U.S. Tennis Association is the latest group to change the way things are done in its sport. Coming to the conclusion that American tennis is at its sorriest state ever- no American player is ranked in the top ten- it has launched a multi-million dollar development program called Ten and under Tennis.
Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful is the title of Yuriko Gamo Romer’s still-in-progress documentary film chronicling the life of Keiko Fukuda. Ms. Fukuda, the last surviving judoka to have studied directly under Jigoro Kano, was recently promoted to 10th Dan by USA Judo. She remains the highest ranking female judoka in the world, and becomes the first female 10th dan.
This past Sunday, I ran another quarterly in-house developmental tournament using what I call Judo America rules- no penalties, no terminal ippon, and no banned techniques. As players started filtering into the dojo, one of my dads approached me with his young son. He told me his son had fallen off his bike the previous day and skinned his knee. He brought his son to the tournament hoping that his son could compete, but was worried that he might bleed all over. I took a look at the “wound” and told his son to get on the mat and be ready to compete. It was pretty superficial.
Rest assured that Iâm not talking about Kiss, the rock group, but rather the acronym that stands for âKeep it simple, stupid!â KISS is the opposite of information overload. Itâs a simple principle that seems to elude many coaches who feel the need to show off the depth of their knowledge, rather than make it easier for students to learn. The Japanese call this kuchi waza. I call this diarrhea of the mouth.
A few weeks ago, Japan’s women’s soccer team won the World Cup beating the favorite American team in a penalty shootout after twice coming from behind. Along the way, Japan had eliminated another favorite team: Germany, the host of the 2011 World Cup and winner of the last two Cups. What’s remarkable is that just twelve years ago, Japan was routinely losing to the U.S. by scores of 9-0 and 7-0. So how did the Japanese close the gap so quickly with only 25,000 females playing the sport, while 7 million do so in the Unites States? That’s a story that should be of interest to American Judo.
One of my favorite comedians was Rodney Dangerfield. His classical catchphrase was “I don’t get no respect.” The first half of his autobiography’s title is It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect. If Judo were a person and could scream at the top of his lungs, I’m sure he’d be yelling “It’s not easy bein’ me. I get no respect.” Since Judo is not a person, we judoplayers must step up to the plate and do the screaming.