The Long Break!

Okay, so it's been awhile. Let's see, November, December, and January. Where was I?

November:

The New Mexico State University Judo Club held a promotional clinic and I was invited down to take part. It was a great event and Toby Rue and Oscar Tinajero had a fair number of students ready for promotion. All went well and no major problems occured!

December:

I had a car accident, no injuries, then a long trip to Dallas, TX. There was another promotional clinic and, again, I was invited to participate. This time we had four kids moving up to their next grade and three students moving up to shodan and two moving up to their next brown belt. Again, all went well and no major problems occured.

January:

This has been an exceptionally busy month! First was the NMJI election meeting. I was less than pleased with this, but won't say anything further about that.

Second, the USJA/USJF All-Women's Tournament and Coaching Clinic. This was an amazing event with 8 clinicians hosting clinics covering a wide range of topics from 501(c)3 to Combinations and Counters! Paul Nogaki, Gary Goltz, Hal Sharp, Lynn Roethke, Jim Pedro, Sr., Gerry Lafon, Bill Montgomery, and Hayward Nishioka were all amazing clinicians!

Finally, this weekend (30th and 31st) was a clinic in Albuquerque, NM at Wayne Maxwell's Albuquerque Judokai with Paul Nogaki as the clinician. It was a great clinic. Many thanks go to Wayne Maxwell forholding the clinic and Paul Nogaki for clinicianing! (Is that even a word? It is now!)

I've got a whole lot of notes from the last two clinics (about 20 pages (front and back) of notes). I'm hoping to type them up and maybe pass some of that information on. Not all of it. If you want all of it, you should go to the clinics that the USJA sponsors!

Speaking of clinics, I'll be hosting my very first clinic, as clinician, on the USJA/USJF's new Modern Kodokan Judo Throwing Techniques program (http://www.usja-judo.org/GrassRoots/GrassrootsJudoKDKCertificationProgram.pdf). I'm going to cover Tai Otoshi as discussed in Daigo Toshiro's book Kodokan Judo Throwing Techniques (http://www.amazon.com/Kodokan-Throwing-Techniques-Toshiro-Daigo/dp/4770023308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264997010&sr=8-1). I expect the clinic to be rough, but it is my first attempt, so have some patience! I'm hoping to get it sanctioned so all participants can get some points for it! The cost will be $10.

Anyway, I hope to be posting a bit more often providing updates and good information for all my "followers."