first year on my own for competition

[gamehunter4uall]

My first competition on my own will be the great lenexa bbq in kansas city. I currently have two pit barrel uds grills and a weber 18.5 kettle. Me and my better half make up the jackwagon bbq team. Any advice coments dos and donts prayers anything else you can give is much appreciated. Thanks mike

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Good luck it's my first year competing too and also with my better half. I am doing an amateur event may 10 Whiting Weber competition. Best of luck to you.

 

[82's BBQ]

make a checklist of all the things you need. Then use it.
You would think you couldn't forget your meat, but ask my mother in law how far she had to drive to meet me half way.
Set realistic goals so that you don't come home disappointed. Our first year goals were to not finish DAL and to always have fun. Sometimes my son had to remind me of our goals, but it did help me feel better while licking my wounds. LOL

 

[Dadeo719]

My advice with one year under our belt is to remember why you wanted to start doing this in the first place. Why BBQ all weekend instead of fishing, hunting, spending family time. Hopefully it was to have fun. So do that. At all cost. Don't be scared to talk to other competitors at the event either. You guys are there for the same reasons. Introduce yourself. Offer a cold drink and say thank you when one is offered to you. It's great fun. Wouldn't trade 4:30 am fire going out, I dropped a brisket, Where did you put my knife, no sleep for 36 hours of my weekend for anything.

 

[Wicked Smoke BBQ]

make a checklist of all the things you need. Then use it.
You would think you couldn't forget your meat, but ask my mother in law how far she had to drive to meet me half way.
Set realistic goals so that you don't come home disappointed. Our first year goals were to not finish DAL and to always have fun. Sometimes my son had to remind me of our goals, but it did help me feel better while licking my wounds. LOL

Have to agree here. My wife and I make up Wicked Smoke and we've competed 3 times now. 1st comp we finished 24th out of 25th, 2nd comp we took a call in the sauce catagory, and our 3rd comp we got a call in the ribs catagory. Practice, practice, practice is what has helped us the most.

 

[Countryboyswagger]

make a checklist of all the things you need. Then use it.
You would think you couldn't forget your meat, but ask my mother in law how far she had to drive to meet me half way.
Set realistic goals so that you don't come home disappointed. Our first year goals were to not finish DAL and to always have fun. Sometimes my son had to remind me of our goals, but it did help me feel better while licking my wounds. LOL

I was cruising this thread and seen this post and I laughed so hard at this because I know for a fact that I would be in the same boat. Heck, I have to make checklists for doing stuff around the house.