Bring Your Best to the Mat: What Happens Before the First Match Matters

The referee calls you forward.

You shake hands with your opponent, and the match begins.

At that moment, you cannot add the training sessions you missed. You cannot suddenly improve your conditioning or learn the rules you never studied.

You compete with the preparation you brought.

As a coach, I want my athletes to understand this: performing at your best starts long before competition day.

It comes from putting several things together. None guarantees a medal. Each one simply gives your training a better chance to show when it matters.

1. Choose Your Division Wisely—and Prepare Early

Weight is one part of competition planning.

An athlete naturally near the upper limit of a division may have a size advantage against a lighter opponent. But that advantage means little if reaching the category leaves the athlete exhausted.

I tell my adult students:

If you want to compete at 62 kilograms, do not leave yourself six kilograms to lose in the final month.

Plan earlier.

Choose a category you can reach gradually while maintaining your strength, energy, and recovery.

Gradual weight loss and last-minute dehydration are very different things. Sports guidance commonly recommends around 0.5–1 kilogram per week, with individual assessment needed, especially for athletes who are already lean.

For children, the approach is different.

Their division should accommodate their natural weight and growth. Growing athletes should not be encouraged to lose weight simply for a competitive advantage.

The objective is to step onto the mat ready to perform.

2. Know Your Game Deeply

Ask yourself:

• Where am I strongest?

• How do I reach that position?

• What happens when my opponent stops my first attack?

You need clear answers.

Build connections between your techniques.

Your grips lead to an entry. Your entry leads to a scoring opportunity. Your control creates a submission. When one movement fails, you have another option ready.

Know your game well enough to keep working when the match becomes difficult.

3. Give Your Training a Purpose

Showing up matters.

But paying attention makes those hours more valuable.

Come to training with an objective.

Today, I will work on keeping my guard.

Tomorrow, I will improve my sweeps.

Another day, I will practise escaping side control.

The objective is not a promise that nobody will pass or control you. It gives you something to observe, test, and improve.

When a partner exposes a weakness, you have found useful information.

Take it back to your coach and work on it.

4. Practise the Situations You Hope to Avoid

Nobody wants to be behind on points with thirty seconds left.

Nobody wants their back taken.

But those situations belong in training.

Practise:

• Protecting a lead

• Chasing a score

• Escaping bad positions

• Recovering from mistakes

• Facing different styles of opponents

• Competing under the actual rules and match duration

You want experience making decisions under pressure.

That way, when a difficult moment happens in competition, it feels familiar enough to handle.

5. Build Fitness—and Learn to Use It

You need the conditioning to support your technique through a match and, potentially, several matches in one day.

But fitness is not only about being able to work harder.

You also need to recognise when you are wasting energy.

Are you squeezing every grip as hard as possible?

Are you holding your breath?

Are you forcing a movement when changing the angle would work better?

Develop your strength and conditioning, then learn to use them with purpose.

Fitness should support your technique—not replace it.

6. Learn the Rules Before They Cost You

A technically skilled athlete can still lose through a poor decision.

Know:

• How points are awarded

• Which techniques are permitted

• What causes penalties

• How the clock changes your options

• What you need to do when you are ahead or behind

If you are losing, you need to recognise when to take a calculated risk.

If you are winning, you need to protect your position while continuing to compete intelligently.

The rules belong in your training—not just on competition day.

7. Arrive With Energy Available

The final weeks are part of preparation.

Organise your:

Sleep. Meals. Hydration. Travel. Equipment. Warm-up.

Work with your coach to adjust training so you arrive recovered and ready.

Keep competition day as simple as possible.

Know where you need to be. Know what you need to bring. Give yourself enough time to settle in.

You have worked hard to develop your abilities.

Give yourself the conditions to use them.

8. Build a Partnership With Your Coach

Your coach should understand your strengths, your weaknesses, and your competition goals.

You should understand the plan and the instructions you may hear during the match.

Listen.

Ask questions.

Practise those responses in training.

After competition, review honestly together.

Identify what worked and choose specific improvements.

A result gives you information. What you do with that information shapes your next performance.

9. Let Family Support Give the Athlete Stability

For children, parents are an important part of the competition experience.

Be present when possible. Show interest. Cheer warmly, and let the coach provide technical instructions.

Your child should be able to focus without trying to follow several voices at once.

Before the match, keep your words simple:

“Enjoy yourself, listen to your coach, and try what you practised.”

Afterward, welcome them with the same warmth whether they won or lost.

Ask how they feel.

Give them time before discussing mistakes.

Recognise their effort, courage, and good decisions.

Quiet support can be wonderful. Enthusiastic support can be wonderful too.

What matters is that the child feels supported rather than responsible for managing an adult’s emotions.

Adults need support as well.

Discuss training time and family responsibilities. Make preparation workable for everyone.

Sometimes the most useful support is practical help. Sometimes it is simply having someone willing to listen after a difficult day.

Bring Preparation You Can Trust

You cannot choose everything that happens in a match.

You can choose how seriously you prepare.

Learn your game.

Work on your weaknesses.

Understand your rules.

Look after your body.

Listen to your coach.

Build an environment that helps you grow.

Then, when the referee calls you forward, commit to the next useful action.

That is how you give yourself the best opportunity to compete at your full capacity.

Chase Greatness.

— Professor Luis Carreno