The Last of the Las Vegas Clinic

Finally, at long last, the remainder of the Las Vegas clinic! It’s been a long time coming, I know, but I’ve got my notebook, I’ve got some time, so here it is!

The afternoon session was the practical session. This is the mat time. This is when we get to throw and hold and learn how to teach better! Lynn Roethke was the lead-off and she was teaching tachi waza.

Lynn Roethke

Most of Lynn’s segment was about attacking. Keep constant pressure on your opponent. Make them work harder than you, and you better be working insanely hard. She taught us counters from popular throws and her own unique style of attack.

For the coaches, she recommends intense, short duration matches, about 10 seconds, with a break between iterations. She had ideas about doing a variety of “get-ups” to develop speed in getting from the ground to your feet from any number of different ground positions.

For the nage waza, Lynn demonstrated a beautiful counter to O soto gari with Seoi nage! I wouldn’t have ever thought it would work…except it does and so easily! She also demonstrated/taught her style of, what I call, “Backpack loading” Seoi nage.

Check it out here!

Another thing, all you would-be competitors, you need to work your fitness! If you want to run in the competitive arena and you aren’t fit enough to last…GET THERE!

Jim Pedro, Sr.

Probably the gruffest of all the clinicians, Jim knows his business and knows it well. I mean, after coaching Jimmy and Ronda to a collective three Olympic Bronze Medals, it should be obvious.

Anyway, Jim’s section was on ne waza. His first two points were interesting. The first is that Juniors are Juniors and Seniors are Seniors. This is a great point for all you coaches out there that want to teach 13 year olds armbars or 10 year olds chokes. If they can’t use it and aren’t near enough to the age to start using it, don’t teach it! You’ll only make matters worse.

The second point involves transitioning to mat work. Students need to be going to the mat when they finish their throws. I think he wants them to do it all the time, even when just practicing the throws themselves. Personally, I think it’s a great idea that should be done, but I’m not sure about when they’re learning how to do a throw.

After that it was all ground work, escapes, drills, transitions, what to teach first, body position, and when to not even bother. First the last, because it caught my eye when I wrote it: If you’re in the guard position and you’re in a judo match, don’t even bother trying to get out, you don’t have time. As for what to teach first, well Big Jim suggests, in his inimitable fashion, teach the Half-Nelson turnover first, but teach it right! And finally, when you teach and do Ude garami, roll your wrists! I like to think of it like riding an old Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the type where one hand is the throttle and the other adjusts the timing.

Gerry Lafon

By far Gerry Lafon is one of the most controversial figures in US Judo. He advocates many things, some outrageous by conventional US Judo ideologies and some progressive for US Judo. I’m not going to weigh in on most of that because that’s not what this blog post is about. Suffice it to say that he’s very strong willed and has some great ideas.

First off, DRILL! Drills are where skill development occurs. If you’re not drilling, you’re not learning and neither are your students! Drill everything. Drill throws, drill counters, drill ground work, drill sequences. Whatever it is you or your students want to learn, drill it!

Speaking of counters, Gerry suggests that there are four opportunities for countering: Early technique, Late technique, Early movement, and Late movement. Each of these is specifically tied to timing. In both Earl and Late technique countering, you need to have body contact for the greatest effectivity.

Gerry suggests that judo coaches help their students by practicing “losing judo.” Why should one practice losing judo? Who wants to be a loser? I know I don’t, but think about this for a minute, if all you ever practice is winning and you never practice those precarious situations where you are in a losing environment, like being held-down or about to be thrown, how will you know when to counter the throw or escape the hold-down? Practice losing judo.

Another really interesting thing, this is part of the “outrageous” by conventional standards stuff (so was the last), is that he suggest that when you teach beginners, you shouldn’t strive for them to perform perfectly, strive for close. If they’re getting the gross movements, move to a finer level of detail. It makes sense to me; after all, you’ve got to have some comprehension to dial in the detail.


Another interesting tidbit is the concept of forward shaping and backward shaping. These learning sequences are quite useful for the average coach to develop a complete sequence of events. Each has a unique aspect of it, that sounds like it should be another blog post, don’t you think?

Oh, anyone who wants to coach: BUY SUCCESSFUL COACHING by Rainer Martens.

Hayward Nishioka

Hayward was the most cordial of all the clinicians. He seems to have a way about him that suggests kindly sensei. His clinic was the hardest for me to take notes because we were constantly moving! He covered teaching ashi waza. Let me tell you, it was much simpler the way he taught it!

It was a mad rush it seemed to write it all down, but it was so unrushed in the teaching time evaporated! We went from standing with one foot atop the other the hanging one foot. From putting our feet close together to their widest, all the while testing our balance.

Eventually we started walking first like narrow robots then big robots then walking and steering. It was amazing how easy it was when he showed us. Unfortunately it was like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose on full blast.

It was fun. I learned a lot. I just wish I could see it again and again and again!

And one more thing: ALWAYS ENCOURAGE your students!

Bill Montgomery

Finally, the end! Bill taught ashi waza drills. Most importantly, ashi waza takes time to learn, so you should start early and practice often! There are lots of details to Bill’s session and I’m running long, so, unfortunately, this may not be a very complete section.

Some major details:

• All waza come from the hips

• Your hips move first, then the “sweepy” leg

• Once the attack starts, don’t stop attacking until you’ve achieved SUCCESS!

Finally, the most important thing for a teacher or coach to do before teaching any waza: Your body movement must be correct! If you have to, practice in front of a mirror to get things right. Your students, especially kids, will mimic every move you make when learning the throw. So if you aren’t doing it right, they will pick up on it and do it just the way you showed them!

I apologize to Bill for making this section so short.

Final Thoughts

If you ever get the chance to go to a clinic by any of these people, no matter what your particular judo ideology is, GO! Don’t let your hang-up on classical or traditional or competitive or whatever hold you back. They are wonderful instructors from whom you can learn something!

I liked going to the clinic. Vegas was good, but the clinic was Great!