Friday Night at the Fights is a great in-house event for those of you trying to spice up your Judo program. It’s a special event we hold at Judo America San Diego during our regularly scheduled classes on a monthly to quarterly basis, depending on our needs. It’s really a glorified randori fest, but it also serves several important functions that I’ll address later on. Continue reading
Three recently published books- Outliers: The Story of Success, Talent is Overrated, and The Talent Code– have dealt with a common theme: ten thousands hours of deep, deliberate practice over ten years are required to achieve mastery in any field.
In The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, there’s a section on the development of Brazilian soccer that got my immediate attention. Soccer is a sport I know, having played it since I was ten years old, but the development of Brazilian soccer was a story I was not familiar with. From a coaching viewpoint, it’s a fascinating story that has repercussions for Judo. Continue reading
The U.S. Open is always a good tournament for me to go to because in addition to the Judo, there’s the Judo politics too. I had the opportunity during the 2009 U.S. Open to sit down and talk to a few of our political leaders. Continue reading
It isn’t often that I agree with the direction the International Judo Federation (IJF) is taking Judo, especially with the rule changes recently announced. However, I must give kudos to IJF president Marius Vizer for his next project, which is being called the World Championships for Small Countries, whose populations are less than 1.5 million. I think this is a fantastic idea that will help Judo grow in the 48 countries that are current IJF members with fewer than 1.5 million inhabitants. It may also encourage other small countries to begin implementing Judo programs. Continue reading