JudoCoach.com Blog by Lance Wicks

2012: Claim your 1 percent!

Lance Wicks — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:57:04 GMT

Hi everyone and welcome to 2012!

This post is inspired by Bob Challis' post today ( http://judobob.wordpress.com/2012/01/01 ... ho-counts/ ).

Bob points out that we are a mere 207 days from the start of the London 2012 Judo event. With 207 days to go, he asks us all to consider how we are contributing to the Olympic effort.

He quotes Kate Howey as basically being able to sleep easy if at the end of the games she feels she has provided 1% to the Olympic effort. Bob asks us to decide how we are going to contribute to the effort.

I like his suggestions; I like the idea of those of us physically capable of being a training body; showing up for a 7 months at one of the centres with Olympic players. For me; thats the might Camberley Judo Club.
There, open evening Randori is on a Tuesday and Thursday evening; with a Wednesday morning Randori in the middle of the two.
I used to go on a Wednesday and the odd evening, but maybe for the next months I can go along (probably a Tuesday) and try and at least be a body to throw. Maybe I can persuade some of the people around me to go also.

I don't like Bob's quote that much; I prefer to paraphrase this one I found reading Jonny WIlkinson's latest book (the Autobiography).

�When you�ve worked so hard that you feel you may pass out and your body and mind seem to have been stretched to breaking point, and momentarily you think you�ve no more left to give, hear a voice remind you that there�s something far more important than anyone�s susceptibility to pain. It is the great tradition, belief and respect of what it takes to be a true Judoka. It is then you will become a legendary Judoka.�

Have a golden 2012 everyone!

On Judo clubs and Judo societies.

Lance Wicks — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:12:20 GMT

Judo Societies or Judo clubs?

Today I want to try and articulate a series of recurring thoughts I have been having lately. These thoughts have consumed quite a few cycles in my brain and I wanted to put them "out there" for your consideration, contemplation and recommendations. This is really a case of me trying to crystalize my thinking in words, so do comment on them, but be gentle.

So, here we go�

Judo is a sport, it is more than sport. In fact "More than sport" is the slogan of the European Judo Union. And they are right, Judo so fantastic, it is an exciting sport. It is a sport that tests the body, mind and spirit of all that play it. Be they great olympic champions or novices in their first match.

Judo gives those who do it all the great things that sport offers. Areas like personal enjoyment, personal growth, social integration, and social change (M. Csikszentmihalyi. 1982). That is not to exclude the physical benefits of sport.

Judo offers, as the EJU slogan says, "More than sport". Judo's culture promotes self-discipline, respect, honor and much much more.

But�.

Is Judo a sport everywhere? I would argue no; not everywhere. I compare Judo to other sports and notice some oddities. Lets start with the British Judo Association.

The BJA offers no inter-club competition structure. It does encourage individual participation in events, but there is no effort put into encouraging clubs form competing against one another.

Equally, if I look at my local area Hampshire, it offers only 4 competitions per year usually. And not all of those happen or are suitable for all Judoka in Hampshire.

Part of the reason for this I guess is because many clubs don't participate in the events on offer. This is partly because the events are too far away or not appropriate for the players in the clubs.

The lack of events is I suspect a symptom rather than anything else.

However, part of it is also that the clubs are not offering the sport of Judo. Many are solely there for the training. Clubs teach Judo techniques, but how many compete against other ?

This for me is where the real problems/concerns start.

In Judo we use terms like "Club" and "Coach" and "Player". Club is a pretty generic term which covers sports clubs and of course poetry clubs, etc. Universities have had this issue of definition for some time and they have done quite well at deciding that clubs and societies are different things. CLubs being sports related, having matches, competition, etc. Societies being groups of people who do an activity that does not include competition.

So for me, many "Judo Clubs" are by this point of view "Judo Societies". Which is fine, but they don't call themselves societies, or I suspect think of themselves as such. Equally, there are Judo Coaches who do nothing but teach techniques. And Judo players who do not play the game of Judo� i.e. do not compete.

So why does this matter?

Returning to the EJU slogan, Judo is "More than sport". However, if Judo is not done for sport, then it becomes less than sport.

It remains beneficial and positive, but it goes from being more than sport to being less.Of course there is an argument that we are better off without sport in Judo� it's a point of view that some have, but I don't want to argue about it as I don't agree with it and I think it lessens Judo. It also ignores the reality that Judo is a sport. It may not have started that way, but it is one now. Perhaps that is not right, but that is the reality of the situation.

For me sport is a hugely powerful force for good and for the development of people. Competition and the need to prepare creates better people. Winning and losing teaches people about� well winning and losing and how to cope with both situations. Competition brings different things out of people and tests us in different ways than practicing or randori. You learn different things.

If you attend a Judo club, or run one. Take a close look at yourself and your club. And decide if you are a coach of a sports club or the instructor at a Judo Society. Do you train people and give them opportunities to compete? Or do you teach throws and other techniques that are not tested in competition?

And consider the percentage of participants in your club/society that compete. If it's not a majority then you are not a sports club. Having one player who competes and 20 who don't means that you are not a sports club. You are a society with a member who participates in sport.

Consider the local gym. A vast majority of members in most gyms are there or recreation and physical fitness. There may be one or two who play sport. Just because they play sport the gym does not get to call itself a sports club, its a gym. Equally, if only a minority of members of a Judo club compete, the club does not get to call itself a sports club either.

These are just my random thoughts on the matter, but I wanted to push them out there to see what people thought.

For me Judo is more than sport, it is a way of life and a life to live. But for me at least, if you take the sport out of Judo it devolves into something less than it is today. Just another hobby, just another "martial art". No more and no less than going to the gym. It's still good for you and a great way to spend your time, but it's not Judo for me.

European Judo Championships u23

Lance Wicks — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:20:01 GMT

I am currently in Siberia (Tyumen, Russia) working at the European Judo Unions European u23 Championships.

We are streaming the results live onto the internet at http://www.eju.net/calendar/?mode=showL ... amp;id=661

My colleagues are in Amsterdam streaming the Grand Prix event which you can watch at: http://212.227.28.227/live/index.php

Daniel Lascau visits Camberley Judo Club

Lance Wicks — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:10:00 GMT

On November 2nd, British Judo Performance Director, Daniel Lascau visits Camberley Judo Club.

On only his second day living in the UK, new BJA Performance director Daniel Lascau visited Camberley Judo Club and watched the training and also spoke with the athletes.

He spoke about what the athletes had to do with less than 10 months to the London2012 Olympic Games. He spoke about how he wants to have nationwide TUesday and Thursday randori.

He spoke about how he would have different teams, those in the top 20 in the world, the top 8, etc. Also he spoke about the top fifty players and those not in the top fifty.

I was very impressed that on the second day living in the UK, Daniel was at Camberley. The next day he was off to Bath and only on the fourth day was he going to visit BJA HQ.

I am hopeful that Daniel will be able to create as he describes an objective and open system that earns the trust of the players and coaches around the country. That includes the elite level and the grass root.

----
Music: Ignition Sequence by Jurassic 5.
Voiceover: Lance Wicks.

Coaching Digital Natives, Social Media and Social Hardware Talk at ARU.

Lance Wicks — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:46:26 GMT

On the 27th of October I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to deliver a talk at Anglia Ruskin University on coaching digital natives, social media and social hardware.

The talk is the v2.0 of the original DIgital Natives talk I gave at the University of Bath in 2008.

In the talk I tried to cover in a fairly short time what a digital native is, what social media is and why either of them matter. I also added a section on Social Hardware or the "Internet of Things" and how it relates to coaching.

Anyway... I was able to take a video of the talk and here it is:

If you can't see the video, try it on Archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/details/DigitalN ... lMediaTalk

All changes at the BJPI

Lance Wicks — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:05:08 GMT

So....
We are about to go into November 2011 and since I last posted about the British Judo Performance programme a lot has changed.

Margaret Hicks, Jane Bridge and Patrick Roux are out and Daniel Lascau has taken on the challenge and is the new Performance Director for British Judo.

He has a big challenge ahead of him and I hope that it goes well. The players deserve a chance to make a good go at London2012 and the previous management team were not doing that.

My hope is that Mr. Lascau is able to make the sweeping cultural changes needed and become trusted by the athletes and coaches... and teh wider Judo community. The trust issue is I feel the biggest hurdle he faces and I hope he is able to get the mindset of the british Judo performance athletes and wider community and make some positive changes.

I will support and trust him, you should too.
We the wider community need to give him a chance, and to give him our trust and our support. We need to risk that he lets us down. We need to take that risk and take the chance that he will burn us.
We need to take the risk and take it on behalf of the athletes, we need to support him 100% until he earns the trust or loses it.

With only a few short months till the games, I think we can all take that risk. And we need to step away form the bad history and burned bridges and focus on the next months and give every chance we can to the hopes and dreams of the athletes who are trying to be the best they can be despite the difficulties they have faced up to this point.

They need us to support them and top give them the chance to succeed. And we need to support them and get behind the programme until London2012 is over.

It has been a rough road so far, but as I've said to others: I see this as a Hollywood Blockbuster.

We are at that point in the movie where the hero has been beaten to the floor, had sand kicked in his/her eyes and is on deaths door. BUt this is the point in the movie where the hero sees his mother/father/wife/husband/coach and realises that they can get up. They will get up; they will fight on.

From this moment they fight back and win against the odds, this is where British Judo is and we need to help the fairytale finish happen. When the players look up they should see all of us, screaming that they can and will do it! They should see us supporting them and putting any differences aside. They should see the light at the end of the tunnel, the moment of glory on the biggest stage in sport!

So, take a moment this week to consider what you can do to help Daniel Lascau and all the athletes. Take a minute to contact someone and ask what you can do to help. Take a second to tell the players in your club that great things are happening in British Judo and that we all need to give our support to the players.

Lance

BJA Failing athletes, Part two.

Lance Wicks — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:05:41 GMT

Good morning all,

I am sat here watching the Rugby world cup and the Mongolian Judo World Cup and felt the need to follow up on my previous post about the British teams performance at the 2011 World Championships.

The Mongolian World Cup is weak, numbers-wise at least. Being immediately after the world championships many athletes do not attend. Which to me means it is an ideal event to attend if you need to chase points for the ranking list; which helps seeding.

I was sure I had written about how the British team last year didn't attend and I thought that was a mistake. As I do this year also.

But I was unable to find a blog post immediately that said that. What I did find is this post:

http://www.judocoach.com/blog/index.php ... 901-170802

Which I wrote after the 2009 Word Championships. If you don't fancy reading it, just read my post from this years world championships and swap 2011 for 2009. In other words, the concerns I raised in 2009 I am raising again in 2011. They have not been addressed.

Interestingly one of the first snippets that caught my eye was a 2009 quote from Margaret Hicks saying that the British team was "...on the right track...� in the build-up to the London Olympics.

Later in the post I wrote:

"What worries me is that British Judo is on a path, one that is failing to show signs of light. It is getting worse, performing at lower levels than in the past. Remember those stats from above, this is the worst performing team in the last 3 world championships."

So how hell are we in 2011 and the situation is nearly identical. Another terrible World Championships, another "worst performance".

I think Margaret Hicks was right in one area at least, British Judo is on a track, a path. But not the right one! They are on the wrong train, going the wrong way... fast!

To me, the most obvious thing in the world for the BJA and UK SPort is to change direction. The great genius that was Albert Einstein is attributed with the following quotation "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

It is "insane" for British Judo to continue with the current path and the current performance management team. The time is now to change direction, to remove Hicks, Roux and Bridge from post and to see what can be salvaged in time for the biggest sporting event in British History.

Lance

BJA Failing Athletes.

Lance Wicks — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:37:45 GMT

On August 23rd through 29th the World Judo Championships were held in Paris. The event was an amazing success with big Ippons and great atmosphere, if you were not there you were able to follow the action via live Internet video stream or on TV in some countries.

However, as a member of the British Judo Association (BJA), the event was a disaster! And although being "sworn off" criticizing the BJA, I am going to post today about the disaster in the hope that it makes a difference. And to be frank with you, to vent the rage that I feel.

The rage is because I feel strongly that the system is failing the athletes. This upsets me immensely as for the athletes, this is their whole world, their lives, what makes them; them. This people are choosing to pursue Judo rather than wives, kids, careers, normal lives. They sweat, they hurt, they get injured and for what? Not for the money that is clear. The fame? Not likely in the UK. So it upsets me when I see talented dedicated young athletes not succeeding in a period where British Judo has more resources at it's disposal than ever before and more resources than most of their competition.

In simple terms, the performance of the British team is the worst since 1969, 42 years ago! (Bob over at http://judobob.wordpress.com/2011/08/31 ... ad-is-bad/ has all the numbers).
By "poor performance", I am using medals as the criteria. As Bob shows in his post, this is the first World Championships since 1975 that Great Britain has not brought back a medal.

And this is not with a bunch of newbies, many of the team are seasoned veterans making their final run at an Olympic Games. You have athletes who have won world medals, world cup medals, even some who have made top 5 at the Olympics. Yet in Paris they failed worse than ever before� why? and who is to blame?

Below are my views on this:

1. Don't blame the athletes!
Not a single athlete on the team went to Paris not wanting to win. If anyone blames the athletes I'll argue with them till I turn blue in the face. There are plenty of people to point the finger at, but the players are not the right people to blame.

2. Who is responsible + Who is to blame?
Two different questions, the responsible individuals are those whose role is to deliver performance. The individuals to blame are those who have not created good performance. There is a difference.

3. What now?
As I have stated in earlier posts and is even more of a issue now, we are less than a year from the Olympics. There is little time to do anything. So should we change anything? Tough call. And if we have the urge to make changes, what to do?!?!

But lets go back to who is responsible and who is to blame first.

Who is Responsible for the BJA's poor performance in Paris?
This may seem like a tough question, but in fact is probably the easiest question to answer. A 10 second browse of the BJA's website gives the answer ( http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/executive ... 6&y=14 ).

The person responsible is Margaret Hicks (Performance Director), her role in the organization is to deliver elite performance. No matter what anyone says, her primary role is to build an environment that delivers success and Paris was not a success, so she has failed.

Second on the list would be Patrick Roux (GB Head Coach), his salaried job is to coach the athletes with his team and deliver success. Again Paris was a disaster so he has failed.

Below this we get down to lower level management and support staff. They are not "responsible" for the overall failing to perform. if we discuss them it is in the context of blame and not responsibility. As stated above, those responsible for the situation (IMHO at least) are the Performance Director and Head Coach.

To be clear, at this point of the post, I am not saying that either individual has done anything wrong. All I am saying is that it was/is their responsibility to deliver success and the facts show they have failed to do this.

Obviously, given the scale of the failure in Paris and leading up to Paris; those with responsibility (named above) need to consider their positions and if they are the problem. More on that later.

Blame� lets point some fingers!
So, for me formal responsibility lies squarely at the feet of Margaret and Patrick. But that is just saying that the post they hold is responsible. They may be brilliant at what they do and their only failing is in having a team that did not do their jobs.

The obvious targets I predict taking the blame are the athletes.

This I think is wrong and to be honest, cowardly and naive if it happens. Sure, each athlete has responsibility for their own performance and every single one of them will know in their minds and hearts that they did things wrong, thats why they did not win.
But, they are responsible for only a single players performance, their own. You can not blame the athletes for the collective failure. The -48kg player has no responsibility for the +100kg athletes failure.

And lets just reflect on those two players�

-48kg was� nobody.
+100kg was� nobody.

Great Britain in the final World Championships prior to London2012 did not have athletes in either category! Why? Can we assume then that in London GB won't fill those categories either?
Paris was a huge experience for any athlete, a great preparation to the pressure they'll be under in London, but there are british athletes who did not have the opportunity to learn from that experience.
Again, this is not something the players themselves decided, or are responsible for.

The players are not the bad guys/girls here. They are all fallible and all failed to win medals. Which contributed to the overall failure. But they are only responsible for a small part of the overall failure. They are also the ones fighting injured and giving it all they can. Take a quick look at who is going in for surgery from the Paris team and tell me they did not give it all they had!

Don't blame the talent, they don't deserve to be dumped on.

If it was a single athlete who failed, sure leap on them and tear them apart. But the entire team failed, so for me this is a sign that the system is at fault not the players. The athletes are awesome but victims of the system, they can only do what they can do.

So� blame the system.

I kinda spoiled the surprise, in the previous paragraph, but I blame the system that the BJA has put in place. And I do so because the failure is so comprehensive across the team. If it had just been the men or just the women, or just the Scots or just the English then maybe we could attribute blame differently.

But no, it was failure across the board. In a centralized system that means for me, the people running the system are to blame. So for me not only does responsibility but blame also falls on the BJA High Performance Directorate management and staff.

Pointing to specific failures or assigning blame specifically is tougher and to be not fair on the individuals. Nor would it be useful. And it's like pulling at a thread on a piece of clothing, it just creates a mess and does not fix the problem.

But let me be clear, the performance director, head coach and other members of the directorate to larger or lesser degrees have failed the athletes and the BJA. The blame is squarely with them.
There are good people in the directorate, there are people trying to do good work and I don't want to attack them.

I hold desperately onto the belief that everyone in the directorate has their heart in the right place and that they are all trying to do the best job possible. But on the whole it is amazingly hard to believe.
Almost worse is the idea that these people are doing the best they can. This would be worse as it means they are incompetent and incapable of doing the task set them. And to make it worse, it means they don't realize they are not capable of getting the job done, which is very sad.

If however, they are competent, then why the hell are they not getting the job done?

As the old saying goes "damned if they do, damned if they don't". Either they are incompetent and incapable of getting the job done. Or they are competent and incapable of getting the job done. which one is worse??

I worry also that the IJF changes will also be blamed. The two person per weight, quarter final repecharge, etc. These are variables that have been on the radar for a while now. They have been in place for some time and every other country has the same situation. Blaming these changes is making excuses nothing more.

Of course no blame session would be complete without going higher up and looking at the board of directors, the CEO and staff of the BJA. Not to mention the culture of Judo in the UK and how it all contributes to the failure in Paris.

Paris came at the end of a period of fairly public turmoil at BJA HQ. Sorry�. thats right there was no problem, the deletion of threads and eventual closing of the forum proved that. As did the letter to all clubs from the chairman explaining everything was fine. The departure of key staff was unrelated I am sure, nor the new posts suddenly created/advertised.

The BJA is an odd odd beast, all of those who deal with it know that. It is inconsistent, larger than can be believed and treats those who actually deliver it's "product" surprisingly poorly.

The prevailing breeze is not fresh, but smells of discontent and frustration.

So perhaps whilst looking at blame, we need to consider if the performance directorate have been able to do their jobs? Perhaps the prevailing culture in the BJA and the climate within the organisation/business at BJA HQ is causing the problem? Or at minimum contributing to the problems?

One has to think that the BJA HQ and the current atmosphere within British Judo has contributed to the failures of the performance directorate. The poor level of coach education and CPD is not helping. The lack of robust competition structure perhaps is stunting development. Perhaps clubs feeling that each letter with a BJA logo on it is more work is not great. Maybe it's just the constant moving of goal posts as funding pools are chased. Or maybe it's all just grown too big for the clubs that are happy being hobbies rather than sports clubs.

so way too much to cover when it comes to who to blame. For me it is much easier and safer to look at responsibility and in that case it is clear that the BJA High Performance Directorate staff have failed in their duties.

Which leads me to what to do�

The obvious next step for me is that those who have failed to deliver what they are salaried to deliver should no longer hold those positions. Either they could do the "honorable thing" or BJA should step in and fire them.

At a minimum, Margaret Hicks and Patrick Roux should go. Personally, I think Jane Bridge should also go as the partnership between her and Patrick is such a close one. But in terms of job titles, she might survive the axe.

of course this leaves a big hole in the directorate and I do not know who could fill the posts. There is not in my view a clear candidate to be performance director within British Judo. Perhaps someone from another sport could be brought in till an expert could be identified and employed.

The other obvious choice is Karen Roberts, who is currently the Performance Operations Manager and on the whole well regarded.

Head Coach is easier to fill. You either shift existing BJPI coaches up the tree or get one of the coaches on the periphery in post. By this I mean Luke Preston, Juergen Klinger or Billy Cusack.

I think the most realistic actions are:

1. Margaret, Jane and Patrick resign with some dignity or are fired.
2. Karen Roberts becomes interim Performance Director
3. Darren Warner and Kate Howey become Mens and Womens interim coaches respectively.

You will notice I do not include Go Tsunoda in the mix there, purely as he is a part-time employee only. But perhaps he could be made full-time and become head coach?

Also I do not factor in people like Luke Preston, Juergen Klinger or Billy Cusack taking on the role. This is because the most realistic actions for me are to cull the failed leadership and then let the organizational tree fill the positions left open.

In the long-term the BJA would need to re-assess it's strategy and structures for performance and make structural and staff changes (hiring and firing) as appropriate.

None of the above is good for British Judo, especially in the context of London2012. Radical change as we come into the final stretch, not text book.
That said, we need to consider that the performance indicators (medals) show that we are on a losing path already, so what is the worst that could happen? We go along a similar path and repeat the Paris performance in London2012?
if we make changes now, then perhaps from the ashes something of a phoenix will rise and London2012 does not become a the disaster for British Judo that it looks to be at this point.

As for you the reader, what can you do?

Very little is the honest answer. My suggestion is that you apply what little pressure you can via you voice. I recommend writing a letter to the BJA HQ and copying it to UK Sport asking for answers and action.
I for example have asked my county committee to write a letter to BJA HQ, copied to BJA Southern Area and UK Sport; we shall see if they vote in favor of sending such a letter.
There is of course also your MP if you enjoy writing letters.

Sadly the reality is that we are little fish in the ocean and that there is little we can do, but at least if you do something you can sleep with clear conscience knowing you at least voiced your concerns and nobody can come back later and say "but you didn't say anything".

To close, I would like to express once more that I do not blame the athletes for this failure. They I have all the respect in the world for, it is thinking about them that raises the fire in my chest and makes me write critical posts like this one.

I should also state that the comments above are not aimed at the individuals in question as individuals, rather as the holders of posts in an organization. I appreciate that they will see this as a personal attack, and that hurts (vie experienced it and it is horrible).

However, the lives of young athletes are being ruined by the current situation and that for me takes priority of the hurt feelings of those silly enough to listen to my outbursts.

I would ask anyone who reads this post to put themselves in the shoes of one of the British players and feel the heart ache as they pour their bodies and entire lives into being athletes and the system fails them.

Feel that pain for a moment then decide if I am being unreasonable calling for those who are responsible for ruining these young athletes lives to be removed from their positions.

All comments welcome in the comments here or via email to lw@judocoach.com

Video refereeing in Judo.

Lance Wicks — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:40:46 GMT

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I blogged and I must return to the discipline of blogging regularly. I am a firm believer in blogging as a form of reflective practice, so I am not maintaining this side of my coaching if I do not blog.

As those who follow me will know, I have recently started working as part of the EJU and IJF computer teams. This has allowed me the opportunity to observe some elite level Judo up close. This blog post is about the CARE refereeing system in Judo.

For those of you who don't know, CARE is the name given to video refereeing process now in use in Judo. It basically is a video camera connected to a laptop, which the referees commission (off the mat) are able to use to rewind and review action on a mat.
Unlike other sports like Rugby Union, Cricket and Tennis; the use of the CARE system is entirely at the discretion of the referees commission.

Which means that the commission is able to review and change decisions on the mat whenever they see the situation arise. It is quite a difference in approach to that of other sports where video refereeing is quite limited in scope and application.

In Judo, what we are seeing is the referee sing commission re-watching a piece of action then telling the referee(s) on the mat to change scores, give penalties, etc.
On video perhaps it is not apparent this happens, but in person it is more obvious. What you miss often on the video is the fact that all the referees have earpieces connected to radios so that they can hear what the commission has to say.

Now... Overall, I think this change is good. Instead of three referees on the mat watching a piece of action once at full speed, a group of high level referees watch the action in slow motion several times and inform the referees on the mat what they think.
For the players in the competition this should I think, mean that they receive a better standard of refereeing, the inevitable errors all referees make can be caught and corrected.

However, I think it is worth looking at the situation carefully and consider all the perspectives.

One of the key things I am seeing is that the dresses on the mat are being over-ruled by the commission regularly. And they are being over-ruled when the commission see fit.
This is quite different to other sports, for example in cricket the use of the video umpire is only done when a team chooses to. And there are limited numbers if challenges allowed. Tennis I think uses a similar system where Hawkeye is only called upon when there is a request from a player. In Rugby union, the video is only used at the request of the referee on the field and is only allowed to answer specific quests from the referee on the field.

Judo, from what I have seen, is the only sport where the referees on the mat are now being controlled by the video referee. I am not sure I am comfortable with this. Although I think it should and probably is providing a better level of refereeing consistency, I find it disquieting that the man/woman in charge... the centre referee is in fact no longer in charge, but can and regularly is being what to do by the commission.

In a sport where respect for the referee is drummed into us all, from day one; it seems almost disrespectful to referees that they do not have the final say any longer.

I am also inclined to recall one of the University of Bath Judo Debates, where Marian Woodward, an IJF referee argued against video refereeing. She pointed out very eloquently that sometimes watching a piece of action over and over makes the correct decision harder not easier.

Here is a link to the debate on the topic of if the use of video should be used form 2007: http://www.judocoach.com/debate/Debates ... ebate.html

I tend to agree, especially when we watch action in slow motion on video, it can look very different to at real speed up close. Sometimes the gut reaction from an experienced referee on the mat is IMHO better than the opinion of a group of referees off the mat watching a small incident over and over in slow motion. It I think runs the risk of missing the con ext of the match and focussing on the minutiae rather than the total fight and the atmosphere and actions leading up to an incident.

Time will tell, but currently my thinking is that the CARE system needs some review. I think it is raising the overall consistency/quality of refereeing of matches. But I do also believe it is undermining the position of the referees on the mat and providing some quirky refereeing that is hard to follow.

Which brings me neatly to my final point on refereeing as I am seeing it. Especially with the radio intervention of the referees commission the refereeing decisions can be a complete mystery to the players, coaches and spectators. I do feel that we could benefit from watching football/soccer and football referees and developing some communication between referees and players on the mat; and the coaches/spectators. I know it is tough with our multiple-lingual sport, but I do feel that referees could make Judo flow better with a few simple words rather than giving Shido that alter the nature of a match.
If a player is being passive, why must we stop the fight to tell them that with the twirling of hands. Could the referee not tell the player they are being passive and that they will be given Shido if they don't do something soon? You here this sort of discussion in rugby, boxing, football, so why not Judo?

I think this is especially important at lower levels. At kids tournaments I think it is unacceptable for any child to be given Shido (or worse) without some good warnings and explanation from referees.
If a kid is grabbing the trousers, they need to be told not to. If they do it again, stop the fight and warn them clearly, using words, that it is not permitted. If they do it again, well penalize them, they knew better.
But don't just spot a leg grab and hansokumake someone, who most likely either has no idea about the complexities of the latest interpretations of the IJF rules, or simply didn't realize they even did it.

A little conversation during the match, would prevent lots of matte situations and make Judo flow more in the match. It could result in less Shido and less fights being one via penalties and more being won by throws.

I'd love to know what you think, especially if you are a referee. Drop comment on this post, or send me an email to lw@judocoach.com

Lance

Reflections on my First EJU Championships

Lance Wicks — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:43:35 GMT

I am sitting here in my my backyard typing this after returning last night from the 2011 European Judo Championships in Istanbul. It was and incredible trip and I wanted to spend sometime thinking and reflecting on it and post it here.

The championships were amazing! Watching the very top players in Europe up close and in person was something I will never forget. The teams event on the final day was mind blowing and trust me you'll be seeing more of that format of competition!

But, thats getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning�

I flew out in the company of Sheldon Franco-Rooks, the main commentator for the EJU. This was great as it meant there was someone who knew how things worked with me. Sheldon is a great character and made me feel immediately comfortable from when we spoke on the phone and from when we met at Heathrow.

On arrival in Istanbul, we were ferried to the hotel by mini-bus, well at least we were after my research poster for the EJU Research symposium finally was found and given to me.

In Istanbul thinks get a little blurrier, mainly because it was non-stop! The IT team arrive before the event and setup all the computerized scoreboards, CARE system for refereeing replays and the computers that run the draws. And that does not include the video streaming hardware and software. There are cases and cases of cameras, cables, computers and assorted bits and pieces that all need to be unpacked, tested, installed, tested, tested again and tested once more.

The night before the competition, the entire computer team along with some other members of the Turkish Judo Federation and EJU worked till past 5am to get everything Just so. We literally got back to the Hotel with just enough time to shower, change, grab breakfast and be back at the venue of the competition for 9am.

More testing, last minute problems led up to the competition getting underway. But the team is very professional and everything went smoothly enough. There are always small hiccups (people unplugging cameras, or damaging cables at the last minute for example), components breaking and of course Windows blue screens of death.

The competition itself was great, some terrific battles and I can't express quite how much more of an impact it makes if you are actually there rather than watching from home.
And speaking of which; the EJU stream all their big events live to the internet. Pretty forward thinking I have to say. They now stream all the mats in separate streams as well as having an HD commented channel. Along with this the software running the draws and the scoreboard is all interconnected and publishes immediately to the web as well. So everything is going live and thousands upon thousands of people are following it all.

I think my highlights were finally seeing Iliadis in action and Teddy Riner. Those of you who watched the stream might like to know that on the day of the heavy weights I was on the mat edge with the camera so all the footage you see of Teddy fighting in the preliminary rounds is my shaky hands! And yes he is huge in person!

The highlight I think most people attending would say would be the teams competition on the final day. The five person team format is exciting to watch and throws up lots of uncertainty and tactics as well as some great fights. The biggest match was perhaps the Turkish Womens team vs the Russian womans team. The Turkish team won it in the end and the noise from the local crowd during that bronze medal match was unbelievable!
The second highlight was the gold medal round in the mens category when Teddy Riner lined up against Ilias Illiadis and for a moment the whole place stopped and held it's breath thinking that possibly the two biggest name in European Judo were going to fight despite Iliadis being -90kh and Riner +100. Then winks were exchanged, both athletes laughed, smiled and embraced and Riner won by default as Greece had decided not to fought the last man.
The phoos on the EJU website tell it all. What a great moment, the photo of the two of them smiling is now my computer desktop as it really carries an important message about Judo I think.
THAT was sportsmanship, camaraderie and respect captured in a wonderfully humorous moment between two athletes.

During the championships two other important things were happening in the stadium. There was the 2nd EJU Research Symposium and also the EJU Coaching degree students were there doing various roles as part of there course. For me this was great as I participated in the symposium with my poster on the http://rwjl.net experiment I have been running on an alternative ranking system for elite Judo.
And if you have been following this blog you will know that I was one of the first cohort of EJU coaching degree students and am currently studying for the EJU Level 6 Masters degree. So it was great to see the students in the hall. I wish when i had been in there position the course had held one of it's modules at an elite tournament like that. It is a terrific innovation for the course I think.

At this point I should return to the video stream for a little while. What I have not mentioned is that the EJU managed to sell the TV rights for the competition to over 100 countries. So there was a live feed from the stadium to 100 countries for television coverage of the finals block each day. This was over and above the EJU.net stream which is watched all over the world via the internet.
What it did mean however is that Shelden and Annett the main commentators were suddenly required to commentate the finals block for the TV networks. Meaning that I was asked to step into the breach and commentate the finals block for the internet stream along with Densign WHite the chairman of the BJA, EJU SPorts Director and a fellow graduate of the EJU Coaching degree (we were in the same year).
Commentating like this was completely unexpected and hard hard hard! Nerves definitely made day one tough, but I like to think I got better day by day and hopefully put in acceptable performances.
It was a fantastic experience and I am immensely flattered to have been allowed to represent the EJU in that way. Pretty unreal for a ginger lad from a small non EJU country like New Zealand.

Surrounding all this was a blur of anther things, meeting athletes officials, presidents and fixing things that went wrong. Having meals with members of the EJU and generally being led from place to place until managing to collapse on my bed at the end of each and every exciting and exhausting day!

Working with the EJU computer team and attending the event has I think been a real highlight, if not the highlight of my Judo career. To met such a group of people and be able to be part of it at a great elite event has me pinching myself still.
I am immensely grateful to all the people who made it possible for me to attend and contribute where I could. I would like to thank them all individually here, but would be horrified if I missed one name out by accident so would rather thank them all as a team!

I have to say I don't know if I have met a team that work so hard, so long or made me feel so welcome and made me laugh so much in my life!

THANKS EVERYONE FROM A VERY GRATEFUL BOING BOING!