The Olympics have come and gone with all the bally hoo, upsets, ducking, diving and the other goings on which make the spirit of Olympic Sportsmanship, a bit difficult to grasp fully.
This is the fourth one I have attended and I believe the Greeks did a good job of setting it up. It gave me quite strange feeling to think that the first event was held right where I may be walking.
Unfortunately it was not so well attended spectator wise; it had a different atmosphere to the other three. The Judo was quite well attended but the cost of many venues was prohibitive.
I was, of course, there because Georgina Singleton had qualified at under 52 Kgs and I thought she had a good chance. She is very fast with some excellent technique so I felt, with a bit of luck, she would bring something home.
Unfortunately Georgina still carries the baggage from Sydney; it has never been far from her mind. However she was in excellent form, well prepared both physically and mentally. So I hoped for great rewards!
I did forget one aspect of Judo, the dear old penalty which is always directed at the Judoka doing the attacking. The referees watch them like a hawk looking for a chance to penalise; they seem oblivious to the fact that the other fighter is doing nothing. Outside of the odd kick, that is.
Georgie had a good start defeating some top flight Judoka. Then to get into the semi final she met the Japanese fighter. This was going very well indeed and things looked good, but, the inevitable penalty changed the complexion of the fight and she lost.
In the repercharge Georgina met the Belgium where she kept up a continuous barrage of attacks while her opponent played safe by doing nothing. Sure enough along came the inevitable penalty. She had picked up her opponent’s leg and drove her across the mat with the leg high in the air, as usual before she could complete the throw, the referee called Matte. So Georgina was struggling again; she stepped up her work rate but her opponent was not fazed, she still did nothing only risking one attack in five minutes.
Referees may not like her efforts but quite few of the coaches and spectators were quite impressed, several said they were amazed that she could keep up the continuous attacks for the whole five minutes and that it was great to watch. I believe most people want to see lots of action and are not happy with the way Judo is going; particularly in the women’s game.
I have spoken to quite a few non Judo people and they all think the lack of action makes it boring for them.
I do feel sorry for Craig Fallon, after throwing his opponent three times for good Ippons; he was rewarded with only a Wazari and Yuko. You will no doubt have seen the fight, unless you have been holidaying on the Moon, mind you he was fighting a Greek, probably of Georgian extraction.
The B.J.A. seems to be growing, mostly in the administration area. There is now a group of people to get things working in the schools. Don’t they know the schools are being run quite well already by various Judoka around the Country? My members who teach at schools always steer the keen ones towards the Club, to eventually become B.J.A. licence holders. Would it not be better to give the money to those who are already doing the job and have first hand experience of the situation?
Another expensive set up is the world start programme; so far it has only interfered with my training programme. Again why not put money into the clubs producing the goods, who know what is needed.
Clubs must keep winning things, so they can attract new members. To have their better Judoka taken away when they have an important event is quite damaging. Mind you, I was told my people would be getting much needed quality training, so I should be grateful!
The only constant input of members for the B.J.A. is through the clubs, so it is time the powers that be started to consider this fact.
The people running our sport always want to copy other Sports or Countries. We can learn from other organisations, I do it all the time, but we are British and have our own way of reaching our goal. In spite of everything we still have a unique attitude to life, peculiar to us.
Quite a few of the guidance’s I have received are obviously copied from another sport, with no alterations to fit the needs of Judo, much less our National character.
When I first started running the Club I was always being told “the Japanese do it this way” I was duly impressed and did try hard to imitate them but it soon dawned on me there was something amiss. My limbs didn’t seem able to perform some of the strange contortions I was told the Japanese managed. I suspect it is something to do with diet, after all, it is one thing to do these things on a bowl of rice and quite another after I had consumed a couple of pints, a two pound steak and loads of vegetables, to help it all down. Or maybe we are built differently?
I decided then that I would develop a system of training to suit the people I taught, with a view to getting the best out of them by complimenting their individual levels of talent. There is no doubt the Japanese are the best Judoka in the World who, in spite of the changes in recent times, fight in quite orthodox styles. So I take from them many ideas and adjust them to suit my little creatures.
I had the misfortune to attend the British Judo Association A.G.M. It was an impossible situation we were in, when voting on the proposals. We would discuss a point at great length, get the vote we wanted and then the chairman would open the postal vote and say; sorry you lose.
What a way to carry on, it meant that decisions were made by the very people who would not attend. Probably in most cases because their commitment to Judo is so low on their list of priorities. You will seldom see these people at championships either so, to be fair, they can only follow the board’s directive.
One victim of this method was the junior’s National “A” group. A couple Areas pompously claimed they did not send children to the event because they would not put them under stress. Everyone knows they did not send them because of the expense of attending two separate Nationals. Also, if the truth were known, they did not send them because they had no one who could win a medal.
I take these young children to competitions at home and abroad to fight, they have a great time and learn a lot about foreign places and people. The only stress I get is from the ones I leave behind.
One good thing which came from the A.G.M. is that Nik Fairbrother won a place on the board of directors; I hope she can get some of the active member’s points across.
One thing that did strike me was that, we vote these directors in to run our association for us. Then they go against almost everything we want done. They should not pre-empt the results of each of the motions by putting their opinions forward. This is why the postal vote, in most cases, changed the result we clearly showed we wanted. Surely this is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog?
The Nationals, as we call them in the trade, are upon us again. All groups will be together, for perhaps the last time. I suspect it will be declared too crowded, giving them a good reason to drop the younger group. Someone suggested putting the younger boys on with the girls because they finish at lunch time, we were told that was not possible; too sensible?
Mind you the boy’s day will be crowded because the Venue is not really suitable for the event.
Don Werner