(part 2) IJF RULES APPLICATION AT 2014 USA CUP AND CHERRY BLOSSOM REPORT by Rhadi Ferguson Bahamas Judo Federation National Coach and Technical Consultant NEWAZA continued.... It is also clearly evident that the referees are erring on the side of allowing the matwork to continue to know for a fact that there is no progress before calling matte when they did not recognize a move or position. Also, FROM THIS PARTICULAR tournament it was evident that the influences of Brazilian Jiujitsu and Mixed Martial Arts have impacted our sport enough so much so that the fans, coaches and referees understand that even though someone may look like they are safe in the guard that such a positioning does not mean that they are and time was given for people to set up triangles (sankaku), sweeps and to pass. And standing passes were allowed because standing up does not constitute matte any more. You have to stand and disengage FROM THE PERSON. Disengaging from the ground is not an immediate matte anymore either if you are caught in a submission. If you do NOT have control and have shown that you are no longer in danger, matte will not be called immediately, although it will be called. The synopsis on this point is the following. The term and phrase, the spirit of the rules was mentioned so many times at the IJF seminar in Fort Lauderdale that I could not count. But heres bottom doggone line. YOU MUST LEARN NEWAZA. RUNNING FROM A HOLD DOWN BY SCOOTING OUT OF BOUNDS WILL NOT SAVE YOU FROM THE HOLD DOWN. AND IF YOU KEEP SCOOTING UNTIL YOU GET TO THE FLOOR THE CALL WILL BE HANSOKUMAKE. If you are caught in armbar and pick the person of the floor and do not exhibit control to let the ref know that you are not in danger, the hold will continue, as it did this weekend. WHY? Because picking someone up off the ground is NOT A VALID ESCAPE TECHNIQUE FOR JUJIGATAME. Period. Such an action does not fit within the SPIRIT OF THE RULES. The new rules are about judo and technique. You must LEARN how to apply and escape in newaza. And they are allowing time for that. So that days for running and standing up to get the matte are few. There will be some refs who are still inclined to call matte, as I saw this weekend, but NONE of the A Level referees made this mistake. And I SPECIFICALLY ran over to a mat when I saw someone caught in Jujigatame and they tried to stand up instead of tap. The persons arm was subluxed and the ref immediately called the doctor to tend to the athlete in and then awarded ippon. Soooo, a small note to athletes and coaches. If you want to hang in there and not tap, its cool. But dont think you are going to roll around on the mat and writhe in pain and think the other person is going to get hansokumake. Whats going to happen is that the ref is going to call the doctor out there for you and award the other person the match. Period. WHY? Because based upon the spirit of the rules, a valid technique was a applied, you did not utilize a technique to escape but tried to rely on a tactic, and the technique rendered you unable to respond to the command to stand up and get to the line. Now understand, that THOSE are not the rules, but the SPIRIT of the rules and (as they said at the IJF meeting) and common sense apply. YOU MUST LEARN JUDO. And that means newaza and tachiwaza. The days of saying, I dont like newaza are OVER!!! You better get good at newaza or you will meet your demise on the ground. That leads me into my next topic... THE DYNAMIC EDGE Per this weekends assessment, it seems as if you need to think about the out of bounds like this...... Assume that there is a force field around the edge that is pushing you into the middle. And that force field carries the spirit of the rules with it. As you work your way toward the edge, you are in violation of the the spirit of the rules. PERIOD. That is the way that I looked at it. That is the way that it is being reffed and that is how you need to teach it. The THEME of this weekends tournament was STAY IN THE MIDDLE AND FIGHT or get banged for a shido. PERIOD. If the action was such that both competitors were fighting and by way of chance or happenstance somebody walked out, there was not penalty. If the same person walked out again, a penalty was given due to the competitor not being mindful of the rules and provide a message to the competitors and coaches of how the match is supposed to be played. In terms of newaza action and tachiwaza action, as a coach, I will make thinks this simple for you. Refs may not agree but Im not a referee, Im a coach and an advisor. MY ADVICE TO YOU IS TO ADVISE YOUR ATHLETES NOT TO STOP UNTIL THEY HEAR THE SECOND MATTE. Unfortunately, that is kind of what the rules of the tournament are requiring coaches to instruct their players because I saw about 3 occasions where the referee said matte and then and action occurred and ippon was then called. As a matter of fact, I was sitting in the chair and coaching one of my students when it happened. Fortunately for him, at Tampa Florida Judo I teach my kids the same why that I was taught in American Football. In American Football, you play all the way through until you hear the whistle. In Judo, the new whistle is the second matte. Im not here to talk about the IJF rules, Im here to provide my take on how they are and were applied at THIS tournament. Now, per the directive of the Bahamas Judo Federation President, DArcy Rahming Sr. I was instructed to watch the IJF referee seminar that was held in Malaga, Spain this year which can be found on Youtube. I watched at 3 hours and 3 minutes of it (it was grueling). And then I was instructed to watch the 2014 Europe vs. Asia Ecco Team Challenge which was also 3 hours (and that was grueling), and I attended the IJF referee and rules meeting seminar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 2 days to get a better understanding of the rules. I am pretty confident that in North American there are few coaches who have a better understanding of the application of the new rules and the spirit of the new rules as I do and that is because Ive studied. Now, my report is public because this is my (public report) ;-) and Ive been provided with instructions to do my due diligence to grow the sport and help out as much as I can to promote the sport of judo, not only as a representative of the Bahamas Judo Federation and as an Olympian of the sport of Judo but also as a fellow judoka. And my opinion is ONLY my opinion, but one that I am very well compensated for. With that being said, here is my recommendation for you: 1. If you coach, play judo or are a judo parent. Take the time to watch these videos: Ecco Team Challenge - youtube/watch?v=7j-P3NuQhSU IJF Referee Seminar in Malaga - youtube/watch?v=TvttdLhlASM IJF Referee Seminar in Malaga (Part 2) - youtube/watch?v=lCBvzNETEbY IJF 2014 Rules Breakdown - youtube/watch?v=Iz5kw_sN5hQ 2. Take the time to really learn and invest in the development of newaza. It is just as important as tachiwaza and YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, if you coach that the previous rules of the sport may have biased your current knowledge base and there may be some things that you just do not know and you club has been inundated with your style and thought processes so when your kids roll and randori with each other they may not expose themselves to the available options that they may run into during competition. 3. Being in shape is at a premium. I am really interested in seeing how some of these competitors make is through 4, 5, and 6 rounds of play. ---------------- That is all. I certainly hope you enjoyed the report. Gary Berliner how did I do? :-) Your input is always respected and appreciated.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 14:20:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015