Dorking Judo

**bigstu31s** · Posted On: 10/19/2010 5:49am

This is my Club so of course i've given it a good review.
The club is fairly small with only about 12 regular seniors with lots of Dan grades and 1st Kyu's and the odd sprinkling of BJJ'ers.
Everyone is very friendly and welcoming and its only £3 per lesson

**Ming Loyalist** · Posted On: 10/19/2010 6:09am

could you elaborate a bit more? nice things to know would be:

1) who the instructors are, their dan ranks and any notable accomplishments of theirs

2) what a typical class is like

3) ratio of tachiwaza to newaza, about how much detailed instruction/drilling/randori per class and what percentage of class time each of them gets.

4) how competition oriented is the club? does it produce national or international competitors?

**Arskanator** · Posted On: 10/19/2010 7:19am

"This is my Club so of course i've given it a good review".
So the review is biased, AKA worthless.

**judoist** · Posted On: 10/19/2010 10:57am

OK, seriously man, give us the reasons why the grappling instruction is an 8 (pressure tested, full range grappling, proven in top level, national or smaller international competiton/high level self defense situations).

**madmonkey** · Posted On: 10/19/2010 11:04am

Hello Stuart,
I too used to train at this club, when run by Richard and Jill Anderson
is graham running it now or are richard and jill still there?(last I heard they were retiring.)

I disagree with the review a little as although the aliveness is ok and the atmosphere is good, the venue is not that good (low cieling section preventing some throws) and the instruction while competent and good in respect of student to instructor ratio it is not as good as other clubs that I have been to eg crawley. I found I learnt techniques at the crawley club much more quickly then at dorking.

I wish the club and all members well,

Take care

Nick

**bigstu31s** · Posted On: 10/28/2010 11:43pm

Originally Posted by madmonkey

Hello Stuart,
I too used to train at this club, when run by Richard and Jill Anderson
is graham running it now or are richard and jill still there?(last I heard they were retiring.)

I disagree with the review a little as although the aliveness is ok and the atmosphere is good, the venue is not that good (low cieling section preventing some throws) and the instruction while competent and good in respect of student to instructor ratio it is not as good as other clubs that I have been to eg crawley. I found I learnt techniques at the crawley club much more quickly then at dorking.

I wish the club and all members well,

Take care

Nick

Hi Badmonkey aka Nick, Graeme (1st Kyu) or Peter (1st Dan) take most of the senior lessons but every couple of weeks Inez (2nd Dan) will also take charge. We also occasionally have guest instructors pay a visit like Pete Swettenham (4th Dan at Yamabushi and National Masters Champion. Currently a member of the GB Masters Judo Squad.)

I would say that the ratio of tachiwaza to newaza is about 50/50. Some lessons we really drill entries in to throws with a little randori and other lessons we focus more on randori.
As all of the seniors are 30+ there isn’t a huge focus on competitions however the club has had success with Inez winning the Silver medal at the Masters Commonwealth Games this year and on a much lower level three of the seniors, myself included, picked up a bronze at the first Newaza tournament held at High Wycombe in April.

I agree that the venue isn’t ideal and some parts of the ceiling or low but we are still able to pull off all the throws on the green matted area.
It is often said by the French and Japanese that the British don’t know how to do Randori as in most clubs it ends up being Shiai. At Dorking we try to focus on doing Randori the right way and in the spirit of Judo, not compliant but certainly not fought like a competition.

Can I ask if you are still training Nick and where?

Thanks

**Gustard** · Posted On: 4/30/2011 9:52am

Hi !
Im from chilworth and will definately come and check the club out at some point (when back from South America) - or perhaps I already have - its not the one in the Rugby club is it ?
I used to occasionally train at Reigate which was allright.
P.S> how do you see the actuall ratings/numbers part of the review ? I can only see the posts....

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 5/04/2011 4:55pm

Originally Posted by madmonkey

Hello Stuart,
the venue is not that good (low cieling section preventing some throws)

How low is the ceiling/ what throws are you doing that brush the ceiling???

**Gustard** · Posted On: 5/04/2011 5:23pm

Originally Posted by judoka_uk

How low is the ceiling/ what throws are you doing that brush the ceiling???

Yeah good question !
Can only very short people and gnomes do Uchi Matas ?

**madmonkey** · Posted On: 5/04/2011 8:13pm

If they are still using the same venue which is brockham rugby club then there is a lower section of ceiling between two matted areas. It is above head height but if you throw someone with eg ippon seionagi you could catch their feet on it hence the club put red matting underneath this and do not use it, unfortunately this does limit the space a little, this it is a small criticism