Saturday, November 25, 2017

Sutemi-Waza Essentials



Sacrifice throws are gutsy techniques where you throw yourself down in order to fling uke over. Good newaza skills are recommended if you want to do these throws.

Tomoe-nage
Sumi-gaeshi
Hikkomi-gaeshi
Ura-nage
Yoko-guruma
Tani-otoshi
Yoko-otoshi
Soto-makikomi
Uchi-makikomi

Koshi-Waza Essentials



A huge array of hip throws here:

Ogoshi
Koshi-guruma
Tsuri-goshi
Tsuri-komi-goshi (competition version)
Sode-tsuri-komi-goshi
Harai-goshi
Utsuri-goshi (competition version)

Tewaza Essentials



These days tewaza (hand techniques) is the smallest category of techniques in judo. After the IJF banned leg grabs, many hand techniques were considered illegal (e.g. morote-gari, kuchiki-daoshi, te-guruma, kata-guruma and so on). What's left are the following:

Ippon-seoi-nage
Morote-seoi-nage
Tai-otoshi
Seoi-otoshi (ippon & morote grips)
Uchimata sukashi

*Note, technically there are other hand techniques like sumi-otoshi and uki-otoshi which are so rarely seen in competition that I have not included them.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Ashiwaza Essentials



This 8-minute video covers:
De-ashi-barai
Okuri-ashi-barai
Hiza-guruma
Sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi
Harai-tsuri-komi-ashi
Ashi-guruma
Oguruma
Osoto-gari (ai-yotsu & kenka-yotsu)
Kosoto-gari (& kosoto-gake)
Ouchi-gari
Kouchi-gari (kenka-yotsu & ai-yotsu)
Uchimata

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Other dojos: TSV Hertha Walheim


In our first installment of "Other Dojos" we featured a smallish judo club in the US which has 20 to 25 members. For this installment, we'd like to showcase the other extreme, a huge judo club in Germany, which has about 170 members.

Sven Thelen is a long-time member of that club and is also an kids/teens instructor there. He trained at the KL Judo Club two years ago when he was doing his internship in Malaysia. He is now back in his hometown and trains regularly at his club.

This is our conversation with him.

In Germany players often wear different colour  judogis for German League competitions. 
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in judo.
My name is Sven Thelen and I have been doing judo since I was six. I am a competitor and I have participated in many competitions, both as an individual as well as a member of my club's team. I have also been coaching kids between the age of three to 17. In teaching kids, I've had to analyse and figure out how to break down a technique and this has actually helped to improve my own judo.

What is the name of your judo club?
TSV Hertha Walheim 

How long have you been with your club?
Since 1998, so it’s been about 19 years.

How many instructors are there at your club?
A total of 11.

Are children and adult sessions separate?
Yes, we offer different training for different age groups as well as skill level. But it’s possible for ambitious kids and teens to do randori with the more senior players, if they want to.


So you have separate sessions for beginners and experienced players?

Yes, we do.

And there are also separate sessions for recreational and competitive players?
Yes, we do have some special classes for recreational senior judo players and different ones for the competitive types.

What are the fees like?
Kids pay €12.5 and adults pay €14.50 per month.

That’s a relatively low fee. How is your club able to survive? 
We have many members. Currently there are about 170 paying members.

Are the coaches paid or are they volunteers?
Some get paid a small fee while others are there as volunteers, so it’s a mix of both.

Does your club take part in the German League?
Yes. We have four teams. First Bundesliga (1st Division), Regionalliga (3rd Division), Landesliga (6th Division) and Bezirksliga (7th Division).

Can you explain a bit about how the German League works?
The system is basically the same as in soccer. All in all, there are seven leagues. The lowest is the Bezirksliga and the highest, the Bundesliga. The first two leagues can be considered national level while the rest are regional level. The fighting schemes may differ. For example, in the lower leagues there are only five weight classes (for men, it is -66, -73, -81, -90 and +90). This will help smaller clubs to build a team and attend league fights as they tend to not have many players who are very light or very heavy. 

TSV Hertha Walheim  is a big club with a huge membership. On a good day, there could be up to 40 players training on the mat. 

How long does a typical adult session last?
A typical adualt session is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It starts with a warm up, some uchikomi or technique training. After that some free throwing or preparation for randoris. The randori sessions last between 45min to 75min.

What do you like best about your club?
I have been with the club for my entire judo life. The great thing is that I am not the only one. A lot of my training partners started with me when we were kids. We all take part in a lot of team, league and mixed-team competitions. Fighting alongside your training partners is always a very enjoyable thing. At my club I’m able to do it all – learn techniques, get some fitness training and best of all, to do this with a lot of different people. This is what makes me stick to this club all this while. 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Sunday's Program (Nov 19, 2017)

Newaza Warm Up
1. Keeping Down Drill
- Guard position
- Straddling position
2. Catching & Keeping Down Drill

Newaza Training

1. Leg Extraction
2. Obi-Tori-Gaeshi (Oshima Roll)
- Perpendicular
- Straight back
3. Obi-Tori-Gaeshi (Resistance Drill)





Tachi-Waza Warm Up
1. Pushing Out Drill
2. Gripping Drills
- High Grip
- Two-on-One
- Korean Wave

Tachi-Waza Training

1. Ogoshi
2. Koshi-Guruma
3. Soto-Makikomi

Randori
1. Newaza
2. Tachi-waza

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Running an adults judo class



Once when I was visiting a Singapore judo club, a coach there told me an interesting story. He said he had a player in his kids class who was really into judo, so much so that earlier in the day when he announced that they would be playing some games she came up to him and said, "I don't want to play games, I want to do judo."

I replied, "Where can we find more kids like that?" 

"This is very rare but I knew you would like the story," he said. 

Most judo clubs in this country (and in many countries around the world) are dominated by kids. Parents want their kids to learn judo for a variety of reasons. Many feel judo can give their kids discipline. Some want their kids to learn how to defend themselves against bullies. A few want their kids to become champions. There are different reasons. But the kids usually don't have a say. When they are 7 or 8 years old, they go to judo because their parents want them to, not because they necessarily want to.

No doubt some kids grow to love judo. But when you are talking about kids below the age of 12, usually what they want to do is run around the dojo, tumble about with their friends and play judo games. They don't really want to learn judo per se. And who can blame them? Which kid would want to do endless uchikomi, nagekomis, drills, etc. That's not fun!



It's different with adults. And I'm not even talking about those adults who grew up learning judo as a kid and ended up loving it. Even adults who start out as absolute beginners are there with a different mindset. They are there because they themselves want to learn judo. They wouldn't invest time and money coming for judo class unless it's something they really want to do.

If you have a three-hour session, like we do at KL Judo, and it's serious training all the way (except for the warm-up where we play some games), you'd be hard pressed to maintain the attention of most kids. They generally lose interest after the first hour. But with adults it's really a different story. They train intently until the end.

Of course there are exceptions. We have three kids under the age of 12 who train with us. When their parents first approached us, saying they want their kids to do competition judo training, I told them that our class was full of adults and their kids would have to follow along with the adults training program. I wouldn't be able to modify the class to suit the kids.

That means one hour of newaza training, one hour of tachi-waza training and one hour of randori (with water breaks of course).

So far, they've been able to follow the program. Maybe it's because they are naturally competitive so they appreciate the training. Or maybe it's because of peer pressure -- all the adults in the dojo are doing the drills properly so they just follow along and are now used to it.

I've taught a children's-only class in the past and I can assure you it would be close to impossible to do one hour of newaza drills, one hour of tachi-waza drills and one hour of randori if it was a room full of Under-12 kids. But our three kids, training among adults, are able to do the full three hours of competitive training, which I think was a pleasant surprise to their parents.



I refer to my class as a "competition class" not because all my players are competitors. Far from it. In fact, most of them are recreational players who do judo for fitness or for self-defence reasons. But the training we do is competition-oriented.

Yes, we do a formal bow-in and we observe judo etiquette of course but other than that the training is far from traditional. We play music during training, for example. We do practice uchikomi when the players are introduced to something new. Uchikomi is important for them to get the feel of entering into the technique. But we don't do it endlessly like in many traditional clubs. Once they get the feel of it, we move onto nagekomi -- not the landing-assisted type but on crash pads, where they are expected to throw with full force.

We emphasize a lot on gripping which is not something usually taught in a traditional class. We look at throws from ai-yotsu (similar stance) and kenka-yotsu (opposite stance) scenarios, again not commonly taught. We spend a lot of time doing situational drills, with tori attacking and uke resisting. This is the kind of training I did when I was a competitor.

Why is this good for recreational types? Well, I want them to learn judo! I want them to be able to throw and to catch people on the ground. There's no point if they can do beautiful uchikomi and nagekomi if their techniques don't work against a resisting opponent.

Anyone can do beautiful judo when their training partner is cooperating. The challenge is to pull off techniques when your training partner is fully resisting and trying to catch you with their techniques. Everything we do at KL Judo is practical. It's stuff that actually works.

Of course this approach might not sit well with some people. It would be hard for most kids to take this approach. But even some adults may not like this. Those who want to do easygoing judo and do minimal randori will hate our class.

We not only post up highlights of our class on our Facebook Page but we also livestream the entire session so you can see what our training is really like.

Our training is intense! It's not for everyone. Those who like our system stay with us. Those who don't end up leaving. It's a natural weeding out process which works very well because those who stay really want to be there and they train wholeheartedly.

Different types of judo clubs exist for different reasons and cater to different needs. There are clubs that teach very traditional judo and do very little randori. Perhaps those are suited for those who prefer to take it easy. There are clubs that like to mix things up with BJJ, no-gi wrestling, MMA etc. I guess those are suitable for those who like cross-training among different martial arts. At our club, we do competition-style judo.

Judo has been very good for me and has enhanced my life in profound ways. I want to share the joy of doing practical, realistic judo with others who really want to experience what that aspect of judo is like. That usually means adults who have elected to join such a class after attending a trial session. But it can also include some exceptional children like the ones we have.

I could teach an easygoing judo class that emphasizes uchikomi over drills and nagekomi over randori. I could teach a children's-only class that focuses more on tumbling and games. I could even teach judo for BJJ or MMA. My club would probably generate more income if I did any of those things. But I have to be true to myself and do what I find to be meaningful. And that's why I conduct an adults competition training class (even though it has mostly recreational players and a few kids). 

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Judo Distance Learning


At KL Judo, we try to make full use of technology, both to promote judo and also to help our players learn.

We are probably unique among judo clubs in this region in using judo videos as training aids and every technical session involves the use of videos where we show competition footage of techniques that we will be working on. We think it's important players get to see how the techniques they are learning can be applied in a real contest or randori situation.

For the past two months, we've been experimenting with video for our Facebook Page too. We weren't sure whether anyone would be interested in a livestream of our judo sessions but we tried it anyway. Who knows, maybe a handful of people might be interested to see what we do during our trainings. Turns out, our livestreams typically get over 100 views each. This is shocking (although pleasantly so) to us but it shows that people are hungry for judo information.

We have also been making very short highlight videos of some of our technical sessions and randoris. These are highly condensed. A technical session, whether for standing or groundwork, typically lasts 1 hour each but we cut it down to mere minutes for the videos. They are just a sampler of what we do. Yet they are really popular. Some of our technical videos have over 1000 views, with audiences from throughout Malaysia and many parts of the world. We even have judo clubs in the US and UK sharing these videos.

We will continue to do all these things but there's something new we plan to do in the very near future, which is to enable online distance learning of judo skills through the use of video.

We have one member who lives in Kemaman (that's right, he's based in Terengganu) who travels to KL a few times a month just to train with us. Given that he lives so far away, it's inevitable that he will miss some live classes.

There are also players I used to train who currently live elsewhere (I have one in Penang and one in Perak). They watch our sessions online but livestreams are not the best way to learn new stuff. Livestreams are great for giving you a broad overview of what's going on but not-so-great for serious learning. Purpose-made lessons would be far more effective and useful for those who wish to learn judo online.

I also have contacts in Canada, USA and UK who sometimes chat with me about technical stuff. Having some technical material available online will make it easier for me to share my knowledge about judo.

Right now, I'm still undecided on whether to make this online channel public or private. At the moment, I'm inclined towards the latter as my central aim is to provide distance coaching to specific people. Perhaps some portions of it might be made public. Let's see.

Sunday's Program (Nov 12, 2017)






Newaza Training
1. Obi-Tori-Gaeshi (2 variations)
We usually refer to this as the Oshima Roll and when done right, it's incredibly powerful as a tool to turn uke over onto his back for a hold-down.

2. Extracting the Leg
It's important for uke to learn how to secure tori's leg to prevent a hold-down from happening. And it's important for tori to know how to extract his legs to get the hold-down started.

Tachi-Waza Training

1. Ai-Yotsu Osoto-Gari with Tenri Grip (Revision)
2. Kenka-Yotsu Osoto-Gari (3-step motion)
3. Cheng Osoto (an alternative Kenka-Yotsu Osoto-Gari)

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Armtrap Roll



This is often referred to as a "Junior Roll" because it's something taught to kids and beginners. But it works remarkably well even in randori and competition amongst adults. Many people complacently place their arms near tori's armpit area and get caught with this.

Ai-Yotsu Osoto-Gari using the Tenri Grip



The Tenri Grip is a unique way of gripping a lapel that is useful for throws like uchimata and harai-goshi. It is said to have originated at Tenri University, a top judo university in Japan. The Tenri Grip is particularly useful for Osoto-Gari in an Ai-Yotsu (same sided, e.g. right vs right) situation.

The gripping approach allows tori to bend uke's head and thus put him in an unbalanced situation -- an ideal situation for a throw. Osoto-Gari can be a dangerous throw because if you don't unbalance uke properly, he can easily counter you with Osoto-Gaeshi (basically Osoto-Gari you back). The Tenri Grip allows you to thwart such a counter.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Sunday, Nov 5 Training Program


Our practice this Sunday starts at 3.30pm.

Warm-Up

Newaza

1. Alligator Roll
2. Armtrap Roll

Tachi-Waza
1. Osoto-Gari
- Ai-Yotsu
- Kenka-Yotsu
- Cheng Osoto

Randori
1. Newaza
2. Tachi-Waza