Several weeks ago, I had a visit from an entire Japanese family: two kids, two parents and two grandparents. Grandpa had done Judo at the university level in Japan, and mom had a very good knowledge of the turmoils the Japanese Judo team was going though.
With the latest scourge coming from the IJF, discussions are heating up, and more and more disgruntled coaches and players are ready to go in different directions. Some are leaving Judo outright, because they are unable to comprehend that options short of quitting Judo are available. Some are saying that they are not leaving Judo, but that Judo has left them. Fair enough. Thankfully, many more are discovering Freestyle Judo and realizing that FSJ offers a return to the way Judo ought to be played, and that the Judo community doesn’t revolve around the IJF.
I’d like to start off my first post in 2013 by wishing you a Happy New Year, and by thanking you for your continued interest and support of my blog.
You’re probably not going to hear me say this very often, but the IJF’s latest decision to allow armbars for 15-16 year olds is a good move for a change. USA Judo promptly followed suit since it never preempts or contradicts the IJF. Players competing in the Juvenile B (USA Judo) or IJF Cadet division can now do what thousands of BJJ fighters and submission wrestlers participants have been doing all along- straightening arms out or bending them. Participants in these divisions must hold the rank of sankyu though.
I was talking to one of my judoplayers about our women’s soccer team win over the Japanese at the London Olympics, and I told her we won, but we didn’t play very well. Her mom was sitting nearby, and said “Who cares? We won!” She was, of course, right…but also very wrong, especially with the message her daughter heard.
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.
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.