To follow up on my last blog entry, I created two new polls dealing with submission skills for children. I hope you will take time to vote, and encourage your Judo friends and students to do likewise. I am convinced that the results will show that it’s time to rethink our policy vis à vis submissions for children. An attitude adjustment may help us stay more relevant in the grappling world.
Submissions for Kids?
May 13th, 2010The Sissification of Judo
May 4th, 2010Let’s be honest. In an attempt to overprotect participants and redefine the aesthetics of Judo, we are witnessing as never before the sissification of Judo. We have removed and penalized so many things that we are left with a sanitized version, a shell, of what used to be one of the most comprehensive forms of grappling. For those of us in areas where Brazilian jiujitsu and mixed martial arts are popular, today’s sport Judo is not helping our cause one bit.
What’s Up With The USJA?
April 27th, 2010AnnMaria De Mars and Jim Pedro, respectively the president and vice-president of the USJA, resigned a few weeks ago. Pedro did so during a conference call meeting of the USJA Board of Directors, and De Mars resigned the following day.
Emotions are running high. Some USJA members are threatening to pull out of the USJA and join USA Judo. Makes sense to me- NOT. If there was ever a dysfunctional, worthless group to join, it would have to be USA Judo. So guys, knock yourselves out and join USA Judo if you think it’s going to care more about your opinions and welfare.
Youth Technical Director
April 20th, 2010“Player development continues to be the core of what we do. By its very nature it’s a long-term process, so it may not be as sexy as announcing a national team competition or coach or winning medals, but it’s actually probably the most important thing we do.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if this were coming from USA Judo? Well, it didn’t come from USA Judo. It came from U.S. Soccer’s president, when he introduced the federation’s newly appointed youth technical director.
Tournament Stuff
April 13th, 2010Several of my blogs have generated some great information from my readers, so this blog will be devoted to sharing that information with you.
Mike Darter, the founder of the Judo Podcast, was kind enough to introduce me to Score Judo, a Judo scoreboard for PC, which was developed in Australia as an application for use by all bona fide judo clubs anywhere in the world free of charge.
About Promotions
April 7th, 2010My daughter Valerie, who started a Judo club last month, is now addressing the one thing she had not yet tackled or thought of very deeply- rank promotions. Like many elite players, she is so oblivious to rank that periodically she’ll ask me, “What rank am I, dad?” Now that she’s a coach and responsible for the development of her own students, rank takes on a whole new meaning, even though she couldn’t care less about her own rank.
Breaking Out Of Our Comfort Zone
March 30th, 2010Comfort zone: [definition] a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.
One of the reasons progress has been so slow in coming to American Judo is that we are deeply happy and comfortable with the traditions and training model of our sport, and we don’t want to be the nail that gets hammered down. By golly, if it was good enough for my sensei and his sensei, then it’s good enough for me. Unfortunately for us, progress comes from stepping outside our comfort zone just long enough so that new skills can be learned and better performances can be achieved.
This is Developmental?
March 23rd, 2010Back in January 2010, I announced that the USJA was going to create new rules for “developmental” tournaments. That was great news. I thought that some sanity would return to our sport after the IJF’s latest, and drastic, rule changes were announced. Well, the results are in, and I am very disappointed, but not totally shocked.
Judo Mislabeled
March 16th, 2010I don’t know what it is about Judo, but we have allowed our sport to be defined and mislabeled without much of a fight. We are partly responsible for the way we are perceived by the general public. Our actions, and more importantly our inactions, have the public believing we are something we aren’t or shouldn’t be. Case in point: we are a cheap sport.
I Hate Judo!
March 11th, 2010Don’t freak out. I haven’t lost all my marbles yet. Rest assured that I don’t hate Judo. I still love it. On the other hand, two of my daughters have at one time or another told me that they hate Judo. Of course, there’s a story behind my daughters’ statements, which is well worth analyzing because I also hear “I hate Judo” from other judoplayers.
