I just received some information from EJU sources that I thought you would enjoy. The IJF is reviewing the rules that will be in effect for the next four years. Here are some of the ideas being considered.
Author Archives: Gerald Lafon
Where did common sense go?
This past weekend, three of my adult players kidnapped me and forced me to coach them at a team tournament in Los Angeles. It still gives me the creeps when I have to take players to an IJF rules tournament, which is something that I’ve only done twice in the last two plus years.
Juji Gatame Encyclopedia
Steve Scott’s newest book Judo Gatame Encyclopedia is out in bookstores, and it’s a whopper- over 400 pages on one Judo technique! As the author was working on it, and kept adding to it, he’d jokingly tell me that he had OCD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I’m no doctor, so I don’t whether he does have OCD or whether he’s simply being a detail-oriented, innovative educator. I’ll bet my money on the latter.
Broken Windows
In a 1982 article, social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling introduced their “broken windows” theory. The “broken windows” theory of police work goes something like this: Criminals see untended broken windows in a neighborhood, assume neglect, and further assume that they can get away with more in a run-down locale than in one in which they see no signs of neglect. Blight breeds crime. A corollary to that theory is that by enforcing petty crimes, you prevent people from making a career of crime and progressing up the ladder to more serious and harmful crimes.
Coach, Video Thyself!
The beauty of reading is that you never know from what source you will get an epiphany, earth-shattering or not. About a week ago, I was minding my own business reading Reagan on Leadership when a paragraph in the book reached out, grabbed me by the throat, and smacked me in the head! Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of it?
Experiment!
A few weeks ago, Steve Scott emailed me wanting to get my opinion on whether the AAU should have a third set of competition rules to attract more grapplers who may not dig our stand-up game and the fact that in Judo it’s one good throw and you lose the match. After much discussion, we came to the conclusion that Freestyle Judo rules were all that we needed for mainstream competition. The only thing left to do is tell more people about Freestyle Judo.