Thursday 12 December 2013

Big Judo Instructors Complete Big Course

You have to admire Jordan and Tracey's commitment. After running our grading on Saturday 7 December. Jordan fought in the Rick Littlewood Open then on Sunday they were off to Tauranga at 6 the next morning to complete the C1 Coaching Course.

Jordan and Tracey at the C1 Coaching Course in Tauranga.  Tracey's Big Judo T-shirt stands out and Jordan is to her left.
We are all really proud of their achievement. Coaching Courses do not come around very often so it is awesome that they made the effort to get down to Tauranga and do the course.  

Saturday 7 December 2013

Big Judo Big Grading

A big day for Big Judo. Over 40 kids on the mat. Half a dozen instructors and two senior assessors all on the mat at once! No wonder we were all pretty tired at the end.  Check out these photos!


The kids bow in at the start of the grading.  Big Judo Pukekohe and Big Judo Central's first combined activity. 


The assessment team.  From right a random father - Tim Slyfield Judo NZ's High Performance Director and Commonwealth Games Judo Silver Medalist, David Mair 4th Dan Kosen Judo expert and assessor, Big Ben, Rob Levy another 'Big' Dad and ex-international, current NZ National Senior Coach and one of our assessors, Tracy Stormont our Pukekohe instructor and Jordan Reynolds our Central instructor. 



We always start with a warm-up


Then into demonstrating their techniques


Kesa Gatame - A ground hold


More ground techniques.


The kids getting an opportunity to get to know each other.


Another Kesa Gatame


Guess why we like this one?  The shoulder tapes look awesome!



Getting the kids organised for Ne Waza Randori ( ground fighting practice). We love ground work and part of the grading is making sure the kids are up to speed in this important skill.




About to turn his opponent over!
 
The kids lined up to hear their results. 
 So a big day for Big Judo but most importantly big thanks go out to the following people:

  • Rob and Dave for being our assessors.  We aim to train awesome grapplers and to do that we need to make sure we aren't afraid to let people examine our students. The guys did a great job for no reward other than personal satisfaction. We really appreciate it;
  • Jordan and Tracey for running the day and for keeping the classes going while I have been injured. the fact that our programme has kept going without missing a beat is testament to their commitment;
  • Geoff for helping out with the class at Puke. He has been a great support;
  • Trevor and Sam our Dads 'on the mat' having you there in the Central Class has been awesome; and
  • Most importantly the parents. Without you coming down sitting through classes, gradings and contests we would not be as good at introducing the sport we love to kids so thanks heaps.
Finally we aim for next year to be even bigger. We want to:
  • Raise the technical level of the kids already in the programme;
  • Get more kids into regular competition; and
  • Recruit more new players so that we keep growing and remain sustainable.  
Thanks everybody. Merry Christmas




 







Thursday 28 November 2013

Big Judo Equals Big Fashion

The iconic Big Judo T-Shirt modeled by Ben, Jordan and Daisy is now available to the public. Great way to show the colours when we are at tournaments or at club events and even better cheap too!

                                                                   Kids Tees  $25

                                                                       Adults $ 30 

If you want one just drop Ben an email and we will order it right away.


Wednesday 27 November 2013

Big Judo Central Kids Get Ready for Grading

Great to see all the kids getting ready for their grading on 7 December 2013. Here are some photos of the city team.  Even though Ben is off the mat with a ruptured Achilles tendon Jordan, Tracey and the team have done an awesome job keep things on track and making sure the kids are prepared properly.




Saturday 16 November 2013

Big Judo Auckland Update

Some photos from Big Judo's two kids classes in Auckland. Awesome watching the kids develop and the parents getting involved in Auckland we have three Dads who regularly attend and it is neat to see kids and Dads all participating in Judo.

Beginners 1-2 pm 

This class is aimed at kids starting Judo.  Big Judo is a Kosen style Judo club and we focus entirely on ground fighting skills for the first 6-12 months.  Fighting on the ground is a great medium teaching the kids gross motor skills that transfer into their stand up fighting later.


Jordan and Trev teaching the kids about fighting in the 'guard' position



The kids always have a good wrestle 
Big Kids 2-3 pm

The big kids class continues to have a solid ground work and grappling element but we extend the teaching to include throwing.


Thursday 14 November 2013

Big Judo Pukekohe

Big Judo Pukekohe photos.  The class is going real well.  After six months of focusing on the basics; break falls, balance breaking and ground fighting the kids are really starting to come along nicely. 


Geoff and Tracy teaching the kids O Goshi (Major Hip Throw)


At Big Judo we find that the best way to teach is to do! Crash mats are a great tool for letting kids practice throwing. 

But we follow a Kosen Judo tradition so we always do some ground fighting.


And trophies at the end for the best players.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Big Judo Rewards for Zac

Judo brings lots of rewards.  Some intangible some more tangible. The kid's have a pretty tangible reward system. We always make sure that there is a 'Player of the Day' given out for bravery, good technique or demonstrating good values.  Zac here was last Saturday's Player of the Day. 



Zac's Dad and I have been doing Judo with each other since 1983 (when we were both about the same age as Zac) and we thought it was pretty neat to see another generation coming through doing Judo and thought it would make a neat blog post!    

Monday 21 October 2013

Big Judo Term Four Starts

Big Judo's fourth term for 2013 started this week.  Ben and the other instructors are back from their holidays and we are ready to 'rock and roll'.

The Puke class had 17 kids on the mat and we are currently discussing splitting this class into a bigger kids and a smaller kids/beginner's class.

The Central class had 10 and 14 on the mat for the Beginners and Advanced classes respectively.

Good solid numbers for our first sessions back.

Monday 23 September 2013

Big Judo Howick Fun Day Contest - First Photos

Big Judo's first ever competition team fought in the Howick Fun Day Judo contest.  Our kids did very well.

We entered seven kids but a pre-tournament concussion and stomach bugs reduced our numbers on the day to four fighters.

But even with only four kids competing we picked up three medals which is fantastic for a first tournament.

We also had an awesome turnout from parents and supporters and then finished the day with a BBQ. It was a fantastic day although I have to say that I think coaching is more stressful than competing!

Well done team. 

Here are the first installment of photos as get more we will put them up so you can see some of the team in action.



Ben on the sideline.

Ben and Jordan and the team.

The hall at the start of the day.


Samuel from Big Judo holding an opponent down.


Scott Silver


Weston Bronze


Samuel Bronze 

Saturday 7 September 2013

Big Judo - Motivation - Great Video



Another good video we found on You Tube.  Not very politically correct!

Thursday 29 August 2013

Big Judo History



Nice photo.  On the left is Daniel Gowing and on the right is Ben.  Ben, Daniel and Aaron Page are the last survivors of University Judo Club's early 80s young men's squad.  Who have all been 'on the mat' for more than thirty years now.

Daniel was an outstanding contest player.  He went to two Olympics and at one point he was seeded 9th in the world in the Men's Heavyweight division (Under 100kg).  In Big Judo's opinion he is one of New Zealand's top half dozen Judoka.  Lots of Judo players get to international level by being good at stand up fighting. Some get there on the strength of their ground game only a few are excellent at both. Daniel was one of those.
   
Ben fought in the same weight division as Daniel so 'learnt' a lot of his Judo from being beaten by Daniel.

Daniel is an engineer and has been working in England building wind turbines. He recently came back to New Zealand and this photo was taken when he visited University Judo Club.  It was great to see him again.


Sunday 25 August 2013

Big Judo Kids Contest - 22 September 2013


On 22 September 2013 Howick Academy of Judo is sponsoring a day of social contest at the Howick Community Centre.  The first part of the day is devoted to kids competition and Big Judo is planning to take a team to the contest.  This will be a fantastic opportunity for the kids to have a go at competitive Judo.

The kids will compete in the 'Pee Wee' Division that is for kids starting Judo.  It will be great day and Ben and the other 'Big Boys' from Big Judo will also be there to coach and support the kids.

Monday 19 August 2013

Little Ben from Big Judo Sitting on a Policeman

Judo on Monday at the Police was fun - for Ben.  Not so much fun for the team.  Ben has been teaching 'taking and holding the back'.  Unfortunately for the team it means a fair bit of lying down while Ben sits on you. 

We have been teaching Rick's 'Old Skool' University 'double hook' then immediately attack the neck with a grinding strangle followed by a series of attack - counter - attack movements from the same position.

All good fun.   

Ben squashing a poor volunteer while demonstrating.














 

Saturday 17 August 2013

Big Judo Pukekohe Keeps Growing




Big Judo's new Pukekohe branch keeps growing.  We started in Pukekohe on 3 August and the class is going really well:

  1. 3 September: We had 12 kids and four Seniors;
  2. 9 August: We had 15 kids and six Seniors; and
  3. 16 August: We had 18 kids and six Seniors.
Pretty soon we will have to start consolidating the classes.  We will probably be looking at a couple of different classes i.e:

  1. A little kids class;
  2. One or two bigger kids classes: and
  3. Two senior classes. 
We love teaching Judo and are really excited about getting such a fantasitic response. Thanks heaps to all the people that have supported us so far.    

Monday 5 August 2013

Big Judo Starts Term Three

Big Judo's Third Term got off to a great start on 3 August 2013.  We had plenty of kids who were all ready to go! After a bit of revision we got down to business and the kids fought some epic 'battles'. All in all it was a pretty good start to the third term.   
 

Kids lined up as we revise technique.

An epic battle in progress.

The kids lined up and ready to go for ne waza randori (ground fighting practice)



In action. Disciplined mayhem as the kids wrestle and practice their skills.

Monday 29 July 2013

Big Judo - Big Kids Class

Judo photos of the big kid's class training on a recent Saturday. 

Big Judo teaches Kosen Judo so we always start training with some ground grappling. 
 
 A good example of a ground hold called kesa gatame.
We used to give the kids a chocolate fish when they used this hold in wrestling matches but now they are getting too good and the instructors were getting too poor buying chocolate fish.  


Practising throwing techniques. 
Teaching in the Kosen tradition we start with lots of ground grappling then teach throwing and we find that this is a good way to teach kids the gross motor skills used in throwing techniques.
 



  
Big Judo maintains a disciplined teaching environment.

But there is always an opportunity for the Dads (and the odd Mum) to come on at the end of the class and have a wrestle.

Auckland International Open




Big Judo recommends taking a trip out to the Northshore Events Centre next weekend for the Auckland International Open.

This tournament is one of the biggest in New Zealand and attracts players from all over New Zealand,  Australia and the Pacific.  In recent years it has attracted 300-350 players.

It is one of the few tournaments in Australasia that is 'points rated' i.e. points from fighting in it can contribute to a slot on Olympic, World Championship or Commonwealth Teams.  Therefore if you go you are likely to see some pretty good Judo.

The Senior (adult) competition is on Saturday 3 August 2013 and the best fighting will be in the morning.

Juniors (children) are on Sunday 4 August 2013. 

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Big Judo at Auckland Police



The team at Big Judo is helping out with getting Judo re-established in the Police up in Auckland. 

We are running a regular beginners class at 10am every Monday morning at the Auckland Central Police Station. 

The class is great fun and any Big Judo member or parent is welcome to ask to come along providing they aren't 'known' to Police. 

If you would like to train with us here then call either
  • Ben on 021 688 289; or
  • Jordan on 021 269 0233