JudoNotes

Thanks to Paul Virtue for iPhoning me these photos of Kevin passing the kata portion of his shodan test, with Shintaro Higashi as his uke. Congratulations, Kevin!

Belated congratulations to Alberto Botero on his promotion to yellow belt. I meant to post this on October 25, when this photo was taken.

Yotam has updated this series of photos from his stay in Japan.

He's also posted photos from this month's shiai at the Kodokan, including Thomi's win by osaekomi. Click the photo below to see that series. It must be quite a thrill to compete in that great hall.

[Click the photo to see the entire series.]

Here are Paul and Jeff a few minutes after Sensei gave Paul his black belt.

[Click the photo to go to the Flickr page]

Hearty congratulations to Reuben and Abigale, whose first child arrived on Tuesday, May 27 at 10:01 AM. Reuben writes:

Her name is Lucy Knapp Govender and she arrived very happily weighing in at solid 6 pounds 15 ounces (not sure if there is a Judo weight category for her !!!) and she measured 21 inches long which I am reliably informed is "tall" for a newborn. In any case, I promised Sensei and Barbara that I would bring pictures but it seems I will most likely not be at the dojo for a while until my wife and I get into some sort of non-sleep-deprived schedule.

Click below to see what a beauty she is:

Yotam posted some photos from the Kodokan's Spring Red and White Tournament. The "highlight" pictures are in the "Japan 2008" set, starting here and ending with this shot of Yotam and Thomi Lee (click the photo to see it on Flickr):

The whole "2008 Spring Kohaku-jiai (Red & White Tournament)" set is here. I almost feel like I was there.

Not only do my eyes play tricks on me; my brain never learns.

These stickers are in the window of a storefront on the way from my office to the dojo. Every time I walk by it, I think I see the word "KOGA", and I do a double take. Every time.

Paul and Stephanie after Paul's performance at the Hudson Promotionals.

My mother found these 30-year-old trophies when my parents moved last month.

In 1978 I apparently took third at the Yonkers YMCA Christmas tournament and second at the 12 Towns YMCA tournament.

I didn't stop there: in 1979 I took third at the Kennedy-King Judo Games, and second at the Eastern Queens YMCA Great Neck.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of those third place showings were in pools of three. I rarely won matches, although I always tried to play nice, stand-up judo.

I only remember throwing for ippon one time, using a left ippon-seoinage to left osotogari combination. The ref's call was disputed, but he said the other guy had landed on his scapula. I remember him using the word "scapula." That wasn't my only ippon, though; I'm pretty sure I got at least one by osaekomi.

I know I had one good tournament where Sensei Williams's son Chris beat me in the finals with a big, hard-won ippon after I was up a waza-ari. That day was by far the highlight of my illustrious tournament career.