Showing posts with label EJU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EJU. Show all posts

Monday, May 5, 2014

Principles of Judo

I share below some thoughts from a module entitled “Judo Technical Principles”, about some fundamental judo principles. In particular, the 3 principles of judo as outlined in the Illustrated Kodokan Judo, 1955 edition; the principle of softness, the principle of maximum efficiency, and the principle of mutual benefit. (I led this module as Visiting Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, teaching the European Judo Union Coach Award).



Principle of softness

We see the concept of jū, [柔] in Ju-jutsu / ju-jitsu as one of the six martial arts, or Roku-bugei, the 6 compulsory martial arts for all samurai, these are; Kenjitsu (sword), Kyujitsu (archery), Bajitsu (horse), Sojitsu (spear), Hojitsu (gunnery), and Jujitsu (hand to hand).

柔, is also known as Yawara. Commonly translated as softness, yielding, pliable, as in the example of snow falling on the willow tree. 

In the year 700 there was a Chinese military code in Japan, Lao Tzu's "Three Strategies", the "San-Ryaku". In this code we find the four character phrase: "jū yoku sei gō”. Another way to say this is; jū yoku gō o seisu, 柔よく剛を制す, meaning "Softness subdues Hardness" meaning that flexibility overcomes rigidity.

As we all know the techniques of Judo enable a smaller person to utilise the opponent's own power to throw him in spectacular fashion. Thus demonstrating the principle that "Softness overcomes Hardness". Indeed it is this drive to show the spectacular throwing techniques of judo that motivates many of the rule changes to international competition judo, brought about by the IJF in recent years. It could be argued that the implementation of the IJF rule changes are in fact a desire to demonstrate the fundamental principle of softness overcoming hardness, the principle of jū, enshrined in the first kanji of the name judo.

Lao Tzu illustrates the point with the phrase; 

“Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.”

In 1922 at the age of 62, Jigoro Kano founded the Kodokan Cultural Council, The Kodokan Bunkakai. This was the 40th anniversary of the Kodokan. He chose the founding of the Cultural Council to launch the two underpinning principles of judo. By considering the date of the launch we can understand that these principles were formulated after 40 years of reflection about the principles of judo. Each of them is expressed as four word phrase.

Principle of maximum efficiency

seiryoku zen'yō, 精力善用, the maximum efficient use of power, also described as; maximum efficiency, minimum effort, or maximum efficient use of physical and mental strength. 

Jigoro Kano realised that the principle of jū alone, did not encompass all of the techniques in judo, for example, armlocks, or atemi-waza. The answer was about applying your power in the most efficient way. This underlying principle for training in the techniques of judo, can be applied to all actions in daily life.

The judoka learns to be efficient with their training, to be efficient with their time, to fit all the training around other commitments of work, study and relationships. The ideas of “not too much, not too little” that underpin maximum efficiency can also be applied to daily tasks, such as cleaning. Trevor Leggett often gave the example of holding the pencil half way up, for more efficient writing. (I had the great fortune to study zen under Trevor Leggett in the 1980s.)

Principle of mutual benefit

jita kyōei 自他共栄, or mutual prosperity for self and others, often translated as mutual welfare and benefit.

At the opening of the Kodokan Bunkakai in 1922, Kano explained that seiryoku zen'yō  was required to provide the platform for jita kyōei.

For individuals, anger, worry and conflict, are not efficient uses of their power. In fact they are a waste of power. For a society, if many people are inefficient in their power, the society will fall into decline. The most efficient use of power for a group, relies on them supporting each other, providing mutual welfare, and then the whole society can benefit from that mutual application of maximum efficient use of power. In this way when seiryoku zen'yō is applied to society it becomes jita kyōei.

Examples of jita kyōei, include; respect for others, consideration to ukes, consideration to losers, helping people who need help, and helping the world to be peaceful. 

Often some of these ways to communicate jita kyōei in the dojo, is by encouraging young judoka to follow a version of the judo moral code.

I believe that a judo club can achieve great things, and make a significant contribution to their community, by the judo coaches and teacher taking efforts to apply the principles of judo into their daily classes.

If you would like to understand more about how to coach judo to build your club, improve your athletes, and improve society, then consider following the path of hundreds of successful coaches, by registering on the EJU Coach Awards.

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Sunday, March 9, 2014

Judo and Science

We found an article published in 1949, some 65 years ago, written by eminent judoka and Budokwai member Douglas Mann, entitled, Judo and Science. In this blog we consider its relevance today.

We present this to contrast our earlier blog on the art of judo.

In hearing the word “science” what’s the first image to be pictured in your mind? A man with crazy hair, a lab coat and a board full of equations? Do you welcome science as a method of learning, or shun it because of anxiety about its complexity. 

But the judoka among you are learning a science every time you step on the mat. We hypothesise, when we think about how we might throw, who might beat who, or how we could deal with a tactical situation. Randori practice is the trials and testing of the scientist; then our throws are displayed in competition, donated to the collection of others – in the same way that significant findings are exhibited and published in science.  With this comparison, Mann explains that we as judo players become the experts of our own science.

Mann goes on to state that “By painstaking, objective study of nature, man learns to control the powers of nature”, in this example Mann refers to science as an objective method of study. This can then be applied further; through study of the body we can learn to control our health and our physical conditioning for performance and through study of judo we can learn technique, tactics and develop control of our actions. 

As Mann identifies, science plays an important role in judo, he describes the scientific approach to learning judo as the study and application of biomechanical principles and the understanding and manipulation of an opponent’s cognitions. Over time developments have been made in the core sciences, leading to an influence by sport scientists in many sports. Such developments in judo have allowed us to gain a greater depth of knowledge about how our sport is evolving and about those partaking in it. 

Effective coaching requires keeping up with and driving forward the direction of sport science – in order to effectively educate others it is vital to first educate one’s self. Is this something you too feel is important in order to be a great judoka or coach? Are you utilising and making the most of resources available to you to be the best you can be? 

“In order to effectively educate others it is vital to first educate one’s self.”

Some readers may insist that judo is instead an art, as if by being an art, something cannot therefore be a science. This view is clearly flawed. One only has to consider the fibonacci numbers we see in nature to realise that, science and art are locked together. Mann recognises this when he concludes his article with a comment about the “Middle Way”. An important concept in judo and budo. 

At Judospace, our view is that coaching needs to be founded on evidence. We call it evidence based coaching. Science relies on evidence. If we are not using evidence based coaching, we must be using “guess based coaching”, at Judospace we believe that athletes deserve more than that.

We work with the European Judo Union, and many forward thinking federations to help coaches apply science into their work. Module titles on the EJU Level 4 Coach Award at Anglia Ruskin University include; Applied Pedagogy in Judo, Physiology for Judo, Biomechanics in Judo, Judo Technical Principles, Talent Development Pathways in Judo, Strength and Conditioning for Judo, Performance Analysis of Judo, and Psychological Profiling for Combat Sport. These courses are delivered by some of the top judo expertise in the world. Four members of the IJF Hall of Fame have taught on the EJU courses, (George Kerr, Kosei Inoue, Peter Seisenbacher and Neil Adams).

This Easter (April 2014) on the EJU course, Juergen Klinger, Nuno Delgado, Emanuela Pierantozzi, Yoshiaki Tsuruoka, Katrina McDonald, Bob Challis, Darren Warner and Mike Callan will share their expertise on subjects related to Judo and Science. You can find out how to enrol here.

To find out more about Judo and Science visit our research pages.

Wishing every success to you and your athletes.

In an attempt to keep up with the latest waza, we have other ways you can follow our information. on website, facebook or twitter. You can also connect on LinkedIn, or subscribe to our newsletter.

(Judo and Science by D. Mann. First published in Judo, Quarterly Bulletin, January 1949. Vol. IV. No. 4. Published by the Budokwai. London. p 33-34.)




Sunday, June 16, 2013

Judo: the art of communication

All teachers will understand pride in the accomplishments of their students. I have been fortunate to support the development of many judo coaches, a number of whom have gone on to significant positions in the sport. Increasingly, many of them share their thoughts online and communicate with the whole judo family.

I have chosen to highlight in this post the thoughts of some of these present and former students who took the decision to improve their coaching.

Firstly, Danny Williams, is a still an active player, an Olympian, who competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, Danny is a player at Camberley Judo Club, and a student at Anglia Ruskin University, following the EJU Performance Coach Award. He is preparing already for his future coaching career, and works on a weekly basis with the England Regional Cadet players.


I have two favourite quotes from Danny’s blog;

“Sports coaching and training from a young players perspective cannot be a democracy, the coach must deliver precise technical fundamental practice and sparring training, and the athlete must follow precisely the given instructions.”

Then talking about his improved ability to combat frustration he says…

“I believe I owe this to things I’ve learned from my own experience and from my coach who has helped me to see training and competition as a process rather than the be all and end all.”

Danny’s coach, is another of my former students, Luke Preston. He graduated in 2008 from the EJU Performance Coach Award. Luke was a coach for Great Britain at the London Olympic Games, where his athlete Karina Bryant, won a bronze medal. Follow Luke on twitter;


Next blog is from Mike Newton, Head Coach at Vale Judo Club, graduate of the EJU Performance Coach Award in 2009. In 2010, Mike spent a placement at Sagami High School, near Tokyo. A feeder high school to Tokai University, former students include Yasuhiro Yamashita and Kosei Inoue.

Mike made a number of changes to his club environment after visiting Sagami High School, read about them at;


On 12 February 2010, Mike presented a case study of High School student Naohisa Takato. Three years later, I watched Takato win the Paris Grand Slam. At the time of writing he is ranked 1st in the IJF World Ranking List. Discussing his training environment in Sagami, my favourite quote from Mike is…

“Every student knows what to do and when to do it – coaches simply provide technical input, set the training atmosphere and provide encouragement – most of the time things run like clockwork.”

Also working with the same age group is Dave Elmore. Dave graduated the EJU Performance Coach Award in 2011. He works with Wolverhampton University and Walsall College, delivering the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence. A structured judo curriculum for junior players.


I like this quote…

“I feel that you should always be willing to try new ideas and look at other sports and activities to find a new edge.”

One very prolific blogger is Bob Challis. Having graduated from the EJU High Performance Coach Award in 2009, Bob is now the course leader, and a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. Bob is continuing to develop himself and is in the second year of his PhD.

You can find his blog at: http://judobob.wordpress.com/

My favourite line from his blog is;

“To be honest there is no real secret, for me it is about mat time and volume of randori.”

Bob also quotes from a well-known former judo player, and US President, Theodore Roosevelt;

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. “

One could argue that the “king” of the judo blog is Lance Wicks. Lance also graduated from the EJU High Performance Coach Award in 2009. He is now a member of the IJF computer team, providing the live streaming from IJF and EJU events across the world. Lance developed the site http://www.planetjudo.com/ which aggregates all the judo blogs into one feed. He has English, Spanish and French versions.

On his blog at http://www.judocoach.com/ Lance reflected on each lecture during his time studying as a coach. To quote a couple of reflections;

“One of the great things about this course is that most all of the work we do has real world application and this development plan I have to write could be really good if executed.”

“One of the most important skills any Judoka and in particular any Judo coach can have is the ability to look at things critically and assess the value of what they read, see or hear.”

Finally, I end this post with some light relief. If Lance is the king, then officially the “Queen of Blog” is Aki Inoue. She is a friend of Judospace, wife of All-Japan Judo Federation Head Coach, Kosei Inoue, and a celebrity in her own right. Aki’s blog has a huge following amongst her fans in Japan.


I hope you enjoy.

To find out more about the experience of these coaches, visit our website at www.judospace.com


 

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Judo Coaching: great coaches make great players


If you are a judo coach you have a very important role. If you are paid as a judo coach, then you have a very important job.

Why is it an important job?

You have a responsibility to your judoka, the athletes that trust you. The trust is often built on respect. Your judoka respect you, your behaviours and your opinions. They value your knowledge, they learn through the way that you communicate that knowledge.

When you share knowledge effectively, it can be utilised by the judoka to win a match. The judoka understands that the win is because of the knowledge that you shared with them. This reinforces their belief in you, and the knowledge that you have, and your ability to communicate it effectively.

Sometimes your knowledge is found wanting. You are not really sure how to deal with a certain opponent, or a certain kumi-kata situation. You are embarrassed at your limited knowledge in a certain area. You try to hide it. Maybe you convince yourself that you think you know the answer. Your judoka trusts you. They try their best, but they don’t succeed. Your limited knowledge let them down. There is a small chink in their respect for you. They are not sure to fully believe you the next time. Gradually the relationship breaks down. The trust and communication that you had together starts to fall apart. Each thinks the other is to blame.

How can we avoid this? Certainly you cannot hope to win all the matches, your relationship cannot be built on only winning.

If we think about a judo competition, in each round, half the players win their matches, and half the players lose their matches. That’s the sobering thing about judo. You either win or lose. If you keep a record of the matches of all your judoka, if the win record is better than 50% you are doing better than average.

If your judoka can see that you are constantly trying to improve your knowledge, they will see that you are investing your time to help them. They will see that you are studying for mutual welfare and benefit. They will have greater confidence that the suggestions that you make are based on reflection, on evidence, on research.

Research, evidence and reflection can help the judo coach to make better decisions, to offer better advice, to have access to a wider range of ideas. Study into communication methods and techniques can help the decisions, advice and ideas be understood and applied more effectively and more efficiently. Maximum efficiency with minimum effort.

Study hard, don’t expect it to be easy, and your players will benefit. They may even win more matches. The harder you work, the luckier they get.

Good luck to all your judoka.
 

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Reflections and Resolutions

res·o·lu·tion (rz-lshn) (The Free Dictionary) noun.

1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.

2. A resolving to do something.

3. A course of action determined or decided on.


At the Kodokan in Tokyo, and in many other dojos around the world, the New Year is marked by a Kagami Biraki ceremony. Literally this means cutting the kagami-mochi, the rice cakes traditionally eaten during the ceremony. The kagami is a mirror. You can see the eight sided mirror represented in the Kodokan badge.

This is the time of year that many judoka make resolutions to follow in the coming year. It could be that they are part of a process of goal setting, and review, which their coach has helped them develop.

But what about the coach?

Does the coach set themselves goals? Are you going to make any resolutions as a coach?

Probably best start by a little self-analysis. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Which areas could you seek to better yourself in the coming year?

Knowles, Borrie and Telfer recognise that “Recently, reflective practice has emerged as a key skill with which to enhance coach learning and increase the value of coaches' educational experiences.”

The symbol of the Kodokan reminds judoka to reflect on themselves, and at each new year to cut through the mirror and look at ourselves afresh.

The European Judo Union, through their Judo Knowledge Commission, also recognise the importance of reflective practice among coaches. The suite of coach awards at levels 3, 4, 5 & 6 all encourage reflective practice to help the coaches to develop.

Many of the coaches that have followed the EJU Coach Awards were rewarded in 2012 by seeing some of their athletes compete in the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. If you would like to improve your coaching to give your athletes the best chance, then be resolute.

To find out more about judo coach education opportunities visit www.judospace.com

Good luck and gambatte, to all judo coaches and their athletes in 2013.

Knowles, Z., Borrie, A., & Telfer, H. 2005. Towards the reflective sports coach: issues of context, education and application. Ergonomics, Volume 48, Issue 11-14, 2005. Special Issue: Sports, Leisure and Ergonomics (SLE) Conference, 19-21 November 2003. pages 1711-1720.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Breaking Balance


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.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Judo Practice

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.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Research Clouds


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