While attending the recent Judo World Championships in Tokyo with four of my junior players, one of them turned to me and said, “They don’t seem to be trying to get out of pins.” I had noticed that as well over the years, and had a pretty good idea why this was so.
Continue readingThere’s an old saying in team sports that good defense wins games. I’ve never heard any similar statement applied to Judo but I think it should. If good defense does win games, why shouldn’t it also apply to winning matches in Judo? I can’t come up with a rational reason why it shouldn’t. To be more competitive at the international level, it’s time we change our training paradigm on a national scale to reflect this adage.