Winning is an entirely different case (because resisting getting thrown too much results in points loss), but if you just want to avoid falling, just be in your upper end of your weight class, don't be short, and pay attention to footwork. You won't win any competitions this way but you won't get thrown easily during tachi-waza either.
You must be The Chosen One™ if all you need to do to avoid being thrown by an opponent who is more skilled than you are is "pay attention to footwork".
> just be in your upper end of your weight class
Nearly every single competitive athlete is at the upper end of their weight class. If you compete in -81kg, you're training/walking around at more or less 85kg, and cutting weight for competition. No one is showing up to the -81kg category weighing 75kg.
> don't be short
At the top level, weight classes are, effectively, height classes in disguise.
There's some variation, but the distribution of heights for a particular weight class doesn't have a very large standard deviation, especially as athletes get a little older and have packed on as much muscle as they physically can onto their frame.
This is just not true. Lots of people gain weight in working out or training that they meet the low end and it’s stigmatized to lose a few pounds so you can be at the top of a lower weight class.
I wanted to post specifically because mentioning the Granby roll, it's one of those memories that stick out to me. I went to a camp specifically focused on it, I think in Pennsylvania, with someone who was pretty well known but I can't remember who it was. There I learned how to do a standing granby.
Many years later, in recent history, I demonstrated a side flip, all thanks to that camp.
Interesting Cedric seems to have started as a teenager, and wants to get back to it because of a regret of not doing well in nationals. This is similar to a regret I have in a tournament that I know I could have done better in.
But there's really no wrestling as an adult.
There's a lot of feelings I have wrt the article, and similarities to programming, and learning. But I'll save the wall of text.
Then you roll with a legit seasoned black belt, and realize you are even worse than you thought.
And it's not because of the team, or the gear, or someone cheating or lag in a videogame. It's just him being better.
And you either let that beat you up, or you look forward to how high the scale goes, and keep on growing
That's pretty much the case with all sports. Try to go skiing for the first time, and compare yourself with a champion. Fighting sports are similar, but maybe we wrongly assume there's something innate with fighting. In the end, it's all technique! at least in a sport context.
One funny thing in fighting sports, is that sometimes there are big thug-looking guys joining the class, they look intimidating and dangerous, and you realize they're just as harmless as any other beginner!
Obviously me, and any other black belt, has sparred with white belts and it's like a club tennis pro playing tennis with someone coming in for the first time ever to play tennis. The gulf between beginners and pros is massive.
That being said, I always had the imposter syndrome, and always felt like I was the exacts same level as when I was a white belt.
And yes, if you have great technique, you're going to wipe the floor with someone who is a lot bigger than you are.
He sometimes brought black belts from his Dojo to the University class, and I loved playing with them. I got so many good learning opportunities. Even if that did mean that a 300lb black belt threw me to the ground harder than I've ever hit the mat, and then he proceeded to fall on top of me. The problem was that my natural defenses were good enough to stop his first attack attempt, but he could plan multiple attacks in sequence, and rip right from one failed attack into the next one while I was still piled up on his back. But doing so meant he had less reserve to brace over the fallen opponent, as he would normally have done.
In the end, I had a minor injury to my neck, and a separate older minor injury to my hand. And I also attended one tournament at his local Dojo, which meant that I also encountered my professors Sensei, who was a 5th degree black belt. He was also the meanest and nastiest prick I ever met, and after one encounter with that asshole, I was never going back.
Thus ended my year playing Judo.
Most of the match was him trying to throw me, and my natural defenses being good enough that he couldn't quite manage it. And then I'd try to throw him and his trained defenses were much better. And so we would kind of drag each other down onto the mat, and that latter would continue -- his trained attacks weren't quite good enough to get through my natural defenses, and my attacks were not remotely close to good enough to get through his trained defenses.
Ultimately, his training won out, because he knew of more ground attacks than I did, and he managed to get me into situations I couldn't get out of. And he did that three times in a row.
After the match, my teacher told me if I had not attempted to attack but had instead gone more defensive, I probably could have changed tack and easily walked him out of the ring, which would have automatically caused him to lose. But then we agreed that wouldn't have been a very sporting win.
Nevertheless, I was technically the winner of the heavyweight adult class in that tournament, simply by showing up. But it was fun doing a demo match with this brown belt, even though it didn't impact who won which weight class.
Unfortunately, that was the only fun thing that happened at that Dojo.
You reminded me of a nice memory. I never trained competitively, nor very far, but was fortunate to see some people with amazing ability.
As a young teen learning Aikido, one time, our great sensei (at a local public school auditorium that was converted to a dojo in the evening) had a very high-ranking person from Japan visit. The visitor was middle-aged and jovial, and his family was also there.
At one point, the visiting sensei was demonstrating throws in the middle of the mats, and would indicate a student who was to attack. Then he'd do some subtle, conservation-of-movement whole body thing, and the student would go flying.
I received the technique myself, and the students weren't just being polite or trying to show good rolls/breakfalls -- the technique was surprisingly powerful, and you were definitely getting thrown, whether you wanted to or not. But done gently enough that you wouldn't get hurt. He would smile and maybe give a good-natured little chuckle each time.
I feel like you're being a little hyperbolic. The founder of HackerNews says that he trains less than half of what this guy does, so I don't see why this guy has reason for failure any more than anyone else.
I then switched to Muay Thai which seems like a more violent sport, but it's much easier to control the intensity, as long as you're in phase with your sparring partners.
I trained months in Thailand, and the instructors (pros or ex-pros) were always sparring ultra light as they didn't want to get injured before their matches, and also because it's a better way to improve. In the West, some (rare) guys tend to have a bigger ego and may actually get some pride to harm beginners in sparring which is a bit ridiculous. A healthy gym will typically discourage such behaviors.
Coming back to my initial point, I feel it's easier to spar lightly in boxing than in judo.
I've been a judoka for several years; I also started late, in my 30s. I train 4-5 times a week for 2+ hours a day at one of the best dojos in my country, and my country regularly medals in international events - there's no lack of high-level talent.
I've sparred with literal Olympians, and receive instruction from one of the most highly ranked and respected judoka in the world who has produced Olympic medal winning athletes, in addition to our other instructor who was a top 9 finisher in the Olympics, World Cup winner, and multi-year Pan Am champion.
And you know what I've found out after all that? Competitive judo is fucking hard. It will brutalize your mind and body in ways you never thought possible.
And just when you think you're getting anywhere, you'll have a match with someone at a national/international level, and you feel like you're a day-one white belt getting ragdolled by someone having fun and going at 40% of their competition-level intensity.