Big Judo End of Year Grading

Sorry it has take a little while to get pictures of the grading up unfortunately a power outage at our house killed my computer so was offline for a couple of days.  Sorry for the delay.

The grading went really well. In summary:

•  The grading was run in a traditional format bringing a large group of our team together for the event;
• We graded 41 kids.;
• At the top end we now have 5 kids well on their way to Orange belts and 10 new Yellow belts;
• The kids were well behaved and we were able to get through the process pretty quickly;
• We also had lots of parents and grandparents there supporting the kids ;
• Finally, we were very well supported with assessors and visitors and the following people helped us out:

o   David Mair – A Fourth Dan Black belt who spent nearly a decade in Japan, is a very experienced coach and a key technical sounding board for me

o   Rob Levy – A Fifth Dan Black Belt and the current National Coach

o   Brent Cooper – A Seventh Dan Black belt, New Zealand’s most successful Judo Olympian, Commonwealth Games Gold medalist and the current National Technical Director

The bottom line though is that Tracey, Jordan, Geoff and Henry have worked hard all year and their efforts paid off with a really good result. One of the best things about being involved in Big Judo is seeing the instructors grow and develop- Well done team. 

The team getting ready to start.

Another view this time showing the instructors and assessors lined up and ready to go.

Rob Levy ran the warm up and you can see Dave warming up with the kids.

Dave running the Yellow Belts through their paces. 

Henry Wu helping Dave discuss some technical points with the Yellow Belts. 

The White Belts lined up and getting their results 1 or 2 Yellow Tags. The kids going for full Yellow Belts and Orange Tags are sitting along the back wall

My new favourite photo of me doing Judo! It is enormously satisfying to see such a nice group of kids (and adults) enjoying Judo together. 

Information for Contest this Weekend

Competition time this Sunday so thought it might be good to put up some information for our parents and supporters.  So you know whats going on and can follow the action.  

First of all the 'mat'. The mat is the contest area and the picture shows its key features.  The action takes place inside a square 8-10 metres wide called the contest area.  Around the contest area is a row of different coloured mats (normally red) that indicate the boundary of the contest area. This in turn is surrounded by a wide safety area,  

Players (under 16) win by:

• Throwing their opponent with force and control onto their back; or
• By throwing their opponent to the ground and holding them on their back.

Above the age of 16 players can also force their opponent to submit using 'submission' techniques such as arm bars, strangles and chokes.

The contest is supervised by a referee and in larger contests the referee is assisted by corner judges. The referee scores the player's throws and signals their score using hand signals as outlined below.  

 Hope this is helpful.

Big Judo - Howick Judo Fun Day

Big Judo is mobilizing for the Howick Academy of Judo Fun Day on 9 November 2014.  We are all looking forward to putting together a strong team of kids ready and willing to compete.  We'll keep you all posted on the results but here are some pictures from our last outing.

Big Judo dominating on the ground

Another Big Judo player muscling the competition on the ground.  This is a great photo look at the strong body position.

Sorry couldn't resist putting in another picture of one of our kids holding someone down.

When all is said and done though this is actually what it is all about. Kids having fun and being part of the team.

Me and Jordan.  Feeling good. We love watching the kids at work! 

Big Judo Star Visits Pukekohe Too

Tim Slyfield Commonwealth Games Judo medalist visited Big Judo Pukekohe on Tuesday night. We had a great time the kids really enjoyed the opportunity to meet him and I think Tim enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with the kids.  Awesome night.

Nice photo of the Puke crew.  Tim in front and Tracey and Ben at the back.

Big Judo Star Visits Big Judo Sandringham

Big Judo star Tim Slyfield visited the kids at Big Judo Sandringham this weekend. Tim is an Olympian and won a bronze medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Tim had a nice talk with the kids and all the kids had a chance to hold his medal and some of the kids even had a chance have a wrestle with the big guy.

Most important though is that as well as being a Judo champion Tim is a family man, well educated, articulated, gives back to Judo and is successful in business. Put simply a good role model and we were very happy to have him visit.

Tim talking to the kids about his Judo experiences.

Tim with the kids and instructors around him.

Big Judo Competition Success

Congratulations to Jordan and Trevor.  Jordan got a Bronze in the -81 kg category at the North Island Champs and Trevor got Silver in the -90 kg Masters category. Awesome effort!

Jordan looking after the kids one Saturday. Cool photo eh!

Trevor (in blue) with Big Tony at the Police Club.  Both club Dads and staunch supporters.

A Good Nage No Kata Judo Instruction