The heavy hand of the IJF has once again come down hard on coaches.  Good grief!  Why the continued assault?  While the new directive applies only to IJF events, we must be concerned that national federations will jump aboard and start enforcing a similar rule for national and perhaps even local events.  Here’s the IJF ruling, which I only found out about because my American colleague received it from a Mexican colleague.

The IJF has decided to regulate the functions of the coaches during the fights. Starting from the Grand Prix Amsterdam (November, 19-20, 2011) this measure will apply to all the competitions organized by the IJF and giving access to the World Ranking list:

• Coaches are not allowed to give indications to the competitors while they are fighting.
• Only during the pause time (after Mate), coaches will be permitted to give indications to their athletes.
• After the pause is finished, and the fight continues (hajime), coaches will have to keep silence again.
• If a coach doesn’t follow these rules, he can be expelled from the competition area.
• If the coach persists with his behavior from outside the competition area, he could be penalized.

I’m curious to see how coaches will be penalized.  Will this rule encourage coaches to sit in the stands and yell whenever they feel like it, rather than be mostly silent in the coach chair?  Or will national teams resort to using two coaches: one, official, in the chair; and one, unofficial, in the stands?

On a positive note, the IJF has declared Jigoro Kano’s birthday, October 28th, World Judo Day.  Bravo, IJF!

I received this bit of news from the newly organized WJF.

The World Judo Federation was yesterday evening 11 November accepted as “International Member” by unanimous decision at TAFISA General Assembly. USA Traditional Kodokan Judo was also accepted unanimously in the category of “Supporting Member”.

The Association of International Sport for All (TAFISA)

As the leading international Sport for All organization, TAFISA is in the privileged position to bring joy, health, social interaction, integration and development to communities and citizens around the globe through the promotion of Sport for All and physical activity.

TAFISA’s Vision and Mission

To achieve an Active World by globally promoting and facilitating access for every person to Sport for All and physical activity.

TAFISA’s primary focus is on:

• Lobbying internationally for Sport for All,
• Providing and coordinating programs and events,
• Providing networking and experience transfer platforms.

To this end, TAFISA:

• Believes Sport for All & physical activity are basic human rights
• Supports promotion/development of traditional sports and games
• Sees Sport for All as a major contributor to individual, social, community and national life quality
• Supports international exchange and
• Supports education of leaders
• Cooperates with health, culture, education and recreation
• Assumes political leadership and provides practical events and programs
• Supports diversity, inclusiveness and member development

TAFISA is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.  TAFISA’s Website: http://www.tafisa.de/

I’ll be the first one to say that I had never heard of TAFISA. On the other hand, TAFISA is recognized by the IOC, which makes this IJF-WJF story more interesting.  So, will the WJF make a fuss and attempt to have the IOC remove the IJF as the official Judo representative to the IOC?

So far, I’ve been disappointed by the WJF.  Sure, since their inception in August of this year, they’ve held a senior world championship, albeit while retaining the same IJF rules that have made Judo the laughingstock of the martial arts community.  Besides that, what is there to show?  How about announcing a master plan to bring relevance back into Judo?  I don’t need all the details now, but a summary of what the WJF wants to accomplish in the next six months or year would be great.

My gut feeling is the WJF is just another IJF with a different set of leaders intent on keeping their political powers.  I hope I’m wrong.  In the interim, I’ll continue to do my thing here in San Diego to keep Judo relevant, and I urge you to do the same.