Having never really watched high level Judo before, except for a few highlight videos on YouTube, I was a little surprised about a few aspects of what I have seen thus far.
Now this is based purely on what I watched yesterday which was the under 81kg Men’s and under 60kg Women’s but I found the lack of groundwork very surprising.
I know that the referee restricts the amount of time you have on Newaza and this is done largely to make the fights more interesting to the non Judo watching public and to an extent I can see the logic behind this. What I can’t understand though is why the fighters are not penalised for turtling up every time they hit the ground. Quite often the other fighter doesn’t even bother to attack the turtle as he knows he is just wasting time and effort on something which has a low percentage of success.
I know a lot of people on the Judoforum advocate cross training in BJJ to help improve your groundwork but on last night’s showing that would be a total waste of time. All you really need to practice is how to turtle, which can probably be taught fairly quickly. I’m not suggesting that the rules of Judo should be changed to allow unlimited Newaza as this would, imo, change Judo for the worse as Judo is first and foremost a throwing art/sport. However if you were penalised for using the turtle position every time the fight went to the mat, say with a shido, then it would make the limited amount of time that one spends in Newaza that more exciting.
Do you agree?
Yes. I totally agree. I think the turtle is the newaza equivalent of stalling. I would like to see a new rule that states once you have defended the throw by landing on your stomach, you must begin to attack from the turtle by rolling to your back or attacking an arm of the tori.....
ReplyDeleteIt’s also been suggested on the Judoforum that Osaekomi could be given for holding someone belly down. It’s certainly something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI see where you are coming from and I too wish that there was more time allowed for ground work. However I think that the more unrealistic we make judo through rule changes, the less effective it will be as a martial art or on the street. It's a case of pros and cons...
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way!
Thanks for your comments Omar, glad you are enjoying the blog
Delete-However I think that the more unrealistic we make judo through
Delete-rule changes, the less effective it will be as a martial art or -on the street.
WtF?
The rules are being done for the SPORT of judo, take your 'street' needs elsewhere.
maybe you arent getting it clear in your head that these rules have to do with COMPETITION and NOT what you learn in the dojo.
You want to pass you next belt and especially black?
well you better learn kata guruma and anything else they have banned in competition from teh gokyo.
the majority of judokas arent competing and for the ones that are, theyve learned very quicklyh what they can and cant do.
dont confuse the martial art with the sport.
and your self defense ideas of how effective judo can be is quickly diffused when you have me in a kesa gatame and I squeeze your testicles as hard as I can.
you will learn the lesson you need then: dont confuse sporting contests with live and death situations.