Typically a longer post on a single topic or technique.
If you haven’t already signed up, now is a good time to sign up to the Easyfundraising scheme.
Purchases made via participating retailers – including Amazon, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Millets – will trigger a donation to the Club – at no extra cost to yourself!
Over £140 has already been raised online.
It’s a great way to support the Club!
I have recently been reading the Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford.
These were advertised in Matside a few years back, and come highly recommended by Jack and Jonty.
The books follow the adventures of Jack Fletcher, an Elizabethan teenager sailor shipwrecked in feudal Japan. Adopted by a Japanese samurai family, he is sent to samurai school where he makes friends and enemies in equal measure.
His main adversary is the ninja Dragon Eye, who is employed by the anti-foreigner factions of Japanese society and the anti-Protestant Jesuits, to steal Jack’s prized possession, his father’s rutter or sailings instructions.
Much death, mayhem and martial arts mayhem ensues. Great lessons are learnt about loyalty, love and loss by all involved.
In many ways, the books are a mix of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and James Clavell’s Shogun, but none the less an exciting read for teenagers.
Readers who are interested to explore the true story behind both Jack Fletcher and Shogun‘s hero, John Blackthorne, should read Samurai William, by Giles Milton.
Milton’s book tells the story of William Adams, british pilot to a Dutch fleet, who arrived in Japan in 1600 and rose to the highest levels in the Shogun’s court, fighting off scheming Catholic priests and assassination attempts… sound familiar?
Stephen Turnbull has written a whole series of scholarly books explaining the military history, arms, politics and key characters of the samurai era.
All of the books mentioned above are available to buy through Amazon – and if you use the Easyfundraising website, you raise money for the Club – a win-win!
Thought you might be interested in this transcript of a presentation that Jigaro Kano gave in 1932, explaining his view of Judo and how it benefits its practitioners.
http://www.msisshinryu.com/articles/kano/judo-contrib.shtml
Great Britain’s -66kg fighter Colin Oates will be competing at Baku
Today marks the first day of the first ever European Games, being held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Putting aside for the moment the ongoing controversy over Aerbaijan’s human rights record, and the cancellation of the BJA-hosted European Judo Championships which have now been incorporated within the Games, it promises some great sport and vital Olympic qualification points.
Judo begins on Day 13, Thursday 25 June.
A full breakdown of events is available from the BBC website. Television rights have been granted to BTSport, so should be available via cable, satellite and internet subscription.
Dr Steve Peters is the best-selling author of The Chimp Paradox. As a sports psychologist, he has worked most famously with Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton (cycling), but also with Karina Bryant (judo), Ronnie O’Sullivan (snooker), Liverpool FC, England’s football team…
In this brief video he describes his view of how the brain works, and can be split into three main functions – Chimp, Human and Computer – and how the Chimp, built for survival, can often hijack our rational thoughts.
He uses examples of Hoy and Pendleton at London 2012 to put this into a high performance context.
Roy Inman OBE
We were saddened today to hear of the passing of Roy Inman OBE, 9th dan.
Roy could justifiably claim to be the world’s most successful coach, developing many World, Olympic and European medallists, including Hampshire’s own Kate Howey MBE (World Champion 1997, Olympic medallist 1992, 2000).
In their early days as coaches, Tony Brown and Jill Brown attended many coaching seminars led by Roy, and always came away highly motivated. He also visited Havant Judokwai, and coached Brett Caswell at Bath University.
He will be much missed.
For further details of Roy’s competitive and coaching career, please see:
Following the announcement of grading dates, players may find the following online resources useful. Please note that these are built around the whole grade, as required for adult kyu grades; juniors need to select the elements they need for their mon grades.
Red Belt
Yellow Belt
Orange Belt
Green Belt
The British Judo Association has also published videos of grading requirements, these are available within the members’ area of the BJA website (registration required).
Player’s diaries also include a full reminders of all techniques required at all stages.
If in doubt about any techniques – speak to Tony, Kev, Craig or Andy.
Successful throws in Judo start with the unsettling of your opponent’s balance – breaking the balance or kuzushi.
In this short video, released as a free prelude to a new interpretation of the Gokyo (available to download from Fighting Films), Neil Adams MBE demonstrates balance lines and the importance of whole body movement when seeking to break your opponent’s balance.
Kuzushi generally starts with the hands, but the movement and placement of the feet and head also play a part. In some techniques, such as o soto gari, kuzushi can also be created by body impact.
Also be aware of the importance of your own balance – if you are on balance you are much harder to throw or counter!
Following on from the visit of referee Martin Rivers in September, we have found the above video, produced by the European Judo Union, that explains the rule changes as they affect grip breaking, edge play etc.
Demonstrations are by 1980 Olympic finalists Ezio Gamba and Neil Adams MBE.
The video will definitely repay some close study.
Neil Adams MBE giving corrective feedback at the club
The context is a gymnastics competition, but it could just as easily be Judo, football, swimming…
Nine-year-old Elizabeth was on her way to her first gymnastics meet. Lanky, flexible, and energetic, she was just right for gymnastics, and she loved it. Of course, she was a little nervous about competing, but she was good at gymnastics and felt confident of doing well. She had even thought about the perfect place in her room to hang the ribbon she would win.
In the first event, the floor exercises, Elizabeth went first. Although she did a nice job, the scoring changed after the first few girls and she lost. Elizabeth also did well in the other events, but not well enough to win. By the end of the evening, she had received no ribbons and was devastated.
What would you do if you were Elizabeth’s parents?
1. Tell Elizabeth you thought she was best.
2. Tell her she was robbed of a ribbon that was rightfully hers.
3. Reassure her that gymnastics is not that important.
4. Tell her she has the ability and will surely win next time.
5. Tell her she didn’t deserve to win.There is a strong message in our society about how to boost children’s self-esteem, and a main part of that message is: Protect them from failure! While this may help with the immediate problem of a child’s disappointment, it can be harmful in the long run. Why?
Let’s look at the five possible reactions from a mindset point of view – and listen to the messages:
The first (you thought she was the best) is basically insincere. She was not the best – you know it, and she does, too. This offers her no recipe for how to recover or how to improve.
The second (she was robbed) places blames on others, when in fact the problem was mostly with her performance, not the judges. Do you want her to grow up blaming others for her deficiencies?
The third (reassure her that gymnastics doesn’t really matter) teaches her to devalue something if she
doesn’t do well in it right away. Is this really the message you want to send?The fourth (she has the ability) may be the most dangerous message of all. Does ability automatically take you where you want to go? If Elizabeth didn’t win this meet, why should she win the next one?
The last option (tell her she didn’t deserve to win) seems hardhearted under the circumstances. And of course you wouldn’t say it quite that way. But that’s pretty much what her growth-minded father told her.
Here’s what he actually said: “Elizabeth, I know how you feel. It’s so disappointing to have your hopes up and to perform your best but not to win. But you know, you haven’t really earned it yet. There were many girls there who’ve been in gymnastics longer than you and who’ve worked a lot harder than you. If this is something you really want, then it’s something you’ll really have to work for.”
He also let Elizabeth know that if she wanted to do gymnastics purely for fun, that was just fine. But if she wanted to excel in the competitions, more was required.
Elizabeth took this to heart, spending much more time repeating and perfecting her routines, especially the ones she was weakest in. At the next meet, there were eighty girls from all over the region. Elizabeth won five ribbons for the individual events and was the overall champion of the competition, hauling home a giant trophy. By now, her room is so covered with awards, you can hardly see the walls.
In essence, her father not only told her the truth. But also taught her how to learn from her failures and do what it takes to succeed in the future. He sympathised deeply with her disappointment, but he did not give her a phony boost that would only lead to further disappointment.
I’ve met with many coaches and they ask me: “What happened to the coachable athletes? Where did they go?” Many of the coaches lament that when they give their athletes corrective feedback, the athletes grumble that their confidence is being undermined. Sometimes the athletes ‘phone home and complain to their parents. They seem to want coaches who will simply tell them how talented they are and leave it at that.
The coaches say that in the old days after a little league game or a kiddie soccer game, parents used to review and analyse the game on the way home and give helpful (process) tips. Now on the ride home, they say, parents heap blame on the coaches and referees for the child’s poor performance or the team’s loss. They don’t want to harm the child’s confidence by putting the blame on the child.
But as in the example of Elizabeth above, children need honest and constructive feedback. If children are “protected” from it, they won’t learn well. They will experience advice, coaching, and feedback as negative and undermining. Withholding constructive criticism does not help children’s confidence; it harms their future.
Interestingly, after reading this for the first time, I discussed these options with the eldest children on the mat. Almost without fail, they described their reactions to the different scenarios as Dweck predicted… But it’s not what we always say as coaches or parents, is it? It is not always easy to tell someone they need to go away and work even harder if they want to be the best (I know that I haven’t always got it right, personally or professionally) – and not everyone wants to hear that message, especially if that is not the feedback they get from elsewhere.
Works Cited
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: How you can fulfil your potential. New York: Random House.
