The Chinese believe four is an unlucky number but for KL Judo Centre our fourth year looks to be our best one yet. The past three years have been the start-up phase for us. Now, in our fourth year, we are entering the growth phase.
Judo clubs experience highs and lows, and we've certainly had our low points over the years. There were times when our membership was so low it really made us wonder whether we could survive. But if you have the courage of your convictions, you carry on with your program believing that people will eventually come around to appreciating your approach.
I've always been clear about how judo training should be conducted. I've had the good fortune to have been taught by some of the best coaches in the world and trained with some really top notch players in my time. I've traveled the world because of judo. So, I know what I'm doing when it comes to judo training.
My judo background has always been that of competition training, even from the very beginning. When I started my judo journey as a white belt at my university judo club, my coach was a competitor who emphasized competition training. Later, in Los Angeles, I trained under the late John Ross, a US national coach. After that it was Camberley where I trained under Mark Earle, a UK national coach. I also briefly trained in Germany under Franz Fischer, a top-level coach who had competed in the 1971 World Championships.
It shouldn't be to anyone's surprise that my training approach would naturally be competition-oriented. And that's fine if you're coaching only competitors but it's not suited for recreational players. For a long time, this was a challenge for us at KL Judo. How do you make the training universally appealing to everyone when different people join for different reasons?
For sure there are some players who are competition-oriented but you also have those who join for purely recreational reasons, with no intention of competing.
One approach would be to put everybody through the same training program, and the recreational guys would just have to keep up. That approach doesn't work so well. That's why we now have a two-track approach whereby on weekdays there is a "grading track" and a "competition training track".
The grading track folks focus on learning the techniques in our grading syllabus. They are encouraged to do randori but it's not a requirement. The competitive track folks are taught modern competitive techniques. There's bound to be overlaps with grading techniques of course but there are some stuff that you just won't find in the Gokyo, especially when it comes to newaza.
Having this two-track system is crucial to ensuring that no one is left behind and that the club is able to cater to all the members' needs. This is now a part of our weekday training system. On Sundays, we have only one track as weekend trainings are a time for the whole club to come together and train as a group. It's good for bonding and it builds camaraderie.
New programs
For the club to grow we need to try new things. One new offering is Judo Fitness which is a one-hour exercise program based on judo warm-up drills and judo movements. There's no randori involved though there will be some resistance drills. And it can be done without a judogi.
Some people have asked us if we plan to start a kids class. I think it's safe to say that this is something in the pipeline. Something else I think is worth doing in the future is to introduce a beginners' class, i.e. a class just for white belts.
Video
We have always have made full use of video to promote our judo club. At first we would just make highlights videos to give people a sense of what our training is like. Later, we would livestream entire training sessions. Who would want to watch another club's training session? you might ask. A lot of people it turns out.
Our livestreams regularly get over 100 views, which is not bad considering what it is. Interestingly, fewer than 10 of those views are from our own members who couldn't make the training but wanted to follow the session. That means easily 90% are those viewing the livestreams are not from our club. Clearly there is interest in what we are doing and that can only be good for our club. We still make highlights videos but these days we keep the clips mainly under a minute -- suitable for the Instagram generation.
For our members, I've started video-taping entire randori session and entire shiai sessions, shot on multiple angles, so they can analyze their own fights (and those of others). This is an important part of learning. Something else I'm going to do for our members is to start taping very detailed technical instruction. This will be useful for those who had to miss class due to work or exams or some other reasons. These clips would be useful even for those who have been attending training sessions as a form of revision material.
Judo Family
The main challenge for any judo club has been (and always will be) getting enough members on the mat for training. This is not just a Malaysian problem but one faced by many judo clubs around the world, including in countries where judo is quite strong.
I'm not talking about clubs attached to national sports centres or clubs linked to sports schools. Those clubs would have tons of players. I'm talking about privately-run, commercial judo clubs. Those are the ones that struggle because judo is not a trendy combat sport like BJJ, MMA or Muay Thai.
I've asked many judo friends around the world about the average number of players on the mat and the general consensus is around 10 players. That seems to be the case whether it's in the USA, Canada, Germany, the UK or South Korea.
A club could have as many as 40 members in their books but at any one time, they can only get 10 players to come for training. That's a sad state of affairs for judo but that's how it is, around the world.
Officially we have about 30 members and our average over the past 11 sessions has been 16 members (so, more or less 50% attendance). This is not great but by judo standards, it's pretty good. My next goal is to grow our membership to 40 people so that at any one time we would have about 20 people on the mat (assuming our 50% attendance rate holds). I think we'll get there sometime this year.
We were lucky that almost all of our players followed us from the previous location to our new home at Activ Studio in Bangsar. Because of that, we didn't have to start from scratch. We could get off the ground running with a critical mass of members even on Day One.
Since moving into Activ Studio, we've had some new players join us. Although they are brand new to judo and to the club, they have integrated really well with our "legacy" members. Not only that, their enthusiasm and high spirits have reinvigorated the club and are injecting a social element that until recently, was not present.
Traditionally, our players tended to view the club as a good place to learn judo, nothing more, nothing less. They were friendly and respectful towards each other but they saw the club as just a place to train, not really to socialize. Today, because of the new members, our club has become a more jocular and joyful place to be, on top of being a great place to train. And this is good as it fosters a community spirit that will help to keep the members together for the long term.
A period of growth
As mentioned earlier, the past three years was our start-up phase where we had to learn many things through trial and error, where we experienced a lot of ups and downs, and where getting enough players on the mat was a constant struggle.
I'm happy to say that that phase is now over. We now have a good sense of what training style works and what doesn't. And having achieved a critical mass of members, our training sessions are always well attended.
The year ahead will be one of growth for the club. I would be surprised and disappointed if we didn't achieve 40 members by year's end. That might not seem like an ambitious target but context is everything. I'm talking about 40 grown-ups, not kids. No other club in Malaysia has even close to half of that number in terms of senior players.
One of the unique dilemmas Malaysian judo faces is that after junior players grow up and go to university, or later when they graduate from university, they don't really have a place to train. Most universities do not have judo clubs and most judo clubs don't have many senior players at all. So, what is a competitive player to do if he or she wants to continue their training beyond high school?
A lot of them end up not training at all but still going for competitions now and then and relying purely on their past training and experience to get them through. Sometimes this is enough for them to win domestic competitions but it doesn't allow them to do well regionally, let alone internationally.
KL Judo is really the only place in the country for senior players to get proper competitive training and ample randoris. Our members have known that all along but now word is spreading far and wide about the quality of training at our club as well as the number of bodies on the mat that you can find on any given training day.
As we turn four years old, we are now located in a superb location, affiliated with an top fitness studio, and have the best facilities of any judo club in Malaysia. Our mats provide excellent shock absorption, we use crash pads to prevent injuries during heavy nagekomi practice, and we train in an air-conditioned environment, allowing our members to last much longer in randoris than if they had to train under the sweltering Malaysian heat and humidity. Most importantly, we have an excellent membership, both in terms of quality and quantity.
Having survived the grueling start-up phase, there's no question in my mind that going forward, we will only grow from strength to strength. It's an exciting time to be at KL Judo.
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