This is the Judo blog of Lance Wicks. In this blog I cover mainly Judo and related topics. My Personal blog is over at LanceWicks.com where I cover more geeky topics. Please do leave comments on what you read or use the Contact Me form to send me an email with your thoughts and ideas.
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JudoCoach.com Blog by Lance Wicks
As a Judo coach one of the biggest traps we fall into is forgetting that we are not perfect or more to the point forgetting that people do not expect us to be perfect.
Every Judo coach makes mistakes, as does every player we work with. And it is normal and to be expected.
A bad habit that I observe in coaches is when we forget to acknowledge that we might be wrong, or that there are alternative approaches.
We tend to teach "the right way" of doing techniques. But there is (IMHO) no pure right way, there are a variety of right ways depending on the player, the opponent, the fight and so on.
Is Taio Toshi done with both legs straight or one leg bent? Where does the elbow go? What is the direction of the Kuzushi? Is it Taio Toshi or Tai Otoshi?
More to the point does it matter right now?
Don't get me wrong, the details do matter. Understanding matters, knowledge matters.
But this is very different to being perfect and worse worrying about being perfect. Worrying about being perfect is a really negative habit that will kill you as a coach.
The master coaches if you watch them make mistakes all the time, they get words wrong, they get names wrong, they break the rules and all sorts of other things. Does it bother them? No. Does it make them less of a coach? No.
What it shows is a level of maturity about their coaching that most of us lack. Perhaps they just know that it takes more than one exposure to virtually anything to learn it, so getting it wrong slightly when you teach is not going to have a huge impact.
As a Judo coach, I embrace my errors. My quirks, my slips of the tongue, my mistakes with left and right, my loses of balance etc. I embrace it and make it part of "the show". I make my errors something that players expect, they know I am not perfect and I don't want them to ever think I am.
Pobody is Nerfect! - as they say.
So when you go on the mat this week to coach, keep this post in mind. Be that as a player or coach. There is nothing wrong with mistakes, just move on and enjoy.
Lance
Every Judo coach makes mistakes, as does every player we work with. And it is normal and to be expected.
A bad habit that I observe in coaches is when we forget to acknowledge that we might be wrong, or that there are alternative approaches.
We tend to teach "the right way" of doing techniques. But there is (IMHO) no pure right way, there are a variety of right ways depending on the player, the opponent, the fight and so on.
Is Taio Toshi done with both legs straight or one leg bent? Where does the elbow go? What is the direction of the Kuzushi? Is it Taio Toshi or Tai Otoshi?
More to the point does it matter right now?
Don't get me wrong, the details do matter. Understanding matters, knowledge matters.
But this is very different to being perfect and worse worrying about being perfect. Worrying about being perfect is a really negative habit that will kill you as a coach.
The master coaches if you watch them make mistakes all the time, they get words wrong, they get names wrong, they break the rules and all sorts of other things. Does it bother them? No. Does it make them less of a coach? No.
What it shows is a level of maturity about their coaching that most of us lack. Perhaps they just know that it takes more than one exposure to virtually anything to learn it, so getting it wrong slightly when you teach is not going to have a huge impact.
As a Judo coach, I embrace my errors. My quirks, my slips of the tongue, my mistakes with left and right, my loses of balance etc. I embrace it and make it part of "the show". I make my errors something that players expect, they know I am not perfect and I don't want them to ever think I am.
Pobody is Nerfect! - as they say.
So when you go on the mat this week to coach, keep this post in mind. Be that as a player or coach. There is nothing wrong with mistakes, just move on and enjoy.
Lance
Okay, this post has nothing to do with Judo... directly. I do however run a podcast about Judo ( http://thejudopodcast.eu ) and the short video blog I have embedded below (about Rugby Union) certainly grabbed my attention and may be the model for future Judo related projects.
Oh... whilst I am talking about the podcast, here is a little advert for the next "episode" that I shall be posting on Friday 23 April.
On Friday I shall be posting a podcast entitled "Interview with 3 world champions" which features Kosei Inoue, Jane Bridge and Loretta Cusack discussing their careers.
It was a keynote lecture at the University of Bath on the Level 4/Foundation degree course. Which as I have mentioned before is a unique and wonderful opportunity for anyone serious about their Judo. Applictaions for next years intake are open now. There are students from all over the globe, so there is no excuse not to apply!
Lance
Oh... whilst I am talking about the podcast, here is a little advert for the next "episode" that I shall be posting on Friday 23 April.
On Friday I shall be posting a podcast entitled "Interview with 3 world champions" which features Kosei Inoue, Jane Bridge and Loretta Cusack discussing their careers.
It was a keynote lecture at the University of Bath on the Level 4/Foundation degree course. Which as I have mentioned before is a unique and wonderful opportunity for anyone serious about their Judo. Applictaions for next years intake are open now. There are students from all over the globe, so there is no excuse not to apply!
Lance
In Judo we compete in weight classes and this according to the medical profession places the athletes under our care at increased risk of eating disorders and the associated health risks. As Judo coaches we have a responsibility to be aware of these risks and do everything we can to prevent our Judo athletes from suffering from the damage that these conditions can cause.
Judo players we all know will lose weight to make it into their weight category, the “dirty little secret” in Judo has always been that we turn a blind eye to weight cycling, and the unhealthy methods of weight control we allow athletes (especially young athletes) to use. This is not helped by the fact that many of the big names in world Judo have or are doing it.
Judo players will use methods such as starving themselves, not drinking, self-induce vomiting, sauna and use diuretics to name a few methods. All these methods are associated with eating disorders. Judo athletes attitudes towards eating have also been shown to be unhealthy.
A study in 2007 sadly identified that coaches and athletes were big pressures on athletes to lose/control their weight (as opposed to the normal population who feel more pressure from society, tv etc.). So my take on this is that we as coaches need to do all we can to ensure that our athletes do not feel pressure from us or from the other athletes you are involved with.
Of course the catch 22 is that there is a valid reason for the pressure, missing your weight will mean you miss the tournament. Being in a heavy weight category puts you at a weight disadvantage. There is also old wives tales about power to weight ratios that ignore the negative effects of radical weight loss.
We should all be aware of the dangers of eating disorders, I have put some links at the bottom of this article, that will get you started. If you want to be chilled to the bone contact a professional who works with patients with eating disorders and let them scare you witless. The mortality rate in eating disorders is pretty darn high, not to forget the non-terminal health issues eating disorders cause in the short and long term.
So what can we do as coaches?
For a start, you can make a pledge right now to never encourage athletes in your care to lose weight. You must not forget that radical weight loss in obese people can be dangerous as well as in thinner people. Perhaps you can find a health professional to come to the dojo and advise athletes on how they might healthily change their weight? Perhaps if you are weighing athletes anyway for category decisions institute a rule that young players can never go down in weight? Perhaps as well as monitoring weight you can monitor BMI and body fat to ensure that they stay at healthy levels.
You need to talk to your athletes and explain that the unhealthy weight loss methods of the last are not to be done by them. No starving themselves, no saunas to lose the weight, none of that stuff.
You could get in experts to advise athletes as to what weight category they will be able to be in with healthy eating. Get professionals to advise young athletes what size and weight they can expect to be when they are fully mature, then plan for your athletes to go up the weights to this target, making going up weight classes part of the plan.
What else needs to be done?
Here is a radical suggestion that I have discussed with a few people and would like your opinion on.
I propose we ban weight classes for players under 18 years of age.
Of course there are risks in letting the 100kg monster on with your 60kg player, so we need to find an alternative way of matching players. Perhaps we weight everyone on the day and then group the heaviest 12 players and call this category 1, then repeat with the next 12 heaviest all the way to the lightest player? Maybe we institute a proper ranking system that means that only players of similar ability fight one another? It is something we need to think through and come up with something new.
So this is our mission as coaches, protect the players as best we can in the environment we have today. Try to prevent athletes in your care from developing unhealthy attitudes and behaviours around weight and eating. The second part is to lobby our national and international governing bodies to address the issue and come up with a solution for the young athletes.
Lance
(“Anorexia & bulimia,” n.d.; “Anorexia - Eating Disorders in Athletes - Anorexia Nervosa,” n.d.; Byrne & McLean, 2001; “Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine,” n.d.; “CSA,” n.d.; “Eating disorders among male and female elite athletes,” 1999; Herzog et al., 2000; Johnson, Powers, & Dick, 1999; Pompili, Mancinelli, Girardi, Ruberto, & Tatarelli, 2004; Rouveix, Bouget, Pannafieux, Champely, & Filaire, 2007)
Anorexia & bulimia. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/campaigns/chan ... imia.aspx.
Anorexia - Eating Disorders in Athletes - Anorexia Nervosa. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/eati ... rexia.htm.
Byrne, S., & McLean, N. (2001). Eating disorders in athletes: A review of the literature. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 4(2), 145-159. doi: 10.1016/S1440-2440(01)80025-6.
Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/pag ... =abstract.
CSA. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord. ... ookie=yes.
Eating disorders among male and female elite athletes. (1999, December 1). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/citation/33/6/434.
Herzog, D. B., Greenwood, D. N., Dorer, D. J., Flores, A. T., Ekeblad, E. R., Richards, A., et al. (2000). Mortality in eating disorders: A descriptive study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 28(1), 20–26. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(200007)28:1<20::AID-EAT3>3.0.CO;2-X.
Johnson, C., Powers, P. S., & Dick, R. (1999). Athletes and eating disorders: The national collegiate athletic association study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26(2), 179-188. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199909)26:2<179::AID-EAT7>3.0.CO;2-Z.
Pompili, M., Mancinelli, I., Girardi, P., Ruberto, A., & Tatarelli, R. (2004). Suicide in anorexia nervosa: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36(1), 99–103. doi: 10.1002/eat.20011.
Rouveix, M., Bouget, M., Pannafieux, C., Champely, S., & Filaire, E. (2007). Eating Attitudes, Body Esteem, Perfectionism and Anxiety of Judo Athletes and Nonathletes. Int J Sports Med, 28(4), 340-5.
Judo players will use methods such as starving themselves, not drinking, self-induce vomiting, sauna and use diuretics to name a few methods. All these methods are associated with eating disorders. Judo athletes attitudes towards eating have also been shown to be unhealthy.
A study in 2007 sadly identified that coaches and athletes were big pressures on athletes to lose/control their weight (as opposed to the normal population who feel more pressure from society, tv etc.). So my take on this is that we as coaches need to do all we can to ensure that our athletes do not feel pressure from us or from the other athletes you are involved with.
Of course the catch 22 is that there is a valid reason for the pressure, missing your weight will mean you miss the tournament. Being in a heavy weight category puts you at a weight disadvantage. There is also old wives tales about power to weight ratios that ignore the negative effects of radical weight loss.
We should all be aware of the dangers of eating disorders, I have put some links at the bottom of this article, that will get you started. If you want to be chilled to the bone contact a professional who works with patients with eating disorders and let them scare you witless. The mortality rate in eating disorders is pretty darn high, not to forget the non-terminal health issues eating disorders cause in the short and long term.
So what can we do as coaches?
For a start, you can make a pledge right now to never encourage athletes in your care to lose weight. You must not forget that radical weight loss in obese people can be dangerous as well as in thinner people. Perhaps you can find a health professional to come to the dojo and advise athletes on how they might healthily change their weight? Perhaps if you are weighing athletes anyway for category decisions institute a rule that young players can never go down in weight? Perhaps as well as monitoring weight you can monitor BMI and body fat to ensure that they stay at healthy levels.
You need to talk to your athletes and explain that the unhealthy weight loss methods of the last are not to be done by them. No starving themselves, no saunas to lose the weight, none of that stuff.
You could get in experts to advise athletes as to what weight category they will be able to be in with healthy eating. Get professionals to advise young athletes what size and weight they can expect to be when they are fully mature, then plan for your athletes to go up the weights to this target, making going up weight classes part of the plan.
What else needs to be done?
Here is a radical suggestion that I have discussed with a few people and would like your opinion on.
I propose we ban weight classes for players under 18 years of age.
Of course there are risks in letting the 100kg monster on with your 60kg player, so we need to find an alternative way of matching players. Perhaps we weight everyone on the day and then group the heaviest 12 players and call this category 1, then repeat with the next 12 heaviest all the way to the lightest player? Maybe we institute a proper ranking system that means that only players of similar ability fight one another? It is something we need to think through and come up with something new.
So this is our mission as coaches, protect the players as best we can in the environment we have today. Try to prevent athletes in your care from developing unhealthy attitudes and behaviours around weight and eating. The second part is to lobby our national and international governing bodies to address the issue and come up with a solution for the young athletes.
Lance
(“Anorexia & bulimia,” n.d.; “Anorexia - Eating Disorders in Athletes - Anorexia Nervosa,” n.d.; Byrne & McLean, 2001; “Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine,” n.d.; “CSA,” n.d.; “Eating disorders among male and female elite athletes,” 1999; Herzog et al., 2000; Johnson, Powers, & Dick, 1999; Pompili, Mancinelli, Girardi, Ruberto, & Tatarelli, 2004; Rouveix, Bouget, Pannafieux, Champely, & Filaire, 2007)
Anorexia & bulimia. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/campaigns/chan ... imia.aspx.
Anorexia - Eating Disorders in Athletes - Anorexia Nervosa. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/eati ... rexia.htm.
Byrne, S., & McLean, N. (2001). Eating disorders in athletes: A review of the literature. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 4(2), 145-159. doi: 10.1016/S1440-2440(01)80025-6.
Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/pag ... =abstract.
CSA. (n.d.). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord. ... ookie=yes.
Eating disorders among male and female elite athletes. (1999, December 1). . Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/citation/33/6/434.
Herzog, D. B., Greenwood, D. N., Dorer, D. J., Flores, A. T., Ekeblad, E. R., Richards, A., et al. (2000). Mortality in eating disorders: A descriptive study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 28(1), 20–26. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(200007)28:1<20::AID-EAT3>3.0.CO;2-X.
Johnson, C., Powers, P. S., & Dick, R. (1999). Athletes and eating disorders: The national collegiate athletic association study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26(2), 179-188. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199909)26:2<179::AID-EAT7>3.0.CO;2-Z.
Pompili, M., Mancinelli, I., Girardi, P., Ruberto, A., & Tatarelli, R. (2004). Suicide in anorexia nervosa: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36(1), 99–103. doi: 10.1002/eat.20011.
Rouveix, M., Bouget, M., Pannafieux, C., Champely, S., & Filaire, E. (2007). Eating Attitudes, Body Esteem, Perfectionism and Anxiety of Judo Athletes and Nonathletes. Int J Sports Med, 28(4), 340-5.
Hi everyone,
Well, it is Saturday as I sit here and type this up, I wanted to give myself some time to think about the experiences I have had attending the University of Bath Foundation & BSc course.
If I were to sum it all up in a single word, that word would be... AMAZING!
Since April 2005, I have been improving myself as a Judo coach and as a person by attending the course twice a year and working on assignments in between.
It is I confess a little bit of an anti-climax so far, mainly because we still have a HUGE amount of typing to do before the end of the course proper. It may also be an emotional response to the end of the course. There is no carry on course, perhaps a PHD option, but no more tutored blocks, no more lectures, no more two weeks twice a year hanging out with the best Judo people you can imagine!
This year I had the great pleasure of giving a lecture to the students just starting on the foundation degree.
The plus side for me was that it gave me a chance to meet and talk to people just starting down the path I have trodden. Which meant I tried to help them with some things I have learned and it also allowed me to meet and get to know them, a great privilege. They are just like I was, just realizing that the course is more than mere assignments, more than just throws.
It is about spending time with like-minded Judoka, people who want to improve themselves and the Judo they are involved in. It is about meeting and learning from one another and from the lecturers.
It is about discovering where you fit in the Judo world, about finding out where you can help, where your passion extends, beyond the mere physical aspects of Judo.
For me the Bath course has been a revitalization of my personal Judo.
I am a better person for doing the course, I am a better Judo Coach, I am more deeply involved in Judo and doing more to try an improve Judo.
I know more about Judo as a Sport and most importantly about how Judo is a even more important part of my life.
I also realise that performance Judo is an important part of the bigger picture of Judo.
The process of working to be the best athlete, is a process of self-improvement, which is what Judo is all about right?
I have also had the great honour of meeting many elite Judo athletes; World champions, Olympic champions, Continental and National champions. And you know what, they are some of the most amazing people you can ever meet. And you know what, they are good people and they are doing good work, they are working to try and improve the world they inhabit. Again, is that not the point of Judo according to some of the writings of Jigoro Kano?
The same is true of the coaches I have met. These are people that are totally dedicated to helping others.
I have spent the last 4 years blogging about the course and I have not tried to sell it to anyone other than through my experiences.
And here is where that changes! I want to spend the remaining paragraphs encouraging you (yes you dear reader) to apply to do the course.
The foundation degree ( http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation/judo/index.html ) is the best coach education opportunity you can imagine. You will learn all about Judo, from the historical origins of Judo and Kata through to the very latest techniques and training principles.
You will learn from Judo and non-Judo lecturers. You'll come out of it understanding about Judo and sport science and much more.
If you have been reading this blog for a while, then you should apply because you'll know how much I have loved attending Bath.
You will love it too I am sure.
Click through to http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation/judo/index.html where you can learn more about the course. You can download the application form ( http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation ... 202008.doc ) and thats all you need to do. Hopefully you'll make it onto the course and you'll be able to grow like I have.
Some folks don't think they are of high enough level to attend, or of too high enough level to attend; this is not true!
Sign up and learn! Do it NOW!
Any questions, give me an email ( lw@judocoach.com ) or contact the course leader Mike Callan ( M.J.Callan@bath.ac.uk ).
Lance.
Well, it is Saturday as I sit here and type this up, I wanted to give myself some time to think about the experiences I have had attending the University of Bath Foundation & BSc course.
If I were to sum it all up in a single word, that word would be... AMAZING!
Since April 2005, I have been improving myself as a Judo coach and as a person by attending the course twice a year and working on assignments in between.
It is I confess a little bit of an anti-climax so far, mainly because we still have a HUGE amount of typing to do before the end of the course proper. It may also be an emotional response to the end of the course. There is no carry on course, perhaps a PHD option, but no more tutored blocks, no more lectures, no more two weeks twice a year hanging out with the best Judo people you can imagine!
This year I had the great pleasure of giving a lecture to the students just starting on the foundation degree.
The plus side for me was that it gave me a chance to meet and talk to people just starting down the path I have trodden. Which meant I tried to help them with some things I have learned and it also allowed me to meet and get to know them, a great privilege. They are just like I was, just realizing that the course is more than mere assignments, more than just throws.
It is about spending time with like-minded Judoka, people who want to improve themselves and the Judo they are involved in. It is about meeting and learning from one another and from the lecturers.
It is about discovering where you fit in the Judo world, about finding out where you can help, where your passion extends, beyond the mere physical aspects of Judo.
For me the Bath course has been a revitalization of my personal Judo.
I am a better person for doing the course, I am a better Judo Coach, I am more deeply involved in Judo and doing more to try an improve Judo.
I know more about Judo as a Sport and most importantly about how Judo is a even more important part of my life.
I also realise that performance Judo is an important part of the bigger picture of Judo.
The process of working to be the best athlete, is a process of self-improvement, which is what Judo is all about right?
I have also had the great honour of meeting many elite Judo athletes; World champions, Olympic champions, Continental and National champions. And you know what, they are some of the most amazing people you can ever meet. And you know what, they are good people and they are doing good work, they are working to try and improve the world they inhabit. Again, is that not the point of Judo according to some of the writings of Jigoro Kano?
The same is true of the coaches I have met. These are people that are totally dedicated to helping others.
I have spent the last 4 years blogging about the course and I have not tried to sell it to anyone other than through my experiences.
And here is where that changes! I want to spend the remaining paragraphs encouraging you (yes you dear reader) to apply to do the course.
The foundation degree ( http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation/judo/index.html ) is the best coach education opportunity you can imagine. You will learn all about Judo, from the historical origins of Judo and Kata through to the very latest techniques and training principles.
You will learn from Judo and non-Judo lecturers. You'll come out of it understanding about Judo and sport science and much more.
If you have been reading this blog for a while, then you should apply because you'll know how much I have loved attending Bath.
You will love it too I am sure.
Click through to http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation/judo/index.html where you can learn more about the course. You can download the application form ( http://www.bath.ac.uk/sports/foundation ... 202008.doc ) and thats all you need to do. Hopefully you'll make it onto the course and you'll be able to grow like I have.
Some folks don't think they are of high enough level to attend, or of too high enough level to attend; this is not true!
Sign up and learn! Do it NOW!
Any questions, give me an email ( lw@judocoach.com ) or contact the course leader Mike Callan ( M.J.Callan@bath.ac.uk ).
Lance.
Day 9, the end is nigh!
Today started with Diego taking us through a critique of an academic paper. The top bloke that he is, he brought chocolate! It was good to go through a structure to critique academic papers, we have an assignment that includes doing that so it was very good.
Later Juergen Kilnger soke with us about Player/Coach relationships. I really like Juergen and his way of looking at Judo and coaching. The lecture was good, he has a quite clear and concise view/opinion on how you should respect the players you work with.
Later still we had a lecture with Gavin Reynoldson, looking at how we need to do our assignment critiqueing academic papers. We have not had Gavin before so always good to meet a new tutor.
Last (and most enjoyable), we had our meal out together in Bath. We went to what I gather is the old train station. We had a very pleasant evening with all the students from all the 5 years. We also received certificates signed by Jane Bridge-Charlot, Mike Callan and Kosei Inoue.
Tomorrow is my final day in Bath, not quite the end as we have a thousands of words to write, but the end of the residential block. Ulp!
Nothing more to report right now, expect more melodrama and melancholy tomorrow. :-)
Today started with Diego taking us through a critique of an academic paper. The top bloke that he is, he brought chocolate! It was good to go through a structure to critique academic papers, we have an assignment that includes doing that so it was very good.
Later Juergen Kilnger soke with us about Player/Coach relationships. I really like Juergen and his way of looking at Judo and coaching. The lecture was good, he has a quite clear and concise view/opinion on how you should respect the players you work with.
Later still we had a lecture with Gavin Reynoldson, looking at how we need to do our assignment critiqueing academic papers. We have not had Gavin before so always good to meet a new tutor.
Last (and most enjoyable), we had our meal out together in Bath. We went to what I gather is the old train station. We had a very pleasant evening with all the students from all the 5 years. We also received certificates signed by Jane Bridge-Charlot, Mike Callan and Kosei Inoue.
Tomorrow is my final day in Bath, not quite the end as we have a thousands of words to write, but the end of the residential block. Ulp!
Nothing more to report right now, expect more melodrama and melancholy tomorrow. :-)
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