Competing early in your belt

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So you just got your brand new blue belt.

Congrats.

Should you compete immediately?

DirtyRancher has some great points on this

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If you intend on competing at any time in your career in BJJ, or think you want to compete, then compete as much as possible.

By waiting, you only lose experience, and only gain "waiting".

Think of it this way... say we took 2 guys, and they both were fresh blue belts after 2 years of training. They meet at a tournament at year 3. One guy competed at 6 tournaments, and has a losing record of 2-6. The other hasn't stepped on the mat an is 0-0. If you had to lay $10000 on a bet based solely on that information, which would you chose?

I'd chose the guy with the losing record, for a variety of reasons...

1. By this point, he'll likely have a better grasp on controlling his adrenaline.
2. His competition weaknesses have been exposed in other tournaments, and he's likely worked on them.
3. He knows what the competition is like, and feels like on the mat. He's been there, done that.
4. He likely knows which weight class suits him best.
5. He knows his strengths and knows what he can pull off during a match.
6. He can make a rational generalized gameplan, if needed.

I have some more, but I'm kind of tired, lol. Anyway, compete as much as possible. Just cause you are a new belt, doesn't mean you won't win it all either. We've had guys take first immediately after getting their new belts, and they weren't held back/weren't previous sandbaggers either.