Competition training begins

Our first competition of the year has been identified. We plan to compete in Singapore in February. Four of our players are confirmed to be competing in that one.

I will start preparing three of them today (the other one is still out of town on holiday).

They basically have seven weeks to get ready. For such a short lead time, we have to focus on a few core techniques and that's it. The training will be very focused on those core techniques.

It'll be very interesting to see how much of a difference these seven weeks will make to their judo. I think it will make a world of difference.

2020: The year ahead

We go into 2020 full of optimism. The club is on a strong footing, with a healthy membership base and good support from Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan. Here are some of the things we can look forward to this year:

Competitions
In 2019 there weren't that many domestic competitions (our club went to only two) but more are slated for 2020. Combine that with competitions in neighboring countries (namely, Singapore) and we have quite a few to look forward to. Here's the calendar of competitions so far. We will continue to update it as new events are confirmed.

Belt Gradings
Our kids class will start their gradings in January. We will adopt the Mon Grade system used by the British (18 Mons in all) but we'll adapt it for our purposes. Our adult players will continue to go for Kyu gradings as and when they are ready (we don't have set dates for colored belt gradings; whenever a player is ready, we will grade them). We also have a few players who can aim for Dan (black belt) gradings. A few of our players are brown belts and one is already a Shodan so he can go for his second degree black belt.  Dan gradings are external and our players will have until November to prepare for this.

Family Judo
Family Judo is one of our breakout success stories for 2019. Apparently, it's quite common in Europe for family members to train together in judo. We weren't sure if this would work in Malaysia but we tried it and it's taken off really well. In fact, starting in the new year, we will have a dedicated session for Family Judo from 2pm to 4pm on Sundays. After that, from 4pm to 6pm will be competition/advanced judo training. In 2019, we had a combined session from 3pm to 6pm and the mat was getting a bit too crowded, so we decided going forward, we will separate the classes.

Feeder Schools
The concept of feeder schools is a Japanese concept that we will draw some inspiration from. In Japan, it's quite common for top judo-oriented universities to have feeder schools to draw talent from. In 2020, we will be working with Alice Smith School (Primary & Secondary) with their judo program. Students who are keen on competition can eventually do additional training at KL Judo.

Visitors
Our club has always welcomed visitors. In 2019, we had a former international competitor from Scotland as well as a team from Jeju come train with us. Over the years, we've also had students from various universities abroad come do short stints with us to improve their judo. It's always been a pleasure to train them and we look forward to welcoming more guests in 2020.

Videos
We've always used videos to promote our club and it's an important component of our marketing strategy. Through videos, people curious about judo can see for themselves what kind of training we do and what they can expect if they join our club. They will also get a strong sense of the club's culture and ethos. We believe we have a good "product" to offer so we are happy to share it with our viewers. We will of course continue to do that going forward.

Something else we will do is make more comprehensive instructional videos. As our members are working adults, sometimes some of them can't make class due to work commitments. But we don't want them to miss out on the instruction. Video is a way to make sure they are up-to-date with what's being taught. We will share some  of the videos with the public but probably reserve some as exclusive learning materials for our members.

2019: The year that was

The end of the year is coming. It's a good time to reflect on the year that was.

In a way, it was a tumultuous year. We had to move twice. We were quite happy to be in Damansara Perdana because the mat area in the gym that we were in was quite spacious. Then, the gym closed down so we had to find a new location. We moved into a yoga studio in Bangsar but that didn't work out because they needed to wear shoes for some of their activities and we can't have shoes on our mats.

In the end, we settled into a badminton hall, which isn't the most obvious place to have a judo dojo but it has worked out well for us. The crucial difference I guess is that unlike the three other venues in the past (Cheras, Damansara Perdana & Bangsar), this is our own dojo. We are not renting someone else's dojo or studio but rather we now have our own dojo inside a badminton hall. This gives us more flexibility in terms of scheduling classes and putting in the infrastructure that we need.

Membership has grown, both in terms of competitors and recreational players. We also have some kids now, as well! While there is certainly still plenty of room for growth, we are delighted that we have enough of a critical mass of players to hold almost daily classes (except Mondays) and even during exam periods or holiday periods when students are usually indisposed, we are able to still have sessions with a decent turnout. In fact, recently when all instructors were out-of-state, a few of the players carried on training, which is great. We hope to continue to grow all three segments (competitor, recreational players and children) in 2020.

This year, we began working with Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan to develop players for SUKMA. There isn't much time to do development work for SUKMA 2020 since we don't have that many juniors in our club. For much of our club's existence, it has been a club geared towards working adults so we have a very limited number of juniors to work with. Still, we will do our best and hopefully deliver at least one gold. 

Videos as instructional aids

For the past year, we mainly used videos for branding and promotional purposes. In 2020, we will utilize video more and more for instructional purposes.

Most of our members are working adults and as to be expected, quite often work and life get in the way of training. But just because a player has to miss a session doesn't mean they have to miss out on the lesson. That's where video comes into play.

Here are three examples of how we can use video to help our members:

Basic Ouchi-Gari (detailed breakdown)

Ouchi-Gari from a Kenka-Yotsu situation

Ouchi-Gari from an Ai-Yotsu situation

Over the course of the year, we will be teaching a lot of fundamentals as well as competition variations to our members and capturing them on video for them to review. These will be shared in our closed Facebook Group but we will make some of these publicly available as well (though not all).

Ouchi-Gari Masterclass

1. Standard Version (Square Stance)
- Leg Action
- Hand Action
- Action Reaction

2. Three Common Mistakes
- Over-Rotation
- Hikite Pull
- Space between Tori & Uke

3. Kenka-Yotsu Variations
- Ken Ken (Gill, Ebinuma, Decosse, Legrand)
- Lapel Grip (Decosse, Harrison, Yandzi)
- Hugging (Davaadorj, Dashdavaa)

4. Ai-Yotsu Variations
- Whirling
- Hugging (Takato)

5. Combinations
- Ouchi into Kouchi
- Kouchi into Ouchi
- Ouchi into Tai-Otoshi

6. Counter: Ouchi-Gaeshi

Grips, nagekomi, drills, randori, shiai

If a judo player happens to be a student of a sports school or a professional athlete, they would be training a few times a day. They have volume in their training. The sheer amount of training they do and the number of different training partners that they have would mean that over time, simply through trial and error, they would have discovered effective ways to grip, throw, outsmart and defeat an opponent.

But few people have that luxury. Most people aren't sports school students or professional athletes and can at most train three times a week, for perhaps two hours at a time. To make it worse, usually they'd only have one or two judokas their size and skill level. In such a situation, you can't learn through trial and error. There is not enough volume of training (and training partners) for you to pick up skill-sets this way.

Instead, you have to train in a smart and systematic way. At KL Judo Centre, we have a decent-sized crowd but it's nothing like in the sports schools. On a good day, we'd be lucky to have a dozen people on the mat. So, we have to have a systematic approach to training to get our athletes competition-ready.

I believe there are 5 key factors that are critical to success in competition.

i) Gripping strategy, tactics and technique
ii) Nagekomi on crash pads
iii) Situational drills
iv) Purposeful randori
v) Shiai

Gripping
A sound understanding of stance and gripping styles is important in order to devise a strategy to deal with every situation. You will also need some tactics and techniques to deal with a constantly changing scenario. No huge mass of training partners means you can't learn this through trial and error. It needs to be taught and drilled.

Nagekomi
These have to be done with full force and to do this repeatedly, you need to have a crash pad or uke will suffer greatly.

DrillsAgain, unless you have a room full of people to train with, you won't encounter many different body types, grips, fighting styles, etc. So, you have to simulate those situations through drills and practice your response to each scenario.

Randori
I am a strong believer in randori. If there are not many partners, just do randori multiple times with the same partners but do each one with a set objective in mind. In one randori, you can focus on trying a new technique, in the next one, perhaps focus on how to block and counter their favorite techniques, and for the third one, try out different grips to find out which one is most effective for a particular technique. And so on. Be purposeful in your randori. It doesn't matter if your randori partner is the same person over and over again.

Shiai
If there are not many competitions for you to go to, do shiai in the club where you compete in realistic situations (4 minute matches, with someone acting as a referee to call out shido penalties and so on). This simulation will give you more exposure to competition scenarios which you will need to become a good competitor.

The complete judoka

What does it mean to be a "complete judoka" and why is it  important?

It's possible to do well in randori and shiai by relying heavily on your athleticism and strength. It's also possible to throw many people with just one or two techniques that you do very well. But neither of these two scenarios make you a well-rounded judoka.

Players who are naturally gifted athletically, sometimes fall into this trap of relying too much on their strength and agility to overcome their training partners. Because their physical prowess is sufficient for them to defeat others, they sometimes tend to rely on it too much at the detriment of their skills development. They won't be too bothered to develop good techniques because they don't have to. They can just outpower everyone!

Of course that can only take you so far. Eventually they will meet someone who is just as strong and fit and agile, but has better technique.

Similarly, a player who has only one really good technique (or perhaps two) may be able to defeat most people because they've figured out how to do that one technique so well. In some cases this leads to complacency and a reluctance to learn anything new because, again, why should they? Their one technique alone is working so well for them.

But again, this will only take you so far. One day, they will meet someone who is very versatile and can do many techniques effectively. A one-trick pony is likely to lose out in such a scenario.

It's good to develop your physicality. Judo is a very physical sport and being strong, fit and agile is necessary if you want to be successful in competition. It's also important to specialize in a few favorite techniques (tokui-waza). But, it's important also at the same time, to be familiar with a broad range of techniques, in standing and on the ground.

There are parallels in journalism. Let's take the case of relying too much on strength. Here's the analogy: A dogged reporter who is persistent in chasing a lead might be able to get a lot of good stories because they manage to get many scoops (exclusives). If you get a scoop, you'll get your story published even if you are not such a good writer. The copy editor and your section editor will help rewrite the story if necessary. But if you don't develop good writing skills your career can go only so far before it stalls. You'll never get beyond being a beat reporter. You certainly won't be able to helm an editorial position or write a column because... you can't write well!

Meanwhile, the part about tokui-waza reminds me of an valuable piece of advice my editor once told me. He said a good journalist is one who specializes in a particular beat (e.g. politics, IT, health, etc) but who is also versatile enough to take on any assignments. So if they are assigned to cover a business story, they must be able to do  it. If they are asked to cover an entertainment story, they also must be able to do it.

The same applies to judo. Don't rely just on strength or just on one or two techniques. Develop a broad range of skills so you can become a complete judoka.

Judo teacher vs judo coach

The traditional way of doing ippon-seoi-nage bears little resemblance to how it is done in competition.

A judo teacher is someone who teaches students the fundamentals of judo techniques. They should be familiar with the classical or traditional versions of all the major techniques and be able to teach the mechanics of those techniques.

A judo coach, in contrast, teaches players to win competitions. A coach should also teach techniques but usually they would go into more advanced version or competition variations that are not in the Gokyo, so to speak. A coach also goes into competition strategies and mental training etc. These are things that a judo teacher is usually not concerned with.

So, who should you learn from? That depends on what your objectives or goals are. If you are someone interested only in learning the Gokyo and perhaps doing some kata, a judo teacher would be suitable. (A judo coach is probably not the best person to go to for kata). But if you are interested in competing, you really should go to a judo coach.

A question many players would naturally have is "Does a good coach have to have been a judo champion?"

I don't think a good coach necessarily needs to have been a great champion but he or she should have had competition experience (at a high level). If you've never competed before how can you coach someone to do well in competition?

This concept is the same when it comes to journalism (another area I'm familiar with). In the past, I taught journalism in many private colleges for diploma and even degree-level classes. In Malaysia, normally you have to have a Masters degree to teach journalism but exceptions can be obtained for those with experience and I had plenty of that (I had held senior editorial positions in several newspapers).

The head of department at one of the colleges I taught had a PhD in journalism but had never worked as a journalist before. Perhaps this person was a good administrator who could run the department well but I'm pretty certain they can't teach practical journalism techniques because they had never done it before. That's why they brought in people like me; people have actually been on the ground doing journalism for years and who have had literally thousands of articles published.

A judo teacher who has never actually competed before is likely to teach a technique the traditional or the textbook way. Sometimes the traditional way works but often times, in the heat of competition, when your opponent is resisting with all their might and trying their best to catch you with their own techniques, traditional techniques just won't cut it.

The best example I can give is that of ippon-seoi-nage. In traditional judo, ippon seoi-nage is taught to be done from a sleeve grip. Tori is also taught to enter into the technique and do a squat. This is not how it works in competition. Almost all ippon-seoi-nage done in competition is done off the lapel grip rather than the sleeve grip because it allows for a tighter pull. Secondly, almost all standing ippon-seoi-nage is done with either straight legs or with split legs. Nobody actually squats. People do drop all the way to their knees but that's a drop seoi-nage, which is a related but different technique. Squatting only happens in demonstrations, never in competition.

Yet if you ask a judo teacher to demonstrate ippon-seoi-nage, they will more likely than not, teach the traditional way of doing it. A judo coach, with competition experience, will dispense with the traditional way, which is mechanically inferior, and go with what actually works.

Having said all that, it's worth highlighting that a good competitor or even a great champion may not necessarily be a good coach, which requires many other attributes besides having a sound understanding of the mechanics of competition techniques.

A good coach must be analytical, empathetic, inspiring and selfless to a degree. It's totally possible for a great champion to have little of these qualities. And if that's the case, they wouldn't make for a good coach. But, to be a good competition coach, you must have had some competition experience at a fairly high level.

2020 Changes

2020 is dawning upon us. We will be implementing some changes in the new year.

1. We currently have a good problem with our Sunday classes. The success of our Family Judo concept has resulted in the mats getting overcrowded during our Sunday sessions where children, parents, adult beginners and experienced players all train together on the same mat. To avoid congestion, we will be having separate sessions with Family Judo players and adult beginners training from 2pm to 4pm; and experienced players and competitors training from 4pm to 6pm.

2. Belt grading for kids. Although our kids' classes have been ongoing for several months now, we haven't yet done any belt gradings so far. This will change in the new year.

3. We didn't go to that many competitions this year. But next year will be a different matter. We have found a few different competitions which may be suitable for our players to go to. We plan to compete throughout the year. We hope even our recreational players will give competition a try because the judo experience is incomplete without it.

4. We didn't go to any training camps this year. Again, next year will be a different matter and we have already identified a few overseas destinations we could go to for training.

Wednesday's Program

Wednesday's Program
1. Gripping Drills:
- Iliadis grip-strength drill
- Korean Shake

2. Controlling Uke (Part 1)
- How to secure a sleeve grip (hikite)
- How to switch from a high-grip attempt to an unexpected attack

3. Controlling Uke (Part 2)
- How to secure a lapel grip (with your hikite)
- How to switch from a high-grip attempt to an unexpected attack

Newaza
Alligator Roll into a yoko-shiho-gatame
- How to roll and bait uke into trapping the leg
- How to extract the leg

Purposeful Randori

Randori is an essential component for mastering judo techniques. You do uchikomi to learn how to load up an opponent for a throw, you do nagekomi to get a feel for the execution of the throws, and you do randori to try out the technique against a resisting opponent.

There is a tendency for many players to treat randori as shiai (competition). In some extreme cases, each randori is treated like it's the final of the World Championships. This is not how you are supposed to do randori.

There is no win or lose in randori because it is not shiai. But you definitely lose out if you treat randori as shiai. In shiai you don't want to concede a score so you won't take chances. In contrast, in randori, you're supposed to take chances and try new things. It doesn't matter if you get countered. What's important is that you get to try your technique.

You can use randori to hone a technique that you've already mastered. Maybe you're a little bit rusty and want to sharpen your technique. That's fine. Use randori for that purpose. Or you might want to use randori to try out something completely new. Randori is ideal for that. If you get countered, you learn something about that technique -- you now know what not to do when executing it. And through a process of trial and error, you will figure out the best way to make the technique work.

You can also use randori to figure out a way to thwart your training partner's favorite technique. Let's say your partner always throws you with uchimata, how do you stop it? Or better still, how do you counter it? There are techniques to do that. Try them in randori. Bait your partner into doing uchimata and see if the counter works. If it doesn't, try tweaking your approach to it. You'll have to be willing to be thrown many times before you can figure out a solution to it. Leave your ego at the door of the judo hall and be willing to try, and fail, and get countered. This is how you learn.

Always be purposeful when you do randori. That is, be clear about what it is you are trying to achieve. Have that objective in mind and keep it in mind throughout the randori. Then, you will really benefit from the session.

Play the cards you're dealt with

There's a member of my judo club who is able to train only twice per week because her job schedule doesn't permit her to train more. She works nights and most of our training sessions are at night. So, she is only able to come on her two days off during the week.

I realize this is frustrating for her because she has told me should would like to train four or five times a week if she could.

There is a possibility she could get a morning shift assignment in the future but for now she's stuck with the evening shift. I told her that in the meantime, we just make the most of the two days she has and make every moment count during the training.

There are, for example, some players who attend a session and don't really focus on what's being taught. With such an attitude, even going for training four or fives times a week is a waste of time (waste of their time and waste of the coach's time too). In contrast, someone who just comes twice a week, but is very focused on learning and trying out new skills, will gain so much more.

Yesterday, I chatted with a foreign judo player who happens to be working in Malaysia now. She also has a late shift and has only one day off per week. That's the only day she can come for training, which is not much for someone who wants to get back into competition (she used to be an international competitor but has not trained for nearly a year).

I told her that once a week may not be much but we've got to play the cards we are dealt with. She would rather train more times a week and I too would rather have her train more times per week, of course. But this is not possible given her work schedule. So, what can we do? The answer is we make the most of her one off day per week and make that judo session really count.

Some people like to do things only when the conditions are ideal or "perfect" but in judo, as in life, there's no such thing as perfect conditions. Some situations are better than others but it's never perfect. Whatever cards you're dealt with, you play them the best that you can.

If you've got only two days a week, you train hard during those two days. If you've got only one day a week, make that one day the best session ever. Make the most of your situation, always. If you do that, you'll be much better off than someone who does things just as a matter of course, without any thinking, without any focus, without any intent. Just simply going through the motions. Such a person will gain little to nothing from training.

I always like to say that whatever we learn in judo is applicable to real life and this thing about playing the cards you're dealt, it really applies to real life as well.

Growing a judo club

While I was in Sandakan for the Borneo Cup, I had conversations with two other judo coaches about how difficult it is to grow a judo club. Anybody who has ever attempted to start and run a judo club will know this to be true.

One of the coaches, from a nearby country, had an interesting membership demographic. Like ours, his club has mainly adults as members. We have kids classes now but we started out as purely an adults class and today, our members are still mainly adults (which is an anomaly here in Malaysia).

He said they don't have many members, which sounds very much like how we were just a few years ago. I told him how important it was to post pictures and videos on social media. It's amazing to me that other clubs don't do it. Social media has brought us most of our members. It's how people get to know about our club.

Yes, editing video takes time. Writing blogs takes time. Even taking pictures and writing interesting captions take quite a bit of time. But we do all that because we realize how important it is. So, I really tried to emphasize this point to the coach.

I told him about how small our membership base was at one time but we slowly grew it with the help of social media. Now, thankfully, we have entered a virtuous cycle whereby when people check out our club, they are pleased to see that there are other adults to train. For beginners, we have many other beginners. For experienced players, we've also got a decent number of players with experience. But to get to where we are today, it took a long time and plenty of social media postings.

Another coach told me the problem he has is that most of his players are juniors who eventually go to college or start working and they leave their hometown to do so. Many go to bigger cities for these things. I told him this is not just a problem he faces. Many clubs face exactly the same problem. That's why I always say that Malaysian judo has an "seniors" problem. We have lots of kids doing judo. By the time they turn to cadets, they start dropping off. By the time they are in their late teens, there's only a few of them left. And by the time they are in university, most of them would have dropped out. Don't even talk about what happens when they graduate!

I told this coach, you've got to recruit some working adults to your club. Adults who take up judo want to do judo. Unlike kids, who are sent to judo by their parents, with adults it's 100% voluntary and you can be sure they are doing judo because they want to, not because somebody told them to. So they tend to stay a bit longer. They are also less likely to suddenly move away to a new city.

Yes, it's easier to recruit kids. Judo is a fairly easy sell to parents because they know judo is a good sport with a strong moral code. So, many parents like the idea of their kids doing judo. It's much, much harder to recruit adults because adults are so busy and caught up with so many "adult" things like work and family obligations. But they are a more stable demographic than kids when it comes to sticking to the sport.

So, in a nutshell, my two pieces of advice to anyone who wants to start a sustainable judo club are:
i) be active on social media
ii) recruit some adults to be the anchor or backbone of your club

Being a good host

Recently, we had some visitors from Jeju come to train at our dojo. It wasn't something we planned or expected. In fact, it literally came out of the blue for su. Apparently the organizers didn't plan their trip properly and as a result, when the team arrived in Malaysia, they had nowhere to train. Somebody gave their facilitator our contact details and we were happy to play host to them.

As with all our guests and visitors, we tried earnestly to provide them with a good experience. They were high-level athletes -- many of them had competed in top-level international competitions -- so we didn't have the same level of athletes to offer them. But we certainly tried our best to call up some coaches and judo friends to try to get more players for them to train with. With such short notice (or rather, no notice at all) it wasn't surprising that nobody could send their top athletes to KL to train with the Jeju team.

So, we had to rely on our own membership to offer them a worthwhile training session. Many of our members showed up, including some who couldn't train but helped take pictures and videos. The Jeju team seemed to appreciate the effort we had put in.

You would think any guest would appreciate it whenever a club takes great pains to ensure a decent crowd. But over the years, we have had a few people who said they wanted to visit our club, only to  cancel on us in the very last moment (after we had called in a lot of players to specially come for training). Some people had postponed their appointments and other activities just to be there for the guest. And what happens? The guest stands us up! It doesn't happen often but it's happened enough times that we are aware this could happen.

They say once bitten, twice shy. Well, that's true to a certain extent. We certainly won't care about people who have stood us up. That's just rude and ungrateful behavior on their part. But the bad behavior of a few rotten apples should not color our judgment of other, new guests who want to visit us. We should not have a cynical view of guests who say they want to visit. Instead, we should assume they are sincere and we should plan for them to have a great, memorable session with us.

It's basically the Golden Rule at play here. If we were to visit another club, we'd certainly want to see many players on the mats. How disappointing it would be if we went all the way to another city or country only to find very few players on the mat. It would mean the host took no effort to ensure that we would have a good session.

If we don't want people doing that to us, we should not do that to others. That's why I always believe if we have guests, we owe it to them to get as many players on the mat as possible. It's the least we could do.

It's a small world after all

From the start, we have always been a very diverse judo club, not just in terms of ethnicity but nationalities too. Our club has always been cosmopolitan. Even back in our first dojo in Cheras, we had members from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and different parts of Asia.

Through the years, we have had members come and go but our club continues to remain very diverse with members from all over the world. As we head into the new year, our membership is as multicultural as ever.

A look at our demographics reveals an interesting statistic: We have 20 Malaysian members and 21 foreign nationals!

Among the Malaysians we have representation from all the major ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh as well as players who are natives of Sabah and Sarawak. We are very proud of our muhibbah team. Among the foreign nationals are players from China, France, Great Britain, Indonesia, Ireland, Russia, the Philippines and USA.We are delighted they feel comfortable and welcomed in our club.

As we head into the new year, we hope to get more Malaysians from all backgrounds and more international players joining our club. It's a small world and judo helps to bring all of us even closer together.

Continued growth

Our growth has been good

The end of the year is fast dawning upon us. It's a good time to look back at the growth and evolution of the club.

Although we lost a few members along the way (three dropped out shortly after we moved to our new place), we have gained quite a few new members so the net effect is positive. We have more members now than we did at the start of the year. Hopefully this growth trend will continue next year too.

In the past, when we were still finding our footing, there wasn't a clear demarcation of competitors and recreational players. But today, we have not two but three distinct group of judo players at our club:

a) competitors
b) recreational players
c) kids

Interestingly, the numbers are fairly equal with 15 who can be considered competitors; 15 who can be considered recreational; and 11 kids. That's a healthy mix.

In the coming year, we hope to continue to grow all three segments. It'll be interesting to see which one grows fastest. It's actually very hard to say. Conventional wisdom would say it's the kids segment because traditionally that is where the growth is. Most judo clubs in this country have more kids than adults. This is a clear indication of where the demand is. So, it stands to reason that that segment should be the one to grow the fastest.

But our club is not a typical judo club and our main demographic has always been adults. The fact that we have so many adults training at our club has created a virtuous cycle situation whereby the critical mass of adults that we have is in itself a strong attraction for other adults who want to do judo, to join our club.

No adult judo player likes going to a club and finding only one or two other adults to train with (or in some cases, no adults at all). Well, they won't find that problem at KL Judo Centre. It doesn't matter which session you attend, you will always have enough training partners to have a good workout.

The fact that we have a critical mass of adult competitors and adult recreational players also adds to the virtuous cycle situation. Imagine if a club had mainly recreational players. A competitive type would not like to join such a club. Conversely, imagine is a club consists of only competitors. A recreational player would feel intimidated and not want to join. But at KL Judo, we have a healthy mix of recreational and competitive players so nobody feels left out.

So, will the kids segment experience a boom or will the adults segment experience a growth spurt? Maybe both? Let's see.

Stances

Example of kenka-yotsu

Yesterday, I taught four types of osoto-gari:
a) 3-step osoto
b) Ippon-osoto
c) Tenri-grip osoto
d) Osoto-makikomi

The first two (a) and (b) are done from a kenka-yotsu (opposite stance) situation and the last two are done from an ai-yotsu (similar stance) situation.

It's very important when teaching judo to emphasize what variations of a technique can be used in what situations. A technique that works well in a kenka-yotsu situation usually will not work well (or not work at all) in an ai-yotsu situation.

This is something I think about for every throw I teach.

It all starts with grips...

Ashraf, in blue, was very helpful as a coaching assistant.

Yesterday, I gave a little introduction to competitive judo training at Alice Smith School where I will be helping to teach competitive judo starting in January, next year.

Their current coach, Dave Potts, have already trained them well in basic judo so they have a solid foundation. My aim for this sessions was to give them a glimpse of what they can expect in the coming year.

We only had an hour, so I didn't want to dwell on techniques. Instead I focused on something more conceptual: stance and gripping. I felt this was the best way to get started because when it comes to competitive judo, everything starts from the grips (and stance plays a very important role in gripping strategy).

When I was a brown belt and just starting out on my journey into competitive judo, one of the first things my competition coach taught me was grips. Prior to that, I had no idea how important grips were. I would just go up to my training partner, take hold wherever I could and try to do my judo. I didn't realize that if I didn't get my grips right, there was no way I was going to be able to fend off an attack much less successfully execute a throw of my own.

So that's where it all began for me. Grips. So, whenever I teach competitive judo, I always emphasize grips. I'm delighted that the students at the KL Alice Smith School Judo Club found the introductory session interesting. I was delighted to hear one of them say they couldn't wait for the judo sessions to start next year.

I've been involved in judo for all of my adult life and over the years, I've accumulated a lot of knowledge about judo. I really enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with those who are keen to learn. It's a privilege, really.

How family judo came about

All judo clubs must evolve over time. Those who remain static will eventually fade away. You need to constantly improve your offering. That's true of any business. And it's true of a judo club too.

Those who are familiar with KL Judo know that for a long time our focus was on competitive judo training for adults. Only recently have we started to train kids. The idea of "family judo" emerged soon after that.

We figured it would be a good idea if parents were on the mat at the same time as their kids, for two reasons:
a) the very young kids feel more comfortable and confident when their parents are on the mat too
b) some parents sit on the sidelines watching the training for two hours -- they might as well get on the mat and do some judo too!

We pitched this idea to a few parents, who decided to try it and they really like it. Nowadays, this is something we pitch to all parents who bring their kids to try out judo. It's a really good concept and we're delighted that it has taken off so well.

The importance of club culture

In running a judo club there are so many important things to think about and to make sure you get right.

You need to maintain good infrastructure so that your club is a nice place to train in. You need to ensure there's a critical mass of players on the mat so each person has enough training partners. You need to come up with programs that cater for both competitors and recreational players. You need to make sure the sessions are always fun and interesting. The list is endless.

One thing I believe is absolutely crucial to get right is club culture. We judo players like to say that judo is more than sport. By that notion, a judo club must also be more than just a sports club. It's a little community -- a judo family, if you will.

As the head coach, I consider every new member to be an important component of the club. We look at the needs and aspirations of each member and try to help them achieve their goals. We also make sure they have fun in the process, because if it's not fun, it's not worth it.

I believe in leadership by example. If my players see me treat each person as super important and they notice the care and attention I give to them, hopefully they will treat their teammates that way too.

From what I've seen, it's working. No new player ever has to wait for some time to be accepted. From Day One they can integrate into the club without any problem because our players, I'm proud to say, are really friendly and welcoming.

This is part of our club culture. It's in our DNA. And it's something I'm really proud of.

Injury and pain

Judo is a full contact sport. When we spar, we go all out, within the confines of the judo rules, to defeat our opponents. They, in turn, do the same with us.

As such, it is not unusual for people to get aches and pains and sometimes even a bit of injury (because of the safety measures in place that prohibit dangerous movements, major injuries are rare). It's important to know the difference between pain and injury.

When we first started our club, we had a junior player (around the age of 11 or 12) who really liked judo and trained hard. Initially he would alarm us when he would say things like "I've injured my hip" or "my leg is injured" or "my arm is injured". We soon found out that to him "pain" = "injury". Whenever he got thrown, if he felt pain somewhere, he would say that he was injured.

But it's not only kids who sometimes find it hard to differentiate between pain and injury. If someone foot-sweeps you very hard on the shin, it will cause pain but it's likely not to cause an injury. If you get slammed flat on your back, you will get the wind knocked out of you, but probably no injury. In both cases, it hurts but there's no injury involved. Just catch your breath, have a drink, recover and get back to training.

An injury is when your ankle is sprained or you pull muscle, etc. In such cases there are actual injuries and you need to give it the proper attention (usually, ice, compress and elevate) and if the injury is serious enough, go see a doctor.

A lot of the time though, what beginners assume are injuries is just pain. Pain is okay, injuries are not. It's important to know the difference.

Training under less than ideal conditions

There are judo players who will fight no matter how tired they are or even when they are a little bit injured. Perhaps they do that because they believe it's important to get as much training as possible and don't want to waste any opportunity to randori. Or perhaps it's because they really believe in the fighting spirit of judo and don't want to give up so easily. This is not so rare. We all know players like that. There usually are a few in every club. They never say no to a randori.

Then there are also the types who only want to randori when they have sufficiently caught their breath and are not too tired. Some might just admit that they are too unfit to carry on. But some might actually try to justify it on the grounds that they will not be able to fight optimally when they are so tired. That's incredibly misguided reasoning right there.

Very seldom in competition or in real life will you find ideal situations. What if your fight goes into Golden Score? You can't very well tell the referee you can't fighting optimally when you are so tired! What if your shin hurts because your opponent accidentally kicked you during a failed foot sweep? Do you tell the referee, you can't fight optimally when your shin hurts?

And that's just on the competition mat. What about in real life? If a mugger attacks you, do you tell him you are tired and you can't fight him off optimally so he should mug you another day?

When you train under less than ideal situations, you are training yourself to be good fighter, a tough fighter, a resource fighter. So when you are really tired and someone asks you for a randori, be grateful for the opportunity to push yourself to the max. Remember, nobody improves themselves by staying in their comfort zones.

Senpai teaching kohai

Ashraf helping to teach Saymah & Eziel the arm roll.

In a judo club you have all kinds of players. Some players just want to train and have no interesting in teaching (or helping) others. Some would call them self-centred, others might view them as simply being very focused.

On the other extreme there are some players (including beginners) who simply love to teach others, to the point where they have no interest in training themselves. All they wanna do is "teach" others. I've met some like that at other clubs I've trained at. (There's nobody like that at our club, thank goodness).

Then there are the balanced ones. The one whose primary purpose is to train and become skilled judokas but who are always ready to lend a helping hand to their juniors when the coach is otherwise preoccupied. Such people embody the true spirit of judo.

Senpais are seniors who have more experience and knowledge than their kohai (juniors). I find it extremely helpful when a senpai is willing to put aside time to assist kohai learn some new things. This is something I encourage.

The true spirit of judo

As a judo coach, of course I feel proud when my players do well in competition. But as we judo people like to say, judo is more than sport. There's another aspect of judo which is just as important and it's the ethos of judo. And I always feel proud when I see some of my players embracing and embodying that ethos.

In some sports, trash-talking and insulting the opponent is somehow acceptable. Judo, in contrast, has a strong moral code that guides how judo players are supposed to behave. Some people mistakenly believe this covers only behaviour on the mat -- such as playing fair, being respectful of your opponent, and being a gracious winner/good loser. But judo ethos should also inform how you behave off the mat.


Our club recently had some new recruits and I was delighted to see some of them really adopting the spirit of judo. Let me tell you about three of them.

On the left is Jeremy and on the right is Ashraf. While I was away in Abu Dhabi recently for an IJF meeting, the two of them got together to do some training. Rather than sit out this period when I was away, Jeremy wanted to practice his yellow belt syllabus. This is an example of good judo spirit. He could have easily given himself the excuse that since the coach is away, he might as well take it easy and resume training the following week. But he took the opportunity to learn. This is judo spirit!

As for Ashraf, instead of taking it easy himself, he offered to help Jeremy learn the yellow belt syllabus -- something he was very familiar with having just taken the yellow belt exam himself.

So, although there was no official class and there wasn't anybody else in the club, they were willing to go there and train on their own. The hard-working ethic they showed is classic judo spirit but another point should not be lost. Jeremy is a +100kg player while Ashraf is a -55kg player. They couldn't have been more mismatched in terms of size. Yet they were willing to come together and train. Some player want an ideal situation to be present before they do anything. I'm sorry but that's not real life. In the real world, situations are very rarely ideal. You do what you can with the circumstances you've got. That's what these two did.

Saymah is a newbie who came to us with no athletic background. Judo training is not easy even on those who are highly athletic, imagine what it's like for someone who has no sporting background. Yet, she trains practically every day, taking LRT to training and back (which is quite a distance). That takes lots of dedication and commitment -- again, good judo qualities.

Normally Saymah gets a ride back after training from one of our members but he has been away on holiday for some time so she has to take public transport, which requires changing trains. The other day Jeremy took it upon himself to send her to KL Sentral so she would not have to change trains. What's notable is that KL Sentral is not on his way home. He went out of his way to help a teammate. This is good judo values off the mat.

The one on the right is Saymah and the one on the left is Eziel, from the Philippines, who has just joined our club. Like Saymah, Eziel relies on public transport to get around. For her first day of training, she had to find her own way to the dojo, which is not so easy. Many people have gotten lost trying to find the building we are located in. The first time I tried looking for the building, it took me a while to find it too.

Saymah was kind enough to meet Eziel at KL Sentral so she could follow her to the club without potentially getting lost. During training, Saymah helped Eziel get accustomed to judo and did a great job guiding her on the basics, although she was a newbie herself (but a newbie who has put in a lot of hours of training).

She played a key role in making Eziel's first day a good experience. Again, good judo values. Real judo ethos.

As a coach, of course I want all my players to do well in competition. Judo, after all, is a competitive sport. That sporting element must never be neglected otherwise judo becomes less than sport. But judo also has to be more than sport to make it truly a worthwhile pursuit. The good judo values and spirit exhibited by Ashraf, Saymah and Jeremy -- all newbies to the sport and to the club -- are what makes me feel grateful and contented as a judo coach.

Feeder schools and a judo eco-system

In Japan, the top judo centres are mostly in universities. These universities usually have feeder schools that have strong judo programs. Talented judokas from those schools then go on to study at the affiliated university.

Judo clubs here have nothing like that. There's no feeder school system. That's why judo clubs have such difficulty recruiting competitive players. If a club wants to have strong competitors, it needs to have some kind of feeder school that grooms judo athletes.

A judo eco-system should be established whereby:
a) There's a primary school that offers judo classes
b) There's also a secondary school with a judo program. That way students from the primary school who want to continue with their judo training are able to do so.
c) Lastly, there needs to be a judo club that caters to grown up judokas, to take in these judokas from high school or university or the work force, who still want to train competitively.

There's nothing even remotely close to such an eco-system right now but unless something like this is built up, Malaysian judo will never go anywhere.

3 key success factors for judo clubs

It's not easy building up a judo club in Malaysia. This sport is so niche it makes cricket seem mainstream. There are probably more people doing triathlons than judo. Heck, there are probably more people playing dodgeball than judo.

There are three key challenges to building up a judo club in Malaysia:

Infrastructure
Firstly, you'll need a dojo, which is a big challenge from the start. It doesn't really make sense to rent a shoplot since you'll probably not use it full-time. Sub-letting it to other sports sounds okay on paper but in practice it's not easy to find sub-tenants. They all want the same peak time slot as you would want for your judo class (7pm to 9pm on weekdays). Renting space in a gym is not easy either because most gyms don't have big matted areas and whatever matted area they have would usually be 2 or 3cm thick jigsaw mats. This is not what you want for judo (ideally 5cm mats).

Coach(es)
But let's say you somehow manage to solve your dojo problem. Next up, you'll need good coaches. "Good" is  subjective of course but someone who has himself built up a successful judo club once told me that an appealing coach should have these qualities
a) Good competitor (ideally a former champion)
b) Technically very sound
c) Good at communication and marketing

The ideal scenario is to have a coach with all three qualities but if you can find someone with two out of three, you are still in pretty good shape. In the context of Malaysia though, you'd be lucky to find someone with one out of three of these qualities.

Members
Let's say you happen to have great facilities and a fantastic coach, you still need one more factor, which is just as hard to get: Players. A club needs members. But how do you get members when a sport is so niche? The answer is: with a lot of difficulty.

So, if anybody is thinking of starting a judo club, they'll need to tackle all three key challenges:
i) good infrastructure
ii) good coach
iii) critical mass of members

Two out of three isn't good enough. You'll need all three factors resolved or the club will simply not take off.

Forum Pudu - Our best venue yet

In my last posting, I wrote about how the churn in membership is actually a good thing because it is a form of natural selection that helps us get the members who are really suited for our club.

In similar fashion, the fact that we've had to change venues so many times in the past has actually been good for us because each time we moved, we got a better and more suitable venue. Today, we are at Forum Pudu Badminton Centre and it's the best home for our judo club thus far.

The management is very supportive of our club and has agreed to a lot of our requests. It's also a very central place with LRT access. Best of all, it's spacious. We now have a dojo that's quite big, allowing us to train and randori properly.

Some people might find it odd that we are located in a badminton club but we got the inspiration from seeing a gymnastics club run out of a badminton club. We figured, if it's good enough for gymnastics, it should be good enough for judo! And it really is.

The revolving door of a judo club

If you've been in judo long enough you will realize that judo clubs have revolving doors -- not physically of course but metaphorically. People come and go in judo, and only a small handful will stay for the long haul. That's just how it is.

As someone who runs a judo club, of course I hope to retain as many members as possible but I also realize there is no point losing sleep over members who quit. There really isn't even any point in trying to change the minds of those who want to quit.

A while back I had read an article by a Canadian coach who tried to analyze the many different reasons why people quit judo, and they are as varied as the reasons people take up judo. At the end of the day it boils down to two things. If judo training is not fun or meaningful to them, they will end up quitting judo. Knowing that, we try our very best to make the training fun and we also try to impart important lessons in the class.

Judo is a really tough sport, in every sense of the word. It's difficult to master the techniques and it's hard on the body. The general toughness of the sport can easily wear someone out before they get very far. Only those who truly enjoy the sport and those who are able to glean some important life lessons from judo will have the desire and perseverance to carry on training.

When I first started the club, more than four years ago, I used to be very disappointed whenever someone left the club. I always felt, what a shame we were not able to retain that person. I have a friend who feels exactly the same way when an employee leaves her company. "Why don't you want to stay?" always rings through her head whenever someone quits.

These days I view people quitting with stoic equanimity. Whatever the reasons someone may have for wanting to leave, one of two things are obvious: They are either not suited for the sport or they are not suited for the club. So, you can treat it like a kind of natural selection process going on to improve your club. The ones who stay back are precisely the kind of members you want in your club. They are the ones who will help you grow the club and take it to greater heights.

In recent months, we've had a handful of members leave and we've also had a handful of new people come in. This churn will continue because, as I've said, judo clubs have a revolving door. People come and people go. The ones who stay will be the ones who go on to become black belts and hopefully, have meaningful experiences that will enrich their lives.

The importance of a training partner

Judo is not a solo sport. You could do some shadow randori or pulling on bands but that's not really proper judo training. To do proper judo training, you need a regular training partner.

A judo club is not like a fitness gym or a yoga studio where it doesn't matter whether you have a training partner or not. If you're doing some weight training or aerobics or yoga, you can just show up and it doesn't matter if anyone else is there. But judo cannot be done in isolation.

Ideally a regular training partner is someone roughly the same size, roughly the same age and roughly the same level of experience. If aspirations are similar (e.g. both aiming for competition), all the better, although this is not crucial.

A training partner is necessary because you need someone to do uchikomi, nagekomi, drills and randori with. But a training partner is more than that. A training partner is someone who is there to motivate you and encourage you to come for training.

We all have down days when we're a bit too tired or lazy or just don't feel like training for whatever reasons. If you know your training partner is keen to train, and will not be able to do so if you are not there, it is a potent form of motivation to be there. You don't want to let your training partner down because you know they have always been there for you when you wanted to train.

If you are lucky, there are already players in the club who are your weight class and have the same experience level, etc, whom you could easily partner with. And if you are especially fortunate, these players come for training regularly, so you always have someone to train with whenever you show up for training.

Most of us are not that lucky. Judo is a niche sport, not just in Malaysia but in most places, all over the world. The problem of having suitable training partners is a global one. If you want to improve your judo, you have to do your part.

If there is already someone in the club who could be a suitable training partner, encourage them to come more often. Coordinate with them so that when you come for training, they are there. And be prepared to make sacrifices and go for training whenever they need you. Cooperation requires both parties to make sacrifices to accommodate the other.

If there's no one in the club to partner with, help to recruit new players into the club. Don't rely on chance. Don't sit around waiting for something to happen. Do you part. Make it happen. Lastly, if and when you do find yourself a suitable training partner, remember: If you want them to be there for you, you need to be there for them.

The difference between technical skill and fighting skills

The ideal judoka is someone who has both sound technical skills and good fighting skills. It is totally possible for someone to be technically sound but not a good fighter. It is also possible for someone to be a good fighter but not very technical.

A person to only focuses on technical skills would be able to demonstrate a technique very well. But if that person doesn't do a lot of randori and doesn't compete, he won't be able to test those skill against a resisting partner. It's debatable whether such a person is actually technically sound after all if his techniques don't work when someone is resisting or fighting back. But such a person can definitely demonstrate the technique well when there is a cooperative partner. Whether you consider such a person technical or not depends on your definition of "technical".

I would say such a person is technical in as far as judo demonstrations are concerned because they could do the techniques beautifully in a demonstration context. It's sort of like how someone could be very good at kata but not good at shiai. You can't say someone like that is not technical. He's just not good at fighting.

On the other hand, we all know of some players who are really pretty good at fighting but have a very limited range of techniques. Sometimes such players are limited to as few as one technique (e.g. drop seoi-nage). They only do one technique but they catch everyone with it. Ask them to demonstrate other techniques and they aren't able to do so.

Those are two extremes of course: (a) someone who is very technical but cannot fight (b) someone who fights well but not very technical.

Most people are a mix of both, possessing some technical skills and some fighting skills. Which skills a person prioritizes will depend on their aspirations. For example, a competitor will naturally favor fighting skills. But in the long run, for a competitor to be good, he would need to develop technical skills too. Instinctive fighting ability, strength and aggression can take you only so far in judo.

Training competitorsIf you're training a competitor from scratch, the first thing you need to do is build up their technical base. That is, teach them several techniques and get them to master them. Then (and only then) should you embark on teaching them fighting skills.

If you do it the other way around, that is, teach fighting skills first, they will tend to rely on aggression and raw strength to try to overcome their opponent. They won't be interested in technical skills. So, it's better to teach skills first. Then teach them how to fight.

Teaching technical skills means showing them the mechanics of the throws and get them practice the throws over and over (uchikomi first, then nagekomi). It's pretty straight forward. Not so with fighting skills.

You can't really teach fighting skills. You can teach certain things that will help their fighting abilities, like gripping techniques and strategies, you can also teach them some strategic moves, such as teaching them how to transition seamlessly from standing to groundwork (and vice versa). You can also mimic different scenarios with resistance drills. But at the end of the day, good fighting skills will come from doing lots of randori and competing in lots of tournaments.

Family Judo in full swing.

Sunday is family day at KL Judo. We're delighted families are doing judo together.

I once interviewed a restaurateur who told me that a good restaurant has to update its menu every now and then. What if the current food offering is already very good, I asked? He replied that you can keep your core offering but you also have to introduce some new dishes just to stay fresh.

And so it is with judo clubs as well. Not only do the coaches have to introduce new and interesting approaches to training, they also have to offer new type of classes as well.

People who are familiar with KL Judo would know that for the longest time, we only had one type of class, which is an adults' judo class. For the first four, we resisted calls for us to start a kids' class.

This was partly because we were so preoccupied with building up an adults class (which is not an easy thing to do) and therefore did not have spare time to start a kids' class; and partly also because we knew that all the other judo clubs in Klang Valley were primarily kids' classes. Why offer more of the same? (An adults class, in contrast, was very unique, not just in KL but in Malaysia).

This year, shortly after we celebrated our fourth anniversary, we decided to start a kids' class. We started with slightly older kids (age seven and above) but soon there were queries for kids as young as three to four years old.

At first we said no because we didn't have the capacity to offer a toddler's class as well. However, we felt if a kid's parent was on the mat as well, we might be able to do this because small children will generally feel more comfortable and confident when their parents are on the mat with them.

We decided to try it out and four families have signed up so far. In two cases, both parents have decided to take up judo as well. In two other cases, the father decided to take up judo.

So far it's been good. Sunday is supposed to be family day. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon doing some sports with your family?

If you know anyone who wants to give Family Judo a try, give us a call at 016-6262004.

Family Judo Program @KL Judo Centre

Judo is a lot more popular in Europe than in Malaysia. It's not surprising then to hear that over there, it's quite common for parents to train in judo with their children. For some, judo is a family social activity.

For much of our existence as a club, we focused on developing an adult judo program. That was the case when we were in Cheras, it was also the case when we moved to Damansara Perdana, and it remained the case when we moved to Bangsar.

All along we had had calls from parents asking for a children's class but we resisted starting such a class because we felt our adult program was still not stable. Towards the end of our stint in Bangsar, we started to toy with having a children's class and by the time we moved to Pudu, we decided it was time to have a kids program.

We had a small group of kids who were the pioneering batch. Their ages ranged from 7 to 13. We'd occasionally get inquiries from parents on whether their kids could start around the age of 3 or 4. We felt we weren't ready to take on such small kids.

Then, one of the parents whose nine-year old daughter trained with us was keen to send his younger daughter, aged 4, to take up judo. We decided to give it a try, especially since in recent weeks, there had been a few queries about a class for small children.

The idea of Family Judo cropped up when I began thinking about how to make small children comfortable and confident on the judo mat. The answer is to have their parents on the mat with them!

So, I proposed this to a few parents and we had our first trial session for this last Sunday. Quite a few parents trained with their kids and it was a success. We hope this program will take off and becomes a regular feature of our Sunday sessions.

Training/competing while injured

One of the conundrums faced by most judo players during the course of their judo journey is what to do when injured?

Of course for some it's simple. If you are a recreational judo player and you do judo just for fun or fitness, there is no point in training when injured. Take time off to heal properly before coming back onto the mat.

But for those training for competition, it's not so easy or straightforward. A competitor does not like to miss training. Every session counts. So do you train with an injury?

The first issue to consider, of course, is how serious the injury is. If it's a bad injury, you've obviously have got to stop. But if it's minor injury like a sprain, you could consider carrying on, if you're a competitor who feels that you cannot afford to miss any training.

What you do is firstly, wrap up or tape up the injured part. If it's your ankle or toes or elbow that's hurting, wrap it up. Secondly, remind all your training partners where your injury is so they can be vigilant about not applying pressure on that part of your body when they train with you. Thirdly, protect the injured part when training. Don't be tempted to use it just to try to get a throw or defend against an attack. Training is not shiai.

If your left arm is injured (perhaps your elbow, or wrist, or fingers hurt), learn to train one-handed. Don't be tempted to use the injured arm at all. Learn to fight and defend with just one arm.

This is important because it allows you to keep up with the training without injuring yourself further. But it's also important in that it trains you to fight with restrictions. This will come in handy if you get injured during a competition. What if you're in the final and you hurt your arm? If it's not too bad an injury, you might want to carry on with the fight because a gold medal is at stake. To do that you will have to fight largely one-handed. If you've never trained to do that, you won't be able to do it.

The other day, we devoted an entire session to fighting one-handed. It was a good experience for our competitors. They found it quite hard at first because they are so used to being able to fight with both hands. By the time they got to doing one-handed randori, they were kind of used to it.

Back to basics

Tonight, we'll be going back to basics and looking at fundamental elements such as stance, gripping and concepts. We won't do any work on techniques per se. Focus will be on the core principles that make it possible for your judo to work.

Stance
Kenka-Yotsu
Ai-Yotsu

Grip Strategies:
4-Step Principle

Grip Types
Sleeve Lapel
Double Lapel
Double Sleeve
Cross Grip
High Grip/Belt Grip
Sumi-Gaeshi-Grip
Triceps Grip

Grip Breaks
Lapel
Sleeve

Concepts
Action-Reaction (feint/combination)
Judo Chop
Tension-Relaxation
Movement (3-step/circular)

Wednesday's Program

Transitions1. Tai-Otoshi into Sumi-Gaeshi/Uchimata/Osoto-Gari
2. Tai-Otoshi into Arm Roll
3. Seoi-Nage into Arm Roll
4. Tomoe-Nage into Arm Roll (Pin/Armlock)

Situational Drills
1. Behind on scores
2. Golden Score

Tuesday's program

Warm Up
1. Camberley HIIT
2. Alligator Roll
3. Knee Roll

Transition I: Newaza
1. Seoi into Knee Roll
2. Seoi into Arm Roll
3. Tomoe into Fletcher Roll
4. Tomoe into Arm Roll

Transitions II: Tachi-Waza
1. Tai-Otoshi into Sumi-Gaeshi
2. Tai-Otoshi into Uchimata
3. Tai-Otoshi into Osoto-Gari

Situational Drills
1. Ahead on scores
2. Behind on scores
3. Golden Score

How to enjoy the judo (player's perspective)

I've seen many judo players get frustrated and quit judo even before they get their yellow belt. Usually this is due to frustration and their lack of progress. Most of the time it's not that they are not progressing but they are just too impatient and expect to be able to throw more experienced players after just a few lessons.

Then there are the ones who hold colored belts or perhaps are even black belts but who don't seem to enjoy judo very much. That's because they are stuck in a rut and don't know how to get out of it.

If you're a recreational judo player who has no competition ambitions -- you just want to enjoy judo -- what you need to do is approach every judo lesson as an opportunity to learn new things that your body can do that you never realized was even possible.

Whether it's executing a perfectly-timed throw or evading a throw, whether it's applying a slick groundwork move or escaping from a tough groundwork situation, your body will be doing things that non-judokas would never do. That sense of wonder at what's possible is deeply satisfying. It's what made me enjoy judo so much when I was starting out in judo.

These days whenever I see some new technique from an international competition, I get the same feeling I had when I was a white belt learning new and wondrous things at every session. Even after all these years, I still marvel at what judo players can do with their bodies.

If you're a competitor, your techniques are more or less fully formed, so it's less about learning new techniques as it is about continually perfecting your technique and learning new tactics and strategies for winning.

Competition judo always throws up new challenges to you. No matter how good you become there will always be someone new who comes along and defeats you. No one goes on undefeated. So, there will always be new skills you will have to develop. When you lose, don't treat it as a failure. Rather treat is as an opportunity and impetus to further improve yourself.

Whether you are a recreational player or a competitor, if you adopt the right mindset, you will find judo immensely fulfilling. If, however, you adopt the wrong mindset you will find judo frustrating and eventually want to give it up. So go into training with the right frame of mind and you will really get to enjoy the judo.

How to enjoy judo (coach's perspective)

One of the biggest ironies of life is when pursuing something you love causes you so much grief. Over the years, I've seen many people involved in judo get so disillusioned by what's happening around them that they literally give up on judo. They wash their hands of it and don't want anything to do with the sport. There are also those who stay on but allow themselves to get mired in the grief that comes with judo politics.

I took up judo because I found it to be a fun sport. I stayed on in judo because I enjoy the sport so much. And I'm still pushing on, continuing to build my club and coaching players because the sport brings joy and fulfillment to me.

What I don't enjoy is the intense politicking that goes on among some people involved in judo. Apparently, this is a blight that afflicts judo people wherever they are. I speak to my judo friends in Singapore and they say there's judo politics there. I speak to my friends in Indonesia and they say the same. But it's true in faraway places too. There's judo politics in the USA, in the UK, in France, in Japan. Everywhere.

If you're not careful, it can eat you up and really ruin everything that good and enjoyable about judo. When that happens, it's really not worth it. I don't ever want that to happen to me, which is why I stay away from judo politics. I have zero interest in jockeying for positions of power or anything like that. I just want to focus on playing judo, coaching judo and building up my club. That's my interest.

Besides the politics there's also another thing that can ruin a coach's enjoyment of judo and that's when you lose sight of what made you set up a judo club in the first place. I set up a judo club for one key purpose, which is to create a place for people (including myself) to enjoy doing judo. That's it. It's as simple as that.

Of course to achieve that is not simple at all. There are many barriers and roadblocks including the cost of running such a club, the challenges of recruiting members, and many other administrative things that make it quite tough thing to do. But the goal is simple: to have a nice place to train.

When you lose sight of that and start pursuing other goals -- like trying to make a lot of money from judo -- you end up taking actions that you might not enjoy or find meaningless (but you do it cos it makes you money).

The temptation is there because money makes the world go round and you need money to run the club and make ends meet. So, yes, the temptation to go where the money is, is always there. But if doing those things don't align with what you really want to do and achieve with your club, it's not worth it.

If the only reason I'm running a judo club is to make money, I might as well hang up my judogi and do something else. Judo is one of the worst ways to make money because it's such a niche sport that's not popular at all (especially in this part of the world).

Don't get me wrong, I run my judo club as a commercial entity and it has to make money to survive and to thrive. But making money cannot and must not be the core reason for doing it. If it is, it's just not worth it.

So, I constantly remind myself by asking: Why did you set up this club in the first place? It's something you have to always bear in mind to stay true to your original goals. Then you can enjoy the judo and find great fulfillment in it.