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Thank you @zekepickleman. Already following them both and you as well now. I love encouraging the newer practitioners to take a dive into competition waters. The nerves are probably the biggest obstacle but I tell them to think of it more like an expensive seminar and your opponent is the instructor. There's nothing truly at stake, you're going to learn a ton, and your teammates will still respect you.

You know what worked for me to get the new guys going? I told them just to come along and check it out and support their team mates. I also told them that I am willing to bet if they do, that they will say to themselves that it is not a big deal and should have competed.

Really helps build the team too.

That's also what I did before my first competition. I went to one first just to watch and support my team. After looking at it I thought, "I bet I could choke that dude out." haha