JudoNotes

Here are highlights from the dojo tournament a couple of weeks ago. You can also see this at the dojo web site, which I've been making changes to here and there — it's still a work in progress.

Our dojo was used for a segment on Sinovision, which is a Chinese-language cable station. At the moment you can see it here. (I say "at the moment" because I don't know how long Sinovision keeps videos on their web site.) It's an introduction to judo for people who might be seeing the sport for the first time as they watch the Olympics. They also do a brief profile of Zhou Ai-Ming (aka Amy), whom I've seen in the dojo a couple of times but haven't met. She's working at the Olympics in Beijing.

There is a text version of the piece, with photos that aren't from the video. For those of you who don't speak Mandarin or read Chinese, here's the article translated to English by Google:

• page 1
• page 2
• page 3
• page 4

Note that the "Ai" in Zhou Ai-Ming's name means "love," which is why that word appears several times in the translation.

Congratulations to Paul Virtue and Jon Klein, who passed their shodan tests yesterday.

Here's a group photo after the results were announced:

[Click the photo to go to the Flickr page]

Here's a video of Paul's kata:

UPDATE: Sorry if you came looking for this and there was no text or video. A spammer managed to corrupt this post. It's fixed now.

Oishi Judo had a good turnout at yesterday's Hudson promotionals. Alex, Bob, Karim, Mars, Michael, Paul, Ron, Tom, and Yotam all competed.

Congratulations to Yotam Gingold, who advances to nikyu, and Paul Virtue, who is now a kata test away from shodan. Paul won six times in a row in the masters division, including five consecutive ippons.

Here are highlights, including ippons by Ron and Bob.

Update: Here are the matches that Yotam won, in their entirety:

SuperJudo.tv is a really nice judo instruction site that someone recommended on the JudoList mailing list. The site navigation is well designed, and the videos have good resolution (much better than YouTube) and good production quality with no fluff or fat. Sensei Leo White, a two-time Olympian, gives clear, high-quality instruction, and you can see how much he enjoys judo.

I appreciate the focus on us, the viewers. At the end of every video, Sensei White encourages us to submit our questions. There is also a "Community" area where we can upload our own videos.

Thus far the videos have been a little more about newaza than tachiwaza, which means Oishi players should feel right at home. That said, I hope to see more instruction on standing techniques in upcoming episodes.

Everyone played nicely at the dojo tournament on Saturday. Hisato got the most wins, and John Faulkner got an award for Throw of the Day. Below is a highlights video, which you can also view with a direct YouTube link. I'll post a couple of individual matches later. Also photos when I have a chance to go through them.

Congratulations to Oishi Judo's newest black belts.

Here are Nina and Tom's successful kata tests.

Paul Virtue and Milton Chacon were in the same division at the Tech Judo tournament today. Milton took first and Paul took third.

John Faulkner, a white belt from the day class, was there as well. I believe he had two matches and won both.

Here are the matches I got on video.

Paul and Milton:

Paul's second match — note the quick grab-and-go osotogari:

Paul's third match:

Unfortunately I didn't get either of John's matches. And I accidentally recorded over Milton's second match, which he won very quickly with a drop seoinage for ippon. Sorry, Milton! Trust me, it was a nice throw.

Many thanks to Tom Kagan for pointing out this short black-and-white film about the Canadian Olympian Doug Rogers. I found it fascinating and inspiring. The randori scene in the Budokan is incredible.

Judoka

Josef Reeve's 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary about Canadian judoka Doug Rogers, silver medalist in Judo (+100kg) at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Here are a few more matches from the promotionals on Saturday.

• Bob
• Paul 4
• Jason
• Jean-Ezra 1
• Jean-Ezra 2
• Jean-Ezra 3
• Nina 1
• Nina 3
• Germain 3