new to submisson grappling

Your athleticism will help you alot in no-gi. Learn the basics first, ie: passing the guard, mounting, armbar, guilitine. There are alot of techniques out there that look flashy and require alot of experience to pull them off. Don't get frustrated, submission fighting is about learning to defend first, then developing your own style of offense. Dont be afraid to tap, no matter how lose you think the submission may be, just tap, reset and go at it again. Before you know it, you will be tapping everyone. Good Luck.

That's more of a style question, some guys have a very aggressive style while others are more laid back.

Chaz is 100% on the money about this. Some guys are very successful being super aggressive and some guys are more successful with a relaxed style.

And I've seen aggressive wrestling styles and relaxed wrestling styles, so the style that works for you in wrestling is probably what's going to work for you in submission grappling.

A word of caution though: being super aggressive can lead to being sloppy, so if you're going to be super aggressive, make sure that you do it in a very technical way (a black belt at my school is like this, murder aggressive but always technical).

I'd recommend finding a quality grappling school. Whether it's Sambo, Catch, or BJJ is really a matter of personal preference, but make sure that the instructors are qualified and technical. That will help you more than any of our advice can.

A guy I train with uses the low single, or ankle pick at grappling events. Keeps him safe and gets easy points. He's won NAGA, and another big event here in Missouri with just wrestling. He has enough knowledge not to get caught in subs. He trained with a Black Belt every chance he got for like 6 months when he first started Jiu Jitsu and learned how to avoid every basic sub known. Now he is slowly learning how to apply the subs, but rarely uses them. He will not go for a sub and give up position. Position before submission is the best advice for grappling.

You have alot of wrestling, so they might want you to do Intermediate. I would do beginner if they would let you. You have to much wrestling for novice. I think they ask how much wrestling you've had when you sign up. So they might make you do a higher skill level.

Learn some submission stuff before jumping into a tournament, especially a tournament like NAGA where virtually every submission is legal. You don't need to sit out for 6 months because you didn't know you were in danger of having your leg ripped off.

First off, welcome to Lockflow. You will find this a great place with some amazingly helpful people.

As someone who came into the sport with a wrestling background myself, let me echo what several others have said: remember where you came from, use your wrestling to your benefit, and find some quality instruction to help you learn the rest of the game.

One thing that wrestlers tend to have a problem with is learning to relax. I am not talking about aggressiveness here, but rather the ability to simply relax, breathe, and move from position to position. In wrestling almost all of the movements are dynamic and explosive, in the submission game, many are relaxed and 'creeping'. All too often, wrestlers, even with what is often superior fitness, will find themselves gassed three minutes into the match. The trick is to learn how to relax and only be explosive when it is to your advantage.

Good luck in your first competition.

Dave

You should attack, take people down pin, control and ride them. This will carry you in your first tournaments.

Just DO NOT give up your back, learn some subs, and you'll be fine.

Ok. When you're rolling, don't wrestle. Don't be on top, don't be trying desperately to grind the person on the bottom and use your strength and cardio--that's submission grappling, not jiu jiusu. Fight off your back using techinique, not strength. If you know how to avoid gi chokes and sweeps from different angles, etc., you don't need to freak out and try to crush people to the mat. That only works up until you grapple good blue belts and maybe a purple belt or two. When you're rolling with purples, browns, and blacks you will be at a distinct disadvantage than other people at your level because they will have been relying on technique instead of wrestling. I see it all the time. Wrestlers who have transitioned will get caught in silly submissions or tied up in things that any white belt learns yet they'll be baffled. Recognize the difference between the two sports. Think about it this way: if a blue belt in bjj started wrestling would you advise him to pull guard and lay on his back/side often? He'd definitely need to learn wrestling from the bottom up or get beat very often....same rules apply coming from wrestling to rolling.