Our Entitlement Culture

When the 2010 USJA Board of Directors was elected, I had high hopes that my two passions in national affairs- coach education and high dan promotions- would be addressed, and glaring problems within the two programs would be resolved. I say “high hopes” because prior to the elections several of the current officers lead me to believe that they agreed that both programs were in need of a serious reappraisal and restructuring. Although it’s only been seven months since the administrative change, it’s still evident, and not surprising, that an entitlement culture still persists at all levels of the Judo community , especially when it comes to high dan promotions. This entitlement culture makes any effort at restructuring a very difficult task, yet we must slay the beast.

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A Sport That Resists Change Dies

I had the great pleasure of attending two of Sid Kelly’s Southern California clinics back in March. Although Sid and I are on the same page when it comes to pedagogy for Judo, I came away with lots of good drills, ideas, and key phrases that make my own approach to teaching Judo all the more rich and effective.

Thanks to the efforts of Hal Sharp from Gardena Judo, Coach Kelly was brought over from Connecticut and sponsored by Nanka with the intention of presenting to club leaders a different approach to teaching our sport, one that would help us attract more people to Judo and retain a greater portion of those who do join. Continue reading