The Essence of Judo

My sensei introduced me to this wonderful judo video available online. It's called "The Essence of Judo" and features one of the masters, Kyuzo Mifune. Some have considered him second only to Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo. The video is just over an hour long and completely in Japanese, but you don't have to understand the narration to appreciate the level of skill displayed. Here's the video in it's entirety:

There is a lot of narration that I simply don't understand, but a vast majority of the video is comprised of visual demonstrations of throwing techniques, ground work, and kata. If you can sit through the first 3 minutes, you'll be rewarded with some great technique footage including some slow-mo replay of the master at work. Most non-Japanese speaking judoka will at least recognize the technique names. Enjoy!

Team USA Judo Results

Well, the judo portion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is officially over. For Team USA there were some disappointments, but several strong showings by new Olympic competitors, and one historic medal. Here's the breakdown for Team USA:

Women -48kg

Sayaka Matsumoto lost her first match in preliminaries and was eliminated in her first match in repechage. Her first fight was against Japan's legendary Ryoko Tani, a personal hero of hers. This was her first Olympics.

Women -57kg

Valerie Gotay won one match, and lost one match.

Women -70kg

Ronda Rousey won five matches and lost only one to Edith Bosch (NED) in the preliminaries. In the repechage, she defeated German Annett Boehm to get a bronze medal. Not only is this the only medal won by the US in judo this year, it's the first medal a US woman has won in Olympic judo since women's judo became a sanctioned event.

Men -60kg

Taraje Williams-Murray won his first match but was eliminated in his second. In his first match, he pulled off a major upset by defeating Japan's Hiroaki Hiraoka. This was his second time in the Olympics.

Men -66kg

Taylor Takata did well in his first Olympic games. He won his first two matches in the preliminaries, but was eliminated after two consecutive losses.

Men -73kg

Ryan Reser was eliminated by Dashdavaa Gantumur of Mongolia in his first fight. This was Ryan's first time competing in the Olympics, though he was previously an alternate.

Men -90kg

Brian Olson was eliminated by Diego Rostati of Argentina in his first match. This was Brian's fourth Olympic appearance!

Men -100kg

Adler Volmar was eliminated by Amel Mekic of Bosnia in his first match. This was his first Olympics representing the US. He represented Haiti in the 1996 games.

Men +100kg

Daniel McCormick won one match and lost one match in the preliminaries. In the repechage he won a second match and was eliminated in his fourth match. This was a good showing for the 22 year old in his first Olympics.

So there's the results for Team USA. Congrats to all our competitors for competing in the Olympics! You represented USA judo well.

The next Ronda Rousey?

This is me and my little future judoka, Lena. As any parent that just absolutely loves their sport of choice, I hope she grows up developing that same love. I hope to start her into judo early on, possibly having her join the actual club classes at age 5 or 6 (she'll be 3 this month), but I'm already starting the education process early. She recognizes judo when she sees videos and she already uses the word "gi". She also can do a nice somersalt (takes about 30 seconds per effort) and now she knows how to tap out. I'll wrap my arms around her from behind and won't let her go until she taps twice on my elbow. No, I don't apply an actual choke, so don't be calling child services on me. I'm willing to go out on a limb and say it's probably the most adorable little tap out you've ever seen.

Judo as a sport in the US is growing, but it hasn't caught on like soccer, another widely practiced international sport. So the talent pool in the US is much smaller than say baseball, basketball, or football. That means a US athlete in judo has a greater chance of becoming one of the greats in their field than an NBA or NFL hopeful. If little Lena learns judo starting at age 3 to 5 and has a black belt dad at home to reinforce her teaching, could I possibly have a future Olympian on my hands? I may have the future Rhonda Rousey playing with dolls in my house. Time will tell.

Of course, all this fatherly wishful thinking and dreaming kinda depends on if Lena even likes judo,decides to stick with it, or doesn't develop an all-encompassing interest in something else. Don't worry, even if she hates judo, she'll still be Daddy's little girl.