First Aid

As you are aware it is advisable for all sports coaches to have a First aid certificate I can offer a course which is approved by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and take place over 6 hours ( based on 1 day only)The course will cost £50 price to include HSE registration and certification by us an approved hSE centre. A full comprehensive full colour A5 training book for each candidate and a complimentary first aid pack / kit per person.
Course organisor will be Paul SalmonUK FAST Ltd (First Aid & Safety Training)UK Operations Manger If you are interested can you please let me know and what day is best for you, this course is on offer to anyone who wishes to attend Martin Clarke

Great Judo News

Great Judo News From Keith Costa
Next Year Young Judo Club Instructor Keith Costa 3rd Dan is to start a unique new Judo Class for Children at the Swale Martial Arts Club Sittingbourne. It will be a Judo Games Night every Friday at 7pm. Keith picked a DVD at the recent British Masters which was all about Judo Games. The aim is to use games to improve existing players Judo and to introduce a new band of Children to Judo. This will take to 4 nights a week a child can play Judo at the Young Judo Club
More information contact Keith on Youngjudoclub@googlemail.com 07894145187

The Young Judo Club are organising a Brian Stening Memorial Judo Championships at the Swallows at the end of November, In February 2010 they will be organising an Open Judo Tournament at Sittingbourne Community College and April they will organising the British Open Sambo Championships at the same venue

World masters Sambo October 2009 Lituania

http://www.britishsombo.co.uk/world_masters_sambo.htm

Sombo Training Day

BRITISH SOMBO FEDERATION
SOMBO TRAINING DAY
A Governing Body recognised Event

Sunday January 30th 2010
Swale Martial Arts Club
127 East Street
Sittingbourne
Kent ME10 4RX
Cost £10
10am till 1pm,

This will be a mixture of tuition and fighting and will be ideal as introduction for those grapplers who want to experience Sombo for the first time plus a good workout for the more experienced Somboist. This session is open to men and women plus youngsters 14 and over. Money and entry to the above address by January 21st 2010. Those who have to travel are welcome to in the Dojo on the Saturday night free of charge.

Unknown fighter

I have put on a lot of old Video clips on You Tube and most are viewed with interest. Occasionally you get one person who objects to seeing them because the claim they are seen in a negative way i.e. They Lost. Recently I had a comment posted on You Tube complaining that I put so and so lost to Unknown Player he assumed I had done this deliberately to belittle him, it seems he has built up his reputation as being a leading expert on MMA fighting without actually doing much fighting. The fact was no one can remember the name of the guy who beat him hence Unknown Fighter, maybe his response was something to do with his own conscience

CombatSombo USA

Two more guys from the USA joining the CombatSombo Family go to www.combatsombo.co.uk

Epping Results OCTOBER 2009

Young Judo Club Youngsters compete in Epping Open
Boy banned from YJC for punching a rival competitor
A very successful team of youngsters travelled to Epping to take part in the annual Open Judo championships all boys returned with medals. The day was marred when a young member of the YJC lost his temper with a fellow competitor and punched him; this earned a ban from Judo at the club. The Young Judo Club is very strict about the behaviour of its members and this type of yobbish and un-sportsman like behaviour will not be tolerated. The good news was that 3 Gold’s, 2 silvers and 1 bronze was taken by YJC members.
Liam Jordan our lightest fighter moved up to u25 kilo class he had 6 fights losing only 1 in the preliminary rounds, he scored 4 ippons (Total Victory). His best fight was against the favourite who he threw for Ippon with Uchi Mata, Liam took Gold.
Brother Ashley Jordan was competing in his last junior competition and took Gold in the u 40 kilo class. Ashley has had a very exceptional junior career, he is very light for his age and with the lowest senior judo weight being u60 kilo he will find the transition to senior level hard. Coach John Clarke has suggested that concentrates a lot more on the harder Jacket Wrestling sport of Sambo the lowest senior weight in that sport is 48 kilo.
Another excellent performance came from Joe Hodges fighting u35 kilo’s he 6 fights and won all of them to take Gold, Joe has all the qualities to be a future star of the club, his outing at Epping proved he was in a class of his own
Brendan Magee was fighting in his first major tournament which is quite a nerve racking experience in itself but this did not faze Brendan as he ploughed through the opposition to take silver in the u45 kilo class
Charlie Hilder also done well to get Bronze in the u50 kilo class although a little bit of nerves got the better of him but never the less a good result
Last up was Matthew Howard who is only a white belt fought his way to the final using Ippon throws to get there he lost in the finals of the u 50 kilo class to a blue belt in what was a very hard fought final.
This competition has proved that once again the YJC has yet another batch of champions in the offing. Thanks must go to Club Coaches Sarah Jordan 1st Dan and Paul Soulsby 1st Dan for accompanying the youngsters at this event. Next big event is the BRIAN STENING MEMORIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS to be held at the Swallows Leisure Centre on November 29th. The Young Judo Club & Warriors Grappling Academy will be giving a demo at the forthcoming Swale’s “ A Celebration of Cultures” at the Wyvern Hall on October 31

The Milton Regis section of the Young Judo Club which operates from Nobbys Gym Milton Regis Playing Fields on a Wednesday has got of to a flying start with Juniors starting at 7pm and seniors at 8pm. John Clarke has introduced a badge for those youngsters who compete regularly in competitions it is call JUDO FIGHTER
More info www.youngjudoclub.co.uk youngjudoclub@googlemail.com ibfbcsa@googlemail.com

British Masters 2009

British Masters Judo Championships
Dagenham
October 3rd 2009

I decided to travel up to the British Masters to support YJC Instructor Colin Carrot and my son John who I had advised to withdraw as had only just got over a bad bout of Flu. If you get defeated because your opponent is better then you there is no shame but if you lose because you are not 100% fit that is a tragedy after saying that I still think he would have won in a weakened condition, not to worry at 36 years of age he has plenty of time. Colin had three fights lost 2 and won one on Ippon. In his first fight he seemed to be very nervous and lost on a drop seoi which surprised us especially as he trains with his son who is an expert at that technique, he redeemed himself in the next bout by countering a very strong experienced player with Ippon throw. His match to go forward for Bronze was a good battle; with Colin moving and making a stream of attacks he blocked a very powerful drop seoi. This took them in Ne Waza something he favours and he was a bit unlucky by being caught in a hold or shall we say his opponent saw a momentary lack of concentration and took advantage of it. Colin is a very good Judoka but a far better Sambo Player.

It was also good to see fellow Sambo player Paul Sawyer win Gold I believe this is 10 Masters Title some record, also fellow Twitter member Danny Murphy winning Gold. I met many people from the past some I only recognised by name only one was Nick Kokotaylo who I have not seen for 30 years I must have passed him several times without even acknowledging him I was not being rude he had changed so much when I knew him he was a Light Heavy now he was a chunky heavyweight and one of the guests of honour he went on to beat very slimmed down Elvis Gordon. Chris Bowles I have seen for many years and it was great meeting him again, Chris runs the very successful Tonbridge Judo club which seems to be bucking the trend by attracting many members. Chris was at the 1980 Olympics, I can remember him doing the Judo circuits from the age of 11 always accompanied by his Dad and I am pleased to see he is making a living at Judo.

The competition had a great atmosphere with plenty of barracking referees, well humoured I might add, and 100% effort from the fighters. I was expecting Judo like I used to do when I was training for the 1980 Olympics but sadly even the Masters are fighting the new wave style but there was still some good judo. I still can not understand the new wave Judo Rules especially the re interpretation of Ippon it seems if you touch the ground with your back Ippon is given. A prime example was when one player attacked with a good Sumi Geashi his opponent block ed but because the player was on his back an Ippon was awarded ridiculous. I thoroughly enjoyed the day but was disappointed not to see members of the BJA hierarchy present; I was not over enthralled with the actual Judo but enjoyed the company. Would have loved to compete but even if I did there was no one in my age group and weight. If you want to see the full results go to http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/competitions/results.php

“WHAT SHOULD THEY KNOW OF JUDO WHO JUDO KNOW”

“WHAT SHOULD THEY KNOW OF ENGLAND WHO ENGLAND KNOW”
Rudyard Kipling
This was said at a time when British Empire was at its height and when most English thought 1 one Englishman was worth 3 Foreigners. The quote basically says the majority of English only knew England not the rest of the World i.e. they were blinkered.
I would suggest we use the following for “WHAT SHOULD THEY KNOW OF JUDO WHO JUDO KNOW”
Judoka blinkered to all other forms of Jacket Wrestling

Judo from the past

Chris Dawson sent me the Photo's in todays rules the guy doing the throw would be penalised for grabbing the leg

IJF re invent Judo

Are the International Judo Federation DESTROYING JUDO?


IJF Congress: New rules to be tested in WC Junior in Athens
The International Judo Federation Refereeing Commission announced All techniques below the belt line will not be allowed anymore. Any athlete trying to grip the opponent´s leg will be punished with a shido (first time). If another try happens, he will be banned from the combat (hansokumake) and the victory will be given to the opponent. Only techniques using leg against leg will be allowed, or if the hand grip in the leg is the continuation of another technique tried (example: ouchigari which can develop into kataguruma).
“We don´t want our sport to be mixed with other martial arts. Judo is judo, and all IJF wants is to come back to the true judo”, explains the Head of the Refereeing Commission, Mr. Juan Carlos Barcos. “We may lose a few techniques with this decision, but on the other hand we will be awaking some techniques who we don´t see any more in the combats due to the sitting position the athletes take while they try to grab the opponents leg”, adds Mr. Barcos.
The IJF concern is that more and more often, wrestling and sambo techniques are seen during judo combats.
“That is not good for the future of our sport in the Olympic Games”, says Mr. Barcos.
The Refereeing Commission also announced that another step will be taken to modernize and professionalize the sport: the use of only one referee per mat (instead of three) is also to be tested in Athens during the World Juniors.

The above was copied from the British Judo Association Web site.
As some one who has been involved in Judo since 1955, holds an 8th Dan IBF, member of the British Olympic Squad, World Masters Judo Champion I would like to think I can speak with some authority on Judo. I have over the last couple years been very critical about the direction of competition Judo feeling it has lost direction and the continual tampering of rules I believe has been the main problem. Some like the relaxation of Keikoku for stepping out was a good move, the mat area looks nice but feel it is just an added expense to those who run tournaments. In my competition days between 1965 till 1980 I finished in 2001 Judo was different there were a lot more high dynamic throws, in my father’s words to score Ippon you had to throw someone 6ft up and 8ft down i.e. bury them, there was much more Ne Waza many competitions were won on Armlocks, strangles and hold downs and Judo was more upright. So why has it changed so much since then obviously continual rule changes have not helped, I feel “if something isn’t broken do not fix it” Judo back in those days was very popular in Clubs and Schools our International Players were very successful despite not having hundreds of thousands of pounds thrown at them but the one thing is Referees not up holding the rules of Judo. Let me explain one of the major complaints today is that Judo is not upright and a lot of players take a very low bent over stance, 20 years ago you would have received a penalty for passivity if they done that now upright Judo would appear over night. Throwing while on the floor was not allowed now you can score Ippon from the floor, penalise them for doing it and the crawling on the floor Judo would vanish over night there are many incidents I can recite my point is that if they applied the rules in the first place we would not be where we are now.

The IJF are trying to change Judo completely, Mr. Barcos. Makes the excuse that his ideas will result in Judo returning to its true state? I do not know this gentleman and do not know his age but when was his ideal of True Judo started? In the 1950’s there was only Waza-ari and Ippon scored, Competitors were expected to take hold and not fight for grips, penalties were never given, there was only one referee in Judo and the only techniques allowed were those of Judo Origin what ever that was. Yes in those days you were bolt upright and there were some good throws but surely all sports should be allowed to develop and not stand still? Whether Mr.Barcos likes it or not Sport Judo is just another form of Jacket Wrestling and his proposal of only allowing throw with grips above the waist moves Judo along the lines Uzbek Kurash a wrestling style which is a lot older then Judo. He seems to think that throws initiated below the belt are not Judo or detrimental to the Sport again let me remind him of what I consider the heyday of Judo 1970 till 1980 when there were Judoka like Robert Van De Walle from Belgium who was world ranked and well respected his leg picks were renowned throughout the world and he would take his opponent high and drive hard into the mat a dynamic thrower, if the IJF have there way he would be disqualified in today’s Judo.
Most probably the throw that has been responsible for demise of Judo as a Dynamic sport is the drop knee Kata Guruma or the Fireman’s as it is called Free Style Wrestling. This technique is hardly if ever seen in Sombo/Sambo as their wrestler have more control of the Jacket simply because they are allowed to hold in many positions, the technique come from Free Style as I have said the difference is that in Free Style Wrestling they use it to roll their opponent into position where they can pin their opponent it was never meant to be a dynamic throw. Yet with the criteria of Ippon being downgraded to some one being placed on their back rather the being thrown on their back it has become a major part of the sport. In early times the criteria for Ippon was to throw your opponent largely on his back with speed, power and impetus if Judo kept to that you would still have dynamic throws.
The IJF are reinventing Judo rather then bring it back to TRUE Judo(What ever that means) its purpose is to make it more TV friendly hence the near distinction of Ne Waza, instead of changing the rules and re inventing Judo the TV interest could be done by a simple thing of allowing coloured Judogi.
I believe this new Sport called IJF Judo will be detrimental to us who have competed in Traditional Judo and one must ask the question did anyone ask the people who do Judo and who’s license money pays or these bureaucrats yes the Judoka what they want?

SAMBO/SOMBO and Judo
Over the years Judoka have complained that it is Sambo or wrestling that is ruining the sport and is taking away the big throws, RUBBISH it is the Judo Fraternity who is wrecking competitive Judo. These people most probably never seen World Sambo or Free Style Wrestling yet they continue to bleat on, they remind of a child who kicks a Football through a window and then says “It was not me it was the ball”/
Although I have won a couple of minor medals in Free Style a sport I enjoyed I can not speak with any authority on the Sport but I can speak with authority on Sombo/Sambo. I have won 4 World silvers, am the only GrandMaster in GB awarded to me by the World Body FIAS,FIAS Gold Award for services to International Sambo and I am a member of the FIAS International Masters Club which a club of the 10 most influential Samboists in the World. So when I hear and read articles that Sambo has been the downfall of judo all I can say lets look at the results only a few Judoka have been successful in International Sambo yet consider how successful Sambo Players have been in International Judo extremely so for many years the Soviet Union Judo Players were all Samboists and all they done was to adopt their techniques to the rules of Judo. Yes the rules of Judo and that was 40 odd years ago, next the Japanese the Soviet Union (now the Eastern Block) are the most successful Judo nation. The reason is Sambo is a dynamic powerful Jacket wrestling Sport with a speciality of high throws, a sport which does not limit itself to specific holding positions or throws but they realised what they do is just a form of Jacket Wrestling something Judoka can not understand about their own Sport. Samboists can adapt to any Jacket Wrestling Style I will go as far to say they can adapt to any Grappling Style, that can not be said of Judoka and with this latest rule change they we will even less able to compete in other events. My first love was Judo but I was glad I was introduced to Sambo by the British Wrestling Association in the early 70’s, Sambo opened my eyes to a multitude of new and dynamic techniques. To me Sambo is the way forward for Jacket Wrestlers but I still will keep to the Traditions of Judo i.e. Kata etc. So Judoka come out of the closet and try the many different styles of Jacket Wrestling open your eyes to a new world.

Martin Clarke 8th Dan Judo, Sambo GrandMaster

Victimised

Put this article on my other Blogsite in August, nothing has happened and this Government is bring out even more legislation


Friday, August 07, 2009

Coach accused
Top Martial Arts Coach AccusedA Top British Martial Arts Coach has been accused of “Inappropriate Behaviour” and has been suspended by his governing body and told not to visit his own club, yet this Coach has told me he has not been informed of what the accusation is or who has accused him. The governing body has informed the local Police who are investigating him and they in turn have not told him of the accusation etc, now if the Coach is telling me the truth then this can open a real can of worms.1) Surely it is the right of every Englishman to be able to face his accuser and their accusation2) Is a man not innocent till proven guiltyAs for us Judo and Sports Coaches if the above is true anyone of us can be accused by some one who has a grudge against us, which could wreck of career, our private life and cause us mental anguish. Child Protection has become paramount in sport and rightly so but it is fast becoming Monster which will extinguish Children Sport altogether. No longer is a Scout Master, Cub Mistress a Junior Judo/Sports Coach looked upon with respect for giving up their time to work and help with children our obsession with Child Protection has made the public look with distain upon this group of well meaning people. WHY DO THEY WANT TO BE WITH CHILDREN? That is the question asked ARE THEY NORMAL is the next one soon no one will want to supervise Children in fact the Ultimate Child Protection is not to let any Adult teach childrenNow before you say Martin is over reacting let me give example at what happened at our club several years ago.One of our Karate Instructors was accused of touching a young teenager inappropriately, the father contacted me and wanted me to deal with the matter which I presume he meant sack the Coach, this I reused to do and told him if was 100% sure of facts he must contact the Police which he subsequently done. I immediately contacted the Coach and told him of the accusation which he denied, I then explained that I would get a meeting of all other Coaches and decide what we would do. All the coaches agreed that the charges brought by the Girl were so outlandish (The assault supposedly took part in front of the whole class yet no one saw the incident) so we decided to allow him to Coach but supervised by one of the other Coaches. His ordeal lasted a Year at the end of 12 months the Police said there was nothing answers for! Was there an apology from the Girl, parent or police NO only a parting word from a Women PC “you got away with it this time?” The Instructor is no longer with us dying in tragic circumstances.Now if the same happened today we would have no option but to suspend him and after the result of a year’s investigation with the Karate Instructor subsequently being proved innocent1) He would be considered a pervert2) The Club would have to close and 50 children would no longer have a club to go to3) All the clubs coaches would be stigmatises (No smoke without fire) coaches would feel obliged to leave and club would have to close which had been in existence for 50 years. For what maybe something as stupid as the Coaches daughter getting a higher gradeMartin Clarke

World Judo Championship 2009 Results

http://www.judo2009.com/en/?page=cms&sub=showpage&id=40

Your Blog

This Blog is for you the members of the International Budo Federation, British CombatSombo Association and British Sombo Federation. Lets have your veiws mind the language