WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST. KIRSTEN MCGRATH TRAVELLING FELLOW 2005. LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN S JUDO SKILLS. My name is Kirsten McGrath. I was fortunate to be awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust travelling Fellowship in 2005, under the category of Young Person s. With my award, I visited Japan; the birthplace of judo between the 28 th August- 25 th September 2005. The fellowship enabled me to improve my coaching techniques; which I am now sharing with several judo clubs across the UK, and also allowed me to personally develop my fighting skills and experience Japanese culture. Within this report I aim to share my experience and demonstrate why this really was my Chance of a Lifetime. Judo is a sport originally founded in Japan by Prof. Jigoro Kano in 1882. It is an art of self-defence, derived from Jujitsu. Judo first became an Olympic event in 1964 and today is practiced by many millions of people around the world. The training institution first established by Prof. Kano is known as the Kodokan. This Dojo (Judo hall) is located in Japan s capital Tokyo. I have been interested in judo for many years. I was awarded my 1 st Dan (black belt) in July 2004. I am also a British Judo Association (BJA) Club Coach. I have taught judo classes at the University of Manchester, Cheadle Ippon judo club, Weston-Super-Mare and Cheddar judo club. Steve Pullen MBE (6 th Dan) was my judo coach whilst I studied for a Molecular Biology degree at Manchester University. He was himself awarded a Travelling Fellowship in 1992, with which he also visited Japan. Since then, Steve has coached successful Para Olympic players, such as Simon Jackson. I too, hope to teach judo players in the UK, in particular women and children, some of the skills I developed during my Fellowship in Japan. Internet Diary of a Judo player I participated in several judo practices across Japan during my four week Fellowship. Kodokan International Judo Centre, Tokyo. (29 th and 30 th August 2005, 8 th, 9 th, 10 th, 16 th 17 th 20 th September 2005) Kobe University Judo Club, Kobe. (1 st and 2 nd September 2005) Seiryo High School, Kobe. (5 th September 2005) Tajima Dojo, Maebashi. (14 th September 2005) Jyonouchi Junior High School. Tsukuba. (21 st September 2005) Tsukuba University Judo club, Tsukuba. (22 nd and 23 rd September 2005). My research into Judo also involved the following; I spectated at a regional University Judo competition at Kishiwada Sports Centre, Osaka (3 rd September 2005). Dinner with Jyun Matsumoto Sensei (6 th September 2005) Visit to the Kodokan International Judo Centre library. (9 th September 2005.)
Watched highlights (on the television) from the World Judo Championships, Ciaro, Egypt 8 th -11 th September 2005. Kodokan International Judo Centre, Tokyo. "The origin of respect and mutual welfare" I visited the Kodokan International Judo centre. I was impressed with the traditional etiquette and polite greetings from everyone within the building (I kept forgetting to say Konichwa to other judoka as a sign of respect). The building itself was relatively unnoticeable from the outside. It was overwhelmed by the Tokyo Dome (theme park and huge national baseball stadium). There was, however a life-size statue of Prof. Jigoro Kano in the entrance. The centre is 7 floors high, with specific dojo s designed for women and children, as well as a main dojo for large competitions and randori training sessions. (The Kodokan also has its own shop and museum!) Your shoes must be taken off before you enter the dojo area as a sign of respect. Figure 1: Life-size statute of Prof. Jigoro Kano. It was located outside the Kodokan Centre. I was surprised to realise that Judo doesn t appear to be as popular as Baseball or Soccer with the younger generation (very surprising to find myself amongst the old school!) I focused my training at the Kodokan; mostly in the Women s-only dojo. I practiced with the women between 18:00-19:30pm (and afterwards enjoyed the free practice in the main dojo until 20:00pm). Although the number of students varied; 15-30 women attended each time. There was a noticeable variation in the ages of the players, which ranged from 16-60!
My fellowship gave me the opportunity to practice with women judo players. When I train in the UK; I very often have to fight with men. Although this may help to improve my strength, I believe that my technical judo skills have improved whilst training with women. Furthermore; the stature of several Japanese female judoka is light-to-middle weight (48-63kg category players). The women`s practice gave me the chance to develop a wide range of judo skills. Ukemi, Tachi-waza randori, Ne-waza randori, Uchi-komi and Kata. Some lessons were quite technical, with less emphasis on competitive Judo. The sensei s at each training session included; 82 year old Osawa sensei, Sameshima sensei and a 54 year old female instructor Nagai sensei. I found the attitude of the judoka in Japan to be very different from that in the UK. The Japanese are extremely respectful to each other and their teachers. They wish to achieve as much as possible from each practice and train to their full ability. I really appreciated their willingness to learn and enjoy the sport and found this to be a real inspiration to me. My judogi (suit) had the Great British flag and a badge from my judo clubs at Weston-Super-Mare and Manchester University to show other people where I usually practice. My black belt (obi) has my name embroided onto it in both English and Japanese. I found this extremely useful because the sensei s could then call me by name whilst teaching me. One final observation; was that all Japanese women judoka wear a belt with a solid white stripe through the centre. This style of obi is not worn in any other country. I was in for a surprise during my first training session at the Kodokan. During the warm-up we practiced ukemi (breakfalls). These are amongst the first exercises taught to every beginner. This is because you learn exactly how to fall correctly and safely when you are thrown, therefore avoiding injury. Osawa sensei called me to one corner of the dojo, and (in his best English,) explained that my breakfalls were too Westernised. He believed it was essential I took this opportunity to learn my ukemi correctly before I should participate in the rest of the class! So, (although embarrassed), I joined three novices (white belts) and Nagai sensei, to perform basic sets of ukemi. I found it difficult to adapt my style to satisfy the instructors, and frequently did get shouted at for performing the sets incorrectly. (Osawa sensei had a wooden sword, which he used to tap my feet or hands into the correct positions!) After about 30 minutes I was allowed to join the rest of the class for randori. The general format of practices at the Kodokan involved a brief warmup; consisting of gentle running, streching and ukemi(!) It is important to warm up sufficiently in order to avoid injury. We then paired up and observed tachiwaza (standing) techniques preformed by a teacher. These included basic throws individually and then combinations of two throws. We practiced these moves slowly with our partner both when standing still and whilst moving. The techniques themselves gave me the opportunity to concentrate on the precise technical aspects of certain throws. This was of direct benefit to me because when I return to the UK, I intend to take my 2 nd Dan theory examination. Occasionally, I found it hard to understand exactly where my techniques were incorrect because of the communication barrier. I was fortunate to meet an English girl called Grace, who kindly translated for me at a few of these practices.
Following the uchi-komi sets, we had randori, (free-fighting) practice. Each fight lasted 4 minutes, with an immediate change-over before the next fight. I practiced with Sameshima sensei and Nagai sensei. We usually had about 8-10 fights each practice. The remainder of each lesson was assigned for free-practice. This meant that each judo player could concentrate on a particular throw, do sets of uchikomi, practice randori, breakfalls or sets of nageno-kata (demonstration technique). I used this opportunity to practice with two women instructors; Aya Hirano and Amiyumi sensei (3rd and 4th Dan -63kgs players respectfully) who helped me concentrate on my grip technique and taught me some throws to practice and use in judo classes when I return. I aimed to focus on the skills I need to develop when fighting larger and stronger players. I will pass on these skills to lightweight women because it is excellent for self-defence skills. I also concentrated fighting the lightweight women in both randori and uchi-komi. On a few occasions I spent an additional 30 minutes after the training session, in the main dojo where I practiced randori with some lightweight men. At the end of each lesson, we line up opposite the sensei s and kneel in the seeza (kneeling) position to bow firstly to the large photograph of Prof. Jigoro Kano and then bow to our sensei s. In the main dojo; a large wooden drum was beaten to indicate the end of the practice. Figure 2: The main dojo in the Kodokan. The photograph shows a children s practice. Regular national competitions would be held here. I made some good friends at the Kodokan. One evening after the practice, a group of the girls, around my age asked me to go to the Tokyo Dome theme park (next door to the Kodokan) with them and go on the roller-coasters! During my last practice, many of the girls wanted me to keep in touch; one had written me a letter and gave me some photographs from our trip to the Tokyo dome, while another gave me a large poster of the National Japanese Judo team.
Figure 3: The students and Sensei s at the women s practice. Nagai Sensei is sat on the front row; far left. Sameshima Sensei is knelt on the far right. (I am knelt in the centre with the very red face after a hard training session!) KOBE UNIVERSITY JUDO CLUB. Figure 4: The Dojo at Kobe University. I had the opportunity to practice with the students at Kobe University on 1 st and 2 nd of September between 10-12am. The club consisted of both men and women (18-25 years old). There were about 25 students, which included three women. One of the women was a 3 rd Dan -48kg player. The other two women were middle-weight players (-57 and -63kgs). The men mostly appeared to be lightweight players as well, although there were also a couple of heavyweights. The dojo itself from the outside seemed no more than a small wooden hut. It was a very old traditional building, almost hidden by numerous modern university faculty buildings.
A typical practice consisted of a brief warm up (approximately 15 minutes), in which we completed a stretching routine to help reduce the chance of an injury and did some exercises which involved dragging ourselves along the tatami mat only using our arms or legs. Each stretch was held for ten or twenty seconds (counted by the captain in Japanese). We then preformed a full set of ukemi (breakfalls), various forms of rolls and cartwheels. The class continued with various ne-waza (groundwork) drills with a partner. It was great for my technical judo skills to practice with the lightweight women. Each ne-waza technique was performed five times with little resistance from Uke. I used this opportunity to ask my partner to demonstrate new techniques, such as roll-overs into shimi-waza. The practice continued with 4 minute newaza randori, repeated six times with a 15 second interval in between each randori, in which we swapped partners. The timing was precise because the students kept a large digital clock on the side of the mat which counted down the minutes. The students were then allowed a five minute rest. This was an opportunity to have some cold Japanese tea which was kept in a large kettle on the side of the mat. The temperature was about 32 C outside, so I was very grateful for the rest! I found these training sessions very hard work. The practice continued with tachi-waza uchi-komi. Sets of twenty standing techniques were repeated with a partner. This was repeated for 10 minutes (using the electronic timer). Then, with the same partner, we performed nagi-komi (throwing) five times each, then swapped over and allowed our partner to throw us. This exercise continued for 5 minutes. Then with the same partner we had a 4 minute tachi-waza randori practice. Between the randori fights, there was a 10 second rest, where we all changed partners. The randori practices were repeated 8 times. We were allowed a three minute break before we started a cool down. It is important to cool the muscles of the body down after training, in order to avoid injury and feeling stiff the next day! The cool down involved jogging around the dojo for 10 minutes. This was followed by a complete stretching routine as we preformed for the warm up.
Figure 5: Randori fighting inside the dojo. (I am on the right of the photograph; trying to hold my own!!) I enjoyed training here. The students were very friendly, made me feel very welcome and were willing to practice with me for uchi-komi and randori sessions. I was very impressed by the level of commitment and discipline these students have for there judo. The Sensai wasn t present at these two practices, so the students organized their own training sessions in preparation for the competition in Osaka at the weekend (where I did meet their Sensei). The style of University Judo practices was very competitive. This was an obvious contrast to higher level of technical judo practiced at the Kodokan Centre in Tokyo. I found the way the University club was organised to be similar to how I helped run the University Judo team at Manchester. There appears to be a committee of two girls, who arrange the administrative section of the club (finances, travel and competitions). I consider it important that a judo club has a strong committee, in order to organise such administration. On 3 rd September, I watched a regional university Judo competition at Kishiwada Sports Centre in Osaka. There were four mat areas and a huge number of supporters (including myself) in the stands surrounding the fighting area. The individual women s competition and men s team events were on this day. As a spectator, I was able to observe the techniques and skills developed, and routinely practiced by the Kobe university students at their training sessions put into practice in competitive fights. I was also able to focus upon the lightweight -48kg fights. The female superlightweight category had the most competitors. This was unusual for me to acknowledge, because in the UK; the most common weight category for women is usually the -63kgs. (I m sure their mostly protein diet is a huge influential factor!) Seiryo High School. I participated in one girls practice at Seiryo High School. The school day finished at 3:30pm and the after-school clubs start by 3:45. I estimated that 90% of the high school students attend some form of after school club. These included other traditional Japanese sports; such as Kendo and Quedo (archery), as well as orchestra, cookery, table-tennis and so on. The parents often work very late in the evening, so the children don t go home until after 6pm when the after-school activity has finished. There were approximately 10 girls, (aged 15-18) at the practice. The school had its own permanent dojo. (Unfortunately, such facilities in the UK are not available to students!) I was the most experienced player, although some of the girls were Dan grades. There were a few brown belts (1 st Kyu s) and two novices (white belts). Once again, I found the training style very different from the UK. The warm up involved brief stretching and breakfalls and some strength exercises which included using your arms to drag yourself along the mat. This was followed by uchi-komi practice with a partner (5 sets of 20). In the next exercise, one partner attacked for one minute, while the other defends (and is not allowed to make any attack) then swap over. An electronic timer on the side of the mat
was used to time 8 sets of 4-minute randori practices. (After a 3 minute rest for some water) we practiced nagi-komi; which is throwing your partner onto a crash-mat. There was a brief cool down, which involved stretching. The two novice players practiced sets of ukemi with the sensei in one corner of the dojo. I especially enjoyed this training session because I preformed some good throws during the randori and I was just as good as these players! Most of the girls were also a similar stature to me; which is of direct benefit for my competitive training. Figure 5: Practicing my breakfalls! TAJIMA DOJO, MAEBASHI. I visited a very good friend of mine; Paul Robinson from Manchester University. He is currently teaching English in Maebashi. The city is about two hours from Tokyo on the train. One evening, Paul took me to practice at the local dojo; (Tajima dojo) open for anyone to practice. It was a small, traditional-style building, similar to the dojo at Kobe University. There were about 30 judoka, with an age range from 14-40. I had the opportunity to practice with some lightweight high school girls. These included two black belts (regional junior champions) and one purple belt. We don t have a purple belt in the UK, but here, it represented the equivalent of a 1 st Kyu, brown belt. By attending this practice, it demonstrated to me the high quality of judo players at a young age. It is possible that these high school students will be selected to represent a university at judo, and therefore awarded a university scholarship.
Figure 6: Randori fighting practice at Tajima dojo. This practice was really for competitive randori (we only did some short uchikomi sets at the very beginning to warm up). As the visitor, all the players wanted to fight with me. In comparison to myself; these students were incredibly strong and when combined with excellent technique, I struggled during each fight. The randori fights lasted 3 minutes. The cool down involved numerous sets of press-ups, sit-up and leg-raises to improve strength. Jyonouchi High school; Tsukuba. The mother of a very good friend of mine from Manchester University (Yumi) taught at Jyonouchi High school. I was asked to teach English for one lesson! After school, the children attend activity clubs, which included judo. I joined in with the practice between 4:15-5:45pm. There were only 7 boys in the class, therefore I didn t have the opportunity to practise with any girls. I enjoyed the lesson. We did a brief warm-up of stretching and ukemi. It was fun trying to communicate with the boys because their English wasn t quite developed, however they really enjoyed having me participate in the lesson with them. The class continued with 6 sets of ne-waza, and 6 sets of tachi-waza randori; each 4 minutes long (timed using the electronic timer). This gave me the opportunity to fight with each of the boys in turn. The last exercise we did involved one person standing in the centre of the mat for 2 minutes, and throwing everyone else individually for the duration. Tsukuba University Judo club. I had the opportunity to train at Tsukuba University. The club players were all on the Japanese National team; (I knew I was out of my league!) These judoka are studying degrees in Judo at the university. They have been awarded sports scholarships to attend, and represent Tsukuba University in judo. A typical week involves morning and evening practices (2 and a half hours) every day (except Sundays) and three weight training sessions and three 30 minute runs.
I participated in two evening practices from 5:45-7:15pm. The lesson was run by students because the sensei was coaching the National players who had just returned from the World Championships in Cario. There were approximately 40 players on the tatami (judo mat), including 12 women. There were two -48kg women players (Japan s number 2 and 3) who were both 3 rd Dan. The format of these practices was similar to the competitive lessons I joined at Kobe University. The warm up began with 5 minutes of jogging (including side-stepping, knee raises and running backwards). This was followed by standard sets of ukemi, cartwheels and spring-flips (which I unsuccessfully attempted!). We spent 5 minutes stretching all parts of the body. We paired up with someone of a similar size, and practiced various throws using uchi-komi whilst moving around the mat. During the next set of uchi-komi (referred to as speed-uchi-komi ), we had to see how many times we could come into the point of throwing our partner within 1 minute. As a lightweight player, I found this a useful exercise for improving my speed. The standing randori fights lasted 6 minutes and were repeated 10 times, with no rest. I was exhausted! I was also very cautious whilst fighting such good players (since I obviously wanted to avoid injuring myself) and attempted only to fight with the lighter-weight women. Six sets of ne-waza (groundwork) randori followed. Each fight lasted 4 minutes. Figure 7: The warm up at the Tsukuba University practice. We practiced naga-komi sets (throwing your partner onto a crash mat) for 10 minutes before the cool down, which involved a 5 minute jog followed by thorough stretching. I did enjoy these practices; it gave me the opportunity to train with some of the best female players in Japan. I found the level of commitment and enthusiasm of each student a real inspiration. I now appreciate how much hard work and dedication is required to reach such an elite standard. The style of Judo differed between the various institutions. CONCLUSIONS: I realised that whilst the university clubs concentrated upon the competitive aspects of Judo (the practices tended to focused upon randori), the schools
concentrated more upon uchi-komi some randori and fundamental learning of the basic techniques and combinations of throws. The Kodokan mostly focused upon improving the technical aspects of throws and had a strict dojo etiquette which was not as evident at the other clubs. Exceptional Judo players get a great deal of government support, with the prospect of representing the country at Olympic standard in their national sport. It is unfortunate that this country is unable to offer a similar high level of support for potential athletes. This could encourage young children to participate more in sport at a higher level, and at a younger age. I noticed significant differences between the practice style in Japan compared with the UK. For example; when learning a new technique, the Japanese will repeat the movement several times by practicing uchi-komi with a partner. In the UK, we will practice a throw in a similar way; however, the number of repetitions is far less. I think it is extremely important to practice a technique so frequently, that the action is committed to muscle-memory. In my future lessons, I would like to dedicate 30 minutes of a training session to uchi-komi practice. I believe this is important to improve the tachi-waza skills. I believe this style of practice is unsuitable for young children because I need to ensure they are enjoying their judo and find it fun and exciting. I am concerned that, although uchi-komi practice is essential, using this style of practice with novices, or young children, may prove impractical. I hope that my experiences whilst in Japan will help me to develop my own level of coaching and practical skills. I intend to directly transfer the benefits from my Fellowship in the judo sessions that I coach to players of all ages and abilities in the UK. I also believe that my Fellowship greatly influenced my personal development. It made me appreciate a basic level of communication and to respect a culture, country and people that was unfamiliar to me. I coped with everyday challenges (such as travel and shopping and homesickness), which I hope has helped to build and strengthen my character. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped me to organise the Fellowship and help me in any way. I would especially like to show my appreciation to Steve Pullen, Keizo and Minuri Namura, Yumi Matsumoto and Paul Robinson. I would also like to thank my family and friends who supported me during my preparation and during my Travelling Fellowship. May I finally extend my gratification to Judith Barber of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, for her continued support.