Skip to main content

Zabgreb GP Day 1 - Israel's strong showing, American Hardware, IJF's improved experience

By
3 Mats, 3 Israelis competing
I captured an interesting moment earlier today during the Zagreb Grand Prix. As I watching the matches streamed on YouTube, There were 3 Israeli women competing simultaneously - poor Shani Hershko (the Israeli women's national coach). The commentators on the broadcast also spoke a bit about the rise of the Israeli Judo team of late, especially the Women. Unfortunately, the Israeli Women's team today didn't perform as well as we would hope - they finished just off of the medal round with two 7th place finishes, and a 5th (with a further two women being knocked out early). The men's team finished a bit better with Tal Flicker and Baruch Shmailov taking Gold and Bronze, respectively, in the Men's -66kg.

Overall, Israel has been progressively improving it's Judo, and unlike in the past where they may have had one or two competitors who had a chance at World or Olympic hardware (think Oren Smada, Yael Arad, Arik Ze'evi), they now have a handful of people who have a shot at a medal. Currently 6 Israelis rank in the top 10 of the world ranking and another 6 in the top 20 in their respective weight classes. Although the team suffered a loss when Yarden Gerbi retired, there are many more young women coming up through the ranks, eager to hear Hatikva from the podium.

In other Zagreb news, two Americans hit the podium - Angelica Delgado took home a bronze medal and Adonis Diaz took home the silver.

Finally, since I haven't posted about international competition in a while, I thought I'd take the opportunity to say how Much I am liking the new IJF Web/Video experience. Not only can you chose the mat to watch, but you can also see upcoming matches and the bracket as well. While the timing feature for matches isn't perfect (the occasional Ippon 10 seconds in throws it off), it's still pretty good. I also like that they link video of each match to the results, so I can search for a player and watch each of their individual fights. It makes following these international GP/GS tourneys a lot easier.

I also like the commentating. I don't know who's reading this blog, but if you work for the IJF, and can hook me up as a commentator - feel free to reach out :)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Catch-all Post for April

By
So I haven't posted anything in six weeks, and yet I still hope I have some loyal readers left. April has proven to be a busy month for me - I am about to switch jobs, and I took a two-week vacation as well. April was also a great month in Judo for me, as my Son passed his Yellow belt test. He also executed a picture perfect ippon seoinage in a 'Mock Shiai'. My wife, who seldom comes to practice, was very impressed. Although he'll be playing some baseball over the next few weeks, he will be coming back to Judo soon, and is excited about working towards his orange belt. The other day, we were at a family get-together, and one of his cousins was bullying him a bit, hitting him a couple of times. Mitch stepped in and was about to throw the kid with O-Uchi Gari just as my wife, the kids' mom, and I intervened. At first, I scolded him. But when I realized he was defending himself, I apologized, and told him that if that happens again, throw the kid, pin him and call for
4 comments
Read more

Social Media and Youtube

By
Not sure who is following this blog these days, but I have noticed that my pages get about 50-100 hits (I hope that there are a few real people and not just bots). I have also launched an instagram account as well - you can find me here - https://instagr.am/theroadtoshodan I have also been trying to get to watching some Judo videos on YouTube, a couple of channels that I like are: Dojo Outfitters -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT-lZUImP2-eOW6Y8GBCbhw  (they have a mix of Judo and JJ videos, but I find both sets useful). Efficient Judo -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1CsWk5MTssfFt6rb7CXKKA There is also a great instagram account from Israel that does these excellent matrix-style breakdowns for ground work -  https://www.instagram.com/timura_bjj/ All three are worth checking out, and please follow us on IG. Thanks for reading.
Post a Comment
Read more

1000 Words

By
They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words. The picture above (albeit a little blurry - I need a new phone) is of my brand new black belt.   Nearly 26 years ago, I registered for a college Karate class to fulfill my Physical Education requirement. The class didn't get enough people to register, and the Assistant AD asked if I'd try Judo instead, and the rest is history. I want to start off by thanking my 3 senseis - who helped train and educate me, and help me love this sport/art - Maureen Braziel, Shiro Oishi, and Katsuo Watanabe. I also want to thank the dozens of dojomates over the years. My teammates at Polytechnic U, my afternoon class dojo mates at Oishi's (where seemingly I was only one of a few non-law enforcement officers), and my family for more than the last decade at Watanabe's including all of the WCC students who have passed through our doors. I want to thank all of my virtual judo buddies - from the Judo Forum, Facebook, and Reddit,
Post a Comment
Read more