This Internet Thing is Pretty Cool

You can only be late once. After that, you can only be later. So, since I am already late on getting out Growing Judo for November (seeing that it is December), I decided to slack off even further, having wasted my day working at my corporate job. It turns out that this whole Internet idea has caught on and there are some interesting articles on judo,even about people I know.

The Edinburgh News has an article on Maurice Allan, great judo player, replanted Scotsman and the only member of the USJA Coaching Committee who talks like a pirate, even when it is not Talk Like a Pirate Day. (And you thought I made that up.)

The highlight video of Nicholas Gill on the judo podcast convinced me that if I did not already think he was a very nice man, the armbar and choke on this video would have won me over. He also does a disproportionate number of counters. We don't see enough of those. I am going to sit down with my nine-year-old daughter and have her watch it. He uses some of the throws she is just learning so I am hoping it will be a motivating factor for her. Or, I will just have my kid sitting in my lap and watch judo with her. That's good enough in itself.

Ronda and I were discussing judo (what else) today and she had some pretty interesting comments and questions. She is already thinking ahead to when she will be coaching, and she asked me what was it that made me believe she was going to be so successful. Years ago, when she was only 14 or so, I was telling people she was exceptional and no one took me seriously. There are specific traits and habits that set certain people apart so that they are on a whole different level.

We also discussed one of the major errors players who are unsuccessful at the international level make and how some of the teaching she received when she was younger helped her avoid those errors. This is particularly ironic since I remember arguing with Hayward Nishioka that videotape analysis was going to be over her head, that she was only 12 years old and Hayward saying,
"Just trust me."

I have to get back to work, so next time I will talk about what I saw in Ronda that I didn't see in others and what she learned young that other people didn't.