The importance of videos

When I first started learning competition-style judo in Los Angeles, my coach passed me some video tapes of judo competitions and judo competitors whom he wanted me to study. Most notably he passed me some tapes of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics judo competition and also some footage of Toshihiko Koga in his youth (competing in the Kano Cup and the Shoriki Cup).

I remember watching those tapes over and over again. Each time I watched them, I saw something different that I had missed the last time. So, I kept watching and studying the nuances of gripping styles and so on. It was a great learning experience and it forever etched in my mind the importance of judo videos for learning competition-style judo.

The leading judo video maker in the world is Fighting Films. I bought all their tapes -- which was really almost the only source of judo videos at the time. There were some competition videos that the IJF had produced (made in Japan and very limited) and there were some Kodokan tapes too (technical instruction tapes). But for competition footage, you really had to get FF tapes. I bought whatever I could get my hands on.

Today, competition footage is abundant on YouTube especially. The IJF has an official judo channel where you can get access to complete fights in the Grand Prix and Grand Slam tournaments. FF also produces 25-minute highlights of these events which are eventually made available on the IJF YouTube channel as well.

There are some sources of video content here and there although nobody is as consistent as FF in producing judo videos. I have bought a bunch of videos from Japan (very expensive but quite well produced) and even from Russia (quite reasonably priced but the production quality is so-so only).

Competition footage is important because it is by analyzing such footage that you get to break down a technique and get to see how a move is actually done. Coaching videos are ok provided the coaches in the videos actually show you how they do it in competition. Generally speaking, Japanese videos are not so good for this. Top champions will typically show you the standard version of the technique rather than the special competition version that they do. Perhaps they feel it's only proper to show the "official" or traditional way of doing the techniques. But why would I buy a video from a champion to see an absolutely standard version of techniques?

So, I don't rely so much on coaching videos but competition analysis. I will be incorporating this into the training program at KL Judo Training Centre, especially for the elite training program. This is why we will have a TV screen on the dojo wall. The players will get to see how a technique is actually done in competition before I teach it to them.