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Showing posts from October, 2009

Rule changes in action at the Junior Worlds

Last Janurary, the IJF made some rather large changes to the rules of Judo. As of last New Year's day, they abolished the score of Koka and it's corresponding first Shido became a warning - which only has value in a referees decision if the score is tied. They also banned grabbing the pant leg directly from 'Hajime' - you could grab the legs, but only after attempting to take a standard grip. The IJF - seemingly no fan of throws where the leg is grabbed - also decided to experiment with banning leg grabbing altogether - using the Junior World Championships as a testing grounds. The new rule would give you a warning for the first infraction and disqualification for the second one. When this rule change first came out, I ranted a bit about it, especially because of the ambiguity of the language. For example, while it was very clear that you couldn't initiate an attack with a leg grab, it wasn't clear if you were able to use a leg grab as part of a counter - For

Fushida Gear Bag - First Impressions

I finally capitulated and bought a new gear bag - the old one, was literally falling apart after 5 years of use. The folks at Fushida had a limited 25% off sale advertisted on Twitter that I took advantage of. (as I write this, the bag is still at an introductory 15% on their site ) I was torn between the "Medium" and "Large" sizes, and I opted for the "Medium" - truthfully, they should really be called "Large" and "Extra-Large". I was able to easily put both of my two Gis (A Blue and a White Toraki Silver, size 4.5) with enough room for my sons gi - which doesn't include all of the side pockets. All told, it seems like a solid, sturdy bag. I'll follow up with more info once I use it a bit more.

The last couple of weeks

The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I have been really consistent in attending practice. Our Wednesday night practices have been getting good crowds, and I am getting a lot of good work in. Especially in Randori and Ne-Waza Randori. Our Monday nights have been a little weaker, only handful of students show up, but I have been doing my best to make the most of it. I've been getting a lot of Nage-No-Kata practice in, and learning a lot by teaching some of the beginners that show up. Because all of the Jewish Holidays are on Sunday this year, my son has missed a lot of time at the kids' class. Thankfully he is back now, but because of logistics, I myself have been missing my time on the mat with him. I enjoy watching him learn and helping out him and his friends. Of course, this is all anticlimactic, except for one of the most important and sad events in my Judo career - Sensei Jesse Wang - one of the senior black belts in our club, passed away last Wednesday. Je