Two weeks ago, I emailed four IJF officials asking what prompted the latest IJF edict against coaching from the sidelines. Marius Vizer, IJF President, and Vladimir Barta, IJF Head Sports Director, responded to my inquiry, for which I am grateful. This is what Mr. Vizer had to say:
In my last post, I suggested that we should be concerned that national federations would jump on the bandwagon and start implementing the latest IJF rule concerning matside coaching. This new rule states that coaches will only be able to coach between ‘matte’ and ‘hajime’. Well, it took less than 24 hours to find out that Canada had already issued the command to go forward with the rule. According to a Canadian colleague, the new rule will be enforced in November at a local event in his province of British Columbia (BC).
Months ago, the IJF decreed that because coaches were making a “spectacle” of themselves (by yelling at referees when they screwed up) they would be banned from matside coaching. They have thankfully revisited that decision. Now, instead of being shuffled off to some holding pen away from the mat, coaches are once again being allowed to sit matside, albeit behind the barrier of advertising panels. Continue reading