judospace

Be a lucky judo coach

2010-11-21T03:46:00.000-08:00

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." (Darrel Royal)

When your player goes off to the competition, often his friends or family will wish him "Good Luck!". As the coach you know that the luck is dependent on the preparation you have done as a team, both player and coach. The player puts in the effort to complete the sessions, the coach puts in the effort to ensure that the content and volume of those sessions is correct.

Great coaches study hard to ensure that the meal they are seving to the player is made up of the right ingredients. They want to know it's right, not just guess that it's right. They want to leave no stone unturned in their quest to provide their player with the best preparation.

The European Judo Union are helping coaches to do that, by providing a range of study opportunities for coaches, so that they can create their own luck.

Show me a champion judoka, and I'll show you a coach who studied hard to ensure the player had the best preparation.

Good Luck!

The EJU is working with the Judospace Educational Institute to offer the Level 3 Advanced Coach Award. Visit http://www.judospace.com/

Ippon!

2010-09-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yoyogi Stadium, Row 10, Seat 14, 10 am on the 9th September... Hajime. The start of the World Judo Championships Tokyo 2010. The first time the World Championships had returned to its spiritual home for 58 years. So began a five day judofest, an extravaganza of waza, a whirling of judogi, a battering of tatami, and an explosion of ippon.

Ippon was the theme of the competition, from the calligraphy in the opening ceremony, to the spellbinding Oguruma by Junpei Morishita to win the 66kg.

http://www.judovision.org/?p=7542

Congratulations to coach Kenzo Nakamura for that result. Kenzo has been a guest lecturer on the European Judo Union Level 4 Performance Coach Award, where great coaches learn to make great players.

Can you imagine coaching your player in the final of the World Championship? An epic journey begins with the first step. Go to http://www.judospace.com/ and enrol on the EJU Level 3 Advanced Coach Award online. A small step to take to be the best coach you can be.

Breaking Balance

2010-06-08T00:56:00.000-07:00

Kuzushi. Syd Hoare suggests it "is still the undiscovered secret of judo". I thought I'd try to discover a little more.

Over the years I've come to realise that people are so much easier to throw if their balance is broken. As I mature I find that I seek out any possible way to be more efficient with my efforts. It seems to me that practicing with partners
who are in a state of unbalance would be much more efficient. So how do I achieve that?

Murata Sensei, of the Kodokan, discussed with me the idea that kuzushi is an integral part of tsukuri.

Moshanov suggests that five of the most basic methods of kuzushi are to be found in the Itsutsu-no-kata, the Forms of Five. If kuzushi is so fundamental to the application of waza, then why is
itsutsu-no-kata so rarely taught? Perhaps if it was taught more then kuzushi wouldn't be such an undiscovered secret.

Leggett and Watanabe suggest that "the idea of judo is not to smash an opponents strongest point, but to get him off balance and keep him off balance...", applying less force to his weak point.

Kano states "Even if your opponent has two or three times your power, if you can execute your move at the precise moment he is off balance, you can easily throw him by something as simple as tripping him."

Sounds to me like the idea of maximum efficiency with minimum effort. Best use of energy. Seiryoku saizen katsuyo.

Hmmm... So it seems that the application of kuzushi is the manifestation of seiryoku Zenyo. There's a thought.

If you are interested in finding out more about the application of kuzushi, why not enrol on the Advanced Coach Award with the European Judo Union. Visit http://www.judospace.com/ to find out more.

Hoare. S., (2002) Judo Strategies. pp 48-49. Ippon Books.

Leggett. T. & Watanabe. K., (1964) Championship Judo. Foulsham.

Moshanov. A., (2004) Judo from a russian perspective. Ipa-Verlag.

Kano. J., (2005) Mind over muscle. Kodansha.

Judo Practice

2010-05-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

When I am going to judo, I say I am going to practice. When I return, my wife asks me “how was the practice?” I started to reflect on what do we mean by practice.

Some say practice makes perfect, other say, no, practice just makes permanent.

So what does the thesaurus tell us about practice?; habit, process, exercise, application, discipline, preparation, rehearsal, repetition, study, training, work-out, drill, hone, polish, sharpen, pursue, apply, accomplish, create, develop, persevere, persist, form.

One definition of the verb to practice is: To do something repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill.

So the concept of repetition is important. I would suggest that guided practice is important. Imagine your player has a taiotoshi which is technically poor, biomechanically incorrect, then when they practice it, repeatedly polish it, they will get very good at doing taiotoshi badly. If they practice hard enough, they could indeed become expert at doing a bad taiotoshi.

So as a coach you need to be sure that your technical correction is accurate, then encourage repetition. Repetition in uchikomi, in nage komi, in tandoku renshu, in kakari geiko, in shiai. Give your players every opportunity to practice. Every opportunity to study and create their judo. Every opportunity to persevere, to develop and polish their judo.

Can you meet them before work, before school? Can you get in the dojo at 6 am? Can you remove excuses? Give them technically correct instruction, and help motivate them to practice. If they normally practice for an hour, for 60 minutes, could you extend it by 6 minutes? You would be increasing their opportunity to practice by 10%.

As a coach, can you improve yourself so you can give the players the very best guidance, the best instruction? Imagine the total possible knowledge in judo can be put in a cup, then ask how full is your cup? Now you can follow judo coach education online, at times that suit you, and interact with other coaches and coach educators. All accredited by the European Judo Union. Find out how at http://www.judospace.com/.

Enjoy your practice.

10,000 hours of judo

2010-05-02T03:32:00.000-07:00

I have spent many years studying how you go about creating an environment which will allow a judo player to develop who is capable of medalling at Senior World Championships and Olympic Games.

One of the most compelling theories for me is the work by Ericsson et al (1993) which suggests the 10,000 hour rule. Ie, that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become expert at something. This concept is popularised in Gladwell’s excellent book, Outliers (Gladwell, 2008).

So let’s think about training volumes achievable for a judo player. And let’s also think about ‘deliberate practice’. Training at club level in the UK, in a mixed ability group of average motivation, one might have a 90 minute session, of which 15 -30 minutes, is the time spent by the player intently focussed on technical improvement, or hard randori where they are technically challenged. The rest is warming up, resting, talking, acting as uke, helping lower grades or younger players, and playing games. Of course it is possible with the right attitude to get some benefits from these activities, but often I see that is not the case. Let’s be generous and say that there is 30 minutes of deliberate practice achieved. At a rate of 2 sessions per week, that gives you one of the required 10,000 hours.

Assume the player has good attendance and manages to attend the club for 50 weeks per year. Then they will achieve 50 hours towards their goal that year. It will only take them 200 years to become expert.

Most players are past their best by then!

So they clearly need to do more volume of deliberate practice. What if they could be in a well motivated training group, with a more experienced expert coach, who can keep them on task. And what if the sessions were lengthened to 150 minutes, of which, 2 hrs was deliberate practice. Could they do more than 2 sessions per week? How about 5 sessions per week? How about also doing a morning session with them? Could the coach keep them on task for 2hrs each weekday morning? They would probably have smaller numbers, so the coach would have to work harder to keep the sessions fresh.

But then they would have 4 hrs deliberate practice per day. Five days per week, That’s 20 hrs a week. In the earlier regime it would take our player 20 weeks, or 5 months to cover the same ground. Imagine our second player does this for 50 weeks per year. Then they can fit in 1000 hours per year. So they can feasibly become expert in 10 years.

So if we create a training environment where they can do 20 hrs per week deliberate practice, and we start when they are 16 years old, then by the time they are 26 perhaps they will be capable of winning at World level.

Could we start earlier? Gymnasts and swimmers start their deliberate practice much earlier. But in judo the best players are usually a bit older. Exceptionally they are 20 or 21 years old. Usually 23 – 28.

Do you have a talented payer you are working with as a coach? Are they doing deliberate practice? If so, work out for how many hours per week, and by what age they will have completed 10,000 hours.

For further reading on this topic try the references below.

To become that experienced, expert coach that can keep them on task, enrol on the Advanced Coach Award with the European Judo Union. Visit http://www.judospace.com/ to find out more.

Ericsson, K. A., (2000). Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice - An updated excerpt from Ericsson (2000). Accessed on 2nd May 2010 at: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R., and Tesch-Romer, C., (1993). The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Psychological Review, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406. Accessed on 2nd May 2010 at: http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf

Gladwell, M., (2008). Outliers – The story of success. Allen Lane. London.

Swedish Gold in front of Putin

2010-04-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

This picture shows Sweden's first ever European Champion, Marcus Nyman, recieving his gold medal from former President of the Swedish Judo Federation, Johnny Kullenberg.

Marcus is coached by a graduate of the EJU Level 4 Performance Coach Award, Robert Erikkson. A project fully supported by Johnny in his role as President, and by EJU Vice President Daniel Lascau whilst he was Sports Director in Sweden.

Sincere congratulations to Marcus, Johnny, Robert and Daniel on this historical achievement.
They were applauded here in the stadium by the most famous judoka in the world, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. A man who is making a tremendous contribution to the development and recognition of world judo.

Who wil be the next graduate from an EJU Coach Award to win a European Championship with their player, the challenge is set.

To improve your coaching, and make a difference to your players visit http://www.judospace.com/ to find out how.

Research Clouds

2010-04-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hopefully heading off tommorrow to sunny Vienna, to judge the Second European Science of Judo Symposium Poster Competition. The Symposium will be held in the Ferry Dusika Stadium, the venue for the European Senior Championships. If you are in Vienna on Wednesday 21 April
2010, come along to have a look at some of Europes latest research into judo.

The EJU will use the occasion of the Championships to launch the Level 3 Award delivered in partnership with the Judospace Educational Institute, the Level 4 and Level 5 Awards in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and the Level 6 Award in partnership with the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.

The poster marketing the Level 3 Award is seen here. Fantastic image is courtesy of Dr Bob Willingham.

Of course I am concerned that my journey will be halted by the icelandic ash cloud, but I am remaining optimistic that those in charge of the cloud will understand the importance of my trip.
Whether I make it or not, my very good wishes to all the players and their coaches attending the championships.

Congratulations to all those club coaches where the players started their judo careers. How many of you have future international competitors in your dojos right now, but don't yet know it. Coach Education is the key to helping you make the right decisions for those players. Decisions about what you teach when. Which drills to do that session. How much randori, how much technique. Which events should they enter, what advice should you give?

The EJU are taking great strides in coach education in working with their three partners to create these awards. Take great strides in your own coaching and enrol today.

www.judospace.com

A Proud Tradition

2010-03-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the 80th Oxford vs Cambridge University Varsity Judo match. The oldest judo team match in the world. First started in 1930, the event returned this year to the fabulous venue of Oxford Town Hall.

There is something about a team match which is far more exciting than individual tournaments. With the greatest respect to the participants, it would be fair to say that the level was not the standard of the World Championships, yet I found myself as enthralled as I had been in the Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam last year.

Keeping to the traditional format the Men’s Team match is fought over 8 matches. This year it ended in a draw with 4 ippons each. It was decided by a random draw of 3 re-matches, with Oxford winning the fight-off by 2 matches to 1, to reclaim the Matsudaira Trophy. Congratulations to all the players involved in all the teams.

I have pasted above a photograph of the 1926 Oxford University Team with the Metropolitan Police Team. History buffs among you will identify Yukio Tani and Gunji Koizumi. The other photo is the interior of Oxford Town Hall, fantastic.

I got me thinking that we should always have judo events in iconic venues. As a sport we should try to avoid the faceless sports centre, and ply our trade in great, memorable venues. What is the most iconic venue in your town. Could you organise a judo event there?

The two Oxford Coaches, Chris and Carol Doherty have both studied the EJU Level 4 programme, with Chris graduating as an EJU Level 5 High Performance Coach. These programmes will shortly be re-launched at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. The EJU Level 3 Advanced Coach Award is attracting many new students and can be accessed through the Official EJU delivery partner, The Judospace Educational Institute. http://www.judospace.com/

Good luck to all the judo coaches working with their players in tournaments across the world this weekend, yours is an honourable profession, and you follow a proud tradition.

The Circle of Judo Success

2010-01-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

Today I attended the South West Regional Training Session. The standard was high, yet the mat was open to all. It got me thinking about something I’d like to call the “circle of judo success”.

The circle starts with Great Coaching. Great Coaching leads to Competence. Competence leads to Confidence. Competence and Confidence lead to Success. Success increases faith in the Great Coaching.

Great Coaching, is both an art and a science. Some people make great coaching look easy. But when you look under the surface, you realise that they can make it look easy because they work so hard at trying to be great coaches. They study, they steal ideas, they create, they apply, they make mistakes, they reflect, they learn, they try again. You show me a great coach, and I’ll show you someone who’ll tell you they are still learning.

The studying and stealing ideas gives the expertise. Applying, and learning from the mistakes gives the experience. You can’t fast track that. To get the badge saying “Experience” you have to do the hard yards, and take the long route. I believe that the formula to create wisdom is Expertise x Experience.

Great Coaches will help the players gain Competence. The players will score more in randori. Have success with the slight variations that the coach suggests, and get more pleasure from their judo. They will feel they are doing it well, and gain an internal motivation.

The feeling of competence will lead to greater levels of Confidence. What I saw today were great levels of Confidence. This allowed the players to attack freely, to stay relaxed, to maintain concentration, to rise above any minor successes from their partner. I saw this confidence in a group once before, in the GB Women’s team during the 80s, and I saw it today again within the TeamBath Judo group.

The Competence and Confidence increase the chances of Success. Of course there will be things outside the players’ control. These can be minimised but not eliminated. But by instilling Competence and Confidence the Great Coach gives the players the greatest chances of Success.
When that Success comes, either in a randori or a contest, the player’s faith in the coach is increased, so they believe even more what the coach tells them. They become more coachable. That makes it easier for the Great Coach to do their job, and so the circle begins again.

I’m proud to be working with the European Judo Union and the Judospace Educational Institute to make a small contribution to the development of Great Coaches. To join them visit http://www.judospace.com/ and enrol on the EJU Level 3 Advanced Coach Award.

PS. Thanks to Klinger Sensei and the TeamBath and Welsh players for a great afternoon.

Judo Mastermind

2010-01-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

How's your judo knowledge? Test yourself against this Celebrity Mastermind.

http://www.judospace.com/great-judo/judo-mastermind

Happy New Year.

Successful Judo Performance in Rio 2016

2009-12-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

In December 2008 I presented at a Research Seminar at the Kodokan, Tokyo, on the topic of Successful Judo Performance. I tried to identify what we know about successful judo performance based on research.

I have pasted below the bullet points from my Summary slide:

•Come from less than 30 nations　(30以下の国)
•Aged 18 – 33 (18歳から33歳)
•Technical range – unpredictability (意外性のある技の幅)
•6 nagewaza, 2 newaza (6種類の投げ技と、2種類の寝技)
•Kouchigari (小内刈り)
•Six 25 second bursts with 10 second rests (25秒間の激しい攻防と10秒間の静止)
•Understand seoinage and uchimata (背負い投げと内股)
•Low body fat percentage (低い体脂肪率)
•High lactate tolerance (高い乳酸値に対する耐性)
•Left sided tendencies (左サイドの技への変化)

Lets look forward to The Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. Around 6.5 years to go. The mean age of the judo medallists in Beijing was 25, with a range or 18 - 33. If we assume that to be the case in 2016, then the players you are working with between the ages of 11 - 26 are in with a chance.

What can you do in 2010 as a coach to increase their chances of medalling in Rio? How can you enhance their environment? Can they work on the left? Can they score with kouchigari? Is their conditioning relevant to the task they will encounter and relevant to their stage of development. How can you better yourself as a coach so you are still useful to them in 6.5 years time?

Do you have a plan for these players? Can you get advice? Do you have a more experienced coach you can turn to for support?

The New Year is a time for resolutions. Make that plan, devlop yourself so you can develop your players. Imagine coaching a player to win a gold medal in Rio. What a party that would be!

I'm working with the team at http://www.judospace.com/ to deliver the European Judo Union Level 3 Coach Award.

Happy New Year.

Three Levels of Judo

2009-12-20T14:05:00.001-08:00

I would like to quote below from Mind over Muscle by Jigoro Kano, page 94-95.

"We have now established judo's three aspects - training for defense against attack, cultivation of the mond and body, and putting one's energy to use. We have also affirmed judo's highest goal as self perfection for the betterment of society. For the sake of convenience, let us place the foundation - training for defense against attack - at the bottom and call it lower level judo. Let us call training and cultivation, which are by-products of training for defense and attack, middle-level judo. The study of how to put one's energy to use in society comes last, so let us call it upper leve judo.

When we divide judo into these three levels, we can see that it must not be limited to training for fighting in the dojo, and even if you train your body and cultivate your mind, if you do not go a level higher, you cannot truly benefit society. No matter how great a person you are, how superior your inytelligence, or how strong your body, if you die without achieving anything, as the proverb says: 'Unused treasure is a wasted treasure.' It can be said that you perfected yourself, but it cannot be siad that you contributed to society. I urge all practitioners of judo to recognise that it consists of these three levels and to undergo their training without undue emphasis of one aspect over another."

I feel this message is of great value to coaches.

Of course you must strive to ensure your players have the technical ability to apply defense against attack, the first level. Some coaches also step up to the second level, and seek to cultivate the bodies and minds of their athletes, encourage them to develop physically in a balanced way, and encourage them to better their minds through education. Only some coaches work hard to study how to put their energies to use to benefit society.

Try to be a coach who benefits society, it's one of the things that makes judo more than sport.
I hope you have the time to vist the European Judo Union Level 3 Coach Award at www.judospace.com.

Presents come in threes.

2009-12-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I collected my post at the Welsh Institute of Sport, it was a large envelope posted in Japan. Inside I found several imprints of a translation of part of my PhD thesis. A section of the thesis relating to historical judo research had been translated into japanese by Tajima Yasuko, a Project Researcher in the Department of Budo at the National Institute of Fitness and Sport, Kanoya University, supevised by Professor Hirasawa and Professor Hamada.
(Hamada Hatsuyuki Sensei 7th Dan was the coach to Miss Ryoko Tamura, and a gold medalliist in the Asian Judo Championships.)

I was thrilled to see my work in kanji. A wonderful gift. Thank you to all my friends in Kanoya for choosing to study my thesis. I was reminded of how important your friends are in judo.

In the evening I attended one of the most important events in the judo calendar. The Team Bath Judo christmas party is an occasion not to be missed. Double Olympian Marcon Bezzina had flown from Malta to the UK just to attend. In all there were 8 nations represented, and in the training group there are 7 players on the current IJF World Ranking List. A huge credit to the coaches. Thank you to Megan and Kat for organising it.

It was warming to be amongst friends, they gave me a great welcome and I am so proud of every one of them. Their gift of friendship was a wonderful present. Again I was reminded of how important your friends are in judo.

This morning Postman Pat dropped off a parcel at the front door. A third present? A box set of the fantastic Fighting Films Inoue DVD, sent by Kosei himself, with a note of thanks. Kosei is a remarkable young man, a judoka and a samurai, a credit to his parents and his University. It has been a pleasure to be able to help him this year.

A wonderful present. For a third time I was reminded how important your friends are in judo.

Jita kyoei.

Working with http://www.judospace.com/ to educate coaches in partnership with the EJU so that more players can have the chance to find friendship through judo.

A century of Olympic Judo

2009-12-12T03:18:00.000-08:00

As we draw to the end of 2009, I am reminded that it was in 1909, a century ago, that Jigoro Kano accepted an invitation from Baron Pierre de Coubertin to join the International Olympic Committee. Kano was the first Asian to join the IOC.

Just 3 years earlier in 1906, Kano had been involved in the creation of the Butokukai in Japan. You can read much more about the important role that the Butokukai played in the development of judo in Syd Hoare’s excellent book, ‘A history of Judo’ (www.sydhoare.com)

Kano worked tirelessly throughout his life to promote judo globally. I am sure he would be delighted now to see the number of nations affiliated to the IJF. As we approach the next summer games in 2012, the fantastic new Olympic qualification system should see more nations than ever competing in the judo events.

The qualification period will start next May, and the world ranking lists give us a much clearer idea of the form of a player. It also allows for a much more accurate seeding.

So we should reflect on the vision of de Coubertin in building the Olympic Movement, and the valuable role that Kano played in that development. The judo family continues to make a major contribution to the Olympic Movement.

www.judospace.com tries to make a small contribution to that development by delivering the EJU Level 3 Advanced Coach Award.

Thanks to Densign White, EJU Head Sports Director, and Advisor to Judospace, for the image of the letter from Kano to de Coubertin.

The Judo Tree

2009-12-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was coaching the Cadet National Team at the Welsh National Judo Centre. I decided to tell them about the judo tree.

I learnt about the judo tree from Norito Katabuchi from Tokai University. The eldest of three Katabuchi judo brothers.

The trunk of the tree is your tokuiwaza. The branches are your combinations into and out of the technique(s). The roots are the things that make up your preparation; condition, attitude, lifestyle, training system, etc. The flowers are the spectacular techniques that lead nowhere, perhaps a sutemiwaza.

The trunk should ideally consist of one of four techniques, around which you can base a players technical strategy; Osotogari, Taiotoshi, Seoinage or Uchimata. Some great players, actually have two or more of these techniques in their trunk.

Often, the branches will include kouchigari or ouchigari.

A player who has a tokuiwaza which is not a major technique may find that their repertoire is limited, and they struggle to develop a series of renrakuwaza and renzokuwaza around their tokuiwaza. There judo tree will be feeble and not grow in a balanced way to produce strong branches.

Think about the trees of the players you work with. I suggest that all cadet players should work hard on the four major techniques. Even if they do not use them, they will understand them, and be better able to deal with attacks from their partner.

What we do as coaches is plant an acorn. Plant it in fertile soil, feed the roots, nurture the tree, talk to it, prune it occasionally, and you will have a strong healthy tree, with a powerful trunk, strong branches and beautiful flowers.

Happy gardening.

The European Judo Union Level 3 Advanced Coach Award is delivered by http://www.judospace.com/

Technique

2009-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure and privilege of coaching alongside Yuko Nakano and Alan Jones. Both legends, Alan already is, and Yuko will be soon.

We were invited to lead the Police Sport UK training camp in the Welsh National Judo Centre.

I was awestruck by the precision of technique of my fellow coaches. Both so very different in style, but each absolutely clear about the movement they were doing.

It made me think that, the confidence of knowing exactly what you are doing, and being able to repeat it precisely over and over again, is something that all coaches must strive for.

Yuko covers what appears to be basic judo, yet in a way that is fresh and original. She makes it seem so simple.

Alan, is unique, he has his own style which is crisp and clear, with no frills. He makes it seem so simple.

Thanks both.

www.judospace.com works with the European Judo Union to deliver the Level 3 Advanced Coach Award.

Judo - more than sport!

2009-12-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

I love this new corporate look from the EJU, and their tag line is fantastic.

Judo - more than sport!

We all know it's true. Definitely more than a sport, no question about it.

We are who we are because of judo. I know that's true for me. It shapes the places we visit, who our friends are, who our heroes are, what we do in our spare time, what we do in our work time, and what our dreams are.

What is it about judo that makes it more than sport. What is it that means it's not wrestling in pyjamas? Can you define it. Can you add a little of it into your coaching sessions? Could you just spend an extra 60 seconds of the next class that you coach, trying to put it across.

I remember, earlier in my career I was lucky enough to work for the legendary Syd Hoare. Syd once told me, 'The secret of judo is like your eyebrows, so close, yet you can't see it.'

Thanks Syd.

Tell your friends about www.judospace.com

Best Coach in the World?

2009-12-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

I can remember when I was a young player having ambitions to be the best player in the world. Perhaps you did too.

As a coach, do you have ambitions to be the best coach in the world?

Try an exercise. Write down how you would know if someone was the best coach in the world. What are the criteria?

Then try writing a list of some nominees for the title of best coach in the world.

Could you write your own name on that list? If not, what would you have to do to get your name on the list? These could be your coaching goals.

What could you do today, that would take a small step towards one of those goals?

Do it.

Your players and you will benefit from the journey.

Please comment on this post with your list of top 5 all time coaches.

Improve yourself as a coach by visiting http://www.judospace.com/ the delivery arm of the EJU Level 3 Advanced Coach Award recognised in over 50 nations.

(The picture above is Sato Nobuyuki Sensei, he would make my shortlist for the best coach in the world. Photo courtesy of David Finch at www. judofotos.com)

Judo and Education

2009-12-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

Would you expect the teacher of your children to undergo continuing professional development?

Would you expect them to be au fait with the latest teaching techniques, so that they are able to bring out the best in your child?

Would you hope that the teacher is able to educate, entrall, inspire and motivate your child to learn?

Do you expect the same of your judo coach?

If you are a coach, do you have a moral responsibility to your pupils to keep up your continuing professional development?

I have been lucky enough to work with some inspirational coaches. The main thing I have found that they have in common is that they never stop learning.

Good luck with your coaching.

Visit http://www.judospace.com/

(The image above is Coach Matt Divall lecturing at the 2008 EJU Children's Seminar. Matt is a coach continually striving to improve his knowledge.)

2009-11-30T05:49:00.000-08:00

When did randori start?

'The randori of today began sometime between the reign of the 9th shogun Tokugawa Ieshige (1745-59) and the 11th shogun Tokugawa Ienari (1787-1836). The value of randori was acknowledged to a greater degree with the encouargement of the government's Kobusho (martial arts training school) established in the Ansei period (1854-59).'

Sakuraba Sensei 8th Dan, writing in Randori: History & Method (Japanese Education, Essentials of Judo). (Published by Baifukan, 1940).

http://www.judospace.com/ works with the European Judo Union to Support Player and Coach Education.