Edmonton international: video evidence

**NeilG** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 9:03am

So I attended the Edmonton international judo tournament on the weekend. I was in the 50+ -90 kg division and there were 6 guys. I won both my pool matches by ippon, one by throw (kosoto gari) and one by groundhold (kosoto again for wazari to kata kesa gatame). Then I had a semi-final against Clive Douglas, the same 6 dan guy from England I played last year with the same result - he beat me by yuko on a throw that could have been called either way. That put me in the bronze medal match, which I won with another kosoto, transition to mune-gatame and finally ude-garame.

Unfortunately I am having trouble with my video uploads so I don't have the video with Clive or my second pool match. Here's the first pool match, or at least the end of it, my son was having finger trouble:

Here's the bronze medal match. Note the comedy with the ref. I take the guy down and she calls yuko. I'm thinking at that point as I'm securing the groundhold, "yuko?" Then she gets overruled and calls the wazari. A few seconds after that she finally notices the osaekomi and calls it. Then I get the lock and he taps pretty much right away and I back off, but she doesn't notice it. So I reapply fairly gently and look up to see if I can catch her attention but she still isn't seeing it. You can't see it but it was finally the corner judge who called it.

At any rate, I'm pretty happy with the weekend. There's a few things I need to work on including my grip fighting (if you saw the match with Clive you could see how badly I was outgripped) and posture (stop looking down all the time you idjit).

**Lindz** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 11:27am

Originally Posted by NeilG

Do you know the name of the silver medalist? I think I've seen him training at Burnaby and he taught the scrubs class once but I didn't catch his name.

**NeilG** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 11:34am

His name is Ramon Rodriguez, he also got silver last year. Didn't get to play him due to the way the draw went, very nice guy though.

**Lindz** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 12:11pm

Congrats on getting on the tatami. You don't look a day over 49

**BKR** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 4:00pm

Nice work, Neil. Spot on on the posture and gripping, although I'd worry more about he posture at this point if you have to focus on one thing.

Ben

**NeilG** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 4:31pm

Thanks! Our club is non-competitive and does hardly any standing randori - I maybe get in 5 minutes on any given night. Needless to say, competitive grip-fighting is not something we work on.

Posture is another issue though. Like a lot of things, it tends to crumble during competition. I'm going to work on being more relaxed and upright.

Nice to get more points than just the 5 for showing up this time though.

**Ragnarok37** · Posted On: 4/02/2012 5:46pm

Hey, that looks familiar... I was fighting on the same mat as you that day (30-40 years old, +90 kg). I must have been standing right next to the photographer when that podium shot was taken.

The brown belt you fought in the second video is a friend of mine from a neighboring judo club.

The guy who won gold looked like he was really good. No shame losing to him.

It's funny that your opponent in the first video walked off the mat at an angle. The corner judge looks like he tried to put out his hand to stop him but he thought the judge wanted to shake his hand. lol

**BKR** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 1:52am

Originally Posted by NeilG

Thanks! Our club is non-competitive and does hardly any standing randori - I maybe get in 5 minutes on any given night. Needless to say, competitive grip-fighting is not something we work on.

Posture is another issue though. Like a lot of things, it tends to crumble during competition. I'm going to work on being more relaxed and upright.

Nice to get more points than just the 5 for showing up this time though.

What's non-competitive got to do with tachi waza randori? You had good transitions to the ground, so you must do some sort of practice on that aspect?

Kumi kata at your age isn't so important, but it really adds an extra dimension to your Judo to understand the basics and how they integrate with posture. Even if you just get an "even" grip, there is better and worse ways to hold the judogi.

Ben

**NeilG** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 9:42am

Originally Posted by BKR

What's non-competitive got to do with tachi waza randori? You had good transitions to the ground, so you must do some sort of practice on that aspect?

I phrased that poorly. We're non-competitive so we don't practice that competition grip-fighting thing. Also, we don't do much standing randori but that's not due to the non-competitive nature of the club but space considerations and also the way the class is structured. However, we do a lot of groundwork. I think that's where the transitions come from. People knock knee to knee starts but they do teach you to move into the hold smoothly.

**BKR** · Posted On: 4/07/2012 5:51am

Originally Posted by NeilG

I phrased that poorly. We're non-competitive so we don't practice that competition grip-fighting thing. Also, we don't do much standing randori but that's not due to the non-competitive nature of the club but space considerations and also the way the class is structured. However, we do a lot of groundwork. I think that's where the transitions come from. People knock knee to knee starts but they do teach you to move into the hold smoothly.

In your case, it wouldn't really be competiton "grip fighting" but just how to stand up and properly hold the judogi. I think it's a mistake to separate out how to grip/use the judogi from normal judo training. In any case, the competition aspect of that is more of a mindset and discipline of tactics within the context of shiai than anything else. At least at any level of judo you or I are likely to do!

Ben