MCO-Training, Phase 2

Is it possible to do judo training alone at home, without a partner and tatami? Yes, but it requires some imagination.

When the MCO (lock-down) was first announced, I decided to provide members with some unique and original content in the form of interviews with international judokas as well as concept lessons that could be delivered through blog postings. That was Phase 1.

Most likely the lock-down will last for a while longer so we need to move on to Phase II. A few players have asked me for tips on how to do training at home and these discussions have sparked some ideas which I think will be useful.

The first challenge of home training is that most of us don't have tatamis at home. Even I don't have any (all have been moved to the dojo) so any sort of actual throwing is out of the question for most members.

The second challenge is lack of training partners. Some members are lucky, like Dave, who has a spouse who is a black belt in judo! Our "Family Judo" members would also have suitable partners. Some of our members are living with family members or roommates who might not be judo players but who could serve as willing ukes. But a few, like Saymah, are living alone and thus have no one to train with. This will be the most challenging but if there's a will, there's a way. Saymah has suggested draping a judogi around a chair so she can practice some gripping. Hey, why not?

The third challenge is the training program itself. Just become some types of training can be done at home (and alone if necessary) doesn't mean it's any good. I've seen some things being done which I think are a waste of time. So, whatever I come up with, it has to be both practical and useful. Here's what members can expect

Gokyo
The gokyo is something everybody eventually has to learn if they want to become a black belt someday. Normally, we only teach the full gokyo when people reach brown belt level, to prepare them for the exam. But we might as well use this lock-down period to learn the gokyo. Since the gokyo involves demo techniques, these are things that you could easily practice with a willing partner, even if they are not judokas. For those living alone, it's a bit harder doing the techniques with an imaginary partner, but it can be done. At the very least you would be able to learn to recognize the techniques and learn their Japanese names. Then when you are able to practice this properly in the dojo, it will all become so much easier.

Gripping
A very complex topic that is often neglected. The lock-down is a great time to focus on this. Gripping doesn't involve any throwing so no tatami is needed. It's very helpful if you have a partner whom you can ask to put on a judogi and do some gripping exercises with but if you don't, using an imaginary partner is also a useful exercise. Not ideal but at least familiarize yourself with the concepts through visualization.

Tokui-Waza
Each player must develop their own tokui-waza or favorite techniques. I will work out a customized skills development plan for each member, taking into consideration individual circumstances (e.g. living with family or living alone, etc) and individual goals and aspirations for judo (e.g. recreational or competitive). In a way, I will be giving you personalized coaching remotely via the Internet.

Family Judo
For beginners and parents with children, I'll also come up with practical activities you can do to have fun and build up useful judo skills in the process. These will be things that adults can do with adults, adults can do with children and children can do with children (we have some kids with siblings in our club).

Thinking out-of-the-box
Nobody likes to work under constraints but ironically, it’s when you work under restricted conditions that innovation sprouts. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. You find ways to work around the constraints you face and sometimes those way end up being better than the old way.

According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review last November, while people tend to intuitively believe constraints stifle creativity, they actually have the opposite effect. According to the authors of the article, who had looked at 145 studies on constraints, “when there are no constraints on the creative process, complacency sets in, and people follow what psychologists call the path-of-least-resistance – they go for the most intuitive idea that comes to mind rather than investing in the development of better ideas. Constraints, in contrast, provide focus and a creative challenge that motivates people to search for and connect information from different sources to generate novel ideas for new products, services, or business processes.”

Judo in the time of Covid-19: Ghofran Khelifi, Tunisia

Q: Is Ghofran a common girl’s name in Tunisia?
A: It’s quite common and can be used for both genders, actually. Ghofran means “forgiveness” and I guess it’s an apt name for me because I am very forgiving, sometimes overly so and people end up taking advantage of that. My friends usually call me Ghofy.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about judo in Tunisia?
A: A lot of kids do judo but not so much adults. Usually the only adults who are doing judo are competitors. There’s not so much recreational judo for adults going on here.

Q: How’s the Covid-19 situation in your country?
A: The situation is stable for now. The government said the worst is over and the lock-down should be lifted by May 3.

Q: How are you coping with the lock-down?
A: Well, of course I wish I could do judo but I know we have to stay home for everybody’s safety, so I try to stay busy at home. I’m fortunate in that I have a younger sister, Mariem, who is also a judoka. In fact, she’s also a member of the national team. So, we are able to do some judo training together.

Q: How was your training like before the lock-down?
A: Right now, I’m at home but before the lock-down I was staying at the national team centre in the capital, which is two hours from home. I used to train twice a day there, for three hours each time.

Q: Is judo popular among girls in Tunisia?
A: No, not really. I think it’s because judo is seen as a rough and masculine sport so many girls shy away from it.

Q: What made your parents decide to send you for judo then?
A: I was hyperactive as a child and judo really was the only option for me. Ha… ha… But my parents are very happy with my judo progress and they are my No. 1 supporters.

Q: Given the lack of girls in judo, do you have enough high-level female randori partners?
A: Not enough, to be honest. So, we focus on technical work and strength training.

Q: Are you only training in judo or do you study or work, as well?
A: I am a student of a sports university. Right now, I’m doing most of my coursework online

Q: Are your judo activities funded corporate sponsors or the government? A: I’m not sponsored by any companies. The government pays for everything: food, lodging, training. They also give us a small allowance.

Q: What about for overseas competitions?
A: Normally the government will pay for this but my last two competitions were sponsored by the IJF. I'm grateful to them for that.

Q: What are your favourite techniques?
A: My main technique is left-sided uchimata. I love this technique because it involves a mix of flexibility, strength and balance. As for groundwork, I’m not really into newaza but I have won with strangles before.

Q: Do you have any uchimata heroes?
A: I’m a fan of all uchimata specialists but I would say Maruyama at -66kg is especially impressive.

Q: Any techniques you’d like to do but have difficulty mastering?
A: I’d like to be able to do ippon-seoi-nage to the right. I’ve been trying this for years but I can’t seem to get it to work for me.

Q: Did you develop the drop kata-guruma as an alternative?
A: In a way yes because all my other throws are left-sided throws and I needed at least one throw where I could throw uke towards her right.

Q: What do you like most about competing?
A: I just like to fight, really. I guess I’m naturally quite an aggressive person, have been since young, so judo is an ideal sport for me.

Q: How well do you cope with defeat?
A: Whether I win or lose a fight, what’s important is that I did my best. As long as I feel I did my best, I can accept it if I lose. I’ll take it to mean I’ve just go to work harder for better results.

Q: You’re 21 now and no longer in the juniors. How do you feel about fighting in the seniors?
A: I welcome it. It’s more challenging of course but to me if you want to prove that you are good, you must be able to produce results at the senior level.

Q: You did very well at the 2020 Dusseldorf Grand Slam, defeating two very experienced players, Sabrina Filzmoser and Hedvig Karakas. How did it feel fighting these two?
A: It was a good day for me and it felt amazing fighting them. It definitely boosted my confidence being able to overcome such capable players.

Q: You also gave Sumiya Dorjsuren a hard time, taking her into Golden Score. Although you didn’t win that one, are you satisfied with your performance?
A: It was a tough fight, a close fight and I actually thought I could win, especially after she got her second shido. But I got caught by her seoi-nage. I would say I was happy with my performance but I'm not satisfied with it.

Q: What are your short-term and long-term goals?
A: My short-term goal is to win the African Championships again. It will be held in December. And my long-term goal would be the Olympics next summer.

Q: Do you feel you’ve sacrificed a lot for judo?
A: Sometimes yes because I left my family at the age of 15 to do judo. In my culture that's a young age for a girl to be living alone. Also, in order to be able to do judo like I do — basically full-time training — I’ve had to take up sports science rather than some other subject. But as they say, great success requires great sacrifice.

Q:  What would you like to study if you weren’t doing judo?
A: Psychology. It’s so fascinating to me. Maybe I’ll do this after my competition career is over. Right now, my priority is judo.

Q: How would you describe what judo is to you?
A: It’s my life, it’s the blood in my veins.

And a special message from Ghofran Khelifi to members of KL Judo Centre...

Judo in the time of Covid-19: Tommy Mortensen, Denmark

Tommy during his 1988 Olympics days

Q: You were quite active from the mid-80s to mid-90s. Would it be accurate to describe you as a pioneer competitor for Danish judo?
A: Not quite. I was the second judoka to represent Denmark at the Olympic Games. Carsten Jensen participated in the -95kg category in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and I participated in the -65 kg category in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. But perhaps you could say I was the first to train rather professionally.

Q: Weren't you the only active Danish competitor during your time?
A: No, although there were many times when I competed alone there were others also who competed, including talented fighters such as Michelle Krey at -56kg, Allan Fevre at -65kg and Thomas Beck at -90kg.

Q: What was your motivation for pursuing judo so seriously until at an international level?
A: My mother and step-father had alcohol problems and they treated me badly. I developed low self-esteem. Judo was a way for me to cope with their neglect. It was through judo that I was able to overcome my low self-esteem. I am really grateful to all the good coaches who taught me.

Q: How much training were you doing back then?
A: I did about 10 training sessions per week. Five were judo session and five were supplementary sessions for strength and conditioning.

Q: Were there enough people to give you good randoris during that time?
A: No, there weren’t. So, I had to travel abroad a lot to get enough randoris. For example, I went to Kendal in England, Tokai University in Japan and many other places.

Tommy (2nd from right, 2nd row) training at Kendal under Tony MacConnell.

Q: What was it like in Kendal and in Tokai?
A: There was a really good vibe in Kendal, really good spirit. The head coach, Tony MacConnell, was a fantastic leader. He pushed us hard but at the same time was very attentive and caring. He helped me a lot even though I was a foreigner from Denmark. Tokai is the best place to get good randori.

Q: Did you get support from the Danish federation?
A: Yes, I got a good support from the Danish Judo Federation but judo is a minor sport in Denmark so it wasn't very much. When our national coach, Czelaw Kur, who came from Poland, showed our national team budget to his colleagues in Poland, they asked: “Is that your budget for Tommy?” They were shocked when he told them that it was the budget for 20 athletes!

Q: Were you only doing judo or did you also study or work?
A: I studied physical education and I also took on a job as a postman to help fund my judo career.

Q: Given all that, were you able to balance your personal life and judo?
A: Sometimes it was tough. I once had a girlfriend whom I loved very much. She would often complain: “You always prioritize judo over me!”. I denied it at the time but maybe in retrospect, she was right. We eventually broke up.

Q: Are you still involved in judo these days?
A: I’m a part-time elite coach for one of the regions in Denmark. But my full-time job is as a schoolteacher. I teach Danish, sports and history.

Q: How has Danish judo evolved since your time as a competitor?
A: Increasing professionalization has characterized the judo in Denmark since my time as competitor. Over the past 30 years we have had many professional coaches. First, we had Czelslaw Kur (POL), then Peter Gardiner (GBR), Thomas Beck (DEN), Miguel Ogando Lopes (POR) and now Peter Scharinger (AUT). They have all helped lift Danish judo to a higher level. Our best fighters today, namely Lærke Olsen (-63 kg), Emilie Sook (-70 kg) and Mathias Madsen (-100 kg) have all done well at the international level.

Q: Do you think Denmark can produce a World or Olympic champion?
A: Absolutely. Lærke Olsen took silver at the Junior World Championships two years ago. That’s a very good sign. 

Q: Do you still go on the mat and train?
A: Yes, but just a little bit. My hips are not so good. I have an artificial hip on one side and I might have an operation on the other too.

Q: Do you follow the IJF World Tour on YouTube and does any player stand out for you?
A: Yes, I do follow it. And I think Shohei Ono is really something special. His judo is just sublime and something very rarely seen.

Q: What do you think of the new IJF rules implemented in recent years?
A: I don’t find the rules to be simple and I think they should be. That said, the rules have been successful at promoting a more classical style of upright judo. It’s a pity that it takes rules to make competitors fight this way and not just character or as the Japanese call it, “kokoro”. Toshihiko Koga didn’t need rules to make him fight upright.

Q: How’s the Covid-19 situation in your country?
A: We have had the lock-down for over a month now and we’re just beginning to slowly open again. We are asked to keep distance of two metres from each other and no more than 10 people should gather together.

Q: How have you coped with the lock-down?
A: I’ve made the most of it. It’s a good chance to spend time with the family and to do some thinking and reflection.

Q: Speaking of reflection, what goes through your mind when you think of those competition days of past?
A: I’m glad I had those experiences. I often think about what will become of youths who don’t have the benefit of judo training. What is their fate and destiny like?

Q: You think today’s youth would be better off if they did judo?
A: Of course. Judo is good for many things. As I said earlier, judo helped me overcome my low self-esteem, and that’s not all. Through judo, I have made friends for life. Judo has educated me and built my character. I’ve long pondered about the essence of judo and to me, judo helps close the gap between reality and a dream. For me, judo was this, and still is.

Judo in the time of Covid-19: Maria Centracchio, Italy

Q: How’s the Covid-19 situation right now?
A: Prior to the lock-down, I was in Rome, near the Olympic Training Centre but now I’m spending the quarantine at my parents’ house, in the region of Molise, where I was born. This is a small region in the south, which fortunately, is not so badly affected by the virus.

Q: What kind of training are you able to do?
A: Everything is closed right now so there’s no possibility of doing judo. But my parents happen to own a gym, and although the gym is closed, I can use it privately to do some strength workouts and also some judo training with my younger brother.

Q: Normally what would your training be like?
A: Before this lock-down, I would do two trainings a day: two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, Monday through Saturday. I do a lot of strength training and I usually do many randoris as well. I like this kind of hard training.

Q: In Italy, do top judokas train at their own club or at a national training centre?
A: Judo players usually have their home clubs as well as a “higher-level” club. I belong to the police force so my “higher-level” club is the police club. However, when it comes close to competition, we would all train together at the Olympic Training Centre in Rome.

Q: Your father is a judoka?
A: Yes, actually I come from a judo family. Everyone in my family has done judo at one time or another, including my mother. And of course, my brothers are judokas as well.

Q: Did you take to judo naturally?
A: To be honest, I didn’t want to do judo at first, simply because everyone else in my family was already doing it. I wanted to try something different, so I took up dance. But being in a judo family, I ended up spending a lot of time around the judo mat. One day, I decided to give it a try and I got hooked straight away.

Q: I read that you’re a model student as well. How were you able to train so hard in judo and excel academically as well?
A: I guess it’s because I like studying and learning new things. So, it wasn’t difficult for me to train and study. It felt like a very natural thing to do.

Q: Is it true you don’t take any alcohol at all?
A: Yes, that’s right but I’ve nothing against other people taking it. I just prefer not to take it myself.

Q: You’re known to be a tough cookie, someone who can train even through injury. Why push yourself so hard?
A: I’m a hard worker. That’s my nature. I believe in persevering though tough situations. As a competitor, I’ve had many injuries. As long as I can safely do some form of training despite the injuries, I’ll do it.

Q: Being a high-level judo athlete requires a lot of sacrifice. Do you sometimes wish you could lead a normal life like other girls your age?
A: My life revolves around judo. Everything I do, I take into consideration how it impacts my judo. All my closest friends are judokas. This is not a normal life by any means but it’s the life I chose. So, no complaints.

Q: Why did you choose this life though?
A: The simple answer is that I love to fight but of course, there’s more to it than that. Many times, I was told that judo wasn’t the right sport for me because I don’t have the talent for it. So, I’m doing this for me. I want to overcome my own limitations and become the best version of myself. Maybe in the process, I might even be a good example to others.

Q: Do you feel it’s true that you don’t have a natural talent for judo?
A: Well, whenever I want to learn a technique it does take me a lot of time to master it. I have to try and try again before I can get it. So, sometimes I do feel something is a bit lacking. But I’m very confident about my physical and inner strength. I know I can work harder than anybody else, and I can eventually overcome any obstacles.

Q: Any technique you’re still have trouble with?
A: I wish I could do ouchi-gari without being countered! But I’m working on it… ha… ha…

Q: How would your coach describe your judo?
A: Not so beautiful to watch, in fact a little bit messy, but always intense with non-stop attacks!

Q: When it comes to judo videos, some players I speak to say they barely watch or don’t watch at all. Others watch tons of videos. Which group do you belong to?
A: The latter, definitely. I always watch and analyze my fights as well as the fights of my opponents. I also watch competitions that I’m not fighting in as well. I like watching judo videos.

Q: You had a good year last year with a gold in the Tel Aviv Grand Prix and a bronze at the European Games in Minsk. But this year has not been so good, with loses in your first fights in Tel Aviv, Paris and Dusseldorf. How well are you able to handle such losses?
A: They’re hard to accept of course and there’s always a sense of desperation whenever I lose. But deep down inside, I know that losing is a part of the process of self-improvement. Usually the day after, I’m able to compose myself and can start to work hard again towards achieving my goals.

Q: This is a tough question but if at the end of the day, you don’t quite manage to achieve your goals, would you be able to accept it? Neil Adams has said until this day he still has nightmares about not winning the Olympic gold. Would you regret spending all those years of training and sacrifice if you don’t get what you want?
A: It’s hard to tell how you would feel about something unless you’re actually experiencing it at that moment in time. But knowing myself, I don’t think I would regret the efforts I had put in towards chasing my dreams. First of all, I’d know that I had given it my all. Secondly, the experiences I’ve had along the way is what has made me what I am. So, there shouldn’t be any regrets. I’m generally quite a positive person anyway.

Q: Your English is very good. Is it true you are multi-lingual?
A: I speak five languages. There’s Italian, which is my native tongue. Then, I studied French and English at school. Later on, I taught myself Spanish and Portuguese.

Q: How would your friends describe you?
A: They’d say I’m a person with a big heart and lots of patience.

Q: Any words for other judokas stuck in a lock-down?
A: Be positive and don’t stop dreaming! And, take care of course.

And this is Maria's special message for members of KL Judo Centre...

Judo in the time of Covid-19: Yvonne Boenisch, Germany

Q: Your final match-ups against former Olympic Champion Kye Sun-hui of North Korea is one of the great rivalries in judo. The two of you met in three consecutive finals over three years: 2003 Worlds, 2004 Olympics and 2005 Worlds. You had lost to her in 2003 and 2005 but beat her in 2004. What do you think was the deciding factor in the Olympics that allowed you to overcome her?
A: It may seem like a great rivalry, and it was in many ways, but in my judo career, I had fought her only these three times. They just happened to be in the finals of these major events. In 2001, she was still fighting at -52kg and I saw her defeat my teammate, Raffaella Imbriani, in the final of the Munich Worlds but I had never fought her prior to the -57kg final of the 2003 Worlds, so I didn’t know what to expect. After I lost to her, I did my homework to figure out ways to beat her. I was in good shape in 2004. I had no injuries going into the Athens Olympics and when I won my first fight, against the defending Olympic Champion Isabel Fernandez of Spain, I knew this was going to be my day. So, I went into the final with a lot of confidence and a will to beat her. As for 2005, I guess she did her homework better than I did… ha… ha…

Q: Aside from the massive changes in competition rules, what would you say are the main differences in judo today compared to during your time as a competitor?
A: The main difference is the competition calendar. The athletes today have way more competitions than we did. It’s all year round and all over the world: Grand Prix, Grand Slams and now you have the World Championships every year (it used to be every two years) and you also have the World Masters as well. So, it’s a challenge for athletes and coaches alike to prepare for these events and to stay in shape all year long. Athletes are definitely much busier now than during my time, with more pressure and less time for recovery. You can say they have no time to take it easy at all. During my time, when there were far fewer competitions, we trained in blocks, with the aim of peaking for one big competition in the year.

Q: What do you think of rule changes that have been implemented over the years?
A: Like all things in life, there are things I like and things I don’t quite like. I’m not the biggest fan of having only waza-ari and ippon as scores. I'd love to at least have yuko back and I would prefer if there were a fourth shido. But I really like the concept of Golden Score and that matches are decided in extra time rather than by hantei.

Q: Do you think judo is better off without leg grabs?
A: I loved doing leg grabs myself but it’s nice to see how athletes have managed to improvise to deal with restrictions. For example, you see a lot of them doing kata-guruma without having to grab the legs. During my time, leg grabs were common but now, a whole generation of athletes has grown up without doing any leg grabs. If you were someone who saw judo for the first time today you would never imagine that leg grabs were ever a part of judo.

Yvonne (back row, furthest right), coaches the women's national team in Israel

Q: After you retired from competition, what did you do before moving to Israel?
A: In 2009, I worked as a regional coach, and from 2012 I was the head coach of the regional centre in Potsdam. Together with my best friend, Mario Schendel, and my former personal coach, Axel Kirchner, we created quite a nice system and developed Potsdam to become the main centre for youth talent in Germany. After I took up my job in Israel, Mario became the head of the centre and I was delighted to see that in 2019, it got upgraded to become one of the Olympic Training Centres for judo in Germany.

Q: How did you end up getting a job coaching the Israeli women’s team?
A: I think it was around 2010 when I first visited Israel and met Shany Hershko. I had stayed I touch with Yarden Gerbi and I think she gave Shany a nudge my way when they were looking for some new coaches after the 2016 Rio Olympics. It’s an offer I couldn’t refuse. First of all Israel is a country I always loved. I visited the country four times prior. Second, I thought of it as a nice challenge for myself to do coaching in a different country. And third, I knew Shany was setting up a new system to build upon their success at the Olympics, and I was keen to be a part of that.

Q: What was the most unexpected thing you found when you started working there?
A: The biggest surprise for me was the reaction of the girls in the team. They accepted me immediately and were willing to work with me right from the start. There was no wariness or hesitation on their part at all.

Q: Was there any culture shock for you adapting to a new place?
A: I wouldn’t say that I had any culture shock but Germans and Israelis are temperamentally very different. The Israelis are very open about their feelings, they are very fiery and love to argue out loud. If you weren’t familiar with their language and their culture you might think you were witnessing a fight but it’s just them being very passionate. But I must say that I’ve fallen in love with this culture and the people here. Everyone has a big heart and they accept you as a member of their family straight away.

Q: Judo athletes are very busy. Are coaches just as busy, or perhaps more so?
A: When I was an athlete my training plan was fixed by my coach. Now that I’m a coach, I’m the one who has to do all the planning. I would say that we coaches are very busy most of the time.

Q: Do you have time for any hobbies or interests?
A: It’s no secret that I love the sun. Fortunately for me, Israel is sunny most of the time. I love to travel. It’s crazy how much there is to see in this small country. Besides the sea, there’s the desert and the green mountains in the north. You can even ski here during one month in the year when it snows. I did so this year, for the first time, and it was amazing!

Q: Do you go back to Germany often?
A: I try to go home every few months to see my family and friends because I miss them dearly but my friends also like visiting “Hotel Boenisch”, so they come here often for the sun, the beach and of course, to keep me company!

Q: Speaking of Germany, do you think German judo today is better or worse than during your time as a competitor?
A: In Germany there’s a saying: “Don’t compare apples to pears”. I guess in English you would say “apples and oranges”. But basically, you can’t really compare players from different eras. The conditions are very different. During my time, it was possible to make long-term preparations for one main competition in a year. Everything built up to that one big event. Most of us never fought the World Championships and the Europeans in the same year even. So, it’s very different. These days, players have to be 100% in shape all year long and that’s a big challenge.

Q: Do you speak to your players in English or did you learn Hebrew?
A: Luckily for me, the girls all speak English and that’s the language we use to communicate. I learned some basic words in Hebrew but as you can imagine, mostly bad ones. Quite useful sometimes, though. Yalla!

Q: What’s the main difference between how the Israelis train and how German players train?
A: Israel is a very small country so all members of the national team — cadets, juniors, seniors — all train together. In Germany, there are seven Olympic Training Centres for judo that are spread across the country. So, it’s not centralized in the way it is in Israel.

Q: Do you detect any difference in the way the Israeli and German players fight?
A: I think there’s a connection between the Israeli’s temperament and the way they do their randoris. There’s a lot more fire on the mat here than what I see in Germany, and I really like that actually.

Q: Which current crop of international players impress you the most?
A: I’m really impressed with the team from Kosovo. They work in a very small group and produce massive numbers of medals.

Q: What type of athlete do you admire?
A: I would say those who are very versatile and have a solution for every situation. Over in Israel, we have someone like that in Sagi Muki, who can seemingly throw from any situation, left and right, standing and dropping.

Q: What’s a typical day like for you?
A: The day starts with a morning session of gym or judo and in the afternoon, another session. Of course, there’s also personal training, watching videos and meetings

Q: How are you doing your job during the lock-down?
A: Shany planned how we should train during a lock-down even before the government announced it. Our top team was divided into pairs. They live and train together and follow our trainings plan, while we monitor them live through Zoom.

Q: How long do you envision yourself staying in Israel for?
A: Well, my contract is for until the end of 2020 but now, with the Olympics being postponed, I guess there’s likely to be a change of plans.

Comprehensive gripping tutorials coming in May

Detailed kumi-kata lessons coming your way, soon!

Gripping or kumi-kata is something that is traditionally not taught. Yet it is such a vital component of judo.

If you happen to live in a strong judo country where there are tons of training centres with tons of strong players, you will develop good gripping just by osmosis alone. But if you happen to live in a country where judo is not that popular and you don't have a lot of training partners, you will need to learn gripping in a structured way.

The lessons will be presented in video format and will be available to KL Judo members via our closed Facebook Group and/or our new website which will have a member's section.

We might make digital membership available for those who live outside of Klang Valley but wish access these tutorials. I've not worked out the pricing for this yet though.

Over the next few days I'll be drawing up the syllabus for these tutorials and I'll be publishing them in a future blog posting so you'll know exactly what will be taught. It will be very comprehensive and the lessons will be steadily released throughout the month of May.

If you follow these lessons, by the end of the month you would have learned everything you've ever wanted to know about gripping and then some!

New program, new website, new online offerings to come...

It's often said that every crisis presents opportunities as well. During regular times, we're all so caught up with day-to-day matters, it's hard to find the time (or energy or mindset) to think strategically for the future. Now, during lock-down, we have that time.

We will be introducing some news things when the club reopens. While most of these ideas are still in development (and are very much a work-in-progress), I am able to talk about a few things that everyone can look forward to.

1. The first one is a wrestling-based class. I say "wrestling-based" because what we'll be doing is working on wrestling techniques that are applicable to judo. We won't be learning wrestling per se, just wrestling techniques. So, we won't bother with wrestling rules or how to score in wrestling. We'll just learn techniques that can be used in judo. This will go on for an hour, once a week. The other hour will be for randori.

2. The second thing is circuit training for judo. This will consist mainly of High-Intensity-Interval-Training modules, specially designed for judo. We've done some of these things as warm-up exercises but we think it might be a good idea to have a full hour devoted to just circuit training, once a week. The other hour will be randori.

3. We might have a dedicated session on judo applications for self-defense but that's not something that we'll be introducing straight away and we'd only do this if there's obvious demand for it. There is a strong interest in wrestling and circuit training so those two, It's a definite go.

4. Before the lock-down happened, we had successfully run two pilot programs of our internal shiai. This is basically our internal competition. We will make this a permanent program, run once a month (usually in the middle of the month) once we reopen so that our players can expect to be able to compete at least once a month. This will help prepare them for competitions at the end of the year, such as the Senior Nationals and the Malaysian Open, which we assume will carry on.

5. Over the past year or so we have regularly offered livestreams of our training sessions. This is to give people a chance to see what our training is like. Livestreams are not really not designed for remote learning because the cameras are too far away and the instruction can't be seen or heard properly. When we reopen, we'll start doing proper, close-up recordings of every session. This will be made available for free to our club members. Non-members living outside of the Klang Valley who wish to do remote learning might be allowed to have digital membership but I've yet to decide on a pricing for that.

Judo Concepts, Lesson 22: How to analyze a video clip

One thing I noticed after interviewing many judo players is that those from very strong judo nations tend not to watch so many judo videos whereas those who come from countries where judo is not so strong, tend to watch a lot of judo videos.

The reason is obvious. If you're from a strong judo nation, there's a lot of institutional support and good coaching, as well as sufficient training partners, training opportunities and competitions. All these combined give you everything you need to develop your skills in judo. But if you live in a place where there's very little judo, you're pretty much left to your own devices. In such circumstances, video is the best resource for you to learn things.

In order to benefit from video analysis, you have to learn how to "break down" a throw. That is, disassemble it to its various constituent pieces. If you pay careful attention, there are tons of information to be gleaned from watching a famous player do his moves.

When I first trained to be a competitor, my coach gave me a video tape of Koga to watch and analyze. He told me to watch how Koga gripped his opponents, how he entered into the throw and to pay special attention to how straight his legs were when he entered into his famous seoi-nage. I must have watched that video dozens of times. And the amazing thing was, each time I watched it, I learned something new.

That was probably because I was new to video analysis and didn't really know what to look out for. Over the years, I got better at it and would need to view a video clip several times in order to glean some insights from them. It didn't require dozens and dozens of viewing anymore.

Let's say you want to learn how a particular player does a particular technique. Here are some best practices:

a) Don't just watch just one or two examples of that player doing that technique. Watch multiple example and try to identify trends or things that that player does in setting up the throw. Take for example, Takato's unique style of ouchi-gari. If you watch enough of them, you'll notice he only does this technique under very specific circumstances (against left-handers who are trying to push his head down). If you notice that, try to understand the reason why.

b) Pay particular attention to grips. How does he grip whenever he wants to do this technique. You will notice a familiar pattern to the gripping. Again, try to understand why.

c) There will be times when the technique fails. Watch those as well and try to understand what went wrong. What as different about this attempt that caused it to fail? Doing this will allow you to isolate the key success factors.

d) Try to look out for variations. Sometimes those differences are very subtle but they are significant. Understanding the variations (when they are used and why the variation are necessary) will give you a better grasp of the technique.

e) It is usually helpful to watch the technique in slow motion. If there is no slow motion replay of the clip available, you may have to download the clip and slow-mo it yourself using a simple video editing program. When I was a student there was no digital videos yet, only VHS cassettes, and I had to use two VCR machines to make slow motion loops of Koga's throws just so I could study them properly!

f) If the player if left-handed but you are right handed, you might have to flip the video so you can better visualize how it works from a right-handed perspective. That's easy to do if you use a video editing program. I'm usually able to transpose left to right in my head when it comes to tachi-waza but with newaza it's a lot harder to visualize, so when I'm analyzing a complex newaza move done by a lefty, I would usually flip it using my video editing app.

Judo Concepts, Lesson 21: The secret value of shiai

Shiai refers to competition. Since there are very few formal competitions in Malaysia, we decided to start having our own shiai every month. We had done two of them when the Covid-19 lock-down was suddenly implemented. Once the lock-down is lifted and the club reopens, we will resume having these monthly shiais.

Internal shiais are good because they are a very low-stakes way to introduce your players to competition. Many beginners are nervous or worried about taking part in formal competitions, which are pressurizing even for experienced players. So, having these internal ones are a good way for them to ease into competition judo.

Competitions are important for everyone to do, even recreational players, because they are a way for you to test yourself and overcome your fears. But that's really a whole topic in itself. I'll save that for another post. In this posting, I want to talk about the various types of shiai we do at our club.

So, there's our monthly shiai, which we try to make as realistic as possible. In the last one we did before the lock-down, we even had a proper electronic scoreboard set up.

Quite often, in our regular training sessions, we would end up some mini-shiais, after randori is over. The reason we decided to have these mini-shiais is that we don't want our players to treat randoris like shiais. When all you have are randoris, some players tend to treat them like shiais. So instead of using randoris as a chance to try new techniques, they fight conservatively, falling back on techniques they are comfortable with. This defeats the purpose of randori. So, giving them their shiai fix towards the end of practice does the trick.

Sometimes, instead of four-minute shiais, we do situational shiais. For example, I would say the White player has a waza-ari and two shidos and there's only 45 seconds left in the match. Blue player then has to decide what to do during those 45 seconds? Does he try to throw White? Does he bother with newaza even? Does he try to engineer a third shido for White? Or I might say, it's Golden Score and both players have a two shidos each. And so on.

The purpose of doing this is to condition our players to learn how to fight smartly and strategically under different pressurizing circumstances. It's one thing to tell them what to do under different circumstances. It's quite another when they experience those circumstance first hand.

It's the difference between knowing something and realizing it. It's not enough that they know what to do in different situations. I want them to realize what they must do.

Judo in the time of Covid-19: Theresa Stoll, Germany

Q: You had already qualified for the Olympics. How do you feel about its postponement to next year?
A: When I first heard about the postponement of course I was a bit frustrated. I’ve been training so hard to be in the best shape for this summer and now I have to wait one year longer. However, I do feel that given situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is the right decision. I try to look at this as an opportunity to be in even better shape by next summer.

Q: During this time of lock-down are you training with your twin sister at home?
A: I’m so lucky to have my sister Amelie during this time. We have a training plan from our national coach which includes a lot of physical and endurance sessions, but also some judo technical training.

Q: Is Amelie your identical or fraternal twin?
A: We are fraternal twins and Amelie is 23 minutes older than I am — something she’s always reminding me about! Although we are not identical twins, we do have a lot of common interests, as well as similar views when it comes to things like ambition, honesty and conscientiousness. Our personalities however are quite different. I would say my sister is calmer and more patient than I am. I am more emotional and I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve.

Q: Being that she is the same weight class as you are, does it feel weird having to compete against your own twin, especially for a place in the Olympics?
A: We’ve been training together since we started judo, so for us it’s kind of normal to fight each other. That said, doing randori together and competing against each other are quite different things. Vying against each other for that one spot in the Olympics is quite a tough thing for sisters to do but going to the Olympics is a dream for both of us, so we just have to do it and accept than only one will end up going.

Q: Was there ever any consideration for your sister to either drop down or move up a weight, since you are the more higher-ranked player in your weight?
A: Of course, this is something we thought about quite a lot. Unfortunately our weight is almost the same. For her to drop down  to -52kg would be nearly impossible, and to move up a weight just wouldn’t make sense because she’s not very tall even for her current weight class.

Q: I understand that you and your sister have very different gripping styles.
A: Yes, Amelie prefers close-quarter fighting where she pulls her opponent in close to her. In contrast, I like to keep my opponents away and control the distance until it’s time to attack.

Q: Which club do you belong to and do you have enough randori partners there?
A: My home club is TSV Großhadern in Munich.  It’s the city where we grew up in. We’re lucky because it happens to be one of the Olympic Training Centres. That means to do high-level training, we didn’t have to switch to another club or move to another city. In fact, ours is one of the biggest Olympic Training Centres in Germany. My club coach, Lorenz Trautmann, is also the national coach for the women’s junior team, so we also have a lot of young female talents in our group. The senior training group is rather small but if you include the men, we have quite a lot of strong training partners.

Q: Before the Covid-19 lockdown, what was your typical training day like?
A: Usually I would train twice a day for up to 12 sessions per week, so just one day off. In the mornings, it could be gym, circuits, endurance training or judo technical training, depending on the schedule. In the evenings, we always do judo training and randori.

Q: You are studying medicine which is quite a demanding subject. Why did you choose that?
A: When I finished high school, I took a year off to focus on judo and to give myself some time to think about my future. During that time, I did a two-month internship in a hospital and I realized medicine was something I wanted to pursue as well.

Theresa with her twin sister Amelie

Q: Is Amelie also studying medicine?
A: No, she did sports science for her Bachelors and is now pursuing a Masters degree in management.

Q: It must be difficult juggling judo and medicine. Have you ever had to prioritize one over the other?
A: For me there was never a consideration to give up one as I am passionate about both. But yes, there will be times when I have to temporarily prioritize one over the other. In 2017, before I got silver at the European Championships, I had made the choice to focus on my studies to prepare for my first big medical examination, and I followed through with that. It was not an easy decision to skip the World Championships that year, but it was a necessary one. You see, the first two years of medical studies are really quite hard. But after that first big exam, it gets easier to handle both. So, I focused on doing well in that exam. After that was over, judo became my priority. These days I never skip training because of studies or anything like that. In fact, I had planned to take one semester off to prepare for the Olympics this summer. Now that the Games have been put on hold, I am able to continue my studies this semester. But still, judo is my priority at this stage in my life.

Q: Does the Olympics mean that much to you?
A: To qualify for the Olympics and to win a medal at the end of the day has been my biggest dream. It’s my ultimate goal which motivates me to give my best every day.

Q: Does being a medical student help your judo in any way?
A: I’ve always been interested in the human body and, perhaps my knowledge of it helps me to better understand the bio-mechanics over various judo moves. I also think that given how much training I do, studying is an outlet that gives some balance to my life.

Q: You look quite fierce when walking to the tatami to begin the fight. Are you also very fierce in real life, off the mat?
A: Ha… ha… Looking fierce is not my intention, believe me. I guess it’s just the result of being very focused and trying to concentrate on the task ahead. This relates back to how I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. How I look is a reflection of how I feel at that moment in time.

Q: What does judo mean to you?
A: Given how focused I am on competition, you might be surprised to hear me say that judo is more than just a sport to me. It has changed my personality, from being a shy little girl to a confident young woman. Through judo I’ve been able to meet so many important people in my life. This includes my best friends and also my boyfriend. It has also taught me a lot of good values like respect, honesty and discipline.

Q: Any words for other judokas stuck in a lock-down?
A: Try to be positive, stay healthy and stay as fit as you can be. We’ll get through this as a judo family, together, and soon enough we will get to enjoy our passion for judo once again.

And a special message from Theresa Stoll to members of KL Judo Centre...