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.
[I was sending Jeff a recap of Wednesday's class and thought what the heck, I'll put it on the blog, with minor edits.]
Numerous crowd-pleasing throws for ippon.
G's tai-otoshi has gotten noticeably better. The extended leg is springier, not so much straight out like a stick. He was throwing R around pretty often, and R is no pushover. I mentioned the improvement to G and he said he got it from I, in particular the ouchi-gari as a setup. It doesn't have to be a serious ouchi-gari; a threat will do. He said the best thing to improve one's tai-otoshi would be to watch tapes of I and MC.
Y caught O with, I believe, a kouchi-gari and landed him flat on his back. He also got EK with a perfect seoi-nage — I think it was morote — complete with that moment of flailing by uke trying not to go over. Y got applause for one of those throws; I forget which.
M got D with a hard harai-goshi. D got him back with something shortly thereafter. I feared one of those two delicate persons might have been harmed in the exchange. Miraculously, they were okay.
Of course I was too polite to mention this at the dojo, but I find it very inconsiderate that people are improving in my absence. Don't they realize how hard this makes it for me to throw them? It's bad enough that they improve when I'm there.
Sensei Carl Hayes, in Tallahassee, FL, recently posted this to the JudoList mailing list:
Kids love trophies.
I have discovered that it is easy to get donations of old trophies that people have had on their shelves forever. These, however, are seldom Judo trophies. They have figurines on top, specific to various sports such as baseball, golf, bowling. To make a Judo trophy that I can give to a kid in my dojo, I have to replace the figurine on top with a Judo figurine. Then I have to replace the engraved plate that is affixed usually to the base.
I am about to receive, as a gift, an engraving machine, so I can make new engraved plates to attach, but I need a source for Judo figurines to go on top of the trophies. Haven't found a vendor. Anyone have a source? Anyone have extras to give away? Anyone want to sell, or trade?
It's a shame I didn't know about Sensei Hayes last year during the dojo move. We cleared out boxes and boxes of trophies that had accumulated over 30+ years. Well, we'll know better 30 years from now if we have to move again.
If any of you folks have old judo trophies gathering dust, let me know and either I can put you in touch with Sensei Hayes or I can send him the figurines myself. Or if you know a local dojo with a similar need, perhaps you can help them out.
I wonder myself where those figurines come from. Surely someone must still make them — ideally at a reasonable cost?
I was happy to send my own modest collection. It was a small favor to do for a guy who's willing to take the trouble to make kids happy.
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.
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.
Yonah posted a nice piece about Ronda Rousey, who took silver at the 2007 Kano Cup in Tokyo, despite an injury from an earlier match. Ronda's blog has video of her finals match, as well as matches from other tournaments.
From a link on Ronda's blog I see that her mom, former world champion AnnMaria De Mars, also has an interesting judo blog.
On Sunday I discovered that all books at Kinokuniya are 50% off until the end of the year. Kinokuniya is a really nice Japanese bookstore at 10 West 49th, just west of 5th Ave. They have books in Japanese and English, including a martial arts section with a subsection dedicated to judo.
I stumbled in because I was in the neighborhood and remembered I'd been meaning to check the place out. Lucky me! I picked up three Masterclass books and a kata book.
The store is moving to 1073 6th Ave., between 40th and 41st, after 25 years at the old location. I heard a clerk say this was because of insane rents, and that the new location is already open (presumably without the 50% discount). Based on my experience on Sunday, and the glowing comments here, I look forward to checking the new place out.
