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.