I just finished my cardio workout, which as usual consisted of riding my mountain bike around my neighborhood, and in particular through one of our community sports parks with baseball fields. Observing baseball kids in inactivity for 95% of the time they’re on the field has encouraged me to say that we in Judo are missing the boat on the powers of our sport, especially when it comes to physical education benefits.
I had the pleasure of attending the first two days of the 2011 World Championships in Paris. Here are my comments.
I ran into Michel Brousse, the French Judo historian (among other things) in the hotel lobby. He was kind enough to acknowledge that my daughter Natalie was participating in the championships. He also informed me that there would be an International Association of Judo Researchers symposium the next morning, and invited me to attend. I did, and came away with lots of good information from the morning session, which was dedicated to Judo history. Unfortunately, I had to miss the afternoon session as I was meeting my 86-year old father, whom I hadn’t seen in some twenty years.