JudoNotes

Seems like only yesterday I was waxing nostalgic about Sensei Dave Williams while at the same time believing in my heart he'd be teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays forever.

The fact is, there is no "forever". Dave and Anne are moving to Florida, and tonight — in just a few minutes — Dave will be teaching his last class at Oishi. I'll be there, sorely regretting that I didn't come more when I could.

On July 11 Sensei Andy hosted a farewell party. Here's a Flickr set with some photos. If you're on Facebook, Thomi Lee posted some there as well.

Please join me in wishing Dave and Anne the very best. Maybe take a moment to "look for Marius's friends" tonight. (If you've ever been a Tuesday/Thursday regular, you'll know what that means.) And remember, "Bikini weather's coming."

[UPDATE: Yotam posted some excellent photos as well. See the link in his comment below.]

Click the fish:

There's an article about Oishi Judo in the August 1 issue of Chopsticks NY. I love the title: "Oishi Judo – The Anti Fight Club."

There are some nice observations in the article, like this:

[I]f you take this kind of approach to viewing two judo-ka (judo practitioners) interacting, you will see how it is more like a dance – two partners treading the mat together, reading each other’s balance until one of them finds the right moment to strike.

I'm reminded of a moment one night when Sensei was playing a white belt who was nervous and tense. To help him relax, Sensei told him to think of randori not like fighting, but like tennis — just two people literally playing. I've always liked that. In judo, like in tennis, you're trying to manipulate the other person and throw them off balance with footwork and feints. Tennis is competitive intimacy at a distance. Judo takes away the distance.

I've tried to use the tennis analogy to explain judo to non-judoka, without much success. I guess it's something you can't explain by telling. You have to play the person and show by example, like Sensei did.

The Chopsticks article mentions a video on the Oishi web site. I assume it's this one, which is one of my favorites.

Thanks to Alex Hon, who posted this on Facebook.

Reminder: Oishi Judo will be closed on Monday, May 31st for Memorial Day.

Quick notes for now, photos and video later.

Dojo tournament. We had a great turnout on Saturday, including guests from Five Points, where Kevin McGrath is Director of Personal Training and a judo instructor. I got to see some fine players from Oishi's day classes, including a demo of ju-no-kata by two yellow belts which put the rest of us to shame. After the tournament several players, including those two yellow belts, received well-deserved promotions. I was particularly pleased to see Max and Ki receive green belt and yellow belt, respectively.

Hudson Athletic Fund Workout. This will be a monthly series of fundraising workouts at various locations. I went to the first of these workouts the Friday before last and had a good time. The next one will be on Friday April 16, at Tech Judo. Registration form here.

Upcoming tournaments. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is next weekend. The Senior Nationals will be in Myrtle Beach, SC on the weekend of May 1-2. Jeff will be competing; I don't know of anyone else.

Everyone from Oishi Judo passed their promotion tests yesterday:

• Arthur Zolotarevsky made shodan, with Will Heinrich as his uke.
• Milton Chacon made shodan, with Jeff Summa as his uke.
• Dan W made shodan, with Mike P as his uke.
• Sensei Dave Williams made sandan, with Jeff as his uke.

Matt Crane was on hand as an alternate uke and Paul Virtue provided moral support.

Congratulations to all! Group photos and two video clips below.

Thanks to Yotam for pointing out that John also made batsugan on Saturday, in the masters division.

I also neglected to upload Yotam's earlier fights. I'm doing that now and will add them to the playlist when YouTube is done processing them. [UPDATE: Done.]

Congratulations to Arthur on making batsugan on Saturday. I'll post videos later. We had a pretty good Oishi turnout.

Oishi Judo will be closed on Columbus Day, Monday, October 12th.

Congratulations to all Oishi players who competed in the 43rd East Coast Judo Championship on September 19. In addition to those listed below, Patrick Younan and Mike P also competed, and Arthur Zolotarevsky was on the sidelines shooting video.

Men Brown Belt

-161 2nd Place JEAN-EZRA YEUNG

-220 3rd Place DANIEL W

Men Black Belt

+220 3rd Place JOHNNY FAULKNER

MASTER (A)

-200 2nd Place MILTON CHACON

Here's Milton coming out of the turtle position to get osae-komi:

Unfortunately, I missed a big throw for ippon that Milton did. I was watching the wrong mat and didn't realize he was playing until I saw the throw out of the corner of my eye, just too late to catch it on video. Hate when that happens.

Here's a match well-played by Jean-Ezra: