With my club, Dorking, being closed for half term I decided I wanted to get some practice in elsewhere. In the past I have attended BJJ at Nova Forca in Epsom when my Judo club is closed and although I really enjoy BJJ I think I need to concentrate on pure Judo for a while and maybe go back to BJJ once I’m a higher grade in Judo.
Before I moved to the Surrey countryside I used to live in South London and trained Judo at Westcroft Judo club so despite the rather long drive I decided to pay them a visit especially as I knew they had a Randori only night on Tuesday evenings.
As usual my partner in crime was Oli. After a 30 minute drive, which on reflection wasn’t as long as I thought it would be, we got to the Dojo with 15 minutes to spare.
When I used to train at Westcroft, about 7 years ago, they were based in the local leisure centre and mats had to put out and put away before and after each class. Now Westcroft have a purpose built Dojo in a Sports hall, with permanent matting on spring loaded floors and matted walls. They also have use of changing rooms and showers for both male and females.
We got changed and paid our subs (£5) and waited for the junior Randori session to finish. The Instructor Andy Ede not only recognised me from years ago but also recognised Oli from a coaching course they had both been on recently. Andy introduced both of us to the rest of the seniors present and we then proceeded to do a quick warm up and stretch before moving on to a workout.
The workout consisted of Breakfalls, Shrimping, Firemans carry with squats and various other exercises. Although it couldn’t have lasted longer than 10 minutes everyone was breathing heaving afterwards and totally warmed up and ready to spar.
We started with some Newaza from the usual kneeling position and I was paired with a green belt. I decided to pull guard and see if I could work something off my back but he was strong and wise to my attempts at subs and sweeps. Eventually though I was given an opportunity to reverse positions and I got a mune-gatame on just as Andy called matte.
Next up was a black belt and somehow I almost caught him in a Juji-gatame but he managed to escape. I’m not sure how much effort he was putting in to his roll with me but I was pleased nonetheless.
The rest of the rolls I had ended in my opponent getting some sort of pin on me but all of them were Brown belts so I wasn’t too disheartened.
Andy then changed things slightly to some situational Newaza where we started first from the guard and then from a turtle position. Following this we stood up and, still with our partners, Andy would call out a throw for one of us to perform on the other and following the throw we would continue in to Newaza. I was very impressed with this way of training Newaza as we seemed to really cover all the possible outcomes of shiai. Additionally I was suitably impressed with the skill level of their ground skills and Oli confirmed this afterwards.
By the time we finished with the Newaza I was very tired but Andy only allowed us a quick drink break before we got on to the standing Randori.
Andy wanted two pairs up at a time so luckily I was able to sit out the first round of fights whilst I caught my breath but was called on to the mat for round two. I paired up with the same green belt that I had paired up with earlier for Newaza (I’m no good at remembering names). What I found when sparring with him and indeed everyone in the club was that they were able to dominate me with their grips, thus allowing them to throw me more easily. I remembered that when I last trained here several years ago I got injured trying to avoid being thrown so this time I went with it and practiced my Ukemi. To be fair none of the guys went too hard on me but they did enough to make me realise that Tachiwaza is my weak point. After several rounds of Randori and many opportunities for me to practice my Ukemi I finally managed to throw someone, a Brown belt as well, with an O-uchi-gari.
We did a quick warm down and stretch and then Andy lined us all up and thanked both Oli and I for visiting the club. If I lived nearer and didn’t have so many responsibilities, had more money and time I would definitely train here more regularly but alas, for now my visits to Westcroft will have to be restricted to times when my own club is closed or maybe if a competition is coming up and I need the extra training.
On reflection both Oli and I were made to feel very welcome, not only by Andy but by all of the seniors that we trained with. The standard of Judo here is high and the level of their fitness is equally so. Anyone reading this that lives in the area could do a lot worse than to pay this club a visit.
Thanks Andy for a great training session.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Friday, 27 May 2011
Tai-Otoshi & Kata-gatame
Only four students tonight with Peter and Graeme instructing and after a very quick warm up we were told to partner up. We were then told to pull our partner across the mat and whilst doing so we were to get in to position to throw with Ippon-seoi-nage. We practiced this a few times up and down the mats with each of us taking turns being uke. There was a particular emphasis on turning in to our partners using just two steps. Being taller than everyone in my club this isn’t a favourite of mine and I doubt I would ever attempt it in Shiai but breaking the throw down like this definitely helps.
Following this we then went on to some groundwork and Pater had us go through various holds, and made us practice moving from one to the other, whilst ensuring that we had control at all times.
We started in Kesa-gatame, and then moved to Kata-gatame, then Tate-shiho-gatame, then into Yoko-shiho-gatame before finally finishing in Kesure-kesa-gatame. I was with Big Stuart for this and we practiced first with no resistance from Uke and then with Uke resisting each hold.
Finally Peter showed us the submission from Kata-gatame, which is basically an Arm Triangle in BJJ although the way Peter applied the submission it was more like a neck crank than a choke, which is technically illegal in Judo Shiai. Still the pain was so sudden that you had to tap straight away, which would very likely be missed by a potential referee.
You can see from the pic of Kata-gatame (this is not on the BJA website,) that this differs from your usual Arm Triangle strangle due mainly to the angle from which it is applied. An Arm Triangle puts more emphasis on pushing the arm across your opponent’s neck and using that to choke him with whereas with the high angle of Kata-gatame you can see why the neck is cranked.
We then went back to the throw we had started to break down at the beginning of the class and Peter got the crash mats out. We all took it in turns to throw everyone else and for some reason I just wasn’t on form tonight. In fact the best throw of the night went to Jamie, who threw Big Stuart right over his head with a near perfect Ippon-Seoi-nage. When I was throwing I seemed to be using too much effort, probably because I wasn’t getting down low enough, but like I said earlier this throw does not suit tall people.
Our next throw to practice was Tai-otoshi and again it just never felt quite right, probably because we haven’t practiced this throw in a while. Despite my throws not being the best I really enjoyed having the crash mats out and wish that we could have more lessons with the crash mats out so we could just practice all the throws we have learnt.
Looking back at the nights lesson I can see this was tailored towards someone taking their 5th grading, i.e. Ryan. Unfortunately Ryan wasn’t there tonight but it was good for me to go over these techniques again, although looking at the Orange Belt Syllabus I have a lot of throws that I haven’t done before or done in a long time and they are:
Ko-uchi-gari
Tsuri-komi-goshi
Ko-soto-gake
Ko-soto-gari
O-soto-gari
Seoi-otoshi
So as you can see I have my work cut out to learn all of these. Hopefully the next lesson will have some of these throws on the lesson plan.
Following this we then went on to some groundwork and Pater had us go through various holds, and made us practice moving from one to the other, whilst ensuring that we had control at all times.
We started in Kesa-gatame, and then moved to Kata-gatame, then Tate-shiho-gatame, then into Yoko-shiho-gatame before finally finishing in Kesure-kesa-gatame. I was with Big Stuart for this and we practiced first with no resistance from Uke and then with Uke resisting each hold.
Finally Peter showed us the submission from Kata-gatame, which is basically an Arm Triangle in BJJ although the way Peter applied the submission it was more like a neck crank than a choke, which is technically illegal in Judo Shiai. Still the pain was so sudden that you had to tap straight away, which would very likely be missed by a potential referee.
You can see from the pic of Kata-gatame (this is not on the BJA website,) that this differs from your usual Arm Triangle strangle due mainly to the angle from which it is applied. An Arm Triangle puts more emphasis on pushing the arm across your opponent’s neck and using that to choke him with whereas with the high angle of Kata-gatame you can see why the neck is cranked.
We then went back to the throw we had started to break down at the beginning of the class and Peter got the crash mats out. We all took it in turns to throw everyone else and for some reason I just wasn’t on form tonight. In fact the best throw of the night went to Jamie, who threw Big Stuart right over his head with a near perfect Ippon-Seoi-nage. When I was throwing I seemed to be using too much effort, probably because I wasn’t getting down low enough, but like I said earlier this throw does not suit tall people.
Our next throw to practice was Tai-otoshi and again it just never felt quite right, probably because we haven’t practiced this throw in a while. Despite my throws not being the best I really enjoyed having the crash mats out and wish that we could have more lessons with the crash mats out so we could just practice all the throws we have learnt.
Looking back at the nights lesson I can see this was tailored towards someone taking their 5th grading, i.e. Ryan. Unfortunately Ryan wasn’t there tonight but it was good for me to go over these techniques again, although looking at the Orange Belt Syllabus I have a lot of throws that I haven’t done before or done in a long time and they are:
Ko-uchi-gari
Tsuri-komi-goshi
Ko-soto-gake
Ko-soto-gari
O-soto-gari
Seoi-otoshi
So as you can see I have my work cut out to learn all of these. Hopefully the next lesson will have some of these throws on the lesson plan.
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Newaza is for babies
So there I was yesterday evening changing the nappy of my 3 month old daughter Florence. Like most babies of her age she likes to grab fingers and last night she had a firm grip of both my pinkies. Another thing that babies do is bring their knees up to their chest and kick their legs around. So last night she had both my pinkies and her feet were planted firmly against both my hips and all of a sudden I realised that she had me in a Spider Guard. Realising that this was not a good position to be in I tried to break her grip but she has new baby strength in her grip at the moment so that didn’t work. I finally managed to cartwheel over to my right, gaining side control and went in for a mune-gatame but alas the hold was broken as her little legs scooted under me and now I was in her guard. Luckily enough she isn’t yet able to roll on her side, so I had no fear of her sweeping me but I doubt it will be too long before she is able to.
I wonder if I am the only new father who does Newaza with their 3 month old baby?
I wonder if I am the only new father who does Newaza with their 3 month old baby?
Monday, 16 May 2011
Seoi-nage
Peter and Graeme took the class tonight and present amongst the students were Big Stuart, Oli, Ryan and myself.
After a quick warm up Peter got us started with some Newaza. Graeme told us to start on all fours, side by side, as though a throw had been attempted and both of us had fallen to our knees. Graeme also said that he would make us re-start if no progress was made thus simulating shiai Newaza conditions.
My first roll was with Big Stuart and although I started off pretty well Stuart was eventually able to pass my guard and get kazure kesa gatame on me. Fortunately I was able to trap his leg and return to half guard before we both finally rolled off the matted area and at this point Graeme had already called matte. As I changed partners I realised that I hurt my neck and was finding it painful to turn my head either fully left or right and looking upwards was even more painful.
My next roll was with Oli and this time we started by both laying on our stomachs next to each other, again trying to simulate a position we might find ourselves in during shiai. When Graeme called hajime I was the first to rise and decided to pull guard. I held the material on his gi pants to control his legs and moved to side control where I attempted to get Mune-gatame. Oli was defending against this so I got the mount and then went for tate-shiho-gatame and at this point Oli bridged and turned me over and as I rolled onto my back I took his arm and went for a juji-gatame. Although initially this lock was on Oli managed to flip out of it and he then ended up in my guard and at this point Graeme called matte.
At some point in our roll I had briefly gotten Oli’s back and Oli commented after that I should have choked him with a collar choke. I have noticed in the past that when I get someone’s back I get confused as to what collar I should grab and in which direction I should pull it and this is something I am going to make a conscious effort to look at so I will be visiting youtube and looking through my various Judo books over the coming week.
For the benefit of Ryan, who will be grading shortly for his Yellow belt, Peter showed us Kami-shiho-gatame and we worked with our partners on holding and trying to escape.
Now on to Tachiwaza and Graeme took us through the details of Ippon- Seoi-nage. We first drilled kuzushi and then added the entry before we strung the whole thing together and started throwing one another. As I am the tallest person at the club this isn’t an ideal throw for me as I have to bend my legs quite a lot to get my hips bellow my opponent. But I was able to throw Oli, my uke, fairly comfortably.
Graeme then went on to show us a couple of set ups for this throw, for example attacking your opponents right leg with Ko-uchi-gari often results in them stepping backwards with their right leg to avoid the throw, thus leaving a nice bit of space for you to get under with Ippon-seoi-nage.
After we drilled this several times we got the crash mats out and Graeme showed us drop-seoi-nage which involved the thrower dropping on to two knees, so not for people with dodgy knees then.
I was again quite surprised that I was able to pull this throw off quite nicely, as we all took turns being the thrower and throwing the rest of students on to the crash mat.
Despite my neck injury, which 4 days later is feeling a lot better but still a little stiff, another very enjoyable lesson. As I mentioned above I am going to make a conscious effort to learn and drill some collar chokes and I want to be writing about how I submitted someone with a collar choke in the near future.
After a quick warm up Peter got us started with some Newaza. Graeme told us to start on all fours, side by side, as though a throw had been attempted and both of us had fallen to our knees. Graeme also said that he would make us re-start if no progress was made thus simulating shiai Newaza conditions.
My first roll was with Big Stuart and although I started off pretty well Stuart was eventually able to pass my guard and get kazure kesa gatame on me. Fortunately I was able to trap his leg and return to half guard before we both finally rolled off the matted area and at this point Graeme had already called matte. As I changed partners I realised that I hurt my neck and was finding it painful to turn my head either fully left or right and looking upwards was even more painful.
My next roll was with Oli and this time we started by both laying on our stomachs next to each other, again trying to simulate a position we might find ourselves in during shiai. When Graeme called hajime I was the first to rise and decided to pull guard. I held the material on his gi pants to control his legs and moved to side control where I attempted to get Mune-gatame. Oli was defending against this so I got the mount and then went for tate-shiho-gatame and at this point Oli bridged and turned me over and as I rolled onto my back I took his arm and went for a juji-gatame. Although initially this lock was on Oli managed to flip out of it and he then ended up in my guard and at this point Graeme called matte.
At some point in our roll I had briefly gotten Oli’s back and Oli commented after that I should have choked him with a collar choke. I have noticed in the past that when I get someone’s back I get confused as to what collar I should grab and in which direction I should pull it and this is something I am going to make a conscious effort to look at so I will be visiting youtube and looking through my various Judo books over the coming week.
For the benefit of Ryan, who will be grading shortly for his Yellow belt, Peter showed us Kami-shiho-gatame and we worked with our partners on holding and trying to escape.
Now on to Tachiwaza and Graeme took us through the details of Ippon- Seoi-nage. We first drilled kuzushi and then added the entry before we strung the whole thing together and started throwing one another. As I am the tallest person at the club this isn’t an ideal throw for me as I have to bend my legs quite a lot to get my hips bellow my opponent. But I was able to throw Oli, my uke, fairly comfortably.
Graeme then went on to show us a couple of set ups for this throw, for example attacking your opponents right leg with Ko-uchi-gari often results in them stepping backwards with their right leg to avoid the throw, thus leaving a nice bit of space for you to get under with Ippon-seoi-nage.
After we drilled this several times we got the crash mats out and Graeme showed us drop-seoi-nage which involved the thrower dropping on to two knees, so not for people with dodgy knees then.
I was again quite surprised that I was able to pull this throw off quite nicely, as we all took turns being the thrower and throwing the rest of students on to the crash mat.
Despite my neck injury, which 4 days later is feeling a lot better but still a little stiff, another very enjoyable lesson. As I mentioned above I am going to make a conscious effort to learn and drill some collar chokes and I want to be writing about how I submitted someone with a collar choke in the near future.
Friday, 6 May 2011
One Legged Judo
I was recently asked by Graeme if I wanted to write a small article for the Surrey Judo News letter on DJC’s (Dorking Judo Club) recent success at the Newaza Championship. Upon arrival at the club last night I was shown the published article. Hopefully such articles will help attract some new blood in to the seniors especially as there were only 6 of us last night, including two instructors.
Furthermore the DJC’s website has finally been updated after nearly 2 years of being dormant. Again thanks to Graeme for the time and effort of updating it, although he did say he chose the day of the Royal Wedding to do so.
After our warm-up we went on to Newaza but with a slight difference. We would both start standing up with each one of us taking turns to drop to the mat with the other person following and attempting to gain an advantageous position. Following this Peter showed us some interesting turnovers. One straight in to Juji-gatame and the other in to tate-shiho-gatame. If I can find videos of these techniques I’ll post them but as yet I have not been able to.
On to some Tachiwaza and Graeme first had us trying to break each other’s balance but by standing on one leg only. As I was paired with Ynez I didn’t have too much trouble making her put one leg on the ground as she is about half my size. By the time I was paired up with Oli Graeme was allowing us to add throws in to the mix and Oli managed to throw me a couple of times. It was at this point I could see the reason behind this one legged randori. When you go in for a throw you first break your opponents balance and then usually you hop in quickly on one leg to get in close enough to perform the throw. Having us practice Randori on one leg was a good way of forcing us all to do the following:
• Use attacking Judo
• Practice breaking our opponents balance
• Practice keeping our own balance
• Practice hoping in to close the distance and perform a throw.
We then went on to practice O-uchi-gari before finishing up with some Randori.
At the end of the class Graeme mentioned that we had all been invited to train at Surrey Police Judo Club for the next couple of weeks as Craig Fallon, World Champion in 2005 will be training there for a while. If I do manage to train with Craig then expect some photos and special write up to follow.
Furthermore the DJC’s website has finally been updated after nearly 2 years of being dormant. Again thanks to Graeme for the time and effort of updating it, although he did say he chose the day of the Royal Wedding to do so.
After our warm-up we went on to Newaza but with a slight difference. We would both start standing up with each one of us taking turns to drop to the mat with the other person following and attempting to gain an advantageous position. Following this Peter showed us some interesting turnovers. One straight in to Juji-gatame and the other in to tate-shiho-gatame. If I can find videos of these techniques I’ll post them but as yet I have not been able to.
On to some Tachiwaza and Graeme first had us trying to break each other’s balance but by standing on one leg only. As I was paired with Ynez I didn’t have too much trouble making her put one leg on the ground as she is about half my size. By the time I was paired up with Oli Graeme was allowing us to add throws in to the mix and Oli managed to throw me a couple of times. It was at this point I could see the reason behind this one legged randori. When you go in for a throw you first break your opponents balance and then usually you hop in quickly on one leg to get in close enough to perform the throw. Having us practice Randori on one leg was a good way of forcing us all to do the following:
• Use attacking Judo
• Practice breaking our opponents balance
• Practice keeping our own balance
• Practice hoping in to close the distance and perform a throw.
We then went on to practice O-uchi-gari before finishing up with some Randori.
At the end of the class Graeme mentioned that we had all been invited to train at Surrey Police Judo Club for the next couple of weeks as Craig Fallon, World Champion in 2005 will be training there for a while. If I do manage to train with Craig then expect some photos and special write up to follow.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
The Kesa's
What with the Royal Wedding, Bank holidays, Baby duties and work, I have only just now got around to posting this, so apologies if it’s a bit short as I have forgotten some of the stuff we did and am slightly pushed for time.
Before we started our warm-up tonight Graeme congratulated those that had competed at the recent High Wycombe Newaza Tournament and I was given a special mention after my 3rd place finish.
The warm up was slightly more vigorous than usual with lots of sprinting up and down the mats, but this was a good way of getting rid of the rust that some of us had from not training for the last couple of weeks due to the clubs closure. Of course having competed and taken a BJJ lesson in between I no doubt felt slightly less rusty than others but I enjoy a good workout anyway.
We started with some Newaza and instead of starting on our knee’s which isn’t a position you are ever likely to start groundwork from we started with one of us standing and the other in the turtle position as though they had just been thrown. I was paired with Jamie and started in the Turtle first. I noticed that Jamie was sporting a new red belt so I (incorrectly) assumed he must have graded recently, maybe at another club. Anyway seeing as he was no longer a complete beginner I thought I would test his ground skills.
When Graeme told us to start I quickly turned over and pulled Jamie in to my guard. He pulled against me and got one arm out leaving himself open to my favourite san-gaku-jime, which I locked on nicely and after a few seconds he tapped. I’m not sure if this was the first time he had been caught in this technique but it is a strange feeling as it’s not painful like other chokes or strangles. This one just slowly sends you off to sleep so it’s important for both Judoka to be aware of this and is why I never crank on any submissions full pelt, not in randori anyway.
Following Jamie, I was paired up with Ryan and I did pretty well against him, almost getting a Juji-gatame. Following a couple more rolls of which I cannot remember the details, Graeme proceeded to show us some pins. I’ve often discarded pins, preferring instead to go for some flashy submission, but following the Newaza Tournament that I entered a couple of weeks ago, only now am I beginning to understand the true importance of pins in Judo.
I paired up with Oli and we went over the following
Kesa-gatame
Kuzure-kesa-gatame
Makura-kesa-gatame
Ushiro-kesa-gatame
We each took turns doing the pin and trying to escape from it. The Makura-kesa-gatame was particularly nasty as this could easily be turned in to a choke.
Following the pins we went over O-goshi and as we have done before we drilled the perfect throw to do if your opponent is able to resist against an O-goshi and that is of course Uki-goshi. I do need to start memorising some combination throws as there are a couple in the 4th kyu syllabus that I need to learn especially as Graeme said at the start of the lesson that he expects Jamie, Ryan and me to all grade before the summer break.
We finished up with some Randori. I was paired with Jamie so I made a point of relaxing and encouraged him to not “Stiff arm” and to try and attack me with the limited throws that he knows. At the moment Jamie, like a lot of beginners, are too worried about not being thrown and that basically results in a stalemate against us lower grades. Of course against the 1st kyu’s and above stiff arming is not a good tactic and you are likely to be thrown, if they should so choose.
Hopefully next weeks, or tomorrows write up will be a little better.
Before we started our warm-up tonight Graeme congratulated those that had competed at the recent High Wycombe Newaza Tournament and I was given a special mention after my 3rd place finish.
The warm up was slightly more vigorous than usual with lots of sprinting up and down the mats, but this was a good way of getting rid of the rust that some of us had from not training for the last couple of weeks due to the clubs closure. Of course having competed and taken a BJJ lesson in between I no doubt felt slightly less rusty than others but I enjoy a good workout anyway.
We started with some Newaza and instead of starting on our knee’s which isn’t a position you are ever likely to start groundwork from we started with one of us standing and the other in the turtle position as though they had just been thrown. I was paired with Jamie and started in the Turtle first. I noticed that Jamie was sporting a new red belt so I (incorrectly) assumed he must have graded recently, maybe at another club. Anyway seeing as he was no longer a complete beginner I thought I would test his ground skills.
When Graeme told us to start I quickly turned over and pulled Jamie in to my guard. He pulled against me and got one arm out leaving himself open to my favourite san-gaku-jime, which I locked on nicely and after a few seconds he tapped. I’m not sure if this was the first time he had been caught in this technique but it is a strange feeling as it’s not painful like other chokes or strangles. This one just slowly sends you off to sleep so it’s important for both Judoka to be aware of this and is why I never crank on any submissions full pelt, not in randori anyway.
Following Jamie, I was paired up with Ryan and I did pretty well against him, almost getting a Juji-gatame. Following a couple more rolls of which I cannot remember the details, Graeme proceeded to show us some pins. I’ve often discarded pins, preferring instead to go for some flashy submission, but following the Newaza Tournament that I entered a couple of weeks ago, only now am I beginning to understand the true importance of pins in Judo.
I paired up with Oli and we went over the following
Kesa-gatame
Kuzure-kesa-gatame
Makura-kesa-gatame
Ushiro-kesa-gatame
We each took turns doing the pin and trying to escape from it. The Makura-kesa-gatame was particularly nasty as this could easily be turned in to a choke.
Following the pins we went over O-goshi and as we have done before we drilled the perfect throw to do if your opponent is able to resist against an O-goshi and that is of course Uki-goshi. I do need to start memorising some combination throws as there are a couple in the 4th kyu syllabus that I need to learn especially as Graeme said at the start of the lesson that he expects Jamie, Ryan and me to all grade before the summer break.
We finished up with some Randori. I was paired with Jamie so I made a point of relaxing and encouraged him to not “Stiff arm” and to try and attack me with the limited throws that he knows. At the moment Jamie, like a lot of beginners, are too worried about not being thrown and that basically results in a stalemate against us lower grades. Of course against the 1st kyu’s and above stiff arming is not a good tactic and you are likely to be thrown, if they should so choose.
Hopefully next weeks, or tomorrows write up will be a little better.
Monday, 18 April 2011
The High Wycombe Newaza Championship 2011
As I mentioned in previous posts I had already withdrawn from the London Marathon due to new family commitments but this did mean that I was able to compete in the High Wycombe Newaza Championships for the second year running which was more than a good substitute.
Oli picked me up around 7.30am as we had to weigh in before 9am in High Wycombe and despite taking the wrong exit off the M40 we made it with about 15 minutes to spare.
With all the training that I had been doing for the Marathon I was in pretty good shape and a fair bit lighter than I was the previous year, or so I thought. Last year I weighed in at 93.5kg and had to fight in the under 100kg category but because the over 100kg was a little short on competitors they merged them in with the under 100kg’s. This meant there were some guys who were 5-6 stone heavier than me in my category. Seeing as I had, only a few weeks earlier, been weighed at 88kg I was confident that I could keep that weight and fight in the under 90kg category thus ensuring I didn’t come up against the Judo equivalent of Brock Lesnar. The previous day I passed on Cake and Chocolate and beer whilst I was dinning at a friend’s house with my wife to further ensure I didn’t needlessly put on extra weight, but when it was my turn to step on those scales at High Wycombe I was gutted when the lady told me I was 1kg over.
So here I was again being the lightest in my weight category and again being a lowly 5th kyu fighting in the 3rd kyu and under division I was one of the least experienced. Oli weighed in and only just made his weight of under 90kg but he was fighting in the Blue/Brown belt division. We walked in to the dojo and scanned around the stands looking for Ryan who had made his own way here with his daughter, Rachael.
Once we located Ryan we made our way up to him and Ryan quickly confirmed that he also missed his weight and had weighed in at 93kg, so both Ryan were still to be fighting in the same category. It was at this point when I started to scan the dojo for my potential opponents and it was then that I saw Godzilla walk in wearing a Judo gi and a green belt. Yikes, this guy was huge and being a green belt would likely be in my category. I was silently hoping that Ryan would have to fight this guy instead of me.
We all managed a quick 5 minute warm up before everyone was called off the mats. The head referee then went over the rules and etiquette and shortly afterwards my category was called out to mat 2.
It was now that both Ryan and I were able to see who we would likely be fighting. As suspected Godzilla was in our category but there were also some other large looking guys, maybe not as tall as Godzilla but certainly wider.
After only a couple of fights my name was called and I was told to wear the white belt and wearing the blue belt would be……………Godzilla. Now if you want to win these types of tournaments you have to, at some point, fight the best but you really don’t want to have to fight them in your first match.
On the hour long drive up to High Wycombe I was discussing tactics with Oli as last year I favored pulling guard as I was fighting guys considerably larger than I. This year however I was expecting to be the heaviest in my category so all my tactics had been based around attacking my opponent and looking for pins and or submissions should they arise. I favored a Mune-gatame, with the option of grabbing an arm and going for an Ude-garami should my opponent start to escape, however all this had gone out of the window with me missing weight and I was back to the “pulling guard” and hoping they made a mistake tactic.
Both Godzilla and I took our position on the mat and bowed and then stood on one knee. The referee shouted Hadjime and Godzilla attacked me straight away by grabbing my gi collar and pushing me back thus forcing me to pull guard. He postured up and tried a cross lapel choke but I was never going to be submitted with that whilst he was in my guard despite it being very uncomfortable. I tried in vain to pull him down as his posture was so strong and still he was trying this cross lapel choke on me. After a little while the referee called matte due to inaction and made us start again and Godzilla did the same thing, just literally charged me and pushed me down forcing me to pull guard. I grabbed his gi collar with both arms and actually hung in mid air whilst trying to pull him down but he was so strong he was able to keep his posture still. The referee again made us restart and I was beginning to lose heart a little as I was quickly running out of ideas as to how to beat this guy.
When we restarted I decided attack was my only option as pulling guard would have just meant Godzilla winning on points. I went for grips and tried to push him over but Godzilla was able to get me off balance and he ended up in side control and quickly got a kesa-gatame hold on me. As if the hold wasn’t enough he grabbed the collar of my gi and pulled it across my neck, applying a very uncomfortable choke and much as I tried to not tap, I had to as I was starting to get that feeling of drifting off to sleep.
The only positive thing I could take from my first fight was that unlike last year I was not completely drained. In fact I still felt pretty good. The only problem was that everyone looked bigger than me so I couldn’t see any easy fights for me.
I then watched Ryan struggle against someone much larger than him and despite Ryan having a very good guard he was not able to do anything off his back and he also lost his first fight. I asked the scorekeepers what the format was and she told me that as I had lost my first fight I would have to fight against another guy who had lost and that I would have to win that in order to advance further. The guy I did eventually end up fighting against, although heavier than me was not as tall. This fight followed a similar pattern to my first fight. He attacked and pushed me over on my back where I pulled guard and from here he was trying cross lapel chokes on me. Does anyone ever have any success with these whilst in someone’s guard??
Unlike my first fight he didn’t posture up, instead preferring to keep close to me. I attempted a flower sweep but he was wise to my efforts. I tried to push one of his arms out to get a san-gaku-jime but he was having none of that either. The referee re started us a couple of times for inactivity and with about 1 minute left of the fight I could see he was tired so I attacked him and got him on his back. I quickly passed his guard in to mune-gatame and got the hold on. Unfortunately he managed to escape after about 17 seconds but in doing so he gave me his back. I got the hooks in and turned him on his side ready to go for a choke but the buzzer went and I got the referee’s decision. I was delighted that I had won as I did fear that I might lose all my fights. Now I could relax and enjoy my remaining fights.
Ryan’s next fight was against a very stocky looking guy wearing a blue gi. He powered through Ryan, pushing him back and eventually passed Ryan’s guard and pinned him with Kesa-gatame. I chatted to Ryan’s victor afterwards and it turns out that this guy fights MMA and has a 3-1 record.
Rather surprisingly I was told that I was in the semi-finals and that I would be fighting the MMA guy. Ryan warned me that this guy was very strong and coming from Ryan, who as a tree surgeon wrestles tree’s for a living, I knew I would have my hands full.
As soon as we started Mr MMA attacked and tried to get side control. I managed to defend with my legs and pretty soon he was in my guard. He didn’t posture up, in fact he was quite low down in my guard, just where I wanted him so I decided to try and sweep him with the flower sweep but as I grabbed his right arm he shock my grips off and started to try and pass my guard by pushing down on my thighs. I grabbed the sleeves of his gi and went for spider guard control. He postured up and got one hand free and slipped it under my leg to pass to my right. Seizing the moment I went for a San-gaku-jime but he managed to get another arm out so I again grabbed his sleeve and had a sort of spider guard but I knew it was only a matter of time before he passed my guard properly as he had both arms under my legs.
I tried to hold on hoping the referee would restart the match for stalling but he kept active enough and eventually he got to Kesa-gatame which he held for the full 25 seconds to get the Ippon. I had no complaints, I was beaten the better man who knew the techniques I was trying on him and was able to defend them. Mr MMA fought well but lost via submission to Godzilla in the final so I was beaten by the best two guys here so I take some comfort from that.
The award ceremony for my category was shortly afterwards and I got a trophy for finishing joint 3rd which was very satisfying indeed. The chap who presented me with the trophy seemed to recognise me and he told me that he would like a word with me latter to discuss my blog. I wasn’t quite sure whether this was because I had maybe insulted someone I shouldn’t have or whether he was just enjoying the reading, I mean someone has to right? It turns out that my blog entry on last year’s tournament actually helped promote this years and quite a few Judoka entered on the strength of reading my write up, which has actually inspired me to continue with this blog. Still I would appreciate the odd comment just to let me that someone other than my wife actually reads it :)
Anyway, I could now sit back and relax and watch Oli compete in his category and Ryan compete again in the Open division.
Unfortunately despite winning a fight Oli wasn’t able to medal and Ryan was unable to win a fight in the open division, which when you consider was full of big heavy dan grades was not that surprising.
One thing the organisers had improved on from last year was announcing some of the fights, for example if there was a final in a particular weight category it would be called out. Still I think they could improve this more as only the people on a very near the matted area could hear this and I think if they had a loud speaker system and called out when each final took place it would create a lot more interest from the people watching.
One other small gripe was that there were no practice mats in which to warm up on, although I couldn’t see any obvious space where one could be placed quite a few people who were fighting in the divisions that fought later in the day remarked that they had gotten very stiff sitting about waiting and fighting when you are not warmed up means you can easily get injured.
On reflection the standard of competition had definitely gone up a notch from last year. I noticed several people wearing various BJJ and MMA related apparel and whilst that alone does not mean that they train BJJ or MMA the fact that Ryan is a BJJ blue belt and that one of my opponents trained MMA probably means there were a lot more people who cross trained than previously. Of course that’s not to say a pure Judoka cannot win these Newaza tournaments, on the contrary I think Ryan’s BJJ passive style of Newaza was proved not suitable to the explosive Newaza found in Judo and I think Ryan needs to be a lot more aggressive next time.
Of course the biggest lesson I have learned for next time is to make sure I make weight. Fighting guys who are almost 10kg heavier is not a smart thing to do. Either I need to bulk up to 95kg + or I need to stay lean and cut 1-2 kg a few weeks before hand. I also need to improve my sweeps from the bottom and my escape’s from the various pins but basically Kesa-gatame and Mune-gatame which at my level are most used. . . Overall another very well run tournament and one I will certainly be back for next year, London Marathon permitting/
Oli (left) Me (middle) and Ryan (right)
With my medal
Oli picked me up around 7.30am as we had to weigh in before 9am in High Wycombe and despite taking the wrong exit off the M40 we made it with about 15 minutes to spare.
With all the training that I had been doing for the Marathon I was in pretty good shape and a fair bit lighter than I was the previous year, or so I thought. Last year I weighed in at 93.5kg and had to fight in the under 100kg category but because the over 100kg was a little short on competitors they merged them in with the under 100kg’s. This meant there were some guys who were 5-6 stone heavier than me in my category. Seeing as I had, only a few weeks earlier, been weighed at 88kg I was confident that I could keep that weight and fight in the under 90kg category thus ensuring I didn’t come up against the Judo equivalent of Brock Lesnar. The previous day I passed on Cake and Chocolate and beer whilst I was dinning at a friend’s house with my wife to further ensure I didn’t needlessly put on extra weight, but when it was my turn to step on those scales at High Wycombe I was gutted when the lady told me I was 1kg over.
So here I was again being the lightest in my weight category and again being a lowly 5th kyu fighting in the 3rd kyu and under division I was one of the least experienced. Oli weighed in and only just made his weight of under 90kg but he was fighting in the Blue/Brown belt division. We walked in to the dojo and scanned around the stands looking for Ryan who had made his own way here with his daughter, Rachael.
Once we located Ryan we made our way up to him and Ryan quickly confirmed that he also missed his weight and had weighed in at 93kg, so both Ryan were still to be fighting in the same category. It was at this point when I started to scan the dojo for my potential opponents and it was then that I saw Godzilla walk in wearing a Judo gi and a green belt. Yikes, this guy was huge and being a green belt would likely be in my category. I was silently hoping that Ryan would have to fight this guy instead of me.
We all managed a quick 5 minute warm up before everyone was called off the mats. The head referee then went over the rules and etiquette and shortly afterwards my category was called out to mat 2.
It was now that both Ryan and I were able to see who we would likely be fighting. As suspected Godzilla was in our category but there were also some other large looking guys, maybe not as tall as Godzilla but certainly wider.
After only a couple of fights my name was called and I was told to wear the white belt and wearing the blue belt would be……………Godzilla. Now if you want to win these types of tournaments you have to, at some point, fight the best but you really don’t want to have to fight them in your first match.
On the hour long drive up to High Wycombe I was discussing tactics with Oli as last year I favored pulling guard as I was fighting guys considerably larger than I. This year however I was expecting to be the heaviest in my category so all my tactics had been based around attacking my opponent and looking for pins and or submissions should they arise. I favored a Mune-gatame, with the option of grabbing an arm and going for an Ude-garami should my opponent start to escape, however all this had gone out of the window with me missing weight and I was back to the “pulling guard” and hoping they made a mistake tactic.
Both Godzilla and I took our position on the mat and bowed and then stood on one knee. The referee shouted Hadjime and Godzilla attacked me straight away by grabbing my gi collar and pushing me back thus forcing me to pull guard. He postured up and tried a cross lapel choke but I was never going to be submitted with that whilst he was in my guard despite it being very uncomfortable. I tried in vain to pull him down as his posture was so strong and still he was trying this cross lapel choke on me. After a little while the referee called matte due to inaction and made us start again and Godzilla did the same thing, just literally charged me and pushed me down forcing me to pull guard. I grabbed his gi collar with both arms and actually hung in mid air whilst trying to pull him down but he was so strong he was able to keep his posture still. The referee again made us restart and I was beginning to lose heart a little as I was quickly running out of ideas as to how to beat this guy.
When we restarted I decided attack was my only option as pulling guard would have just meant Godzilla winning on points. I went for grips and tried to push him over but Godzilla was able to get me off balance and he ended up in side control and quickly got a kesa-gatame hold on me. As if the hold wasn’t enough he grabbed the collar of my gi and pulled it across my neck, applying a very uncomfortable choke and much as I tried to not tap, I had to as I was starting to get that feeling of drifting off to sleep.
The only positive thing I could take from my first fight was that unlike last year I was not completely drained. In fact I still felt pretty good. The only problem was that everyone looked bigger than me so I couldn’t see any easy fights for me.
I then watched Ryan struggle against someone much larger than him and despite Ryan having a very good guard he was not able to do anything off his back and he also lost his first fight. I asked the scorekeepers what the format was and she told me that as I had lost my first fight I would have to fight against another guy who had lost and that I would have to win that in order to advance further. The guy I did eventually end up fighting against, although heavier than me was not as tall. This fight followed a similar pattern to my first fight. He attacked and pushed me over on my back where I pulled guard and from here he was trying cross lapel chokes on me. Does anyone ever have any success with these whilst in someone’s guard??
Unlike my first fight he didn’t posture up, instead preferring to keep close to me. I attempted a flower sweep but he was wise to my efforts. I tried to push one of his arms out to get a san-gaku-jime but he was having none of that either. The referee re started us a couple of times for inactivity and with about 1 minute left of the fight I could see he was tired so I attacked him and got him on his back. I quickly passed his guard in to mune-gatame and got the hold on. Unfortunately he managed to escape after about 17 seconds but in doing so he gave me his back. I got the hooks in and turned him on his side ready to go for a choke but the buzzer went and I got the referee’s decision. I was delighted that I had won as I did fear that I might lose all my fights. Now I could relax and enjoy my remaining fights.
Ryan’s next fight was against a very stocky looking guy wearing a blue gi. He powered through Ryan, pushing him back and eventually passed Ryan’s guard and pinned him with Kesa-gatame. I chatted to Ryan’s victor afterwards and it turns out that this guy fights MMA and has a 3-1 record.
Rather surprisingly I was told that I was in the semi-finals and that I would be fighting the MMA guy. Ryan warned me that this guy was very strong and coming from Ryan, who as a tree surgeon wrestles tree’s for a living, I knew I would have my hands full.
As soon as we started Mr MMA attacked and tried to get side control. I managed to defend with my legs and pretty soon he was in my guard. He didn’t posture up, in fact he was quite low down in my guard, just where I wanted him so I decided to try and sweep him with the flower sweep but as I grabbed his right arm he shock my grips off and started to try and pass my guard by pushing down on my thighs. I grabbed the sleeves of his gi and went for spider guard control. He postured up and got one hand free and slipped it under my leg to pass to my right. Seizing the moment I went for a San-gaku-jime but he managed to get another arm out so I again grabbed his sleeve and had a sort of spider guard but I knew it was only a matter of time before he passed my guard properly as he had both arms under my legs.
I tried to hold on hoping the referee would restart the match for stalling but he kept active enough and eventually he got to Kesa-gatame which he held for the full 25 seconds to get the Ippon. I had no complaints, I was beaten the better man who knew the techniques I was trying on him and was able to defend them. Mr MMA fought well but lost via submission to Godzilla in the final so I was beaten by the best two guys here so I take some comfort from that.
The award ceremony for my category was shortly afterwards and I got a trophy for finishing joint 3rd which was very satisfying indeed. The chap who presented me with the trophy seemed to recognise me and he told me that he would like a word with me latter to discuss my blog. I wasn’t quite sure whether this was because I had maybe insulted someone I shouldn’t have or whether he was just enjoying the reading, I mean someone has to right? It turns out that my blog entry on last year’s tournament actually helped promote this years and quite a few Judoka entered on the strength of reading my write up, which has actually inspired me to continue with this blog. Still I would appreciate the odd comment just to let me that someone other than my wife actually reads it :)
Anyway, I could now sit back and relax and watch Oli compete in his category and Ryan compete again in the Open division.
Unfortunately despite winning a fight Oli wasn’t able to medal and Ryan was unable to win a fight in the open division, which when you consider was full of big heavy dan grades was not that surprising.
One thing the organisers had improved on from last year was announcing some of the fights, for example if there was a final in a particular weight category it would be called out. Still I think they could improve this more as only the people on a very near the matted area could hear this and I think if they had a loud speaker system and called out when each final took place it would create a lot more interest from the people watching.
One other small gripe was that there were no practice mats in which to warm up on, although I couldn’t see any obvious space where one could be placed quite a few people who were fighting in the divisions that fought later in the day remarked that they had gotten very stiff sitting about waiting and fighting when you are not warmed up means you can easily get injured.
On reflection the standard of competition had definitely gone up a notch from last year. I noticed several people wearing various BJJ and MMA related apparel and whilst that alone does not mean that they train BJJ or MMA the fact that Ryan is a BJJ blue belt and that one of my opponents trained MMA probably means there were a lot more people who cross trained than previously. Of course that’s not to say a pure Judoka cannot win these Newaza tournaments, on the contrary I think Ryan’s BJJ passive style of Newaza was proved not suitable to the explosive Newaza found in Judo and I think Ryan needs to be a lot more aggressive next time.
Of course the biggest lesson I have learned for next time is to make sure I make weight. Fighting guys who are almost 10kg heavier is not a smart thing to do. Either I need to bulk up to 95kg + or I need to stay lean and cut 1-2 kg a few weeks before hand. I also need to improve my sweeps from the bottom and my escape’s from the various pins but basically Kesa-gatame and Mune-gatame which at my level are most used. . . Overall another very well run tournament and one I will certainly be back for next year, London Marathon permitting/
Oli (left) Me (middle) and Ryan (right)
With my medal 
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