I just returned from Orlando, Florida, where USA Judo held its Senior and Masters National Championships.  Even though a Europe-based player of mine paid my way, and my daughter was competing, I was very reluctant to go.  Traveling by air is no longer fun.  After you have survived the inconveniences of travel and the stupidity of TSA, you then have to put up with the latest round of machinations from USA Judo and the referees.

My trip turned out to be a good trip.  I got to commiserate with my friends.  I got to see my athlete’s progress.  And for the icing on the cake, my daughter Natalie was crowned national champion at 52kg and made our 2011 World Championship team.  That’s for the good stuff.

Natalie Lafon holding her $500 check!

Now, the not-so-good stuff.  Spectator and athlete attendance was poor.  There were only 198 senior athletes!  No division had more than 26 athletes.  In the last five years, we have gone from a high of 215 men and 104 women to a new low of 146 men and 66 women.  The same poor attendance holds true for masters competitors.  People are tired of the higher and higher costs, and the treatment they receive from USA Judo.  I’m also sure that marginal players have opted out of Judo competition because of the new rules.  Until USA Judo realizes that you can’t keep treating participants like crap while trying to make more and more money off of them, participation will continue to drop.

As soon as I entered the venue, I was approached by someone who asked me if I had heard of the latest banned actions.  Since I had not been to the referee meeting the previous day, I was unaware of the changes or newest interpretations.  I asked three people- one international coach, one national and one international referee- who were at the meeting to explain to me the changes.  You guessed it.  I got three different opinions.  I’m not sure what to say about that other than to recommend that you keep your ears and eyes wide open.

For some reason, there’s a new twist to a two-hands-on-one-side grip, which I thought was adequately covered under the current gripping rules.  Apparently, if I get a shido for a two-hands-on-one-side grip because I didn’t attack within the prescribed 3-5 seconds, my opponent and/or I are allowed less time for the next two-hands-on-one-side grip.  This quickly degenerates to the point where merely getting the grip warrants an immediate shido.  Great, isn’t it?

More interpretations were thrown at the bear hug maneuver.  It appears that when this new ban against the bear hug first came about, you could bear hug if you didn’t simultaneously grab with both arms.  And just as I had surmised when I first heard this nonsense, how in the world do you define “simultaneously?”  It’s open to too much subjectivity.  The solution?  Let’s just ban bear hugs, period!  Why didn’t I think of that?

I corralled a member of USA Judo’s Referee Commission to voice my concerns about what was happening to Judo.  As always, when you talk to a referee, he absolves himself of any responsibility regarding the direction of rules.  This is quickly followed by “we have no political pull with the IJF.”  I’m tired of the “we’re only following the rules” excuses, and told him so.  I encouraged him to voice our concerns regardless of whether we have power or not.  The Greek philosopher Plato stated, “Your silence gives consent.”  I agree.  I also told him that IJF rules, which are designated for elite international players, should not be forced upon the 99 percent of our Judo population that will never see international competition.  I also mentioned that our rules are forcing athletes to leave Judo and go to combative sports that don’t have so many banned acts.  His body language told me that he was hearing that for the first time.  It’s obvious that there’s a tremendous disconnect between our leaders and the rest of our Judo community.

I’ll give USA Judo credit for trying to get Judo more exposure to the general public.  The 2011 Nationals were held in a huge convention center hall in conjunction with the Europa Sports Expo featuring competition in body building, powerlifting, Cross Fit, mma, fencing, wrestling, karate, arm wrestling, grappling, cheer and dance, and kickboxing.

Within the hall, there were five Judo mats, each one surrounded by chairs on all four sides.  This allowed for an up-close, intimate view of the competition, since the chairs were only three feet away from the edge of the mat.  I liked the set-up since I don’t hold the “coveted” USA Judo coaching credential, which would have entitled me to sit in the official coach chair.  Instead, I could sit wherever I wanted, and still coach from the spectators seating without a referee asking me for that darn wrist band that signified I was a credentialed coach.  The downside to this arrangement is that is was nearly impossible to follow what was happening on the other mats, unless, of course, you moved to another mat surrounded by more chairs.  Then, you could no longer see the action on the mat you’d just left.  If only we could find a way to maintain the intimacy while allowing spectators to see the other mats…

Can you see the other three mats in the background?

The big news from the 2011 Nationals was that Satoshi Ishii, the former All-Japan and Olympic champion, competed in the Open division as a legal U.S. resident.  Ishii has been in the U.S. for the last year training as a mixed martial arts fighter.  His goal is to become a U.S. citizen and compete in the 2016 Olympics for the U.S.  I was told by someone who understands the Japanese mind that since Ishii was ostracized by the All-Japan Judo Federation for becoming a mixed martial arts fighter, this is his way of sticking it to the Japanese federation.  Actually, he had proposed to the Japanese Judo Federation to do both Judo and mma.  It refused his plan, so he walked away.  Now, if we could only get more Japanese Olympic champions to do mma and be ostracized by their federation, we could suddenly become a world power.

By the way, Ishii, who hasn’t done Judo since shortly after the 2008 Olympics, won all his matches by Ippon.  His opponents looked like scared, outclassed beginners.