Balancing different interests in judo

Finding the right balance is never an easy thing.

The character of judo clubs vary from club to club and even from country to country. There are certain countries where the bulk of judo clubs are recreational in nature. There are not many clubs that are competition-oriented. The USA is an example of that.

There are also countries where recreational judo doesn't really exist and the people who do judo are athletes training for competition. Israel is an example of that. I was told by a Russian coach that in Russia it's that way too. There's very little recreational judo.

Then you have countries that have a mix of recreational and competitive judo clubs. France is an example. Some clubs there are very recreational and some are very competitive.

In Malaysia, the active clubs are competitive because of their nature. Terengganu and Johor have sports schools where the training is competitive-oriented. In Perak, you have the Angkatan Tentera Malaysia team, which is also competition-oriented. Penang is a bit of a mix as there is recreational and competitive training but a lot of their players are competitive.

KL Judo is primarily a recreational club. We have a handful of players who are serious about competition but most are there to do judo recreationally -- to learn how to fight, get fit and have fun at the same time.

I would say that in general, there are three categories of players. There is a small group that wants to compete seriously. This is just a handful of players. There's a group I refer to as recreational competitors. They are there to do judo recreationally but they wouldn't mind occasionally competing in judo just for the fun of it. Then there are those who just want to do judo recreationally. They don't mind doing randori but they do not want to compete at all.

How do you cater to all these different interests? Answer: with a lot of difficulty! (But hey, we never shy away from difficult challenges).

In the run up to the Penang Invitational, we ran two-track classes, where a big group would focus on learning grading techniques and a smaller group of competitors would work on competition drills etc.

This worked pretty well but we need to tweak the formula further. We wouldn't be doing our members justice if we had just these two tracks: competition and grading. There also needs to be another track that straddles the line between competition and grading.

Grading training only teaches you how to demonstrate techniques (on a cooperative partner). It doesn't teach you how to fight against a resisting opponent. On the other hand competition training focuses on teaching you how to win contests. This entails focusing on a narrow, few techniques that you do very well. It can mold you to become a good fighter but not a well-rounded judoka.

So, we need to have track called "practical judo training" to address that issue. It'll much broader in scope than competition training but as its name implies, it will emphasize practical techniques and skills so that players can do more than just demonstrate a technique.

To fit all of that into our weekly training schedule, this is how we will be conducting the classes

Tuesday Class (2 Hours): Practical Training (Emphasis on Newaza)
Friday Class (2 Hours): Practical Training (Emphasis on Tachi-Waza)
Sunday Class (3 Hours): Practical Training (2 hours): Competition/Grading Training (1 hour)