Years ago–around 2000, I think–I took a coaching course at the urging of my judo sensei, Silvio. He actually team-taught the course with a member of the Phys Ed faculty at the University. We’ll call her Nancy.

The course I took was Level I Theory, which should have been followed by Level I Technical and Level I Practical, which would have seen me certified as a Level I coach. But things being what they are, that never happened. We lobbied a few times to have someone come out to Brandon to do the Tech and Practical sessions, since there were a number of us that were in the same boat, but sometimes it feels like if you live outside of Winnipeg, you might as well live on the Moon. It’s a two-hour drive on divided highway, but for some reason it’s hard to get a lot of people to drive beyond the Perimeter.

Anyways.

In the interim, the Theory component was overhauled, and now Level I and II Theory are named Intro to Competition A and B. There was sufficient change in the curriculum to warrant re-taking A, and so I did that in October. I learned a fair amount, and it was a good course. The manual is excellent, as well.

A couple weekends ago I took Intro B, and picked up a great deal more. There are a lot of things that Silvio used to do (sadly, he’s since passed on) that are suddenly made clear to me. For instance–and this is only one example of many–when he would teach a new technique, he would always explain it aloud, start to finish, then demonstrate it, and finally have each of us try it a few times. (Then he’d hit us with the “Good! Now do it ten thousand more times and you’ll have it perfect!” Which was usually pretty close to accurate; the throws that I’ve done ten thousand times come more from reflex than from conscious thought now.) The reason for this, I learned, is that there are, broadly speaking, three kinds of learners: auditory learners, who learn best from having something explained; visual learners, who learn from seeing something demonstrated; and tactile learners, who learn from doing something. Everyone’s kind of a combination of the three, but everyone also has a dominant style. Apparently mine is auditory. But Silvio’s method of teaching a new technique catered to all three types, and did so in a natural progression.

Something else I learned from Intro B was that if you’re doing a handstand, you shouldn’t tuck your chin, or it turns into a kind of a flailing somersault. Onto concrete. But I was fine, thanks for asking.

…it went well.

That’s my brown belt. I now hold the rank of ikkyu, which means “first grade”. My next belt will be a black one.

I’ve been doing judo for eight full years–this is my ninth year–and I feel rather proud of myself right now.

So next Wednesday (October 4th), I will be grading for my brown belt in judo. This will put me one step away from my shodan, or black belt.

I’ll have to do an abbreviated set of the nage-no-kata (the forms of throwing), as demonstrated below:

(The part that I have to do ends at the four-minute mark.)

Plus I’ll have to be able to demonstrate a random selection from the gokyo-no-waza, or the forty throws, plus a variety of hold-downs, arm-locking techniques, and strangles.

Looking forward to it!

This weekend, the May Long Weekend here in Canada, eh, was the Senior National Competition for judo. It took place in Winnipeg, which is just down the road a piece. The head instructor at our club was responsible for the opening ceremonies and the medal presentations, and so a bunch of us from the club volunteered to assist. It was fun, and I found the matches to be rather interesting as well. There was at least one gold medallist from Manitoba, and possibly a second, as well as a handful of bronzes.

I’ve got photos that I’ll be posting before too long, and I’ll be doing a more in-depth post on our judo club’s website.

…of which I am especially fond.

Thirteen Things about Patrick Johanneson

Tachi-waza, or standing techniques
1. Hane-goshi, or the “Springing Hip Throw”. Fast, and efficient, and you don’t have to turn your back to your opponent.
2. De-ashi-barai, “Advancing Foot Sweep”. There’s a subtle trickery to this one that appeals to me, a subverting of expectations when it’s done in the kata style.
3. Ko-soto-gake, “Small Outside Hook”. Again, you don’t have to turn your back to your opponent; just hook his supporting foot and drive him back, off-balancing him to his rear corner.

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