Then we progressed to the players that knew how to play the line (danger area). It was pure art form how they were able to get right up on the zone and attempting a falling away drop Seoi Nage.

Then we went through the late 90′s until present where matches are won/lost based on penalities. Many of the matches today are determined by the Referee’s. Have you seen the recent National Level Referee exam’s lately. The emphasis is on the penalties.

I would submit to you that Tactical Judo was always present. If you played a Judoka who liked to do the drop Seoi Nage at the edge of the mat, you engaged them in the middle of the mat. You don’t follow them, you made them fight in the middle.

The post that you quoted from Mr. Stevens goes to that very point. The player from Belarus was throwing and winning that match. He didn’t play the penalty game. I would venture to say the next time they meet he isn’t going to lose because of the rules. In his mind, he owned him because Mr. Stevens did not beat him, Belarus lost the match (which is two different things)!

Our problem is still in thinking. We think instead of fighting. We spend hours upon hours studying how to use the penalty game to beat this player or that player instead of focusing in on what our game is.

You learn all of the throws because you don’t know what will be required when your in the middle of a match.