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