Tag: Judo

Randori: Encouraging movement, keeping it upright

I was getting a bit more practice tonight in terms of assistant coaching. This is quite a good introduction as the main coach handles the lesson plan and…well… to be honest they handle pretty much everything, leaving me to wander giving advice when the students put it into practice.

When it came to Randori, some of the physical differences between some of the players came to light. Now, these are juniors, and although some may be roughly the same size, there can be a great difference in age and therefore strength.

Thus sometimes a player would be pretty much pulling their partner all over the place, forcing them down, and it was not uncommon for a throw to occur by means of sutemiwaza.

Sacrifice throws are an important part of any judoka’s toolkit, but executing one on a player who is clearly weaker and smaller than you does not prove much.

Some of the advice I felt appropriate tonight was as follows:

  • To a player who had thrown their partners several times with sutemiwaza (as above): No more sutemiwaza for you tonight. Use other throws. Encourages broadening horizons. Seconds after this, the player executes a beautiful O goshi. It had the “Ooooh” factor.
  • To players dragging smaller ones around: Reiterate the point of Randori. Emphasise technique and subtle breaking of balance over RARRRRGH. And, just as importantly, to their partner, give a few tips as to how to handle someone who is stronger (Stay upright, keep moving, attack!).
  • To hip-blockers. Hip-blocking is a totally valid way of blocking a throw, but to attempt Tani Otoshi afterwards when their partner is clearly stronger is not good. Try stepping round instead and attack. A player tried this after having their Tani Otoshi countered each time, and managed to throw their partner repeatedly with Tai Otoshi. Beautiful.
  • To the wrestling stance! Two players end up bent right over wrestling. Normally the only throw attempts that result are sutemi waza. Emphasise standing up more, brings out more opportunities (back to movement here!).

All of this is Judo 101 and common sense. But I feel it does have to be pointed out quickly when spotted before bad habits set in. I speak from experience. I know very, very well how reliance on sutemi waza and counters stunted my Judo growth. Now I try and be more upright I am always thinking to myself, “I wish someone had made me do this earlier!”.

Safeguarding and Protecting Children

spc_book

The majority who are involved in Judo are children. You can apply this to sport as a whole. As a result, child protection is a big deal. While it seems child abuse is more prevalent nowadays, that aspect is due more to the media and greater public awareness.

It’s a requirement for coaches in Judo to go on the sports coach UK Safeguarding and Protecting Children workshop. I went on one of these courses, hosted by a combination of the British Judo Association and the British Army.

It was a good course, and essentially goes through everything from the definitions of abuse, the signs, through to the actions to take. The key is to do something if there is suspicion. It is not down to us as coaches (or others involved in the sport) to decide whether abuse has occured, but ignoring the signs is wrong.

The other side of the coin is to protect ourselves! For example, not being in the position where you would be alone with a child: Avoiding one-to-one coaching, or giving a child a lift home. THankfully, Judo is very open as a sport: Clubs are typically run by quite a few people, and parents always made welcome to view sessions in their entirety.

A lot of this stuff is naturally common sense. Good practice would be having at least two coaches on the mat. Dubious practice might be inviting Gary Glitter to coach a session on his own. But it was good to go through it all and get the materials, so if a situation ever arises, I know who to talk to next. Note that clubs should have a dedicated Welfare Officer who have more advanced training (“A Time To Listen”, via the NSPCC).

There is some crossover here with Long Term Player Development (LTPD). As athletes are at different ages different types and levels of training are more appropriate than others. It is important to avoid pushing too hard, as this in itself could be abuse (Think ‘pushy parent syndrome’, berating their child for crying, or losing at a competition). Not to mention ‘helping’ a child meet their weight category with the likes of saunas and wearing bin liners when training!

Very early days for me on the learning about coaching front. I am already thirsty for more.

First adventures with the new Judo rules

I have now refereed for the first time using the new Judo rules. This was at a junior event for orange belt and under but still handy to get a general feel of how they are working out.

First of all, the new ‘on the edge’ ruling is excellent for promoting positive Judo. A very quick summary here is that as long as one player has something touching the contest area, the action may continue (No “Matte”) and a throw which starts from there may be considered for scoring purposes. It kept contests moving and reduced interruption. Perfect. It does need decent sized safety areas to be truly effective and happily these were in place.

No koka! Most contests were ended by Ippon. A minority were decided on other scores. Only one contest I was involved in went to Hantei and was a clear unanimous decision. No koka meant that the sort of scrappy stumbling throws where one player just about was pushed onto the ground is not going to score now. Great!

First penalty is now a warning. I also liked this in action. A few times I had to give this penalty for negative posture, typically stiff-arming to excess. Once given the player opened up and the Judo started to happen. The contest was subsequently ended by players obtaining the scores through technique, as opposed to a score from a penalty. I did not have to give a second penalty to any player throughout the day.

Giving penalties more quickly for negative Judo (drops with no kuzushi, forcing a player down etc). This sort of thing is not so evident at junior level. Warnings were given for ineffective Tomoe Nage attempts, but then the same player did some cracking Ippons later on with the technique! I am reserving judgement on this one until I have refereed some senior contests with it.

A good start!

Judogis – Don’t be thick

Judo4Parents has a great entry giving advice on How and when to buy your child a Judo suit (Judogi).

This got me thinking on my ‘adventures’ with Judogis over the years leading to my current preference on thickness.

I started off with a ‘cheap as chips’ beginners’ gi from Blitz Sport. This served me well but it was so thin that it suffered from terrible shrinkage. The gi top, in particular, ended up looking like I was wearing a t-shirt.

I then moved to heavyweight gis. The likes of the Dax Moskito and Adidas Champion. I’ve used them for both training and competing. Great quality but definitely incredibly thick.

I’ve now switched to a compromise. I love gis now which are lightweight but have enough material to be solid and therefore not suffer too much from shrinkage. Examples are the Fighting Films Master Gi (Re-branded Tagoya) and Mizuno Ichiban.

Upon consideration, here are some reasons as to why you really should be using the more lightweight sort of gi:

  1. Be kind to your Uke. In training, the heavyweight gis are hard to grip (and are designed to be this way). This is no fun for anyone.

  2. The fact that your gi is harder to grip should not be the reason you win in shiai. If this is part of your shiai strategy then think more about what competition is all about. Besides, your gi shouldn’t be saving you from strangles: Your technique should.

  3. The lightweight gis are more comfortable and promote quicker movement than lumbering around in a thick gi. If you want to get more of a ‘sweat on’ then consider an underlayer (I know, not very traditional) or just train harder!

  4. Thicker gis take much longer to dry! Certainly don’t be tempted to ever stick a gi in the dryer.

Any thoughts?

First steps in coaching (gently, due to broken toe)

I had my first steps in coaching last night, albeit in the role of an assistant coach during the session. This is obviously the sensible way to start – There is no way that I can possibly claim to have the experience yet to take a session on my own.

In fact, the UKCC Level 1 Coaching Course that I am going on soon is classed as “Assistant Coach” level, so it will be perfect. Slow steps!

My steps are particularly slow at the moment as I broke one of my toes at the weekend. Unfortunately, despite attending two judo sessions over that weekend I can’t give some story here about some amazing thing I did. Instead, I broke it when falling down the stairs. Sigh.

So, how did the coaching go?

It was the junior class and I would say the average age was about eight or so. The numbers were lower than normal but this made it easier, as we had just the right number for each coach on the mat to work with a pair.

Children are a marvel to work with. So distinct in their personalities, and even in the warm-up I became very aware that I really did have to be setting as an example, as they were watching!

I think one of the main challenges for me was explaining the Judo exercises we were doing in the right language. Getting the points across by way of demonstration and talking it through. Part of me was wanting to start talking about the fundamentals of a throw (kuzushi etc) but I realised that these are very young children and everything has to be done at the right level.

So I can’t wait for the coaching course and, of course, much more experience to start learning all the tricks.

I stayed on for the senior session, where I was training myself. Chris Doherty, Regional Technical Officer, was there to show some exercises, which were great. He is also a big fan of the fundamentals, which I suppose you would expect from someone in his position!

Plus it turns out he is a tutor on the Bath course I have applied for. Excellent.

Toe very painful. It stunted a lot of my Judo and I was forced to find workarounds. Forward throws were pretty much out. Especially ones involving bending the knees. Newaza was not so bad as I could try and keep the toe out of harms way, and it was nice to try and find an advantage when a “foot down”!

Worked on Ko Soto Gake in tachiwaza randori, as once my foot was hooked behind, the toe was out of danger! In a way, it made me work harder to complete the throw as I didn’t want to back out as it could injure the toe. Hmmm. I should be careful…

New Judo rules – Leg grab interpretation

The new IJF rules are now in effect in the UK. I have yet to use them myself but have been studying them, so I do look forward to it. First competition for that is this coming weekend.

I did make an error in my initial study of one aspect of the new rules, with regard to leg grabs.

My own interpretation was that grabbing the trouser cloth was allowed if absolutely simultaneous with an attack.

Elaine Down (BJA Refereeing Commission and IJF Referee) has been kind enough to clarify this correctly (Emphasis hers):

At no point can tori take hold of the trouser (actual cloth) to execute a throw – simultaneous or not..

A shido penalty will be immediately awarded when tori ‘grabs‘ the trouser (cloth) when this action takes place.

Exception: Whilst the throw is taking place and tori losing his grip or cup of uke’s thigh or calf and is holding the trouser cloth on completion of the technique. (This would only mean a momentarily time that tori holds the cloth – if at all). No shido will be given.

It is going to be very interesting seeing this in action. Note the above is referring to the cloth – cupping the leg, as per Morote Gari or Kata Guruma, is still permitted.

Also remember that grabbing the trouser cloth for defensive purposes is also an insta-shido.

Awesome Sambo combinations and transitions

This is a fantastic Sambo video, which is absolutely PACKED with combinations and transition demonstrations. It is one of the best examples I have seen of this sort of thing. Uke avoids initial attack, what do you do next? It’s all here.

Being Sambo, this includes a few techniques which are not permitted in Judo shiai, such as leg locks. It also has a Bon Jovi soundtrack. You can’t have everything!

IJF to ban coaches from matside

Lance Wicks was quick to post that the IJF seem poised to ban coaches from matside. As with the upcoming rule changes (removal of koka and so on), this is to come into effect from the beginning of 2009.  Unlike those rules changes, this one has been sprung very suddenly! The BJA have confirmed it, and there is a copy of the announcement available for download.

An athlete is alone against his opponent in a fight. In the educational concept of judo, the role of coaches is to prepare his players for this autonomy. We must reserve for a Judoka the decisionmaking and ability to manage this confrontation.

Mainly for this reason we made a decision to remove coaches along the tatami from 1 January 2009. A specific location will be reserved for them in the competition hall.

Some outbursts on coaches’ side have also hurt the image of our sport at the Beijing Olympics. Unjustified and continuing criticism against referees had undermined our refereeing in public and media’s opinion.

It will be interesting to see at which levels in the UK this is applied at (if at all). Plenty of other sports allow coaching from the side, although the BJC do not allow it…

I feel this is a positive step.  Shouting at the players aside, it also prevents abuse and attempted coercion towards the referees (it is annoying for a coach to scream for the same penalty you intend to give anyway!).  By the time the players step out onto the tatami, they should be able to handle the contest by themselves…

Patrick Roux Interview

There is now an interview with Patrick Roux on the BJA web site.

It is good to see a common sense approach is coming in. Especially emphasising the importance of Uchikomi and correct Randori:

“…Randori, in France, is not a bull-fight, as it is in some other countries. Randori is more often used to develop a wide range of techniques. Between Athens and Beijing, the French women’s team changed the way it was doing randori and was rewarded with much greater success.”

Of particular interest was a reference to a throw at the 2008 Olympic games:

Another area, on which he wants to work, is tactical appreciation, for fighters to make an instantaneous decision under the physical and mental pressure of a competition. In Beijing, we had a perfect example of what he means in the final of the under 63 kgs category, when Lucie Decosse of France attacked the defending champion Ayumi Tanimoto, with ouchi-gari, driving the Japanese girl backwards. However, Tanimoto used the forward movement of Decosse to bring her off-balance and counter her perfectly with uchi-mata. For me, it was probably the technical highlight of the Games and demonstrated exactly what judo should be.

This is a counter which I like myself. And it shows why I am struggling with my Uchimata. Performing it as a primary attack doesn’t work too well for me, as clearly I am not generating sufficient Kuzushi. If Uke has effectively done that for me by way of an appropriate attack, it’s a decisive Ippon.

Getting there…

1st Kyu and the first 10 points for Dan grade

Well, it is a week ago now, and I think it has finally sunk in!

I attended one of the final Kyu gradings before the new Technical Syllabus kicks in. Due to it being one of the last ones, there were Judoka from as far afield as Wales, Dorset and East Sussex.

I went in as 3rd Kyu and had two fights. I won both by Ippon and neither presented me with much problem. I certainly don’t mean this in an egotistical way: It says more for the quality of the Judoka who throw me about on a regular basis in training preparing me well for it! (One of the final sessions before this left me a total wreck, both physically and mentally, and my confidence was not very high at all). But I guess I managed to “turn it on” for the day.

Here’s a video of one of those fights (Thanks to the attendees from Windsor Judo Club for recording it):

Even better, the two club-mates who attended as well both successfully graded up on the day.

As I had nothing to lose at this point, I decided to go for points towards my Dan grade. This was really to assess the standard so I could see where I had to get to. I lost my two qualifying fights quite convincingly, but managed to Tani Otoshi someone in a line-up I was in, so walked away with 10 points (100 required over time). Not a bad start!

I’m not sure when I will go for points again. I feel I really do need to settle into my brown belt before continuing. But we’ll see.

I’ve indulged in a BJJ lesson on the side (Excellent – lots of drills and great techniques), but am not sure if I’d be able to fit it in on a regular basis. Nice to have the option though.

I think it’s more likely that I will make more of an effort to attend the “high-end” Randori sessions, and pick up a thrashing from the long-term black belts. It forces me to capitalise on movement, rather than just wait and be thrown. Watching the video above, I worked the movement and grips, and I need to make sure I do that at all times in training. Easier said than done when doing Randori with people with many, many years more experience though 🙂

Now to get learning that Kata…