Why KL Judo is special

Some interesting philosophy from Thor: Ragnorak

I could list a slew of reasons why KL Judo Centre is different from other judo clubs. But there's only one reason why it's special: its members.

There's a line in the Thor: Ragnarok movie where Heimdall tells Thor: "Asgard is not a place, it's a people." There's lots of debate whether that sentence is actually grammatically correct (it sounds awkward but apparently it is grammatically sound). But whatever the case, the point is clear. Asgard might have been destroyed (in the movie, it was) but as long as the people are together, Asgard will continue to exist because it's the people who make Asgard what it is.

That's exactly how I feel about KL Judo Centre. We started out in a dojo in Cheras. It was our first endeavor to start a judo club of our own and the facilities were fine. It was spacious with decent mats and plenty of crash pads. I liked the premises. But when it was time to move on, I had no sentimentality over the place. What was important to me was that the members would follow us to the new place.

Whenever you move to a new location there are bound to be some dropouts. It's inevitable. Sometimes the new location is simply too far away for some and they can't afford the time it takes to get there. Or they can't afford the travel costs. Or, perhaps they no longer had that much interest in the sport and felt the change in location was an opportune time to make a clean break with the sport.

We lost a few players with that move but about 80% of our membership stayed with us, which was a remarkable feat considering that the move was way across town. It was a drastic change but it was the best option we had at the time. Our players knew our situation — we always believed in being transparent about things — and stood by us.

Anybody who has trained with us will notice some very unique things about our members. For one thing, we have an incredibly diverse membership. The harsh reality about the judo scene in Malaysia is that most clubs are divided among racial lines. I don't think that's necessarily by design. It just happens to be that way.

There's a big club in the north where most of the members are Chinese. There's a government-funded club, also in the north, where most of the members are Malay. There are three other government-funded clubs, one in the East Coast and two in a Southern state which are predominantly Malay. There are three clubs in states just south of KL whose memberships are overwhelmingly Chinese.

KL Judo Centre doesn't neatly fall into any such racial categories. There's no way anyone can classify us as a predominantly Chinese club or a predominantly Malay club.  We are truly a melting pot of Malaysians and internationals.

Speaking of internationals, we are remarkably cosmopolitan. Our membership isn't huge but even among our small numbers are players from France, Senegal, Syria, Britain, the Philippines and Indonesia. This makes it very interesting because judo is not just a sporting activity. It's also a social activity and by mixing with people from other cultures, religions and backgrounds, you get to learn a lot more about the world.

Our players are also by nature very open and welcoming. That's been our club culture all along. And perhaps because it's been like that from the very start, a virtuous cycle has been generated. When people first join our club, they find that they can very easily fit in and they pay that back in kind by welcoming other newcomers in the future.

Judo clubs in this part of the world tend to be very traditional. Endless uchikomis, no grip fighting, everything according to the Gokyo. It's like judo is stuck in a time warp and stopped dead in its tracks in the 1960s. It's no surprise that they produce players with a very narrow mindset and no interest in learning anything new. They just want to stick to their drop seoi-nages and their endless, mindless uchikomis.

I've found this to be the case with many players who joined us from other clubs. Most of them end up dropping out because they find us to be not "traditional" enough for their taste. They want to do "Japanese judo" (by that they mean 1960s judo). Ironically some of the greatest innovations in world judo today comes out of Japan. Look at Naohisa Takato's side takedowns. Look at Soichi Hashimoto's one-handed sode. Look at Ryuju Nagayama's reverse seoi-nage or Mashu Baker's other form of reverse seoi-nage. Or Haruka Funakubo's newaza turnover. Or Kaori Matsumoto's famous roll. None of these things can be found in the Gokyo.

But these are the kinds of things that are taught in our club (alongside the Gokyo). And our players lap it up. They absorb new knowledge like a sponge. Many of them have traditional techniques in their repertoire but crucially, they supplement it with new stuff. As a coach I don't want to strut around watching players do the same endless, mindless uchikomis all day long. I want to see them grow and evolve as players as they learn and adopt new techniques. This is what makes teaching judo exciting and fulfilling.

As we head towards the end of the year, we have to move again. We will be relocating to a new place which is always a challenge. To be honest, when I first faced the prospects of having to relocate, I found it to be rather daunting. But my confidence was bolstered after speaking to some of my players about the impending move.

I recall speaking to one of the and asking if he would be willing to move with us although at that time, the location was still uncertain. He hadn't been to training much in recent months due to work but he told me, "Don't worry coach, wherever KL Judo moves to I'll go along with it."

Another player who has been with us since almost the very beginning was concerned about the financial viability of moving to a new place (better location and new mats means higher costs) and surprised me by paying a whole year's worth of training fees up front. "I hope that will help with the finances," he said.

If I ever had any doubts that KL Judo Centre would be able to survive a second relocation within the span of a year, those fears have now all been erased because of the support of our members. I'm delighted to say that 90% of them have committed to moving with us when we re-open in Bangsar in December.

KL Judo Centre is not a place. It's a people.