18th-19th June 2011 Clinic

It’s been a little bit since the clinic. It’s been busy around here. Here’s a little clip and the write-up submitted for the July issue of Growing Judo (http://www.usja-judo.org/GrowingJudo/GrowingJudo2011_07.pdf).

The 18^th of June was blistering hot with temperatures reaching past the century mark, yet 19 judoka travelled to the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, NM for a day long clinic on topics like warming up, kuzushi and body movement, the basic reaping techniques, and groundwork flow and submissions. Three clinicians covered the four topics in detail.

Warm-ups and conditioning for judo are very important to judo students as they help the student’s body prepare for the ensuing workout. Our clinic began with emphasis on proper warming in a group and as an individual. One aspect that hit me as interesting was a 10 minute warm-up routine designed to increase the strength and endurance of the student and consisted of four rounds of push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, and squats starting at 1 minute each and decreasing by fifteen seconds once each set was complete. After the warm-up portion, Oscar Tinajero, the clinician for this section, covered flexibility and movements common to a ground game including various rolls and positions frequently experienced on the ground.

Figure 1: Flexibility Drill

Kuzushi, tai sabaki, debana, and other critical topics typically find themselves discussed as afterthoughts. The second section of our clinic covered these topics as a primary concern. Loren Bentley, the clinician for this section, began with a brief discussion and demonstration of the happo no kuzushi and soon had the students applying it in linear and circular movement in both jigo and shizen hontai. Once the basics of kuzushi and tai sabaki saw glimmerings of understanding, the concept of debana came forth through a game based on pressure applied to a partner’s palms. This game helped students understand how to move for a technique when their partner applied pressure on their hands.

Figure 2: Palms Game in Action

Everyone is familiar with a number of variations of the four basic gari techniques. For our third section of the clinic, Loren Bentley, clinician for this section, covered one variation from Daigo’s Kodokan Judo Throwing Techniques for each gari. Several of the variations were sufficiently different from the students’ experience to require extended practice of which they received plenty. The final variation, a retreating variation of O soto gari, received the greatest understanding by the students.

Figure 3: Demonstration of O Soto Gari (Retreating)

The final clinic was on ground work and flow drills. Here the students learned about continuous motion on the ground from one submission to the next to the next from Tim Smith, our clinician for this section. Starting with the basic legs around in the bottom position (guard), the first element was juji gatame. Operating from the idea that uke foiled the attempt; the technique flowed into sankaku jime by repositioning the legs. Again assuming that uke foils the attempt, the technique flows into the Brazilian JiuJitsu technique known as an omoplata, which, while certainly not legal in judo, is perfectly applicable to MMA or submission grappling events.

Figure 4: Demonstration of Sankaku Jime

In all the event ran for about seven hours and a great time was had by all. We receive many compliments from students, clinicians, and family members about the quality of the instruction, the facility (although it was warmish), and the organization. All three clinicians taught well and thoroughly ensuring all students spent more time doing than hearing.

Roswell Judo Club would like to thank Ron Wade and the New Mexico Military Institute for the use of their martial arts room with the brand new mats; Oscar Tinajero and the Red Spyder Martial Arts club and Toby Rue and the New Mexico State University Judo Club for bringing so many students to the clinic. For more information about the clinic or the Roswell Judo Club visit our website (www.roswell-judo.org) or our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/Roswell-Judo-Club/125588979566).

And here's a brief clip from the clinic video: