Comp Prep — Camp Week — Match-length rounds, real scores, corners and consequences — the session that makes Saturday feel familiar

Match-length rounds, real scores, corners and consequences — the session that makes Saturday feel familiar

Comp Prep — Camp Week

Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Competition team
90 min
Competition team — 6 to 20 athletes
2 coaches
Effort 5/5
Full mat area — two match areas plus a rest zone
competition
camp
sparring
conditioning

The MatPlans curriculum teamBJJ black belts & coaches · 12+ yrs on the mat

Kit: Mats, round timer, whiteboard for the score grid. Gi or no-gi to match the ruleset you are entering.

Warm-up15 min

Match-Day Rehearsal Warm-Up

Setup: Whiteboard up first: the night's match grid written where everyone can see it — who fights whom, in what order, on which area. Athletes warm up in the same small strip of mat they would get at a venue.

How it works: Warm up the way Saturday allows, not the way comfort prefers: a cramped strip, ten minutes, self-managed. Give them the menu once — movement, pummelling, one flow round at half pace with their first drill partner — then step back and watch who can bring themselves to temperature without a coach counting. The last five minutes are quiet: athletes visualise their first exchange, first grip, first score, standing still with eyes closed if they will tolerate it. Rule of the week said once, loudly: nothing new gets learned in camp week — we sharpen what exists.

What to say

“Self-managed warm-ups are a competition skill — coach the ones drifting cold, not the whole room.”
“First grip, first exchange, first score — make them say their plan before they roll.”
“Camp week sharpens, it never adds — anyone experimenting tonight is politely stopped.”

Easier

Coach-led warm-up in normal space for teams at their first camp.

Harder

Warm-up done in match kit with the exact time gap they will get between weigh-in and first match.

Drill15 min

A-Game Lanes

Setup: The mat divided into lanes, one pair per lane. Each athlete has named their A-game sequence — first grip to first score — before the block starts; the coach carries the list.

How it works: Fifteen minutes of drilling their own game and nobody else's: seven minutes each way. The sequence runs from the feet or the pull — whatever their real match starts with — to their first scored position, at climbing intensity: three reps easy, three at half, the rest at match rhythm against a partner defending honestly but not creatively. Coaches walk the lanes with the list, checking what they see against what was named. An athlete whose A-game changes under mild pressure has a B-game and no A-game — better to find out tonight than Saturday.

The technique, step by step

Name it: each athlete states their first grip, first entry and first score before the block — the coach writes it down.
Run it: the named sequence on repeat, from the real starting position their matches begin in.
Climb it: three reps easy, three at half, the remainder at match rhythm against honest defence.
Audit it: coaches compare what they see with what was named — drift gets called kindly and immediately.

Rounds: 7 min each way · reps at 30% → 50% → match rhythm

What to say

“Drill the game you named, not the game that is working tonight — consistency is the audit.”
“Partners defend like the average opponent, not like a rival — camp partners are sparring equipment, act accordingly.”
“Say each athlete's first score back to them as you pass — hearing it from outside makes it real.”

Easier

Sequences run at half pace throughout with the coach walking each athlete through their named plan once.

Harder

The final three reps run against full match-rate defence — the sequence must survive or be honestly shortened.

Drill40 min

Match Simulations

Setup: Two match areas marked with a rest-and-corner zone along the edge. One coach referees and keeps score on the whiteboard grid; the second coach — or a senior athlete — runs the timer and the next-up queue. Matches follow the grid from the warm-up board.

How it works: Full matches at competition length for your ruleset — five or six minutes — with real scoring called aloud, out-of-bounds restarts, and a queue that keeps both areas loaded. Each athlete gets three matches with proper rest between; everyone not fighting is cornering or next up. Cornering has one rule: one instruction per exchange, shouted short — corners that narrate get tuned out on Saturday. Wins and losses go on the board, because scoreboard pressure is exactly the muscle being trained. Anything that tweaks mid-match: hand raised, match over, no heroics in camp week.

Rounds: 3 matches each × 5–6 min · full rest between · scores on the board

What to say

“Referee loudly and score honestly — arguing with the score is Saturday practice too.”
“Corners: one short instruction per exchange, then silence — train the words you will actually use.”
“Behind on points with a minute left is the richest minute in camp — let those matches run.”

Easier

Matches shortened to four minutes and scores kept privately by the coach rather than on the board.

Harder

Blind time: athletes fight without seeing the clock and must manage pace off the referee's calls alone.

The rest of this lesson is free — along with 3 more this week.

MatPlans curriculum team

Free on MatPlans — new lessons weekly.