Saturday Training Lots of Good Moving Judo

Nellie coaching some of the class about breaking balance.

Nellie watching randori. In the background the sumo club that shares the hall with us is warming up.  

Another good Saturday training, our crop of teenagers is expanding and today we had a really good visitor on the mat who worked out with our crew.  It was a good day, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the whole class we had 15 on the mat a good turnout for a teenagers class because we were missing a few of our regulars.  But overall a really good training. 

In the background you can see the sumo players that share the venue warming up,. Its good having them around it means we get a whole day of Japanese martial arts in Pukekohe.  Awesome to have them sharing with us. 

King's Birthday Training

A nice Saturday training at Puni. Kings Birthday meant we had fewer people than normal at training but it was good opportunity for Nellie to do some solid technical coaching and for me and Todd to teach the newbies some basics.  We have a really good group of teenagers developing some nice Judo,  We are taking things slowly and re-building post COVID.  

 

Wet, Windy Saturday - Big Judo Training

Even though the weather was a bit wild, Saturday training was really good.  Nellie, took the lead today and provided some really good technical instruction.  We have a strong group of regular 15-16 year olds that are fun to coach and getting good at Judo. A great way to spend a windy Saturday morning. 

Big Judo - Behind the Scenes

 

The not so fun bit of Judo is looking after the mats.  Putting them up and down, mopping them, repairing them and generally making sure that the dojo is ready for training.  

Tonight we had one of the young guys helping; and in the background a picture of Nellie and I's Sensei. 

Lots of Black Belts on the Mat

A real joy of teaching at Pukekohe is that we have the support of lots of local Black Belts keen to instruct.  Currently, we have three ex-international's including two females coaching. We also have two retired- national level competitors.  

The club is really, really lucky and we are working hard to build on this base.  

Nellie, one of New Zealand's top ne waza (ground fighting) exponents teaching teenagers.

Wednesday in Pukekawa - Awesome Class Lots of Fun

 

Recently, we have been travelling down to help Tracey, who is pregnant, with her Judo classes.  Tracey has done an awesome job building a strong local club and it is always a pleasure training there.  It takes me back to 1982; when I started Judo, and there were small local clubs all over Auckland.  

Every suburb had a small local club and Pukekawa is a great demonstration that starting and running small clubs is viable.  

Tracey has built an awesome group of committed kids and families, and helping her out is a real pleasure.  And; for old Judoka teaching and helping teach is really satisfying.  

As you get older randori and competition become harder and if you want to stay involved teaching is really satisfying.  Passing on your knowledge and seeing kids get better at Judo is a really good feeling. 

So if you are an aging competitive player maybe have a think about coaching it might be more satisfying than refereeing, kata or masters competition,  

Good Tuesday Night Training

 

Tuesday night we trained in Pukekohe, and had a really good session. The most encouraging thing is our solid group of teenagers that is developing.  This is really promising, teenagers this size and age are great to work with picking techniques up quickly able to use relatively technical Judo. It was really good night.