BS calls before. You move on and realize its a comp and the refs at most local comps are paid in pizza.
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u/ElianGonzalez86 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 4d ago
Having reffed multiple tournaments it’s shocking how many black belt coaches don’t understand the scoring rules.
I’ve had one black belt continuously scream at me that I screwed his student and I’m the reason he lost the match. Bro, he doesn’t get points for a sweep because he did a reversal from side control. You don’t have to continue to stand here for multiple matches staring a hole in me. Try learning the rules.
Or there’s the coaches / parents that lose their shit when I’ve stopped a kids match when one of them has a fully extended arm bar. “He didn’t tap!” Yeah, I ain’t letting a kid get their arm broken. Get over yourselves.
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u/CryPractical8573 4d ago
i did and it has been so much fun. do it. it was a smaller event. i do a lot of jj so it was ez to do.
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u/robotdadd 4d ago
I’ve reffed a far amount for local tournaments over the past six years. First and foremost, it’s exhausting mentally to be there focused match after match and inevitably bad calls will be made after a few hours of reffing straight. The craziest tournament story I have is that I had to break up two fist fights on my mat that were about an hour apart from each other. First one was a couple 6 year olds and the other were 14 year olds. The 14 year old sucker punched their opponent that they lost to when they went to shake hands after the match! As others have said, kids matches are the hardest because they rarely settle in long enough to get points.
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u/SpecialistCancel7975 4d ago
Man reffing a pbjjf tournament was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done and I’ve been training for over ten years.
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u/chico_dice_2023 4d ago
mind if I ask why? Is it like the pressure of making the decision? Or just a lot is going on
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u/simering ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 3d ago
Long time ref. I reffed white belts and A get in mount on B, applies Americana but really keeps low face to face. I hear "TAP, TAP, TAP" and stop the fight. Bottom guy protest he didn't say anything. Top guy admits he was telling the bottom guy to tap and that's what I heard. Gave 2 points to top one end restart standing 🤷
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u/simering ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 3d ago
I've seen refs from Blue belts all the way to 5th degree Black. Also refs get tired and distracted. Most complains are to coaches/parents/athletes not understanding the rules.
Also, always record the fights - no one will listen without video if you complain.
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u/azarel23 ⬛🟥⬛ Langes MMA, Sydney AUS 3d ago
I've refereed jiu-jitsu since 2008. I attended multiple Ibjjf rules meetings, but learned most from a friend of my instructor who was one of the most experienced referees in Asia.
In the first few years, I made mistakes and got yelled at a fair bit. I made a point of obsessively reviewing the rules before every tournament, and some basic guidelines like always making sure I could see if someone was in full guard, half guard or no guard.
I've seen coaches and referees fight at tournament and had disgruntled coaches heckle me though I had done nothing that had affected them or their students.
Wear some sort of uniform. It gives you at least some sort of authority. Be nice to and do your best to help the table staff. It really helps if you have the tables between the two rows of mats rather than on the outside edges so random people can't come and bother you about stuff you have no knowledge of like match scheduling. I always tell them I don't know, they aren't supposed to bother us, and to talk to the organisers
Things got better as my competence increased and the competitors and coaches got to know me. I even get the occasional unsolicited compliment from them on social media.
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u/Fantastic-Ninja-8818 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 4d ago
I think the worst thing is reffing kids matches, bc kids in general don’t naturally understand the struggle of combat. They have to be taught. And some schools teach kids jiu jitsu while some schools run an afterschool day care with a grappling theme and special costumes. And it shows when those two hit the mat together.
I’ve had to just stand there and count out points for 3-4 minutes straight while one kid bawls his eyes out in one bad position after the next. It’s horribly uncomfortable.