Good showing at Singapore's Ikigai competition

Good work by our players in Singapore's. IKIGAI competition. #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 29, 2018 at 2:59pm PDT

I've long said that competition is an integral part of the judo experience. Yes, you can learn judo without ever competing but you would be missing out on a whole lot of experiences and life lessons without it.

Winning and losing is part of life. And nothing makes you confront the fear of losing like a judo competition. Judo not only forces you to deal with fears and anxiety but it also teaches you how to bounce back from setbacks.

Our team is a young one. As a competition team we have been together for less than a year. But in this short time, and over the course of the few competitions we've been to so far, I've seen our players grow.

One of our younger players used to say, "Why do you all get so nervous before your match, win or lose, it doesn't matter". This time around, this player said, "I'm so nervous," right before the fight, which shows that now, this person cares about winning.

Winning isn't everything but it's important to strive to win. If you don't care about whether you win or lose, that's not a good thing -- in judo or in life. We should all strive to win and be champions in whatever we do in life.

One of our players was so disappointed after losing a chance to get win the gold that this player wept after the fight. I told the player: You still have a chance at getting a medal because you are in a round robin situation. So go in there and win, ideally by ippon. And this player did just that.

The ability to pull yourself up and get on with the business at hand is an important quality, as much in life as in judo. In the course of our daily lives, we are bound to encounter some setbacks and disappointments but that doesn't mean we should wallow in self-pity. Rather, we must bounce back with the fighting spirit of judo to salvage what we can of the situation and make the most of it. This is what judo teaches you.

So, yes, there were some tears shed (I can tell you that more than one player cried and that's not necessarily a bad thing), a lot of good wins achieved, and plenty of joy and laughter that rang through the hotel, restaurants, competition hall and Grab cars. In fact, one of the best things about competition trips is the camaraderie and bonding that players experience. And we had a lot of that this time. 

Growing in tandem

KL Judo in its current form is two months old and going into our third month. Most of our players followed  us when we moved out of Cheras and into Damansara Perdana although it wasn't necessarily any nearer for most of them (and in some cases it's further than Cheras).

It was inevitable that some would not follow and also that some would drop out after the first month. That natural churn is only to be expected. But the important thing is that most followed us, proving that our methodology and system is good for them.

In the past two months, we've also picked up some new players, some of whom are absolute beginners but who are very keen, which is great. We currently have 20+ players. When we hit 30 regular members, that would be a great milestone for us.

At Sunway, we already have nearly 20 players although most are absolute beginners. That's pretty damn good considering we have just been doing this for half a month. What's interesting is that once we get someone to try out judo in one of our classes, they invariably stay on. Again, that goes to show how good our system is.

The challenge, I feel (whether it's with KL Judo or Sunway Judo) is getting people to try in the first place. Once they try it, they'll like it. My milestone for Sunway Judo is also 30 regular members. I think we'll get there (target milestones) for both KL and Sunway Judo sooner rather than later.

The start of the contest season

There are not a lot of judo competitions in Malaysia and if you want to get more judo competition experience you'll have to also look at contests in neighboring countries like Singapore and Indonesia.

Our boys and girls in Singapore.

This week we have a bunch of players in Singapore for the Ikigai judo competition organized by The Dojo. We have 8 players competing: 4 guys and 4 girls.

This is sort of the start of the competition season. After this week, we have a competition in Penang. Then it's a short break until July when there's a competition in Lumut, Perak.

After that we'll probably have to look to Jakarta for a competition likely to be held in August.

The big competition for local players is the Senior Nationals in October. Then, nothing till December when there are competitions in Penang, Singapore and Sabah.

Competition can be stressful and pressurizing but it's also a lot of fun and allows players to bond and get to know each other better. We encourage all our players to give competition a try and we believe most of our players will eventually do so.

Sunday (22.4.18) Training Report

We didn't get to do personal training. There just wasn't enough time. Another thing that went wrong was our TV USB port was somehow damaged so I couldn't show any videos. But that didn't deter us from having a good session.

For groundwork, I showed them kesa-gatame and kuzure-kesa-gatame. Then with the help of Nigel, I showed them three different types of escapes from kesa-gatame. We paired the players up and had them do kesa-gatame and escapes under full resistance.

Ippon-seoi-nage lesson in one minute. #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 22, 2018 at 11:18am PDT

After that we moved on to ippon-seoi-nage and morote-seoi-nage. I demonstrated ippon-seoi while Nigel demonstrated morote-seoi. We got the players to do uchikomi followed by nagekomi of these throws. Then we taught them the drop-down variations of both these throws and got them to do uchikomi and nagekomi.

Morote-seoi-nage the way it is done in competition. #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 22, 2018 at 12:31pm PDT

After a brief period of rest, it was onto randori for a full hour.

Takin' it easy... #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 22, 2018 at 1:11pm PDT

The turnout was pretty good although some players weren't able to make it. We also had some newcomers (teens) who look like they can integrate well with the team. Our regular players are also starting to get used to the training regime at KL Judo.

Sunday (22.4.18) Program

We experimented with the concept of personalized training within a group setting before in the past and we will revisit it again this Sunday.

There's a pretty big group coming for training and in such cases you will inevitably have a wide mix of experience levels. Some are absolute beginners, some are mid-level, and some are experienced. It's always a challenge conducting a training session when you have such a mixed group of experience levels. But to every challenge, there is a solution.

This is how we are going to do it. The group will all work on one particular technique at first. In this case, it will be ippon-seoi-nage for tachi-waza and kesa-gatame for newaza. Everyone will work on this. Once they are done with this, each pair of training partners will then be instructed to work on specific, personalized techniques based on their body type, size, weight etc.

Tachi-Waza: Ippon-Seoi-Nage

Ippon-Seoi-Nage is commonly referred to as the "shoulder throw" although that's an incorrect translation of the Japanese term. "Seoi" means "back carry". "Ippon" means "one" or "singular". So Ippon-Seoi-Nage could probably be accurately translated as single-handed back-carry throw (as opposed to morote-seoi-nage which means two-handed back-carry throw).

There are a lot of things wrong with the way ippon-seoi-nage is normally taught, including the gripping, the stance and even the execution. How standing ippon-seoi-nage is done in competition is completely different from how it is taught in the textbook. I will demonstrate the textbook version, point out the flaws and show how it is really done in randori and competition. Basically, the standard has been set by Koga when it comes to ippon-seoi-nage.

Newaza: Kesa-Gatame Escapes

Kesa-Gatame is the most basic of hold-downs and is usually the first pin taught to beginners. What is less commonly taught are the escapes for it. One ways is to catch uke's legs (this only works if uke is slow). Another way is to squirm inwards towards uke (this works if uke's grip around the neck is loose). The third way is to bridge and roll uke over (this requires a tremendous amount of energy).

None of these escape techniques is easy to pull off and if you focus just on one, it's nearly impossible but if you try a mix of the three while attempting to escape, you might just pull it off because it's hard for uke to ward off all three at once. We will work on that.

Give judo a try...

Always wanted to give judo a try but didn't know where or how to get started? Come train with us at KL Judo Centre on May 13 and see if judo might be the sport for you.

KL Judo is a modern judo club where local and international players come together to train in a safe and friendly environment.

If you are interested, drop us a note and tell us a bit about yourself (e.g. age, gender, weight and judo experience, if any) if you wish to come for a free trial. Or give us a call at 016 626 2004. 

The sky's the limit

The odds were heavily stacked against us succeeding. Judo is not a popular sport in Malaysia. We aren't a government-funded club. We don't have a sponsor or benefactor supporting us. All we had was the courage of our convinctions that if we teach judo with a totally modern approach and really care about the growth and progress of our players, we can make it work.

We do things very differently at KL Judo -- not for the sake of being different but because we truly believe there are much better ways for judo to be taught and practiced than the way it was taught in the 1960s. Unfortunately, many judo clubs around the world still practice judo as if it were the 1960s. We can do much better than that. And we must do if want people to enjoy training in judo.

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 8, 2018 at 9:07am PDT

Since judo is not very popular in Malaysia, players don't get that much exposure to top-level judo. Video is very important for exposing them to what's happening in the world of judo. That's why we installed a TV in the dojo. We also use a whiteboard extensively, not just to teach beginners names of judo throws but to map out strategic moves and drills.

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 8, 2018 at 10:37am PDT

Fostering and maintaining the right dojo culture is crucial to the longevity and success of the club. We are very fortunate to have our current crop of players who like to train hard and enjoy their judo. They form the foundation of the club and ensure that the culture of the club doesn't get eroded.

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 7, 2018 at 8:21pm PDT

We are patient and are prepared to grow the club organically. However, it is also a good thing to spread judo to schools and universities. We are doing just that with Sunway University where we will be providing instruction for the judo club there.

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 8, 2018 at 9:16am PDT

There are many more things we want to achieve in the near future. It's taken us some time to get to where we are but now we're at a stage of exciting growth with many more ideas, concepts and programs to explore. Come fly with us!

Friday fatigue

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 6, 2018 at 12:01pm PDT

Everyone was pretty tired at Friday's session. I can't help but wonder if it's just that it's the end of the week or what it was but after two hours of training, everyone was completely drained.

It was a good session and we were glad that a newcomer, Eddy, dropped by to train with us. He's been out of judo for some time but wants to come back. He says he will join our training on Sunday.

A smaller group but still a decent size for a Friday session. Hopefully more players will join us going forward.

Sunway Judo Club to be revived!

There are not a lot of private clubs in Malaysia. And you barely see judo in colleges or universities. There is some correlation there. Let me explain.

If you visit Singapore to do some judo you will find not only are there a lot of thriving private judo clubs (many with multiple branches), there's also a lot of judo in institutions of higher learning. Practically every junior college, polytechnic and university has a judo club. And that's because of the private clubs. Read on to understand why...

Sunway Judo Club committee members explaining judo to prospective new members.

A lot of these private judo clubs are the ones that provide the judo instruction at the junior colleges, polytechnics and universities. This approach is something worth emulating and KL Judo is going to do it.

Next Monday, we will have our first judo session at Sunway University as we have been invited to help revive the Sunway Judo Club (which has been on hiatus for 10 months now).

Signing up new prospects for the club

Thanks to the valiant and proactive efforts of the club president, Bruce Leong, the revival process has been fast-tracked. He did the administrative work to obtain the necessary permissions, secured the venue and quickly reassembled his committee.

He and his team also managed to recruit several prospective members -- enough to have a critical mass of players to have our first session. There's also an even mix of male and female players. So, we're all set for a great re-launch.

My approach for Sunway Judo will be the same as for KL Judo. I favor a very practical, activity-oriented training session over one that is focused heavily on theory and tradition. Yes, we will bow in and of course we will use Japanese terms (which is the language of judo). But we won't spend the whole two hours just doing break-falls and forward rolls.

We'll do warm-ups but it'll be in the form of judo games. We'll get them working on some newaza moves, first without resistance, then with resistance. We'll also get them doing some uchikomi (not too much) and quickly move on to nagekomi (on a crash pad, not on the tatami). I'll probably bring my iPod and portable speaker so they can have some music when doing these drills. And yes, before they end, they will do some light randori under supervision.

You see how we introduced Amber Chia to judo? That's what a beginner will experience in their very first lesson. They will actually get to do judo. Not just break-falls and forward rolls.

Times have changed and our approach to judo training must change with the times too. Gone are the days when you can just relegate beginners to doing nothing but break-falls and forward rolls for weeks on end. People will quit after one week of that. Players need to feel that they had a good workout, that they learned something practical and that they had fun doing it. Then they will want to come back for more.

I've always felt that the biggest challenge that judo has is recruitment. Getting people interested enough to give it a try is always the hardest part. Once they try it -- especially our training system -- they will realize how fun judo is and how good it is for them physically and mentally.

Thanks must also go out to Mr Mok and Mr Daniel for facilitating all of this.

Work-in-Progress

Smaller group, shorter time for training -- but the important thing is that we got some training done!

Our judo club is a work-in-progress as we are constantly striving to improve the quality of the training for our players.

As mentioned in a previous post, Sunday is our strongest day. But even Sundays are a work-in-progress. We had a basic core formula of 1/3 newaza technical, 1/3 tachi-waza technical and 1/3 randori (over a course of 3 hours) and that worked quite well but we have just started introducing personalized training in the technical segments to accommodate players of different levels. It worked quite well last Sunday and for sure we need to continually finetune it to make it even better.

Our Tuesdays and Friday sessions are a bit trickier and we have not yet settled in on a regular routine. The number of players who attend is smaller and the time we have allocated for training is shorter. So, we have to take those two factors into consideration when structuring a training program.

Yesterday, we did a bit of newaza (Briggs Sankaku), a bit of tachi-waza (gripping drills and Yoko-Tomoe-Nage) and then a few rounds of randori. It was all over very quickly and didn't seem like there was enough time. I expect that in the future as many of our beginners acquire more skills we can skew Tuesdays and Fridays to be more randori days where the bulk of the training is randori.

Some people have inquired whether we can have Open Mats where others can join in. This is something we can consider for randori days. We still have a "no walk-in" policy for technical training (that is reserved for our regular members only) but for randori, we can consider. Just have to work out a fee structure for that.

But even if we were to have Open Mats will still be by invitation-only. We need to be selective about who we invite to train with us because we want players with the right attitude on our mats. I've written extensively in the past about the importance of having the right dojo culture. It's something we've worked very hard on, to get the right culture, and it's something we want to maintain.

Our club is growing steadily with a few newcomers having joined us since we moved into Muayfit Damansara Perdana. It's not a flood of new players. More like a trickle but that's fine. I'll take quality over quantity any time. And what we've got is quality. Players who are keen and committed to learning and training. This is what we want.

We have a couple of plans to continue to spread the popularity of judo, which we will hopefully be able to announce in the coming weeks. Watch this space!

Another Strong Sunday

Our club grew by one person today as Mia joined our team. We appreciate everyone who wants to train judo with us.

Because we are a club comprising mainly working adults and university students our strong training days tend to be Sundays because weekday trainings are harder for many of our members to attend.

This Sunday is the second strong one in a row that we've had. By strong, I mean we managed to get a lot done in the three-hour time limit that we have set for Sunday's classes. In the past, we were not very good with timing and sometimes a newaza session would last so long that it would bleed into the time we had allocated to tachi-waza. As a result we wouldn't get that much tachi-waza done. That's happened quite a few times already and obviously something had to change. It wasn't practical to extend the time further so we had to change the structure of the class.

Also, the composition of the team was continually evolving with some players having been with us for a while and some new ones joining along the way. A one-size-fits-all training program wouldn't work as different players have different needs.

To improve things, the first thing we did was to become stricter about starting on time and finishing each segment (newaza, tachi-waza, randori) on time. The second thing we did was to segment training into "group technical training" and "personalized training" sessions.

Personalized training in a group setting. #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 1, 2018 at 9:14am PDT

For the group technical session, we worked on only one standing throw and one groundwork move. For personalized training, I paired up players according to size and experience level to work on two specific throws that were suitable for them.

Unfortunately there was not enough time to do personalized training for groundwork. Hopefully next week we are able to fit this into the training program because it is important that players have their own personalized newaza plan as well.

As usual we ended the class with randori, and everybody fought until we were all completely spent. Exhausted faces is a good sign that the players had a fulfilling randori session!

We sometimes have unusual sparring sessions. #FlamesKLteam #KLJudo #MuayfitDP

A post shared by KL Judo Centre (@kljudo) on Apr 1, 2018 at 9:27am PDT

We train hard but we play hard too!