JudoNotes

Someone whose YouTube name is "Ippondo" posted a whole bunch of matches from the NY Open. Click here to see them. Click here to see the ippons (or at least the ones Ippondo described as "ippon").

Here are the women's matches from the New York Open yesterday. Most notable are matches 2 and 5.

This was the first time women have competed in this event.

The entire Japanese team visited Oishi Judo on Saturday. I'll post about that soon, and I'll be updating the dojo web site.

There will be no children's class on Sat. March 7. The adult class will be held 12:30-2pm.

Yotam took third at the Tech Judo "Super Bowl" tournament yesterday. I wasn't going to be there, but I changed my plans so I was able to attend. I took the bus out there with Yotam and my buds Rich and Seth from Five Points.

When it was all over I helped stack the mats, as I did last time I was there. I must be nuts because I actually enjoy that, though I imagine it gets less fun around the hundredth time. Maybe it just felt good to do something physical (not to mention helpful) after watching other people fight all day. I tend to carry heavy things on my left, so I made a mental note to try carrying the mats on my right side next time, not only for strength but coordination. Someday I may have to study the nage-no-kata, and I'll be glad I sort of practiced kata-guruma on both sides, even if my uke was a big rubber rectangle.

This was the first time I've been out to Tech Judo that I didn't have a ride back. When we got to the bus stop for the return trip, we realized we had over an hour wait for the next bus. As luck would have it, referee Lillian Tom walked by and noticed us standing there. She took us to a bus stop where we caught the 166/165 line, which runs much more frequently. Thanks, Lillian! Not only did this get us back to the city much quicker, the walk to the bus stop was like a mini-workout, though you'd hardly know it to see Yotam bounding up the hills.

On a side note, I've updated my directions to Tech Judo with more bits of information that I always forget, like the gate number and the zone number.

On another side note, I heard Tech Judo will have another tournament in four weeks, on March 1. Looking forward to it.

Here are Yotam's matches. Unfortunately I missed the first few seconds of his third match, when he scored a waza-ari.

A handful of unrelated notes:

• My legs felt like they had a little extra spring in them during today's practice. No idea why. I didn't work out all week except for last night, so my legs should have felt like lead this afternoon. Maybe going easy last night helped.
• When I see a demo of a technique from judo or any fighting art, and uke is smaller than tori, I have to resist the urge to discount the value of the demo. I think this is an understandable reaction, but it isn't entirely rational and I should judge the technique, the demo, and the demonstrators on their own merits.
• I think learning the foot sweep motion is like learning to dribble for a basketball player: you should be able to do it without looking. The movement should be so ingrained in your muscle memory that you can brush the mat with the side of your foot while looking straight ahead.
• There's a bunch of updates I'm supposed to do on oishi-judo.com, including a few tasks that have been slipping my mind for months. This weekend would be a good time to get them all off my plate.
• I was tempted to go watch the tournament at Tech Judo on February 1, even though I don't know of any Oishi players who are going. I think I'm addicted to the action and the atmosphere. But I'll be celebrating Chinese New Year's with family that day, so I'll have to miss the tournament.

Oishi Judo will be closed on Monday, January 19th.

Two Sunday tournaments coming up.

The Starrett Cup is on Sunday, January 18. Mail-in entries must be postmarked by tomorrow (January 10).

The Tech Judo Super Bowl Invitational is on Sunday, February 1.

Let me know if you're going.

It was great to see Germain as a shodan.

[UPDATE: Note that only the afternoon Seniors class will be held on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.]

Oishi Judo will be closed Christmas and New Year's Days.

Only the afternoon Seniors class will be held on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Saw this video in another great post by Lance Wicks, this time on Judo4Parents.

Although I don't have kids, I look forward to catching up on the Judo4Parents blog. It will be educational for me and will provide good food for thought about judo in general. I hold out hope that my 11-year-old nephew, who's been doing Shaolin kung fu for a few years and loves it, will someday give judo a try. His one-year-old sister could be a good grip-fighter some day, judging by the way she grabs the sleeve of my shirt.