May 25th 2018, is a key date that every national programme has a huge red entry on the calendar.

Why?

Because the 25th of May 2018 is the day that qualification begins for the Tokyo2020 Olympic Judo competition.

The qualification period then ends on May 24th 2020, at which point we will know who will be competing at the biggest Judo event in history.

Qualification is also being used for the new Olympic Judo Team event, so teams wanting to win a medal in that will need to ensure they have enough athletes qualified to make a team entry viable.

There will be a little under 400 Judo athletes in Tokyo and as we have seen in previous games; the ranking list position is key.

Unlike previous years, the top 18 men and top 18 women are direct qualified, then the continental quotas, then "wildcards".

And again, the host nation Japan gets 14 athletes. The past three Olympics have different dynamics for the qualification as a result.

For London2012, the hosts benefited immensely by the 14 host spots in terms of getting athletes into the event. Brazil for the Rio2016 games were a strong Judo nation, but not as much of a powerhouse as Japan.

Japan will be able to enter 14 athletes, no matter where they rank. So it will be interesting to see what athletes compete where and how often in the qualification period.

As with other cycles, it will be a fascinating 2 years, with every win being vital and positioning around that 18th spot hotly contested as we get closer and closer to the games.

For Judo addicts like us (if you are reading this, I'm assuming your are a voracious Judo reader) this is a special time, every event has importance and can be hotly debated and explored.

To all the athletes is the WRL, I want to wish you all the best of luck! I look forward to watching all of you in the run up to Tokyo2020.


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Extra reading:

Tokyo 2020 Qualification Rules via the new IJF website.

Recently the Judo community gained not one; but two podcasts! Which is pretty awesome as my podcast (started in 2006) faded out.
So two new podcasts have come into existence and that is amazing. And they are both different and special (and far better produced) than mine ever was.

So Go and listen to https://judodaveroman.podbean.com/

and https://www.originaljudopod.com/

What has also been interesting is seeing the support these two new members of the Judo online community have gained. Hans from http://www.judoinside.com/ for example has joined the fun and sent some "merch" to Dave Roman.

In the plain text universe,
http://www.judofan.com/ has joined the ranks over at http://planetjudo.com/english/ and apparently it has really helped grow his audience!
I for one have been loving the "scoops" the site is giving the English speaking world from Japan.

This week has been an interesting one for me as a Judo coach.

This week at the club we started going through the Gokyo technique by technique once again (we have done it before in the club).

What is really interesting about going through the Gokyo in this way is that it forces me as a coach to re-examine each technique and work through them with the participants in the sessions.

As I have to do it with techniques I know it is interesting to discover new things from my preparations for each session. Specifically, exploring things like the exact wording in the Kodokan Judo book and getting everyone in the class to do it as the book describes it.

Doing this has really highlighted some of the "received knowledge" I have of waza. By which I mean, sometimes the way I do and or teach a technique does not match with the description in the book.

Judo is wonderful in the way that there are multiple different solutions to the "how do I throw" problem. Even when using the same "technique".

De ashi barai for example can be done with tori stepping forwards, or backwards. Then there is the rotating version. We can attack the front foot or the trailing foot. It has been really interesting to explore the variations.

On Wednesday evening, I had the chance to have a long and enjoyable evening exploring a variety of Judo topics at a colleagues home. We talked around a variety of topics and specifically elite programme creation, design, maintenance and measurement.

This was great as it's the sort of conversation I don't often get to have in the UK. I have them sometimes whilst away internationally but not often here, well at least not since I graduate University of Bath.

This Sunday, I started our club learning the Kaeshi no kata. Again this proved really educational. I have never formally studied this kata, so we are learning it together with me mainly guiding the practice rather than teaching how it should be done.

Preparing for the session was as educational as participating. I learnt a little about the history of this kata (non-kata in some descriptions) and even a little about the dissemination of Judo internationally as I discovered this very British kata in a video by a coach in my native New Zealand.

This upcoming week we shall continue to explore the Gokyo and Kaeshi no kata; as well as doing randori. At the moment it feels like the balance between practical learning by doing (randori) and technical learning (Gokyo and Kata) is about right.

I look forward to what I will learn this week as well as observing what the participants in the sessions learn.

This week at the club I was speaking with the students about how sometimes in Judo we coaches over coach.

What I meant was the idea that as a Judo coach, we spend a lot of time teaching people specific techniques. Where as maybe we should be spending more time helping people learn how to do Judo.

Specifically on Thursday we were doing ne-waza and turnovers from when your partner is defending in a facedown flat on the ground position. Rather than teach specific turnovers into specific osaekomi, kansetsu or shime waza; we talked about principles and strategies; then the group went off and practiced.

To give context, one example was simply to say that if you can get your opponents elbow away from their side you have a lever to work with. And then "Off you go....".

As coaches we can easily just show a specific turnover into a osae komi. Then get the participants to repeat. Then the coach can walk around and correct mistakes; then teach another waza and repeat the process.

However, this means that the participants learn only what I show. And I had better be teaching waza that works for everyone in the session. WHich is hugely unlikely given the physical differences and experience and ability levels.

The alternative is that we reduce our input and allow the participants to discover their own methods that work. This is something that is interesting as some will learn faster this way and may learn techniques better and techniques best suited to themselves.
Or... they may not if they don't discover methods that work for them. Equally, they may learn better, but it might start slower.

More generally, I feel like most of us Judo coaches are over doing the teaching and talking (I know I talk way too much). I suspect that we run the sessions two tightly. Perhaps a side effect of the very structured coaching methodologies taught by national federations?

Perhaps as coaches we need to start measuring the amount of time we spend coaching, teaching and talking. Then perhaps we can have an insight into if we have the balance right.

I say balance as I do think in Judo coaching we do need not just the open "learn by doing" with the instructing specifics. But what I am not so confident about is the percentages of how much of each we should be doing as coaches.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion, either as a player or coach. Do you think coaches are providing a balance? Have you noticed sessions that are open learning and others that are more instructor lead technique learning?

Lance.
lw@judocoach.com

Hello everyone and welcome to 2017!

2016 is over and what a mixed year it was. Both some highs some very low lows.

For me in 2016, we saw the BJA descend even lower after the loss of the European Judo Championships. It has continued to fail to address the serious governance issues suitably.

For those who have not been keeping up to date, the BritishJudo organisation made some terrible decisions in regard to sponsorship deals with the UFC for the European Championships. This caused the cancellation of the championships and was found via an independant report commissioned by BritishJudo and UKSport to be primarily the fault of the (now) former chair Kerrith Brown and the (still) CEO Andrew Scouler. The committee formed to oversee the event chaired by the (now acting) chair Ronnie Saez was also heavily criticized.

Since the loss in 2015, the BJA has steadfastly refused to communicate with the membership about the problems, nor to follow the recommendations given by the report.

In 2016 enough information was able to be shared that a number of clubs (approximately 30) formed along with a larger number of license holders an organisation that attempted to make the BJA respond to the clear issues.

As a member of this group, I popped my head above the parapet and even ended up attending a meeting with the BJA board to try and get some action. This meeting came after repeated less serious attempts; and following a decision by a group of clubs to propose resolutions for the AGM to remove all the board members of the association as they felt that the association deserved the opportunity to discuss the issues and decide if the board members had done enough.

Unfortunately, the result of the meeting was very negative. After what was initially a very combative start, the real discussion started. This ended in a positive reaction; however ended negatively when the chair rather than carrying on the positive; decided to revert to form and posted a report on the meeting in which several inaccurate statements were made. And the one resolution actually put forward was not accepted for the AGM.

Obviously this was infuriating for me and resulted in my decision that unless the CEO and Chair go I shan't be able to work with the BJA.

Since then, little has changed. Their is some governance changes coming; forced upon the BJA by UKSport. Hopefully UKSport is able to extricate the BJA from the mess the BJA leadership has created and extended for so long.

To date, the BJA has only ever said that all is well, that they did no wrong and has yet to acknowledge the damage they have done to the lives, dreams and careers of too many. The board sit in their isolation and have yet to as much as apologise let alone take any responsibility for their failings.

But hey... why worry about little things like integrity when you can be a board member and sit on a board that damages the association whilst being under the misunderstanding it is part of the solution.

As we go into 2017, the BJA persists with it's performance programme that insists that athletes relocate to Walsall. Where they have no record of success and away from places like Camberley and Edinburgh where Olympic success has come from.

Funding in 2016 was a joke and we can expect despite the continued amazing funding from UKSport that the BJA will plead poverty due to spending money on everything except the talent.
More investment is flawed and proven to fail programmes and procedures and staff and continued failing to listen to the athletes and their coaches.

But 2017 is not a year for pessimism.

2017 is the year where the athletes, coaches, license holders and clubs I hope will realise that the BJA needs them... not the other way around.

My sincere hope is that players have the courage to do what is best for them NOT what is best for the BJA board.

I hope that clubs will realise that the BJA is there to serve them, not to command them. That they are the owners of the BJA; not "workforce". That they realise that membership is optional and that they consider seriously if the BJA is worth the time, energy and money they pour into it.

I hope everyone realises that Walsall and Loughborough are NOT the BJA. They are "BritishJudo" and they should be replaced. That the BJA is the clubs and license holders that should have been served by BritishJudo.

I hope that the area and county organisations wake up and realise they have power to act properly and do not have to tow the company line. Too many in 2016 followed the BJA lead and did nothing or accepted the BJA position with no investigation let alone real explanation.

Clubs need to appreciate that they own the association and that the board and the staff report ultimately to them. That their club voice is important. That they should and in fact have an obligation to ensure the BritishJudo acts in the interests of Judo.

The athletes I hope manage to succeed despite the system as they have done to date. I hope as they are now outside of qualification they use that effectively to decrease the leverage the BritishJudo programmes have on them and that they are able to get their situations improved prior to Olympic qualification starting.

Most of all I hope that a virus of caring spreads through the BJA.

This year I hope that I shall have the energy to work in the EJU and IJF more than in 2016 where the internal struggles in the BJA had a detrimental effect on my life in so many ways.

The IJF and EJU are hugely positive groups of people. It frustrates me immensely that BritishJudo is so different and disconnected from these organisations. At times it has actively been working against them and that is ridiculous. Perhaps 2017 is the year when the BJA starts to learn from the EJU and IJF and to grow in the way the EJU and IJF have.

We shall see...