I write this just before departing for the World Judo Championships in Rotterdam and the 6th Judo Research Symposium.

In Rotterdam at the Symposium I shall be presenting my Research poster on the use of Attack rate as a predictor of victory in Judo competitions. It was completed as part of my BSc (which is you read this blog you will be aware of).

As is my way, I want to share the work I am presenting online, so I have thrown a page together which has the research and so forth. It includes my full research project, the poster, the raw data and even the software that I used to do the notation... well the source code anyway, it's Perl so should run on any type of PC (Mac/Windoze/Linux).

My research page: http://www.judocoach.com/research2009.html

I shall be twittering and blogging from Rotterdam and we have started using the #judowc09 hashtag on Twitter and also judowc09 on Flickr for photos. Both have been added to PlanetJudo.com so you should see them pop up there.

I am also taking a little recording hardware so I can hopefully get some podcast material collected whilst there... we shall see.

If you are going to be in Rotterdam, please do drop me an email ( lw@judocoach.com ) and lets meet up!

Lance

On Friday 21st August Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa will host the first ever judo ashes.

This will be a team event between the Australian 2009 World Judo Team and fighters from Camberley Judo Club including four times European champion Karina Bryant.

The evening will be a mixture of judo contests, displays and for all sport lovers it is an event not to be missed. The evening will feature a champagne reception and gala dinner.

All proceeds will go the charitable trust-Surrey Going for Gold.

Contact ssheppard@exclusivehotels.co.uk to book your table.


Be sure to check out the new Camberley Judo Club Website too at http://www.camberleyjudo.co.uk/ and follow Luke Preston on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/LukePreston_CJC ) and join the Facebook Group.

The url to the facebook event for the dinner is: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100658613561

Thoughts?

The video below is from the good folks at the University of Auckland Judo Club in my home New Zealand. It is the Final of a team event held recently.

I'd like you to watch it and post in the comments (or perhaps via email to lw@judocoach.com ) your reactions to it.



Personally, I have to say that THIS is what Judo contests should be like. Everyone in that room is engaged and loving every second of the match. Obviously they are not following the IJF ruleset, else Ben would not be on with Alaister for a start. Also no safety area, but as I commented to someone only "who needs a safety area when you have spectators".

The match is hard fought and passions boil over at times. But it's compelling viewing and in the end the spirit of Judo is maintained is it not? The two players fight long and hard and everyone is mates afterwards. Beers I am sure were shared afterwards, and judging by the guy matside drinking, during too.

For me it was nice also to see so many old faces, another push for me to go home. :-)

But please watch and tell me what you think of the match. Is it "a disgrace" or "brilliant". is it "against the spirit" or is it the very "essence" of Judo?

Lance

Thanks to www.judokong.com for posting the video and having the most fun Judo blog online. :-)