Kent International Judo Championships
The last time I competed in Judo at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre was in 1983 since then I have concentrated on IBF Judo and promoting, teaching and competing in Sombo Wrestling as well as introducing CombatSombo, Belt Wrestling and Combat Wrestling, so when I had the chance to see a top international Judo competition at the Palace I jumped at the chance. The reason for going was simple two of my student’s one being my son had entered this event, with the BJA now allowing Judoka to hold their license as well as anyone else’s, several of my Young Judo Club/Sittingbourne Judo Society members took out BJA membership and had their grades ratified, therefore could enter this event. In truth Judo was not the reason they entered both lads have been selected to represent GB in the World Sombo Wrestling Championships and in my son’s case John had also been selected to compete in the World Kurash Championships and this standard of Judo would give them much needed quality competition. Both did not expect to win medals but just have the benefit of competing against top class athletes, Danny at 21 years had only competed with the smaller organisations and John at 33 years had not competed in a BJA event for 16 years but they need not have worried Danny out of 4 fight won 2 on Ippon John out of 6 fights won 5 on Ippon (most probably the best Ippon performance of the day) which gave him Bronze, a full report can be found on http://www.youngjudoclub.co.uk/.
On arriving at Crystal Palace I noticed nothing had changed in the 24 years since I was last there, the same old mats, the terrible tiered seating, the nauseating smell of the swimming pool, the drab interior, no comfortable seating, plastic beakers for you beer. This was acceptable 25 years ago but today NO if you want attract people to Judo you need a user friendly building no wonder most BJA events are held in other venues and I would suggest if the Kent International is to continue they use another venue. The tournament was very well organised and was finished around 3.30pm the organisers deserved a medal for that and the referees wearing Polo Shirts (something the IBF and Sombo have done for several years) was an excellent idea it made the event less pompous and officious. The Judo itself was abysmal as was the refereeing to be quite honest if this what top level Judo has come to I am not surprised people no longer wish to do the Sport/Art. This was my initial impression but I have not seen this level of Judo since 1983 so things I am told have changed so let me explain what I saw, most of the competitors were on the whole evenly matched something that did not happen in my day, they were all very fit and very strong but seemed to be limited on techniques. In fact it seemed that the only technique being performed was that horrible drop knee Kata Guruma, a technique which you would have been disqualified for using in the 80’s. This one technique has changed the look and practise of Judo, I am surprised that Judoka do not have a permanent stoop in their back the amount of time they spend bending over, ban this technique and you will have Judoka standing upright. In the 70’s and 80’s you had Judo superstars like Adams, Jacks, Radburn, Starbrook, White etc who in the preliminary rounds were performing some devastating spectacular throws which excited the crowd as the competition drew to a climax obviously the matches became more tactical. During the day I only saw one Ippon with a Standing Seoi Nage only 2 Ippon’s with Uchi Mata, 1 Ippon with Haria Goshi (performed by my son) and 1 Te Guruma, there may have been more but that is what I saw, the point I am trying to make is that the event was mundane not spectacular.
With regard to the refereeing I will state something’s I saw that I thought were wrong and hopefully there will be a top IJF referee out there to put me right.
1) No penalties were given for wandering of the mat in my day this was a Keikoku offence.
2) Throwing someone on their stomach was awarded as a Yuko in my day there was no score
3) Both players are allowed to fight outside the area and score in my day this could have led to disqualification
4) If you rolled on your back you lost by Ippon, in my day to score an Ippon your opponent had to land on his back with force and impetus
5) If you attacked from your knees and the technique was unsuccessful you were allowed to keep fighting from your knees to score, in my day if you attempted to throw with a drop knee technique and you where unsuccessful Matte was called if you continued you were penalised
6) Injury call, my son was deliberately kicked in the inside of his leg on the second time he was kicked he complained to the referee. The referees huddled together and then the centre referee warned my son that if he complained again he would be disqualified, I am sure the only reason he was not disqualified was because he was losing and the refs thought it would make no difference to the outcome, it is a pity that John got the hump and threw his Dutch Opponent with an Ippon Haria Goshi. Plus in this age of litigation if my son had been kicked again and had a serious injury could he sue the referee for negligence? The first duty of any referee no matter what sport is to protect the player from injury and insure fair play, it could be the referee was inexperience and did not realise this.
7) In my day if a referee scored Yuko, judge scored Koka and the other judge scored Waza-ari the middle score stood as opposed to giving no score.
There were several other things which were of a minor nature but I would like to hear someone comments, I am quite aware people will say I am old and living in the past but can I say that in the 70’s and 80’s there was a lot more people doing Judo and we had ome of the most successful international Judo players in the World. So has Judo improved or should we return to the Judo of yesteryear?
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Technical Grades at 16?
The IBF appointed a panel of Black Belt to revamp the Junior and Senior Judo Grading syllabus, one of the panel suggested Technical Grades from the age of 16 years what follows is Colin Carrot 3rd Dan panel member feelings on the subject:
I personaly don't believe you should be able to get a technical dan grade at 16, and would set the minimum age requirement at 30. Surely a 16 year old who does not compete, cannot have the full understanding of a technique. For example, to perform o-goshi either text book style, on the move, or even in randori, is completely different from trying it in competition, where your oponent does not want to be thrown and at the same time is trying to counter you.Therefore, does this not make the competitor more skillfull?If this is the case, then surely the two players should not be the same grade?However, an understanding of the sport, in all its forms, can come with more experience. As you advance in years, you look at things differently and understand why things work, as opposed to excepting that they work because the book tells you they do.Colin.
PS The minimum age was agreed at 30
I personaly don't believe you should be able to get a technical dan grade at 16, and would set the minimum age requirement at 30. Surely a 16 year old who does not compete, cannot have the full understanding of a technique. For example, to perform o-goshi either text book style, on the move, or even in randori, is completely different from trying it in competition, where your oponent does not want to be thrown and at the same time is trying to counter you.Therefore, does this not make the competitor more skillfull?If this is the case, then surely the two players should not be the same grade?However, an understanding of the sport, in all its forms, can come with more experience. As you advance in years, you look at things differently and understand why things work, as opposed to excepting that they work because the book tells you they do.Colin.
PS The minimum age was agreed at 30
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
NON COMPETITIVE JUDO is it JUDO
In the British Judo Association Magazine MatSide April edition an article appeared called “Technical Renaissance Q & A” this was one of the best articles I have read on Judo in years, some one had at long last actually questioned where Judo was going and trying to stop its decline. Although I enjoyed the article I did not agree with a lot of things that were written, the author states that the true spirit of Judo had become overshadowed by the fact it was considered an Olympic sport hence a competitive sport as opposed to a Martial Way this may be true. For over 20 years people would refer to Olympic Judo and Traditional Judo as if they were two different things instead of being two parts of the same coin, Competitive Judo without the theory & Kata is not Judo in the true meaning but the same must be said of Judo Kata and Theory without a competitive aspect. The BJA and the Olympics must accept the blame for drive to promote competitive Judo at the expense of all other aspects of the Way at one point their grading syllabus was based on competition only! Yet can you blame them for moving in the direction of the Olympics as the only way they will get Government Funding is to produce Olympic Champions, I have always said Government Funding should be based on public participation not on champions, get more people to do Judo and you will have a much larger catchments to get champions, concentrating on Elite Athletes is normally to the detriment of the grass roots.
Although I did not go to the Olympics I was member of the Moscow Olympic Judo Squad and considered myself a reasonable player, yet I had to study Kata, Theory and other aspects of Judo, I believe this enhanced my Judo skills, my club Dan Grades are graded on the same criteria (read “Martin for Moscow”). I can not agree with the idea of a totally non competitive grading syllabus which calls itself Judo, many years ago I had a discussion with the late, great Geoff Gleeson who was very much a radical thinker. He said give gradings for Kata, Ukemi, and Theory even putting on a Judogi as long as people get involved in Judo, I retorted that you could not no longer call it Judo, he then said well give it another name i.e. Kata Judo, Technical Skill Judo, Tia Chi Judo, Judo Yoga what ever as they still connected in some way to the Judo Fraternity, I am still not sure he was right but it something to consider
Why do I think that competition in Judo is particularly good for youngsters, apart from what the articles says about “Non Competitive Grade will demonstrate techniques in a realistic situation” the only realist way to prove a techniques is effective is by being putting it to the test in competitive situation whether that be in a competition or in the end of session bash in the club, by definition a Demonstration is not REAL. Yet the most important point which I feel is being missed is the philosophy of Judo in that it is not just about competition and the perfection of technique it is about producing better Human Beings. Controlled Competition for youngsters is as much about them overcoming their fears and dealing with failure, something very important they need to know for life in general. This modern day Politically Correct society continual tries to wrap kids in cotton wool and softens them that a lot can not cope with Adulthood; surely the time has come to stop that.
Yet after all I have written the reason why the BJA wants to introduce Non competitive grades is to get more people doing Judo or what ever you want to call it and Bravo to them. Yet I feel that there is little wrong with Judo,what it is not doing is getting people through the door, so what attracts kids something that is VISUAL and COOL lets get multi coloured Judo Gi’s , change the design of the Gi, introduce Judo boots, make competitions glamorous with compares, bright lights music. Make Judo a spectacular. I bet that has made some of you cringe!
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Although I did not go to the Olympics I was member of the Moscow Olympic Judo Squad and considered myself a reasonable player, yet I had to study Kata, Theory and other aspects of Judo, I believe this enhanced my Judo skills, my club Dan Grades are graded on the same criteria (read “Martin for Moscow”). I can not agree with the idea of a totally non competitive grading syllabus which calls itself Judo, many years ago I had a discussion with the late, great Geoff Gleeson who was very much a radical thinker. He said give gradings for Kata, Ukemi, and Theory even putting on a Judogi as long as people get involved in Judo, I retorted that you could not no longer call it Judo, he then said well give it another name i.e. Kata Judo, Technical Skill Judo, Tia Chi Judo, Judo Yoga what ever as they still connected in some way to the Judo Fraternity, I am still not sure he was right but it something to consider
Why do I think that competition in Judo is particularly good for youngsters, apart from what the articles says about “Non Competitive Grade will demonstrate techniques in a realistic situation” the only realist way to prove a techniques is effective is by being putting it to the test in competitive situation whether that be in a competition or in the end of session bash in the club, by definition a Demonstration is not REAL. Yet the most important point which I feel is being missed is the philosophy of Judo in that it is not just about competition and the perfection of technique it is about producing better Human Beings. Controlled Competition for youngsters is as much about them overcoming their fears and dealing with failure, something very important they need to know for life in general. This modern day Politically Correct society continual tries to wrap kids in cotton wool and softens them that a lot can not cope with Adulthood; surely the time has come to stop that.
Yet after all I have written the reason why the BJA wants to introduce Non competitive grades is to get more people doing Judo or what ever you want to call it and Bravo to them. Yet I feel that there is little wrong with Judo,what it is not doing is getting people through the door, so what attracts kids something that is VISUAL and COOL lets get multi coloured Judo Gi’s , change the design of the Gi, introduce Judo boots, make competitions glamorous with compares, bright lights music. Make Judo a spectacular. I bet that has made some of you cringe!
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Robin Hyslop Replies
I can remember my first taste of judo way back in 1972! an old Nissan hut in a quiet area of Dumfries, wind howling through the not so well fitting windows and a canvas flooring, just right for all those burns that I’m sure we have all sustained at some point, i also remember the gradings that some of us went to, demonstrate a few throws and then fight and win to advance up the grading system. It is true that Judo has changed over the decades; it seems to be more sport orientated rather than a martial art and has lost a lot of its identity over the years! So what direction should Judo take??? Who wants to get bashed about these days??? Who is willing to travel to comps??? Who is willing to be a coach or instructor??? Who wants to be a referee? (Now that’s a joke)!!! so what if you have a pink Judo suit, it would certainly get people talking! Where have all the Judo players disappeared to over the years? are they all really stuck in front of a computer screen or did they all just get pissed off with the way Judo was going in the UK? i think the latter! In the 70s if you picked up a Martial Arts magazine you would only find about 2 or 3 organisations advertising in it, nowadays its not worth buying one because they are all full of adverts. The coveted Black Belt? well if you dilute something then you weaken it, i think that’s an easy way to express how i feel about all of these so called experts that talk too much, (get a job as a car salesman for goodness sake, and stop kidding us on!) What i like to see is just plain competitive Judo! There’s nothing better than to see 2 evenly matched Judoka fight, a real pleasure to watch clean technical throws being executed, oh! and a referee that has a clue about what’s going on, (maybe that last bit is too much to ask for) think i have had a decent moan, got to go, have invented this new martial art/sport which entails both players whacking each other about the head with a laptop also doing courses in laptop self defence and laptop Kata, if i ever get my hands on the people who send spam!!!!ROBIN HYSLOP 4th DAN
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
World Champion CON
For many years I have been bemused by the amount of World Champions there are in the Combat Disciplines so I started to investigate an area I know something about that is Sombo/Sambo. I first trawled various web site on the Subject and was amazed at how many World Champions the USA has produced having entered my first World Championships in 1985 and involved in one capacity or another since then, I was some what dubious especially as I know the dominance the Eastern block has had in the past and still does I began to check. Many people criticised the breakaway Sombo Group who found a nesting place under the auspices of FILA (For the uninitiated FILA run International Wrestling Olympic Style and Greco Roman, FIAS is the Sombo/Sambo recognised by the World Governing body for sports GIASF) for running a World Championships claiming that it was a Mickey Mouse affair, this was some what unfair as they did have 13 countries competiting. Admittedly none were top quality teams from strong Sombo/Sambo countries and when it was reported USA asked a Beach Wrestler to enter the event even though he had never competed in Sombo and then he went on to win the event did put the whole thing in context, what was important is that he actually competed he did not know the opposition but had the courage to get on the mat as far as I am concerned he is a FILA World champion but not a FIAS World Champion who notably had over 30 countries at their event. There have always been occasions when there is more then one organisation, one will have a higher standard then the other, my problem is those Somboist who claim to be a World Champion who never fought for them. Yes there are several people who have had a Walk Over in a so called World Event who put on their CV they were a previous World Champion, surely this is a fraudulent claim and apart from that what real competitor would claim a title without a match? I can understand you sometimes want to put bit of gloss on your CV and sometimes you may win an event where there are only two or three players but at least you fought and hopefully if asked you tell the truth.
Am I wrong to be critical of these people? Maybe one them can reply and explain.
Martin Clarke
Am I wrong to be critical of these people? Maybe one them can reply and explain.
Martin Clarke
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
ANONYMOUS HAS LEFT A COMMENT
I have had my first reply it is a pity the contributor did not have the courage to leave his name and grade this would have added some weight to argument and being anonymous is normally the act of a coward or some one who just watches their children do Judo. He may have some points do you think the Oreintals superior to Westerners ? World championship results dispute that apart from what our contibutor says.
Yukio Tani (1881 - 1950) was a Jiu Jitsuka note the correct spelling
Gunji Koizumi, (1885-1965) introduced Judo to England my father Nobby was taught by him and I met him in 1962 note the spelling
Kenshiro Abbe 1915-1985 he graded both of my parents Nobby and Margret to 1st Dan in 1962, I went on several of his courses
I knew Mr Otani and attended several of his courses
I think anonymous was trying to say in a rather crude way"JUDO should return to being a Japanese Way"
lets have your opinion but lets have names and grades
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should Judo be updated": Judo has changed, this is one of the reasons why it is in decline. The idea of making judo more fashionable by having cloured judogi's (which are already in use in many clubs) is ridiculous and the idea of introducing "shoes" just doesn't make sense.The invention of the computer and the internet is the current method of communication, interaction and entertainment and has affected many activities.Judo has changed and not for the better, it has become more like wrestling, it is already easier to obtain grades, at one time to see a black belt was a honour and very rare, now they are tow a penny and some not so deserving exponents have exploited the art, and also developed their own organisation, self graded and exploited people. Judo used to be a scientific art of using techniques and had an air of mystery about which maintained interest.For judo to improve and be able to keep exponents interested it needs to take a few steps backwards to when it was an art. It is very doubtful as to whether this would be possible, it has perhaps gone too far along the wrong road, the Japanese master's that where here like M. Otani, Y. Otani, K. Abbe and G. Kizumi are dead. If you want to have any idea as to what judo is really all about you have to look to the Far East, to Japan, Korea and China. In International competition they rule the mat, just look at their style (ie standing upright) etc.In the western world we have, without good reason and with detrimental effect changed judo in the name of sport, this is a great shame. Posted by Anonymous to Combatarts at 6:47 PM
Yukio Tani (1881 - 1950) was a Jiu Jitsuka note the correct spelling
Gunji Koizumi, (1885-1965) introduced Judo to England my father Nobby was taught by him and I met him in 1962 note the spelling
Kenshiro Abbe 1915-1985 he graded both of my parents Nobby and Margret to 1st Dan in 1962, I went on several of his courses
I knew Mr Otani and attended several of his courses
I think anonymous was trying to say in a rather crude way"JUDO should return to being a Japanese Way"
lets have your opinion but lets have names and grades
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should Judo be updated": Judo has changed, this is one of the reasons why it is in decline. The idea of making judo more fashionable by having cloured judogi's (which are already in use in many clubs) is ridiculous and the idea of introducing "shoes" just doesn't make sense.The invention of the computer and the internet is the current method of communication, interaction and entertainment and has affected many activities.Judo has changed and not for the better, it has become more like wrestling, it is already easier to obtain grades, at one time to see a black belt was a honour and very rare, now they are tow a penny and some not so deserving exponents have exploited the art, and also developed their own organisation, self graded and exploited people. Judo used to be a scientific art of using techniques and had an air of mystery about which maintained interest.For judo to improve and be able to keep exponents interested it needs to take a few steps backwards to when it was an art. It is very doubtful as to whether this would be possible, it has perhaps gone too far along the wrong road, the Japanese master's that where here like M. Otani, Y. Otani, K. Abbe and G. Kizumi are dead. If you want to have any idea as to what judo is really all about you have to look to the Far East, to Japan, Korea and China. In International competition they rule the mat, just look at their style (ie standing upright) etc.In the western world we have, without good reason and with detrimental effect changed judo in the name of sport, this is a great shame. Posted by Anonymous to Combatarts at 6:47 PM
Monday, March 26, 2007
Should Judo be updated
Judo in the UK is going through a rather sticky patch at the moment, with numbers on the decrease, competitions are not being supported many are being cancelled. 10 years ago you had to stop youngsters entering competitions now we have to insist that they enter at least one competition in between gradings, this apathy is not just restricted to Judo it is spreading throughout the Country for what ever reason people have given up on the UK.
So how can we stop this destructive attitude, some associations think by dropping standards Judo will appeal to more people, having inferior Dan grades only ridicules our discipline. A Dan Grade should be treated like a Degree something of a high standard worth having, Kyu grades and junior grades are just apprentice grades. Today everything thing is visual, if you want young people involved you have to presented it as a Modern trendy thing and what is trendy CLOTHING. Keep the standards and traditions of Judo but change the Clothing, lets have Multi Coloured Judogi’s, maybe change the shape and cut of a Judogi, introduce Judo Boots soft soled like in Sombo but multi coloured, make competitions more exciting introduce light shows, music introduce competitors with a bit of razzmatazz, instead of massive all day events maybe have a smaller venue and just 3 or weight cat, so the competition doesn’t become a marathon. Maybe these ideas are not the way forward but somebody must think the impossible or Judo in 10 years will go the same way as Boxing and Wrestling just a couple of hundred participating
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
So how can we stop this destructive attitude, some associations think by dropping standards Judo will appeal to more people, having inferior Dan grades only ridicules our discipline. A Dan Grade should be treated like a Degree something of a high standard worth having, Kyu grades and junior grades are just apprentice grades. Today everything thing is visual, if you want young people involved you have to presented it as a Modern trendy thing and what is trendy CLOTHING. Keep the standards and traditions of Judo but change the Clothing, lets have Multi Coloured Judogi’s, maybe change the shape and cut of a Judogi, introduce Judo Boots soft soled like in Sombo but multi coloured, make competitions more exciting introduce light shows, music introduce competitors with a bit of razzmatazz, instead of massive all day events maybe have a smaller venue and just 3 or weight cat, so the competition doesn’t become a marathon. Maybe these ideas are not the way forward but somebody must think the impossible or Judo in 10 years will go the same way as Boxing and Wrestling just a couple of hundred participating
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Thursday, February 01, 2007
I reached my 57th Birthday on January 20th, I recently finished my pamphlet “Martin for Moscow” hopefully this year I will have Knee replacement surgery (without MRSA I hope) until then I will have to entertain myself by writing about my thoughts on the Martial Arts especially my recollections of 52 years of Judo. The one thing older people will say that the standards in their day was a lot harder my own opinion was it was different but am I right? Recently a YJC member from the 50’s and 60’s gave me some Judo magazines from 1958/59 amongst them were the BJA grading syllabus of the time and the BJC syllabus, I have attached them above and I let you draw your own conclusions!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
LADIES SUMO
Channel 4 hosted a programme on LADIES SUMO I watched this expecting to have a good laugh at all these FAT WOMEN waddling about in SUMO THONGS I suppose you would call me a voyeur. How wrong I was I was enthralled with the programme and was quite impressed by the improvement they Ladies made in a short time, Coach Steve Pateman I knew as reasonable 4th Dan Judoka he once visited my club some 20 years ago in them days he was u95 kilo. He has put on some weight since then mind you so have I, many years ago he was featured learning SUMO and attending the 1st World Amateur Sumo Championships in Japan, I am sorry to say the programme did not do the Sport justice. I thought the Ladies done extremely well and watching the World Championships was exciting and interesting.
SUMO to me is the very basis of Wrestling, for those who taught for any length time you will know the first thing any new student will do is to try and push his or her opponent and we instructors teach that natural instinct out of them. It seems to me that SUMO has taken what comes natural and harnessed it to become a very efficient method of Combat.
If you get the chance to watch this programme do so can I say well done Ladies, Channel 4 and Steve Pateman keep promoting SUMO, one question I would like to know can Channel 4 do a the same for SOMBO.
Do not forget the British Open Sombo is on in March we hope to have a team from Mongolia go to www.britishsombo.co.uk
SUMO to me is the very basis of Wrestling, for those who taught for any length time you will know the first thing any new student will do is to try and push his or her opponent and we instructors teach that natural instinct out of them. It seems to me that SUMO has taken what comes natural and harnessed it to become a very efficient method of Combat.
If you get the chance to watch this programme do so can I say well done Ladies, Channel 4 and Steve Pateman keep promoting SUMO, one question I would like to know can Channel 4 do a the same for SOMBO.
Do not forget the British Open Sombo is on in March we hope to have a team from Mongolia go to www.britishsombo.co.uk
Thursday, January 18, 2007
It is to expensive
Its that time of the year again where Judo Clubs ask for membership fees and look at their pricing structure and of course prices will rise mainly because of external factors. Now the moaning starts you are too expensive, why should we pay that amount, you should not charge kids, who gets the money need I go on. I have singled out Judo mainly as the one Combat Discipline the public think should be offered free of charge or at a very low price. Most Judo clubs are run by well meaning amateurs who give up their time free of charge and they run their clubs on a shoe string with little no help or thanks from the parents and this is my point LOYALTY.
My own club is 50 years old this year and we are one of the more expensive NO that is not quite true we expect payment in a more business like manner i.e. monthly or by Standing Order this makes us look like we are expensive. Yet when my mother and father started the Young Judo Club member paid 3D (that’s an old 3 pence about 1p of today’s money) if a member pays by standing order they can be paying as little 84p making members pay this way guarantees an income and the club can plan for the future. Another reason we charge this way was because of an incident that happened many years ago, the club was going through a bad patch membership was down so we approached parents of ex Junior Judoka, only those youngsters who had a lot from the club i.e. won lots of medals, been taken to comps home and abroad which in most cases was subsidised by the club, those who had become an extended member of your family, we asked if they could help support the club in its hour of need? The reply was "what for we paid our fees" do you not want to see other children get the benefits yours had? Reply "that’s not my problem" and so on, so the majority of the public see Judo as just a commodity, a commodity they do not like paying for.
The above is not always the case many of our instructors are people who done Judo as a child and came back as an adult, they realise the benefits of Judo and how important it is in producing better human beings. So when you get that winging parents complaining about prices and how you as an instructor should be thankful their child comes, look down at the Childs feet see how much his designer trainers cost, ask them about their expensive holidays, big screen TV etc, etc and they moan about a few quid educating their child. Because it will be the instructor giving up his or her time to fund raise, give up his or her weekends for courses and competitions, be out two or three times a week need I say more and they will be doing it long after the whinger has left who most probably leave without even a Thankyou.
Remember charge to much you will called elitist do not charge enough and you devalue you and Judo
My own club is 50 years old this year and we are one of the more expensive NO that is not quite true we expect payment in a more business like manner i.e. monthly or by Standing Order this makes us look like we are expensive. Yet when my mother and father started the Young Judo Club member paid 3D (that’s an old 3 pence about 1p of today’s money) if a member pays by standing order they can be paying as little 84p making members pay this way guarantees an income and the club can plan for the future. Another reason we charge this way was because of an incident that happened many years ago, the club was going through a bad patch membership was down so we approached parents of ex Junior Judoka, only those youngsters who had a lot from the club i.e. won lots of medals, been taken to comps home and abroad which in most cases was subsidised by the club, those who had become an extended member of your family, we asked if they could help support the club in its hour of need? The reply was "what for we paid our fees" do you not want to see other children get the benefits yours had? Reply "that’s not my problem" and so on, so the majority of the public see Judo as just a commodity, a commodity they do not like paying for.
The above is not always the case many of our instructors are people who done Judo as a child and came back as an adult, they realise the benefits of Judo and how important it is in producing better human beings. So when you get that winging parents complaining about prices and how you as an instructor should be thankful their child comes, look down at the Childs feet see how much his designer trainers cost, ask them about their expensive holidays, big screen TV etc, etc and they moan about a few quid educating their child. Because it will be the instructor giving up his or her time to fund raise, give up his or her weekends for courses and competitions, be out two or three times a week need I say more and they will be doing it long after the whinger has left who most probably leave without even a Thankyou.
Remember charge to much you will called elitist do not charge enough and you devalue you and Judo
JUDO is it a Sport?
In the last year BJA policy to other Judo/Budo groups has changed and it is now possible for my Club, which incidentally is 50 years old this year, to belong to the BJA and the organisation I head (International Budo Federation UK). Several of my coaches have taken gradings and coaching certificates with the BJA because of his the club now receives various publications from the association, which I find very informative. In the January issue of MatSide, Sue Dawson’s letter does bring up some interesting points, which I would like to comment on. She is quite right in saying that Judo needs competition the educational system in this country over the last 10 years has let our youth down in particular the attitude to competition generally, so called educational experts are convinced that Sports Competition is bad for children, Judo is one of those disciplines that buck that idea in my opinion for the betterment of the youngsters. Yet I totally agree with the BJA that they should encourage more theory in the grading, I also applaud them for upping their standards for Dan Grading’s I refer to the increased interest in Kata, but to have a totally separate technical grade with out competition for Juniors I believe is a mistake. The only true way to understand a technique and improve its skill is for it to be used in a practical way and under stress i.e. contest. I am not suggesting children should be forced to enter competitions but they should be made to compete in a grading. After saying this I cannot agree with Sue that the majority of children want to compete on the contrary the majority want the opposite they want as do most adults to train once maybe twice a week in a purely recreational manner, this I feel is a very modern day attitude I know from my own experience that in the 70’s and 80’s this was not the case, I remember taking a 100 competitors from my club to the Herne Bay open but if Judo is to survive we have to adapt to today’s people as long as we do not drop standards.
One thing I do disagree with her is that she maintains Judo is a sport not an art, many years ago myself and the late great Geoff Gleeson founded an organisation called the “Academy of Coaching” sadly this is now defunct, the aims of the academy was to promote the Art of Coaching and attracted top coaches from all sports as well as leading figures from the arts and entertainment world one of the reoccurring topics was “Can Sport be Art” this caused a lot of heated discussion for and against with no real outcome. I expect what Sue meant Judo is not a Art in the terms of Martial Art, Judo loosely translated means “Supple Way” Way being a path or an ideology which to follow, Judo’s founder Jigaro Kano maintained it was an educational system a way to make better human beings. Sport is just one aspect of that education but it is not the be all and end all, those who treat Judo as a grappling sport like Sombo Wrestling, Kurash etc do not have long time in the discipline, I have been in Judo for 52 years starting at the age of 5 if it was purely about competition/sport I would not still be a Judoka. As a young man my only reason for doing Judo was to win medals and beat people, luckily enough I was at a period of Judo that insisted when taking a grading I had do all aspects of the discipline, as I grew older I began to understand a lot more and that what makes JUDO so superior to Combat Forms and Sports, Judo is a unique discipline and it must remain so.
Being an ex competitor I am still interested in finding ways to improve our countries competition standards for many years our IBF Holland have implemented No Sutemi Waza, No Kubi Nage, No drop Knee Seoi, No leg grabs I have always resisted implementing them in the IBF UK as I felt this was a coaching issue i.e. badly taught technique but I have to admit Dutch IBF Players do have a better rate of Ippons with throws and they have a lot more members, at last years IBF Nationals the Senior were staged before the Juniors who had to watch and the standard of Junior matches was the best I have seen for many years!, for over 10 years we have run the occasional Judo tournament where the only way you can go into Ne-Waza is for one of the players to make a scoring throw this produced some good Judo but was not popular with coaches who felt interfering with rules was not a good thing? On April 22nd at Sittingbourne the Young Judo Club will be holding there 50th anniversary Judo Championship entitled the “Old and the New” Seniors will compete under old rules dating back to the early 60’s and Juniors will compete under new rules i.e. score with a throw before entering Ne-Waza, a demonstration of Nage No Kata will demonstrated in honour of YJC co-founder Nobby Clarke 6th Dan 1927-1990 who was the first person to bring Kata to Kent, Ju No Kata will be demonstrated to honour Margret Clarke 4th Dan who performed this Kata at the Royal Albert Hall in 1964 and was considered at the time to be one of the leading exponents of that period. All associations are welcome. For more info go to http://www.youngjudoclub.co.uk/, youngjudoclub@yahoo.co.uk or Swale Martial Arts Club, 127 East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent. ME10 4BL
One thing I do disagree with her is that she maintains Judo is a sport not an art, many years ago myself and the late great Geoff Gleeson founded an organisation called the “Academy of Coaching” sadly this is now defunct, the aims of the academy was to promote the Art of Coaching and attracted top coaches from all sports as well as leading figures from the arts and entertainment world one of the reoccurring topics was “Can Sport be Art” this caused a lot of heated discussion for and against with no real outcome. I expect what Sue meant Judo is not a Art in the terms of Martial Art, Judo loosely translated means “Supple Way” Way being a path or an ideology which to follow, Judo’s founder Jigaro Kano maintained it was an educational system a way to make better human beings. Sport is just one aspect of that education but it is not the be all and end all, those who treat Judo as a grappling sport like Sombo Wrestling, Kurash etc do not have long time in the discipline, I have been in Judo for 52 years starting at the age of 5 if it was purely about competition/sport I would not still be a Judoka. As a young man my only reason for doing Judo was to win medals and beat people, luckily enough I was at a period of Judo that insisted when taking a grading I had do all aspects of the discipline, as I grew older I began to understand a lot more and that what makes JUDO so superior to Combat Forms and Sports, Judo is a unique discipline and it must remain so.
Being an ex competitor I am still interested in finding ways to improve our countries competition standards for many years our IBF Holland have implemented No Sutemi Waza, No Kubi Nage, No drop Knee Seoi, No leg grabs I have always resisted implementing them in the IBF UK as I felt this was a coaching issue i.e. badly taught technique but I have to admit Dutch IBF Players do have a better rate of Ippons with throws and they have a lot more members, at last years IBF Nationals the Senior were staged before the Juniors who had to watch and the standard of Junior matches was the best I have seen for many years!, for over 10 years we have run the occasional Judo tournament where the only way you can go into Ne-Waza is for one of the players to make a scoring throw this produced some good Judo but was not popular with coaches who felt interfering with rules was not a good thing? On April 22nd at Sittingbourne the Young Judo Club will be holding there 50th anniversary Judo Championship entitled the “Old and the New” Seniors will compete under old rules dating back to the early 60’s and Juniors will compete under new rules i.e. score with a throw before entering Ne-Waza, a demonstration of Nage No Kata will demonstrated in honour of YJC co-founder Nobby Clarke 6th Dan 1927-1990 who was the first person to bring Kata to Kent, Ju No Kata will be demonstrated to honour Margret Clarke 4th Dan who performed this Kata at the Royal Albert Hall in 1964 and was considered at the time to be one of the leading exponents of that period. All associations are welcome. For more info go to http://www.youngjudoclub.co.uk/, youngjudoclub@yahoo.co.uk or Swale Martial Arts Club, 127 East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent. ME10 4BL
Thursday, December 14, 2006
IBF grades confirmed by BJA
Members of the Young Judo Club took advantage of the new openness of the British Judo Association where they allow you to belong to any Judo organisations as well as the BJA. The YJC has always given its first loyalty to the International Budo Federation, the BJA offered to run a Grade recognition and Coaching recognition course at the Clubs HQ in Sittingbourne in the weekend of December 8,9,10. The course was a great success and the YJC instructors were impressed with the standard of the BJA examiners and their friendliness. Contest grades also had to go to the Budokwai to prove themselves on their contest as well as doing their theory at the club as expected John Clarke had his 4th Dan confirmed, Colin Carrott 3rd confirmed and Danny Carrott 2nd Dan confirmed. Those taking Technical Grades still have little more to do before they also get their grade confirmed but this will be no problem as it just a matter of demonstrating Katame No Kata. I will give a full report in January
CON MEN FROM PAKISTAN
Many months ago I responded to an email from Pakistan advertising Martial Arts equipment. Luckily I did not order a lot just a few samples a total cost of 99$, yes you have guessed I got nothing back in return. Guessed what the name of this company was? JAMY SPORTS they certainly are Jamy if they conned me. So do not order anything from JAMY SPORTS they are rip off merchants
British Open
This years British Sombo Open looks good we have had enquires from Russia, USA and Mongolia. More info at www.britishsombo.co.uk
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
FILA Thrust for World Dominance fails
FILA Thrust for World Dominance fails
Report by Martin Clarke BSF President
History:
F.I.L.A. International Olympic Wrestling Association
F.I.A.S. International Sambo/Sombo Federation
Sambo/Sombo is a Jacket wrestling sport invented in the ex Soviet Union in the 1930.s
F.I.L.A. controlled Sambo/Sombo till 1985 when it asked Fernando Compte to form an independent International Federation, F.I.A.S. was formed and F.I.L.A. relinquished all connections to the Sport.
1993 F.I.A.S. split into two factions. 2004 was reunified under the Presidency of David Rudman
Above is a very brief history of the development of Sombo/Sambo which is important to this report, for some years now rumours have been banded about that FILA seem to have been trying to collect all wrestling styles under their banner to secure a world dominance of all wrestling discipline, they now have Celtic wrestling and Beach Wrestling the latter being Wrestling done in a sand pit with only standing techniques allowed. There next wrestling style on their target list was Sombo/Sambo, which they were informed was in disarray, with FIAS being unrepresentative of the Sport instead of checking their facts they went ahead a formulated a Sambo/Sombo section culminating in a World Sombo Championship being held alongside their Beach Wrestling Worlds in Turkey which coincided with the FIAS World championships in Bulgaria.
FILA had 13 countries at their World Sombo Tournament and FIAS had 33 countries, it was not so much the numbers but what countries took part
FILA participating countries: Turkey, USA, Spain, India, Hungary, France, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Armenia, Panama these are the only countries I could find who actually entered but the FILA Web site does state 13 countries. The countries are in order in how they placed in the medal tally.
FIAS participating countries: 1 ARMENIA 2 AZERBAIDJAN 3 BELARUS 4 BULGARIA 5 CZECH REPUBLIC
6 FRANCE 7 GEORGIA 8 GERMANY 9 GREECE 10 GREAT BRITAIN 11 ISRAEL 12 ITALY 13 JAPAN
14 KAZAKSTAN 15 KOREA 16 LATVIA 17 LITHUANIA 18 MAROCCO 19 MOLDOVA 20 MONGOLIA
21 NETHERLANDS 22 NEW ZEALAND 23 PANAMA 24 ROMANIA 25 RUSSIA26 SLOVENIA 27 SERBIA
28 SWITZERLAND 29 TADJIKISTAN 30 USA 31 VENEZUELA 32 UZBEKISTAN 33 UKRAINE
countries are place alphabetically.
As you can see the calibre of the countries are totally different the FILA event had not one major Sombo/Sambo countries present in fact to my knowledge Turkey or India have never competed in any World Championships let alone been placed in one, yet Turkey who has never had a Sambo/Sombo federation wins most medals, what does that tell you. If you go to http://www.themat.com/index.php?page=showarticle&ArticleID=15368 you will read an interesting blog on the whole of the Turkish event, the event seems to be a tremendous success for those wishing to enjoy a holiday but as you read through the Blog you see the whole event was a bit of mix and match. Beach Wrestlers who had never tried Sombo was asked to compete, competitors did not have equipment I could go on and this meant to be THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS! More like the Come & Try Worlds, Glamorous Venues are OK but the reason you attend a World Championships is to find who are the best Sombo/Sambo players in the World not to have a holiday.
I could go on and make comments about the actual competitors but that would be futile and spiteful as all competitors who participated in the FILA Worlds were prepared to fight anyone in the world, it was FILA who misled them.
There is a plus to this debacle of FILA for once and for all everyone will see that FIAS is the true representative of International Sombo/Sambo and it seems by the Blog report everyone enjoyed Sombo/Sambo and hopefully those who attended the event will ask their coaches how they can compete in FIAS events, I am certain that all competitors from FILA Sombo/Sambo would be welcome back into the fold of the true International Sombo/Sambo and hopefully FILA will learn to stick to what they know. For information on FIAS results go to http://www.sambo.com/results-world-11-06.html and if your interested in competiting in the British Sombo Open in March 2007 all are welcome go to www.britishsombo.co.uk
.
Report by Martin Clarke BSF President
History:
F.I.L.A. International Olympic Wrestling Association
F.I.A.S. International Sambo/Sombo Federation
Sambo/Sombo is a Jacket wrestling sport invented in the ex Soviet Union in the 1930.s
F.I.L.A. controlled Sambo/Sombo till 1985 when it asked Fernando Compte to form an independent International Federation, F.I.A.S. was formed and F.I.L.A. relinquished all connections to the Sport.
1993 F.I.A.S. split into two factions. 2004 was reunified under the Presidency of David Rudman
Above is a very brief history of the development of Sombo/Sambo which is important to this report, for some years now rumours have been banded about that FILA seem to have been trying to collect all wrestling styles under their banner to secure a world dominance of all wrestling discipline, they now have Celtic wrestling and Beach Wrestling the latter being Wrestling done in a sand pit with only standing techniques allowed. There next wrestling style on their target list was Sombo/Sambo, which they were informed was in disarray, with FIAS being unrepresentative of the Sport instead of checking their facts they went ahead a formulated a Sambo/Sombo section culminating in a World Sombo Championship being held alongside their Beach Wrestling Worlds in Turkey which coincided with the FIAS World championships in Bulgaria.
FILA had 13 countries at their World Sombo Tournament and FIAS had 33 countries, it was not so much the numbers but what countries took part
FILA participating countries: Turkey, USA, Spain, India, Hungary, France, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Armenia, Panama these are the only countries I could find who actually entered but the FILA Web site does state 13 countries. The countries are in order in how they placed in the medal tally.
FIAS participating countries: 1 ARMENIA 2 AZERBAIDJAN 3 BELARUS 4 BULGARIA 5 CZECH REPUBLIC
6 FRANCE 7 GEORGIA 8 GERMANY 9 GREECE 10 GREAT BRITAIN 11 ISRAEL 12 ITALY 13 JAPAN
14 KAZAKSTAN 15 KOREA 16 LATVIA 17 LITHUANIA 18 MAROCCO 19 MOLDOVA 20 MONGOLIA
21 NETHERLANDS 22 NEW ZEALAND 23 PANAMA 24 ROMANIA 25 RUSSIA26 SLOVENIA 27 SERBIA
28 SWITZERLAND 29 TADJIKISTAN 30 USA 31 VENEZUELA 32 UZBEKISTAN 33 UKRAINE
countries are place alphabetically.
As you can see the calibre of the countries are totally different the FILA event had not one major Sombo/Sambo countries present in fact to my knowledge Turkey or India have never competed in any World Championships let alone been placed in one, yet Turkey who has never had a Sambo/Sombo federation wins most medals, what does that tell you. If you go to http://www.themat.com/index.php?page=showarticle&ArticleID=15368 you will read an interesting blog on the whole of the Turkish event, the event seems to be a tremendous success for those wishing to enjoy a holiday but as you read through the Blog you see the whole event was a bit of mix and match. Beach Wrestlers who had never tried Sombo was asked to compete, competitors did not have equipment I could go on and this meant to be THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS! More like the Come & Try Worlds, Glamorous Venues are OK but the reason you attend a World Championships is to find who are the best Sombo/Sambo players in the World not to have a holiday.
I could go on and make comments about the actual competitors but that would be futile and spiteful as all competitors who participated in the FILA Worlds were prepared to fight anyone in the world, it was FILA who misled them.
There is a plus to this debacle of FILA for once and for all everyone will see that FIAS is the true representative of International Sombo/Sambo and it seems by the Blog report everyone enjoyed Sombo/Sambo and hopefully those who attended the event will ask their coaches how they can compete in FIAS events, I am certain that all competitors from FILA Sombo/Sambo would be welcome back into the fold of the true International Sombo/Sambo and hopefully FILA will learn to stick to what they know. For information on FIAS results go to http://www.sambo.com/results-world-11-06.html and if your interested in competiting in the British Sombo Open in March 2007 all are welcome go to www.britishsombo.co.uk
.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Judo Unity
Letter sent to local papers
Dear Editor
For many years there has been disunity in the World of Judo and a sense of unfairness I refer to the fact that the British Judo Association the governing body for the sport forbid its members joining any other Judo association. Unlike other sports Judo is more then just a competitive system where a governing body decides rules of the game and oversees the conduct of its members, it’s a Martial Way and a philosophy of life. Therefore its practitioners have many interpretations on what direction they should travel to fulfil their ambition to become good Judoka, hence many Judo associations. The BJA have travelled down the road of being an Olympic Sport with some considerable success but their refusal to recognise other associations has caused upsets.
Recently there has been a dramatic change in the attitude of the BJA and I might say quite a courageous policy change in my opinion, they now allow their members to belong other Judo associations, this opens the door to clubs like the Young Judo Club based at the Swale Martial Arts Club East Street Sittingbourne to affiliate its members. The YJC which is 50 years old in 2007 has for the last 30 years been affiliated with the International Budo Federation an organisation that was founded in Holland and has representative throughout the World, the IBF caters for many Martial Arts and Combat Disciplines such as Sombo, CombatSombo and Kurash, hence you will see our members entering and grading in many varied events. If a member wished to compete at World Level in Sombo or Kurash their membership to the IBF was not a problem with Judo it would mean rejecting their IBF membership to join the BJA and then return at a later date, something I have done on many occasion 1977-80 becoming a member of the Olympic Judo Squad, 2001 winning the World Masters. This no longer the case and YJC members can now retain their IBF license and be a BJA member, which we intend to encourage.
Some months ago months ago the BJA approached myself about affiliating the club, the majority of the Instructors agreed, this involved having grades and coaching certificates verified. This has caused some concern with other clubs who refused to attend a familiarisation course, this I cannot understand as our own IBF would not allow someone to join without checking their credential and explaining their methods. The first step for YJC member was for our competitive Black Belts to attend a grading at the famous Budokwai Judo Club in London to see if competitive standards are the same needless to say they were Danny Carrott had 3 fights to confirm his 2nd Dan winning 2 and drawing 1 the latter in competition he would have won but in BJA grading only Ippon and Waza-ari are scored, Colin Carrott who is in his mid 40’s insisted on going for a competitive grade rather the a Technical Grade as his would have been allowed because of his age, also had his 3rd Dan recommended drawing 1 fight and losing to a 128 Kilo (20 stone) 4th Dan , John Clarke who is a member of the PE Staff at the Sittingbourne Community College, fought the same 4th with a different result in grading terms it was classified as a draw but in real terms John’s continual attacking made the big guy look ineffective and he picked up 4 penalty points (4 shido’s) in normal circumstances they heavyweight would have been disqualified but the examiners decided to let the fight continue as they wanted to assess John’s ability as their was no one else of his standard present, in my opinion this was the right course of action. An Ippon won his next fight he was recommended to 4th Dan. All returned proving that the YJC has a very high standard, being welcome edition to the BJA family something that our rivals have questioned in the past. Joining the BJA will help John in his bid for his 5th Dan because he can stay in this country the IBF would have expected him to travel to Holland.
The next stage is to have their theory confirmed this will be the easy side as the IBF theory syllabus is lot more involved then the BJA this will be done on the weekend Coaching Course the BJA are doing at the YJC Dojo in East Street where several of our older Dan grades and instructors will be attending. This liaison will prove a major benefit to both organisations and we are already preparing our youngsters for BJA competitions.
For further details on Judo, Sombo, Kurash contact 01795 437124, 07074 200150, youngjudoclub@yahoo.co.uk, www.sittingbourne.org
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Dear Editor
For many years there has been disunity in the World of Judo and a sense of unfairness I refer to the fact that the British Judo Association the governing body for the sport forbid its members joining any other Judo association. Unlike other sports Judo is more then just a competitive system where a governing body decides rules of the game and oversees the conduct of its members, it’s a Martial Way and a philosophy of life. Therefore its practitioners have many interpretations on what direction they should travel to fulfil their ambition to become good Judoka, hence many Judo associations. The BJA have travelled down the road of being an Olympic Sport with some considerable success but their refusal to recognise other associations has caused upsets.
Recently there has been a dramatic change in the attitude of the BJA and I might say quite a courageous policy change in my opinion, they now allow their members to belong other Judo associations, this opens the door to clubs like the Young Judo Club based at the Swale Martial Arts Club East Street Sittingbourne to affiliate its members. The YJC which is 50 years old in 2007 has for the last 30 years been affiliated with the International Budo Federation an organisation that was founded in Holland and has representative throughout the World, the IBF caters for many Martial Arts and Combat Disciplines such as Sombo, CombatSombo and Kurash, hence you will see our members entering and grading in many varied events. If a member wished to compete at World Level in Sombo or Kurash their membership to the IBF was not a problem with Judo it would mean rejecting their IBF membership to join the BJA and then return at a later date, something I have done on many occasion 1977-80 becoming a member of the Olympic Judo Squad, 2001 winning the World Masters. This no longer the case and YJC members can now retain their IBF license and be a BJA member, which we intend to encourage.
Some months ago months ago the BJA approached myself about affiliating the club, the majority of the Instructors agreed, this involved having grades and coaching certificates verified. This has caused some concern with other clubs who refused to attend a familiarisation course, this I cannot understand as our own IBF would not allow someone to join without checking their credential and explaining their methods. The first step for YJC member was for our competitive Black Belts to attend a grading at the famous Budokwai Judo Club in London to see if competitive standards are the same needless to say they were Danny Carrott had 3 fights to confirm his 2nd Dan winning 2 and drawing 1 the latter in competition he would have won but in BJA grading only Ippon and Waza-ari are scored, Colin Carrott who is in his mid 40’s insisted on going for a competitive grade rather the a Technical Grade as his would have been allowed because of his age, also had his 3rd Dan recommended drawing 1 fight and losing to a 128 Kilo (20 stone) 4th Dan , John Clarke who is a member of the PE Staff at the Sittingbourne Community College, fought the same 4th with a different result in grading terms it was classified as a draw but in real terms John’s continual attacking made the big guy look ineffective and he picked up 4 penalty points (4 shido’s) in normal circumstances they heavyweight would have been disqualified but the examiners decided to let the fight continue as they wanted to assess John’s ability as their was no one else of his standard present, in my opinion this was the right course of action. An Ippon won his next fight he was recommended to 4th Dan. All returned proving that the YJC has a very high standard, being welcome edition to the BJA family something that our rivals have questioned in the past. Joining the BJA will help John in his bid for his 5th Dan because he can stay in this country the IBF would have expected him to travel to Holland.
The next stage is to have their theory confirmed this will be the easy side as the IBF theory syllabus is lot more involved then the BJA this will be done on the weekend Coaching Course the BJA are doing at the YJC Dojo in East Street where several of our older Dan grades and instructors will be attending. This liaison will prove a major benefit to both organisations and we are already preparing our youngsters for BJA competitions.
For further details on Judo, Sombo, Kurash contact 01795 437124, 07074 200150, youngjudoclub@yahoo.co.uk, www.sittingbourne.org
Martin Clarke 8th Dan
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
CombatArts Writer Lurch Explains
Dear Martin,
As a wrestler you understand the theory of throwing, projecting a resisting opponent to the floor with his energy and energy you have supplied to knock him out or badly damage him so he cannot continue to attack you. But you are an 8th Dan in judo and a 6th Dan in jujitsu, you are extraordinary not ordinary like we lesser mortals. For me striking makes my throwing and locking techniques work. There are at least four theories of striking that I know about: the Chinese Internal Systems; the Chinese External Systems, which includes both long hand boxing-the origin of karate and short hand boxing, where wing chun kung fu system is the best known; western boxing has in it simplicity and effectiveness a lethal system; jujitsu has its strikes to stun, some systems within jujitsu especially the kempo jujitsu emphasis on striking.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans used the fist to strike, representations of boxers where found on pottery vases. However, the boxing of the ancients consisted of the left arm being used for defence and the right landing blows. Originally the Greeks sat on two stones across from each other and punched each other, the winner was the one who was best able to survive the punishment. Rome increased the gore by wearing cestuis, a form of brass knuckles. Representation of the earliest boxers can be found on the volcanic island of Santerini from the Minion Civilisation of ancient Crete. The Greeks of the classical period combined the skills of boxing and wrestling to produce the first close quarter battle system known as pankration. The army of Alexander the Great had tents where pankration was practised carried in his baggage train; in fact there is a theory that the army of Alexander brought their skill of pankration to ancient India where it took root in Indian martial arts, which was taken to the Shaolin Monastery by the Indian monk Bodhredama, who was originally an Indian prince, well versed in martial arts of India. From the Shaolin Monastery martial arts knowledge was carried by its fighting monks and their pilgrimage to all parts of the east.
Wearing armour influences warfare, the protective effect allows hack and slash fighting only, therefore atemi was not emphasised, wrestling was the preferred method of unarmed combat, kumi uchi-grappling in armour was used in medieval Japan. In the west manuals of combat, fechtbucher, showed wrestling defences against armed opponents. Gunpowder changed everything, heavy armour was a liability, it cut down on mobility the only defence against firearms. Striking became important, adapting weapon fighting techniques to empty hand fighting; in England quarter staff fighting was along with sword fighting the basis for Western Boxing, from the quarter staff came upper cuts and hooks; the jab came from the lunge in fencing. English and American Boxing changed with the Spanish-American War of 1898 when the United States of America gained the remains of Spain's Empire, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The American Marines were famous for their boxing prowess after the victory over Spain in the Philippines they boxed with the Filipinos who due to their blade culture practised bobbing, weaving and evasion techniques against the American Marines who changed their style from the upright European Style to the crouched style that has now become the American Style of boxing.
The island of Okinawa midway between Japan and China was for centuries a trading centre between these two cultures it traded goods and conveyed ideas, weapons were banned by the ruler of Okinawa as a means of control after the rise of the Shogun in Japan winning in the civil war the Satsuma Clan had fought for the losing side, as punishment they were ordered to invade Okinawa for some perceived insult and to punish them. The clan were able to successfully invade the kingdom due to the banning of weapons. The inhabitants fought back with their empty hands and farm implements but in open warfare against the samurai with their long sword the katana they lost. Guerrilla Warfare was the only option available the Chinese centuries before had sent artisans to teach the Okinawans these Chinese brought their knowledge of kung fu which they shared with the inhabitants who combined what they learned with the native fighting arts of the island to form the art of karate. The Japanese Invaders found themselves fighting an enemy who turned their bodies into a weapon by hardening their hands and feet to punch through the bamboo lacquered armour. Karate was created from sword fighting, the back stance is a defensive position in ken jitsu, Japanese Fencing. The front stance of karate is the position that a fencer takes on cutting down with a katana. In karate there is the cat stance in ken jitsu there also is a similar stance for cutting down with the sword.
To study striking you must study weaponry to discover how it originated, if you discover this vital knowledge then you will make sense of your blows to weak points of the human body, all combat is influenced by the society it came from. From the 18th century the English developed boxing as a means of self defence when they were unarmed. During the 17th century the islanders of Okinawa developed karate as a vehicle to resistance against the Satsuma Samurai from Japan. Self protection is a universal need for society, to throw you must hit to distract and if you are successful you could knock out or disable your attacker so you may not have to.
Yours in budo
Ian " Lurch " Durie.
As a wrestler you understand the theory of throwing, projecting a resisting opponent to the floor with his energy and energy you have supplied to knock him out or badly damage him so he cannot continue to attack you. But you are an 8th Dan in judo and a 6th Dan in jujitsu, you are extraordinary not ordinary like we lesser mortals. For me striking makes my throwing and locking techniques work. There are at least four theories of striking that I know about: the Chinese Internal Systems; the Chinese External Systems, which includes both long hand boxing-the origin of karate and short hand boxing, where wing chun kung fu system is the best known; western boxing has in it simplicity and effectiveness a lethal system; jujitsu has its strikes to stun, some systems within jujitsu especially the kempo jujitsu emphasis on striking.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans used the fist to strike, representations of boxers where found on pottery vases. However, the boxing of the ancients consisted of the left arm being used for defence and the right landing blows. Originally the Greeks sat on two stones across from each other and punched each other, the winner was the one who was best able to survive the punishment. Rome increased the gore by wearing cestuis, a form of brass knuckles. Representation of the earliest boxers can be found on the volcanic island of Santerini from the Minion Civilisation of ancient Crete. The Greeks of the classical period combined the skills of boxing and wrestling to produce the first close quarter battle system known as pankration. The army of Alexander the Great had tents where pankration was practised carried in his baggage train; in fact there is a theory that the army of Alexander brought their skill of pankration to ancient India where it took root in Indian martial arts, which was taken to the Shaolin Monastery by the Indian monk Bodhredama, who was originally an Indian prince, well versed in martial arts of India. From the Shaolin Monastery martial arts knowledge was carried by its fighting monks and their pilgrimage to all parts of the east.
Wearing armour influences warfare, the protective effect allows hack and slash fighting only, therefore atemi was not emphasised, wrestling was the preferred method of unarmed combat, kumi uchi-grappling in armour was used in medieval Japan. In the west manuals of combat, fechtbucher, showed wrestling defences against armed opponents. Gunpowder changed everything, heavy armour was a liability, it cut down on mobility the only defence against firearms. Striking became important, adapting weapon fighting techniques to empty hand fighting; in England quarter staff fighting was along with sword fighting the basis for Western Boxing, from the quarter staff came upper cuts and hooks; the jab came from the lunge in fencing. English and American Boxing changed with the Spanish-American War of 1898 when the United States of America gained the remains of Spain's Empire, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The American Marines were famous for their boxing prowess after the victory over Spain in the Philippines they boxed with the Filipinos who due to their blade culture practised bobbing, weaving and evasion techniques against the American Marines who changed their style from the upright European Style to the crouched style that has now become the American Style of boxing.
The island of Okinawa midway between Japan and China was for centuries a trading centre between these two cultures it traded goods and conveyed ideas, weapons were banned by the ruler of Okinawa as a means of control after the rise of the Shogun in Japan winning in the civil war the Satsuma Clan had fought for the losing side, as punishment they were ordered to invade Okinawa for some perceived insult and to punish them. The clan were able to successfully invade the kingdom due to the banning of weapons. The inhabitants fought back with their empty hands and farm implements but in open warfare against the samurai with their long sword the katana they lost. Guerrilla Warfare was the only option available the Chinese centuries before had sent artisans to teach the Okinawans these Chinese brought their knowledge of kung fu which they shared with the inhabitants who combined what they learned with the native fighting arts of the island to form the art of karate. The Japanese Invaders found themselves fighting an enemy who turned their bodies into a weapon by hardening their hands and feet to punch through the bamboo lacquered armour. Karate was created from sword fighting, the back stance is a defensive position in ken jitsu, Japanese Fencing. The front stance of karate is the position that a fencer takes on cutting down with a katana. In karate there is the cat stance in ken jitsu there also is a similar stance for cutting down with the sword.
To study striking you must study weaponry to discover how it originated, if you discover this vital knowledge then you will make sense of your blows to weak points of the human body, all combat is influenced by the society it came from. From the 18th century the English developed boxing as a means of self defence when they were unarmed. During the 17th century the islanders of Okinawa developed karate as a vehicle to resistance against the Satsuma Samurai from Japan. Self protection is a universal need for society, to throw you must hit to distract and if you are successful you could knock out or disable your attacker so you may not have to.
Yours in budo
Ian " Lurch " Durie.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
An Ode to Kano from Colin Carrott
An Ode to Kano
In days of old,
When knights were bold
And Judo wasn’t invented.
Men wrestled their brother,
In front of each other
And had to be contented.
Then came a wise man,
From the land of Japan,
Who reasoned this couldn’t be right.
He devised his own art,
That took off from the start
When his students all followed the light.
His name was Kano
And he thought, I know,
I’ll call this The Gentle Way
We’ll throw one another
To the ground with no bother
The winner, on his feet, must stay.
And as this won’t hurt,
There’ll be no need for groundwork,
The best throw will decide the winner.
Large or small will not matter,
With no rule book to shatter
It’ll be equal for saint, or for sinner.
So, the best in the land
Decided to try their hand
To become a judo Dan grade.
A black belt they desired,
As their ambition was highered,
But a Kyu grade was what they stayed.
After practice and training
Through sunshine and raining,
After hour upon hour of meditation.
The judoka got his reward,
For his knowledge was broad,
He was applauded for his dedication
So as he studied this noble path,
A question that was often asked,
Do you meditate to control your karmas?
Follow your beliefs with all your heart?
Practitioners of this ancient art,
Or are you just a poof, in white pyjamas?
In days of old,
When knights were bold
And Judo wasn’t invented.
Men wrestled their brother,
In front of each other
And had to be contented.
Then came a wise man,
From the land of Japan,
Who reasoned this couldn’t be right.
He devised his own art,
That took off from the start
When his students all followed the light.
His name was Kano
And he thought, I know,
I’ll call this The Gentle Way
We’ll throw one another
To the ground with no bother
The winner, on his feet, must stay.
And as this won’t hurt,
There’ll be no need for groundwork,
The best throw will decide the winner.
Large or small will not matter,
With no rule book to shatter
It’ll be equal for saint, or for sinner.
So, the best in the land
Decided to try their hand
To become a judo Dan grade.
A black belt they desired,
As their ambition was highered,
But a Kyu grade was what they stayed.
After practice and training
Through sunshine and raining,
After hour upon hour of meditation.
The judoka got his reward,
For his knowledge was broad,
He was applauded for his dedication
So as he studied this noble path,
A question that was often asked,
Do you meditate to control your karmas?
Follow your beliefs with all your heart?
Practitioners of this ancient art,
Or are you just a poof, in white pyjamas?
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
British Judo Association Affiliation
BRITISH JUDO ASSOCIATION AFFILIATION
Over recent months there has been a lot of talk, letter, articles etc about the United Kingdom Coaching Certificate and the enforcement of every Judo Coach to have a UKCC by 2012. As In have said in the past as a country that believes in freedom I would normally have doubts about this ever happening but we have a New Labour government which does not believe in civil liberties and European Union which wishes to totally dominate and control our personal lives, so the possibility of UKCC by compulsion may not be so remote. My understanding of the UKCC is that it is not specific to any individual sport but a Certificate of Coaching; on completion you then go to your individual sport for level of competence. This concept could have been taken straight from The International Budo Federations Coaching Effective Programme, developed by 25 years ago by Martin Clarke and Geoff Gleeson. So I have no problems with the idea. I do question whether making it a legal requirement is right apart from the personal liberty factor, although I expect this government will turn round and say it is to do with the prevention of terrorism! It could lead to a dramatic loss of Judo Coaches and clubs. Many Judo Coaches will feel aggrieved that for many years they have coached given many years to help others only be told they are no longer competent, as with most things that are a legal requirement it will be costly to obtain how many clubs or coaches will be able to afford the cost?
The BJA has taken the blame for this but in reality it is a Government edict as the BJA are the governing body they will be required to implement the Judo section of the UKCC. So we now have a campaign to “Save British Judo” in the past I would be the first on the barricades but things have moved on since the days of Charlie Palmer former chairman of the BJA. So when the BJA through Dermott Hyslop contacted me and suggested we have meet I thought why not and I am glad I did. Dermott sat down for several hours explaining all they various concepts of the BJA and their hopes for the future which I have to admit were very exciting, he returned on one of our club nights to explain to our club coaches. The most important questions all my instructors wanted to know would we lose our identity answer NO, membership to the International Budo Federation is very important to us not only do we do Judo but we also practise many other Martial Arts and grappling sports, so would we have to give up the IBF answer NO, Could we still run IBF events answer YES.
So the most important things were not lost, yes coaches would have to attend a Coaching Course not re exam us but to show us what the BJA coaching system is and to show the differences in our view of the GOKYO, there will be a need for a validation of grades but unlike the past there would be a fair appraisal, In the 70’s I wish to try for the Olympics to do this I had to join the BJA, to enter the British Open which was my first test I had to be a Dan grade. The Charlie Palmer cabal refused to recognise my BJC 4th Dan telling me I was only worth a 1st Dan expecting me not enter I did and came 5th they then graded me to 3rd Dan at the end of the year after being in the BJA 8 months I won the National Trials. The recognition of Coaching award and Grades I suggest is standard I would not let anyone in the IBF without checking their standards.
So what will my club gain by being members of the BJA:
1) Member of the governing body
2) Access to all their events
3) Access to the UKCC
4) Contest Grades having the ability to get above 3rd Dan without having to leave the IBF or travel to Holland for gradings
What will the BJA gain from us?
1) All our Dan grades have a very high knowledge of Kata
2) More members
3) Proof that Judo can be unified
4) Expertise in other forms of Jacket Grappling
My club has organised a BJA Coaching and Grading Valuation in December and my son John and some of my other contest grades will be going to Budokwai end of October to get their grades confirmed and if they are good enough may even go higher. So my club has given the BJA a chance I would suggest others do the same.
Will I be attending the Course NO, will I go for grade recognition NO, this is not for any spiteful reason but as I have been doing Judo for 50 years in 2007, as I have been a Professional Coach since 1971 I do not think I need to be assessed my record speaks for itself. More importantly there are still people in the BJA who would object to my grade recognition and this could stand in the way of unification, it is my younger players who will take us forward.
Martin Clarke
Over recent months there has been a lot of talk, letter, articles etc about the United Kingdom Coaching Certificate and the enforcement of every Judo Coach to have a UKCC by 2012. As In have said in the past as a country that believes in freedom I would normally have doubts about this ever happening but we have a New Labour government which does not believe in civil liberties and European Union which wishes to totally dominate and control our personal lives, so the possibility of UKCC by compulsion may not be so remote. My understanding of the UKCC is that it is not specific to any individual sport but a Certificate of Coaching; on completion you then go to your individual sport for level of competence. This concept could have been taken straight from The International Budo Federations Coaching Effective Programme, developed by 25 years ago by Martin Clarke and Geoff Gleeson. So I have no problems with the idea. I do question whether making it a legal requirement is right apart from the personal liberty factor, although I expect this government will turn round and say it is to do with the prevention of terrorism! It could lead to a dramatic loss of Judo Coaches and clubs. Many Judo Coaches will feel aggrieved that for many years they have coached given many years to help others only be told they are no longer competent, as with most things that are a legal requirement it will be costly to obtain how many clubs or coaches will be able to afford the cost?
The BJA has taken the blame for this but in reality it is a Government edict as the BJA are the governing body they will be required to implement the Judo section of the UKCC. So we now have a campaign to “Save British Judo” in the past I would be the first on the barricades but things have moved on since the days of Charlie Palmer former chairman of the BJA. So when the BJA through Dermott Hyslop contacted me and suggested we have meet I thought why not and I am glad I did. Dermott sat down for several hours explaining all they various concepts of the BJA and their hopes for the future which I have to admit were very exciting, he returned on one of our club nights to explain to our club coaches. The most important questions all my instructors wanted to know would we lose our identity answer NO, membership to the International Budo Federation is very important to us not only do we do Judo but we also practise many other Martial Arts and grappling sports, so would we have to give up the IBF answer NO, Could we still run IBF events answer YES.
So the most important things were not lost, yes coaches would have to attend a Coaching Course not re exam us but to show us what the BJA coaching system is and to show the differences in our view of the GOKYO, there will be a need for a validation of grades but unlike the past there would be a fair appraisal, In the 70’s I wish to try for the Olympics to do this I had to join the BJA, to enter the British Open which was my first test I had to be a Dan grade. The Charlie Palmer cabal refused to recognise my BJC 4th Dan telling me I was only worth a 1st Dan expecting me not enter I did and came 5th they then graded me to 3rd Dan at the end of the year after being in the BJA 8 months I won the National Trials. The recognition of Coaching award and Grades I suggest is standard I would not let anyone in the IBF without checking their standards.
So what will my club gain by being members of the BJA:
1) Member of the governing body
2) Access to all their events
3) Access to the UKCC
4) Contest Grades having the ability to get above 3rd Dan without having to leave the IBF or travel to Holland for gradings
What will the BJA gain from us?
1) All our Dan grades have a very high knowledge of Kata
2) More members
3) Proof that Judo can be unified
4) Expertise in other forms of Jacket Grappling
My club has organised a BJA Coaching and Grading Valuation in December and my son John and some of my other contest grades will be going to Budokwai end of October to get their grades confirmed and if they are good enough may even go higher. So my club has given the BJA a chance I would suggest others do the same.
Will I be attending the Course NO, will I go for grade recognition NO, this is not for any spiteful reason but as I have been doing Judo for 50 years in 2007, as I have been a Professional Coach since 1971 I do not think I need to be assessed my record speaks for itself. More importantly there are still people in the BJA who would object to my grade recognition and this could stand in the way of unification, it is my younger players who will take us forward.
Martin Clarke
Friday, September 22, 2006
Welcome
This is an introduction to CombatArts I hope it will create some discussion between those who participate in CombatArts. My own expertise is in Judo, Sombo, CombatSombo, Belt Wrestling, Kurash and Jiu Jitsu plus i have an interest in all styles of Folk wrestling. for this blog to work it needs you to interact
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)