Provided fighters don't strike, avoid eye attacks and don't stand up, anything goes. Bouts last about two minutes with the winner declared by forcing a submission or, in closely fought bouts, a points advantage.

Three fighters from the club, Carl Mahoney, John Lewis and Wayne Collins had their first taste of tournament back to back wrestling recently in Dewsbury W.Yorks.

The competition organised by the GB Sports Jujitsu squad had over 120 entries with specialist grapplers from Judo, Gracie Jujitsu and Brazilian Jujitsu in good attendance. For those who don't know, Gracie/Brazilian Jujitsu practitioners specialise in ground fighting and are renowned for their close quarter ground work.

Our first fighter of the day was Wayne. Having practised judo before taking up Jujitsu, he was able to show his fellow fighters some effective ground techniques. One such technique, which involves grabbing your opponents lapels and tripping them over an outstretched leg, was employed by Wayne immediately to great effect and for a few moments he had the upper hand. Both fighters were pretty well matched and several times Wayne managed to claw his way out of a bar choke with great determination. In the end though, his opponents superior weight got the better of him and Wayne didn't have any strength left to fight off the final bar choke.

Next up, Carl Mahoney, sporting a new gi that actually fitted him! Everything started well with both fighters tussling and twisting for position on the mat. Carl ended up pinned but his opponent couldn't apply a choke. Carl looked quite comfortable where he was and the referees were poised over them ready to restart when Carl tapped his opponent on the side. It was so subtle that the referees hadn't seen it properly and asked if he had indeed tapped. He confirmed that he had and so lost the bout. Afterwards, Carl admitted that he'd tapped because he couldn't shift his opponent and felt that therefore he'd lost and had decided to give in. Several words sprung to mind at that point regarding his decision, non of them complementary and most with few vowels!

John Lewis was last up. He stepped up full of confidence for his bout and within seconds had won with consummate ease - he had to, his opponent didn't turn up!

John's next bout was a real battle against a skilful grappler who soaked up all of John's strength attacks and bided his time before executing a spectacular cross over arm lock. John's opponent went on to win the competition and John learnt a valuable lesson. Back to back wrestling isn't just about strength, it's about technique, skill and patience.

All in all it was an enjoyable day with valuable lessons learnt for any future participation. And next time, if Carl decides to tap out for no apparent reason he's going to have to walk all the way back from "??!!**$$!!! Dewsbury!"