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Many instructors have a policy of separating beginners from advanced Judoka, particularly in the first few weeks or months of training. I recently was a ‘fill-in’ instructor for just such a class, and was advised by the other Brown and Black belts of their policy of separating the brand new white belts from the other colored belts. It was carefully explained to me that some of the advanced students were competitors, and needed to work on skills for competition.

Ran across an interesting game - I’m always on the lookout for new games for teaching kids in Judo…

Kuzushi, Tsukuri, and Kake - the fundamental building blocks of Nagewaza.  Kuzushi - the off-balancing of uke… Tsukuri - fitting in to uke, positioning your body next to uke’s body to be ready to execute the throw… Kake - the finishing powerful execution of the throw.  What Judoka doesn’t know these?  For it’s difficult to get past the first few lessons in a Judo club without running into these concepts…

I’ve long regretted the emergence of the UFC’s, but not for the reason many people would first think. It truly has nothing to do with BJJ, but rather with what used to be a rather deep dark secret of Judo.

(Originally posted to the Judo List on 02/01/04 - I thought I’d post this to my blog as a tribute…)

My original sensei, George Hamm, passed away Jan 23 after a three year fight with multiple myeloma. He held the rank of Hachidan. He formed one of the only two High School Judo programs in the U.S. at Hueneme High School in Oxnard California.

I was browsing through my stats on this website recently, and found that there’s alot of people searching on the term ‘BJJ’.

Like many old-timers in Judo, I have bad knees. Too many injuries and dislocations over the years. A few years ago, my right knee was so bad that most left-sided techniques were simply out of the question - despite the fact that for most of my competition career, I was a ‘lefty’. (For although I’m right-handed, I discovered that many Judoka can’t handle left-sided Judo)

I can still recall my sensei’s words: “I’m teaching you to be Judo instructors, not competitors”… yet we did surprisingly well in competition. Our small high school club could boast several competitors who successfully competed at the national level.

My current collection of Judo books, if sold, would probably net me over $1,000 or more… yet the vast majority of the books I own cost me cover price or less.

A common saying among experienced Judoka is that the secret of Judo can be found in the little fingers and little toes. A somewhat mysterious saying - but simple when explained.