January News
As we were all in Covid 19 lockdown, there was no Judo, however, we did have some snow!
February News
We had a LOT of rain. The River Misbourne runs along the Misbourne Valley and whilst it flows at various sections, as it enters Chalfont St. Peter and passes behind The Greyhound, it is dry and doesn't flow again until it exits the village (it is assumed that the water flows underground as it is a chalk stream). However, when we have heavy rain, it flows and sometimes gets very full. Sensei tried singing the song from Frozen, (let it flow, let it flow) but none thought it funny other than he.
So the big question is, why is Sensei going on about this? Has he done something daft again?
March News
We started training again! Finally we were allowed to get back to it. Tuesday 30th March at Mill Meadow eleven of us got together and started working on our fitness again and some basic Judo movements. It was good to see those that turned up. Hopefully, the numbers will increase over the next few weeks.
April News
Back in the Dojo! It was so good to be back and now, three weeks in the rust has started to fall off and everyone is once more starting to move like Judoka.
Attendance has been good with 15 the first week, rising to 18 the next and 16 the last. In order to keep in line with Covid regulations the club was split. This means there can be more focused training with an assistant coach or two.
June News
Training continued during June with a healthy attendance which was topped on the 22nd with 21 on the mat. This is the highest number we have enjoyed since 2014 and partially assisted by several new people joining the club over the last few weeks. Of particular note is that seven members were unable to attend last week so the club is now looking rather strong with a total membership approaching thirty.
July News
Well the promised grading was delayed a week until the 20th July in order to get some last bits of training in and it was well worth the delay. Congratulations to all for exceeding Sensei expectations:
Name |
Old Grade |
New Grade |
Marcus |
6th Kyu Primary Beginner |
6th Kyu 2 Yellow |
Isaac |
6th Kyu Junior Beginner |
6th Kyu 3 Yellow |
Hugh |
6th Kyu Junior Beginner |
6th Kyu 2 Yellow |
Louis |
6th Kyu Primary Beginner |
6th Kyu 2 Green |
Parker |
6th Kyu Primary Beginner |
6th Kyu 2 Green |
Harry |
6th Kyu 1 Green |
5th Kyu |
Jogaila |
6th Kyu 2 Yellow |
5th Kyu |
Jack (CSP) |
6th Kyu 2 Yellow |
5th Kyu 2 Orange |
Alexander |
6th Kyu 2 Yellow |
4th Kyu |
Jack (Seer Green) |
6th Kyu 2 Orange |
4th Kyu |
Emily |
5th Kyu |
4th Kyu |
Abbie Burton |
5th Kyu |
4th Kyu |
Isabelle |
4th Kyu 2 Green |
3rd Kyu |
Emma |
4th Kyu |
3rd Kyu |
Mia Zekic |
4th Kyu |
3rd Kyu (Senior) |
Key: |
Background colour; no meaning other than to enhance readablity for white and yellow text. Primary <10, Junior 10-<16, Senior 16+ For child safeguarding purposes, surnames are never used for under 16's. Beginner; not previously graded. Bars on belt; there can be none, 1, 2 or 3. They are considered intermediate grades.
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Notes: |
It is normal for parents to make comparisons with their child to others. In Judo, one of the key philosophies of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, was "do not look at who you are better than today but whether you are better than you were yesterday". This is more relevangt at this time when we have just completed our first grading since returning from the Covid lockdowns. Some members had been active for some time whilst others have only started this year. There are rules and limits to that which Sensei is allowed to grade when not at an Area or National grading.
However, more importantly in the real world, Sensei also has to consider that a grade also signifies to other Judoka the skill/ability level (combined with age and weight) and those who one practices Randori with automatically adjust their ability to match the level of the partner to an extent in order to avoid injury. Many parents have seen what happens even to Sensei when his son throws him with force. It is therefore one of Sensei duties to ensure that the members are graded correctly and with proper consideration to all factors including safety.
The grade is also a statement of where the person is now. We have been through an unusual time and some of the members have kept themselves very focused on fitness and doing whatever Judo training they could during lockdown (eg. Judo in the park last summer) and other members have been less active. By the time we get to the Autumn grading, what may appear as a disparity now will even itself out as regular training provides the natural increase of skills that come with Judo maturity. |
August News
So for our last August session we had the honour of Paul Ajala as guest coach. Great guy, great coach. Lots of fun and we all gained. It is great to see different coaching styles which we can all gain from and everyone enjoyed having Paul over. Total of 28 with several of the older Juniors staying over for the Senior session. I hope that Paul, whenever he has the urge, will come and join us again.
It was also a great joy for Sensei to see that numbers stayed high throughout August with the lowest being 14 and the greatest last week with Paul. We have never enjoyed such a good turnout before (which is why traditionally there has not been any Judo in August, as the numbers tended to tail off dramatically in July).
September News
September saw numbers continue to grow with two weeks of 27 on the mat. But we actually have 36 now on the books so if they all came...
The really big news however for September was the start of Senior sessions from 8:15pm to 9:45pm. Numbers have been low with a maximum of 5 so far but we hope that this will grow and Sensei will be starting some marketing shortly to encourage people to come and give it a try. He has already been harassing the staff of M&S CSP for several weeks but unfortunately so far, with zero result.
October News
Numbers on the mat unfortunately slightly decreased during October. This appears to be because:
- Some people got ill
- Some people labour under the illusion that school exams are more important than Judo.
Everyone knows that Sensei thinks that nothing is more important than Judo. So let us get our priorities right and all attend during November.
Our senior sessions are going and we have a fairly steady attendance of four which is set Sensei understands, to six during the next week. The object between now and the end of the year is to get these numbers into double figures so that it is becomes a vibrant useful session. Then in January, when everyone gets guilty about over eating and wishes to lose weight, we will get all the parents to start!
DCHS Judo also started during October in a bit of a hit and miss manner. Hopefully going forward normal service will resume and the club will once again quickly become a large bustling and energetic club with lots of new members for the existing to Randori with.
The other news for October was that Sensei has attended the FPJ coaching course and is revitalised.
November News
November saw a boost in attendance and FINALLY we achieved the much sought after number of 30 people attending the final session of the month. The club actually has 36 members and it would be great if everyone could turn up every week! Seriously, forget school work, what is more important?
We also had similar joy at the DCHS club with numbers peaking at 21. Still more work to do here but everything is going in the right direction.
Two other events marked November. The first was the BJC Open National Championships 2021 on the 21st November, the first major competition in two years and it will not be surprising to know that Jonah entered and took his 16th BJC title and his 18th National Gold (including BJA events).
Jonah @ BJC Open National Championships 2021 (click here if above does not play) |
The other item is the Combined Area Grading that took place at St. Albans Judo Club on the 28th November. Five members of our club entered, none of them having contested before and all acquitted themselves well. Because of the nature of a contest grading, only one or two would grade and Isabelle was the one who gets to add a Blue bar to her belt to indicate her success.
James Stockwell was the other who graded and did exceptionally well gaining his Blue belt and garnering positive comments for his contest performance as well as his technique. Sensei was also proud that all demonstrated Kata to a good standard and generally higher than the other contestants from other clubs.
Name |
New Grade |
Isabelle (DCHS) |
3rd Kyu 1 Blue |
James Stockwell |
2nd Kyu |
December News
Two more grading's to go! Who thought that December would be the quiet part of the year where nothing happens?
First of all Sensei travelled up to Durham for the Cleveland Area grading where they had four 1st Dan men for Jonah to fight. Saturday 4th was spent learning Kaeshi no Kata (counter techniques) and the final set of Katame no Kata (armlocks). Sunday was grading day. The Area Technical Officer really wanted Sensei to referee which Sensei felt was a bit of a problem if his own son was competing, but the ATO said "we know you won't be biased" which resulted in the Referee having to be overly strict in his award of scores. He suffered for that all the way back home.
The end result was that Jonah beat all four opponents and successfully demonstrated Kata to be recommended to the President of the BJC for his 2nd Dan.
Jonah 2nd Dan Grading (click here if above does not play) |
For those who don't wish to watch the whole video, Sensei recommends the kata demonstration at 13:27 onwards where you can enjoy Jonah not giving any consideration to his father as he is thrown through the floor (particularly 4th, 5th and 10th techniques).
On the 14th December we were honoured to have Steve Rand Sensei, the Area Technical Officer for Bucks visit our club to administer the club grading. The ATO is authorised to award a larger grade advancement than a club coach and this saw many members make big advances in grade. Congratulations to all.
Name |
New Grade |
Olivia |
6th Kyu 2 Green |
Catalina |
6th Kyu 2 Green |
Maxilian |
6th Kyu 3 Green |
Parker |
6th Kyu 1 Blue |
Lilly |
5th Kyu |
Issac |
5th Kyu |
Anushka |
5th Kyu |
Sana (DCHS) |
5th Kyu 1 Orange |
Trisha (DCHS) |
5th Kyu 1 Orange |
Jogaila |
5th Kyu 3 Orange |
Jack |
5th Kyu 3 Orange |
Caterina |
4th Kyu |
Leyla |
4th Kyu |
Jack |
3rd Kyu |
Alex |
3rd Kyu |
Emily (DCHS) |
3rd Kyu |
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