Judo UK

I stumbled upon a gem of a site today. Superjudo.tv is a great teaching tool of Sensei Leo White. He shows pragmatic competition techniques in great detail with many examples and angles within the high quality videos exhibited on the site.
After seeing my first ‘hard’ Kata Guruma at the Welsh Judo Championships, I was intrigued (and at the same time wanted this flashly move in armoury) and wanted to learn more. On my search, I came across this brilliant video on a cross grip Kata Guruma technique. Check it out. In fact, check the whole site out! It’s good and I hope the content keeps coming.

 The Welsh Judo Association are currently updating their website from the old version to something new. It was about time the WJA got a new one and as a Web Designer, I wait with bated breath to see what the outcome will be. I’m sure it will be amazing! Keep an eye out for the update which will be happening very soon.

Today, the Welsh National Championships took place in the WIS in Cardiff. A few members of the Caldicot Judo Club and various players from clubs across Wales descended on the event organised by the Welsh Judo Association to battle it out to become the proud Welsh National Champion for 2008. The event that I personally took most interest was the < 81Kg category, which by far was the most packed out of the Male groups. Unfortunately, the Caldicot players most all of their fights (though they fought hard), but there was many exciting matches to remedy my disappointment. I noticed, many of the Welsh squad, male and female were attending the event and it wasn’t hard to see that many of these players dominated the event. My personal favourite was my very first experience of the ‘hard’ Kata Guruma in the < 108Kg category live, which was equally match with the ominous ’Oooo’ that echoed around the arena.

Some tips I picked up from this event were:
Throw and Keep Rolling!: There were some throws that landed Ippons even though the intial technique didn’t go to plan by simply keeping the momentum going by ‘rolling’ on top of your partner. This seemed to bring about Ippons due to the fact hat Uke, even though not initially, ended up on his back.

Be Nice!: You can be disqualified for being too aggressive.  One instance where a match almost ended up almost in the crowd to an over eager pickup which sent both Players though the advertising boards, well outside the match area. Even though it was plain to see that Tori was unnecessarily continued the move and was well aware that he was going out of the arena, Uke’s agressive ‘push’ to get Tori still gripping hands off him was mistaken (in my option) as a punch and thus Uke was disqualified.

Blast that Ne-Waza Technique: If you like Ne-waza then get it in as soon as you or (hopefully) your opponent hits the floor. It seems to me the advantages of this is that:

1. You are attacking Uke when he / she is most venerable;
2. You have a better chance of ‘Matte!’ NOT being called.

Ne-Waza needs to be constant: Keep moving! The judge will only keep you in Ne-Waza if you look like you are doing some and holding their attention… so you better keep moving, trying different things otherwise you’ll get stood up. You will notice that in competition, tachi-waza is preferred by the judges and they won’t keep you on the floor unless you are fighting to stay there.

On Sunday 30th March 2008, the Welsh National Judo Championships will be taking place at Cardiff WIS. Offically the event will start at 9.30am but I’ll be making my way down (only to spectate) around about 10.00am. I will be taking pictures and videos, bringing back the results after the event and breaking down any tips early next week.  If you are not competing, why not come on down to give your support and spectate. It’s a great day out for a £2 enterance fee. For all those that are taking part, good luck! Hopefully I will be on the mat next year!

This is probably harder than it looks… I reckon I would end up in the lake. Practicing this way must have some affect on your overall balance. Mind you, I won’t mind seeing the out takes on this video! Splash!

Some more great Ne-Waza techniques found on my travels. Not all the techniques used here are legal in Judo (Neck Cracks, Leg Locks, etc) but some handy tips that will help you on your way. Do what I did and slow pause the video and watch each move carefully. There are some real gems here.

Just check out some of these great Ne-Waza finishers on this video on YouTube.  It’s inspiring to see some brilliant groundwork techniques being used to win a match. Check out the flying arm bar techniques used at the start of the video and around 1 minute 06 seconds in. Night night!

There are currently discussions happening with in the Judo community about the UK grading systems. Speculation has emerged that the UK Grading system could not incorporate Contest style matches where you ultimately fight for your belts.

The idea is that theory or Kata could be more heavily used when trying to obtain your belts. There is no official word about the subject but I have heard speculation from various sources that Kata could play apart.

If match style contests were dropped from grading, what would this ultimately mean for Judo?

Personally, I started Judo because of the fact of its grading system was one of the hardest to obtain your belts within the Martial Art world. Fighting for your belt is, in my opinion, the only way to know if your technique (or your ability in adapting your technique) is effective or not!

And what a feeling when you win your fights and get your belt… no Kata in to world can provide you with such a sense of achievement.

Again, my own personal preference, I prefer the Martial aspect of Judo, than the Art.

This is not to say that Kata or theory doesn’t have its place in Judo or Judo grading. Studying the technique in greater detail and trying to refine and prefect that technique can only have a great advantage to your understanding of Judo, your ability to perform the technique and ultimately, thinking ahead, keeping the Spirit of Judo alive.

I think it is unlikely that the match fights will ever be replaced in Judo, but I think the argument of Kata and theory in grading has been slightly misinterpreted. I believe discussions (or maybe decisions) have been conducted to how Kata can be incorporated into Judo in the UK and all in all I think this is a great thing because it will ultimately help us as Judo practitioners to understand our Art in a depth that competition can not.

For those of you that do not know what Kata looks like in Judo, here an example:

I have been studying grips from since about Christmas. There is a theory that grips are most important technique you can learn in Judo because it is the best way to dominate a fight and will ultimately get your opponent:

1. Where you want him to throw or;
2. At least disable him / her from preforming a technique on you

It’s definitely worth knowing gripping strategies for Judo as they will enhance your game. Check out this book called Grips (Judo Masterclass Techniques) compiled by Neil Adams. It’s not a comprehensive glossary on grips as there are so many combinations but it will definitely worth a purchase as it encloses many grip strategies and describe how to lead into related Te-Waza techniques from them.

It covers the standard grip, double lapel grip and Russian style, over-the-back grips. Also covered is how to remove a grip and examples of illegal grips (handy to know to avoid those Shidos!). Check it out!

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Today, at the grading in Cardiff WIS, I was graded to 6th Kyu (Green Belt) level! Two fights, the first fight was lost to a stupid sacrifice throw on a guy that was a few stone heavier than myself. Not great! The second went better and won by Ippon with Tani Otoshi. What I found was I rushed into the first fight, rashly trying to create opportunities which ultimately off balanced myself and thus I lost.

The second I found myself capitalising on the mistakes made by Uke, which is an important lesson, especially at the lower grades of Judo. As we are still very raw in our techniques we ultimately end up throwing ourselves! So my advice is dominate grips, keep balance and don’t overstretch yourself too much. Wait for the opponent to make his / her mistakes and capitalise.

Watching the higher grades, it is apparent that this technique will not work due to the fact that your opponent will make less mistakes; it will be you on your back! For all you people that want to see my final fight here it is! It’s not much technique wise, but it win none the less!

P.S. Excuse the commentary at the end…