21 times World/European Masters Champion.
19th June 2012.
Simply Judo gripping (Coaching notes).
Part One – Basic.
Part Two – Intermediate.
Part Three – Advanced.
Part Four – Summary.
Coaching Notes
Part One - Basic
(a) Lesson objective – the theory and
practice of gripping
The need to appreciate some of the theory
from which the practical side of gripping is based.
(b) Role of gripping within judo.
Gripping is essential (fail to grip properly
and you will be disqualified in a contest by the referee) and desirable
(gripping can contribute up to 70% of the success of as throw).
(c) Definitions – Gripping (Simple version).
Gripping – it is a specific judo skill involved in tactics.
Gripping – is how you use your hands in standing judo to secure and maintain
contact and control over your opponent.
(d) Definition – Gripping (Advanced version).
Gripping – is the use of the hands, arms and head in standing judo for the
purposes of contact, control, technical link to throws, sensing weaknesses and
strength as well as alerting you to the actions and reactions of your
opponents. Judo is a dynamic activity and as a consequence the act of gripping
also involves considerations of balance, space between players, posture,
stance, movement patterns and pace.
Note (a) – gripping in standing judo is also
used to apply both elbow locks and strangles although very few contest are won
with these techniques used in a standing position.
Note (b) – Ne-waza is considered separately
and is not part of standing gripping. Transition – the action of changing from
standing judo into ne-waza will be included in gripping.
(e) Comment – in terms of definitions and
classification it can be said that gripping is part of tactics.
JUDO TACTICS – The conscious selection of
various choices from the total options available to a player on how to use his
body and effort in order to achieve specific objectives in randori and
competition such as win, draw or minimise the impact of a loss.
In order to avoid confusion it is necessary
to define strategy.
Definitions
Two similar ideas – so do not get confused
between them.
(a). Strategy – the overall plan or method of
winning a war
(b) Tactics – what you do to win a single
battle.
(f) Comment – the current IJF competition
rules determine what is allowed and what is not allowed in gripping.
Example – you must take a grip on your
opponent!
Example – you cannot hold the opponent’s belt
for ‘more than 5 seconds’!
Rules – you should not, and must not, take part in a contest unless and until
you know the current competition rules.
Rules interpretation – you need to understand that it is the referee supported normally by
two judges that interpret the rules according to what they see on the mat in
the contest in real time. They sometimes make mistakes (we all do) and
sometimes a Chief Referee will become involved and their judgement (often with
video playback) can help to determine the interpretation.
The grip itself – an individual grip involves at the very least some form of contact
with your opponent’s jacket, body or belt. Something beyond a light touch would
be acceptable. However, what is more normal is the hand being used to hold on
to or grasp your opponent or the hand used as an open palm to hold, push or
pull your opponent. Your grip should be both secure in order that you don’t
release involuntarily under pressure and not too far away from your own centre
of gravity as to cause you to off balance.
Set of grips – the right and left hands can be used together in the form of a set of
way of gripping. One hand might act as a strong connection to the opponent for
holding, bending, blocking etc while the other hand might be used primarily to
turn or rotate your opponent onto his back during a throwing attempt.
Right hand grips – when a player uses his right hand as the strong controlling hand and
his left hand more as a support.
Left hand grips – when a player uses his left hand as the strong controlling hand and
his right hand more as a support.
Different ways to grip – some grips involve squeezing the jacket or wrapping tightly around
the opponent’s wrist for example while other grips might be quite loose, hanging
on the jacket sleeve or hooked on to his belt. There are many ways to apply
grips.
Targets – the jacket above the belt, the body (but not to be used as direct leg
catches) and the belt.
Basic system – the fundamental gripping system involves grip taking and grip
breaking.
Grip taking – the action of securing a grip on your opponent. Aspects such as
getting the grip, improving the value and using the grip.
Grip breaking – the action of delaying, avoiding, reducing the value of and partially
or completely breaking of an opponent’s grip.
Preferred grip – This is a useful and practical way of thinking about gripping. The
grip set that you prefer and adopt most frequently because you have already
found it to be the most comfortable or successful for your type of judo (in
technical and tactical terms).
Grip value – depending on what ‘tasks’ you can perform with a particular grip it
could be considered a low or high in value. This important theoretical concept
has great tactical value in that you can use your high value grip but you
should consider releasing or raising the value (potential) benefit of that
other grip from low to high. Remember it has been alleged that “gripping can
contribute up to 70% of the success of as throw”.
Timing – there are four distinct aspects to timing of grips
(a) Real time – gripping immediately or
delaying taking a grip
(b) Speed of actual hand movement when taking
a grip
(c) Sequence of gripping for example right
hand grips first followed by the left hand or vice versa.
(d) Short duration and longer duration grips.
Although we are generally talking here in terms of seconds this can and will
make a difference during a contest.
Part Two – Intermediate level
The competition environment - the sort of words that are appropriate here are;
Opponent, referee, judges, timekeepers,
recorders, audience, noise, pressure, stress, physical confrontation, target to
win the contest, scores, penalties, rules, mat allocation, blue belt or white
belt, announcer, competition schedule, competition elimination system, warm up
area, contest duration etc
The contest environment is very dynamic –
changing all the time.
Purpose of gripping;
- Conform to current judo competition rules
- Have contact with your opponent
- Control your opponent and at the same
time to stop him from controlling you
- Sense/or feel his strengths and weaknesses
- Early warning of his intended actions/reactions
- Make a technical/physical link for throwing skills and transition
into ne-waza.
- Allow you to carry out tasks i.e. turning him, blocking, pushing,
pulling etc
Methods for grip taking
- Quickly or slowly
- Strongly or normally
- Directly or indirectly
Different grips sets that can be
used
- Right sided
- Left sided
- Cross gripping
- Central two handed gripping (lapels or wrists)
- Gripping behind the jacket etc, etc, etc
- Belt grip
- Triceps grips
- Etc
Work rate
Simply a measure of exactly how much physical
and mental effort you put into your gripping in a contest environment. This
type of idea allows you use it as an analytical tool meaning that you can make
judgements and maybe use it to influence the current amount of effort that you
make an encourage you to ‘raise your game’.
Balance
Due to the very nature of a judo fight
players will often be in an unstable situation and either slightly off balance
or potentially about to be off balance. The reaction is constant adjustments to
retain the essential stability. This aspect is where a good understanding of
space between players, posture, stance, movement patterns and pace becomes
necessary.
Pure mathematics in gripping
The simple logic to apply is as follows:
If you have one grip and he has none then
maybe you have an advantage.
If you have two grips and he has none then
maybe you have an advantage.
If you have two grips and he only has one
then maybe you have an advantage.
Tactical flexibility
In relation to gripping it is the ability
(usually under pressure) to change what you are currently doing to do something
different (hopefully something that is likely to be more successful).
Tasks that you can perform with
your grips
- Use them when attacking your opponent
- Use them when defending against opponent’s attacks
- Pull him
- Push him
- Lower his body posture
- Raise his body posture
- Turn him (to the left or to the right)
- Move him about the mat – to create attack opportunities
- Move him (posture, balance, stance, and pace) to help your defence.
- Confuse him tactically – flicks, sudden turns, feints etc
- Attrition – wear him down with lots of effort.
Notes
1. Different throws may require you to grip
in a particular way.
2. The real value of a grip is in the task
that it can do – if it is not effective then be prepared to change it to a
better grip.
3. Good grips can contribute to 70% of the
success of a throw.
4. Tactical advice – always take and keep the
initiative in grip fighting.
5. Your grips should always be working/active
– but this does not mean a need to constantly change or even adjust a grip as
the contest progresses.
6. Grip domination is the key to consistent
success in competition.
7. A ‘dangerous’ grip is any grip, anywhere
and at any time that is giving a good advantage to your opponent.
8. A grip does not require you to ‘squeeze
tight’ in order to retain contact with your opponent.
9. There are only really five - ways to
develop a good gripping standard – (a) understand the theory (b) study
including www.judovision.com and Youtube – just type in ‘judo
gripping’(c) lots of frequent and regular appropriate practice (d) feedback
from your own competition experience and watching other players fight
(especially at international level – British Open etc).
10. Do not over-focus on gripping skill as they
are only the means to an end in judo. The end itself is to win the fight and
not to show off how wonderful or dominant your gripping has become.
11. They are many different types of grip
taking techniques.
12. There are many different types of grip
breaking techniques.
13. HORRIBLE FACT – No one really knows why
but the skill of gripping is often acknowledged not as a secret or dark art but
simply as the most neglected part of basic and advanced judo instruction.
Example (a) ask any judo player to tell you just how much grip coaching he/she
have received and (b) there has only been one book dedicated to gripping so far
in English and it was written over 20 years ago!
14. It is the responsibility of your coach to
teach you gripping skills! So, talk to them about it.
Part Three – ADVANCED
In this section the main area of study is
divided into four;
Grip taking techniques
Example
Using a cross grip with your right hand to
catch and then feed a grip on your opponent’s right cuff to your left hand.
Grip breaking techniques
Example
Quick, fast and strong withdraw backwards
towards the side of your body of your whole right arm in order to create a
total release of your opponent’s grip on that right arm. Possibly but not
necessarily simultaneously using your left hand to fix his right arm in place
thus blocking him from moving his in the same direction as your grip breaking
action.
Transition
Example
Using the power of your hands/arms to
continue to push him as he hits the mat as if to ‘roll him out’ thus often
enhancing the level of score awarded but also creating a better opening and
opportunity to follow him down into ne-waza.
Gripping style
Example
This is a definition of gripping style, an
analysis of different styles and their significance in a tactical sense of the
implications of someone tending to adopt and use the same style often linked to
their particular choice of throwing techniques.
Gripping tactics
Examples
Basic Tactics
Try to get your preferred grips but
don’t allow your opponent to settle with his grips.
Avoid,
delay, reduce the value of or break any ‘dangerous’ grips
Part Four – Summary
References
DVD Jeon, Korean Judo Master
DVD Kosei Inoue – the judoka
DVD Jimmy Pedro – Grip like a World Champion
DVD Frank
Weniker - Gripping
Magazine – Judo (official FFJDA french
monthly)
Grips. Neil Adams (1990) The Crowood Press ISBN 185223 3869
DVD - BJA Masterclass Makarov
Your coach – talk with him.
Talk with any top competition player –
everyone likes to be ask to give advice. It makes them feel worthwhile and
valued. Just ask them whatever you want to know.
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