Oct 08 Judo Instructors Seminar

Fardin Aghaei - 5th dan(Iran) - presentation

John Huntley - 7th dan & James Chevrette - 3rd dan - belt drill presentation

John Huntley - 7th dan & James Chevrette - 3rd dan - belt drill presentation

Huntley sensei presenting 'certificates of participation'

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Oct 08 Judo Instructors Seminar

JUDO TRIP TO SINGAPORE & JAPAN
 

April 14 - May 12, 2008
 

John & Geri Huntley - Aberdeen Judo Academy
 

Two days after serving as chief referee for the BC Open in Vernon, Geri and I boarded a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. The 18 hour flight was broken with a brief stop at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea to refuel and clean out the aircraft. We were met at Singapore’s Changi International Airport by Faouzi Zerrouk, 3rd dan, an instructor at the Budo Academy in Singapore and our host for the visit. Faouzi was the founder and Sensei of the Richmond Judo Club in 2004 before relocating his family to Singapore while he opened another research facility there. His company suite was our home during the eight days of our Singapore visit.

We truly appreciated our accommodations especially the beautiful outdoor (of course!) swimming pool that we took full advantage of. Singapore is about 137 km north of the equator so has high humidity and temperatures ranging from 25 to 30 degrees C. day and night year round. Our first tropical storm was absolutely beautiful with simultaneous lightning and thunder filling the sky for many seconds at a time along with the huge raindrops pouring down.

First impressions - Singapore is beautiful. Trees and flowers are everywhere, everything is very clean, it’s colourful, there are many new buildings and beautifully kept old buildings and thousands of taxis (about 20,000!). There are people everywhere mostly sitting at outdoor tables eating, drinking and enjoying friends and family; they speak English here! Shops are open to the street with huge fans to cool their customers. They also drive on the wrong side of the street! All cars are spotlessly clean, as are the buildings and streets. Singapore is an island (actually 63 islands), a country and a city, all rolled into one with a size of only 700 sq. km, and it has a population nearing the 5 million mark. In between judo sessions Faouzi was a great tour-guide, showing us many of the sights and giving us many facts about Singapore. When he was busy we were shown around by Bambang Rifandi bin Ridwan, a top level shodan competitor who had visited Aberdeen Judo Academy in February, and his friend Wan.

Each day I was busy with at least one or two judo sessions and sometimes three! In addition to sessions for instructors on innovative teaching methods, I instructed a ladies-only self-defense class on the use of the Kubotan. Two of my competition-oriented sessions were attended by the Malaysian Trengganu State Team who traveled for 3 hours by bus in order to participate and Nage-no-Kata sessions were held for the Singapore ikkyu and shodan judoka preparing for grading exams. On our last day I conducted a three hour session at the Hwa Chong Private School for their high school judoka. Walking towards the dojo, we were greeted by loud kiai and thumping sounds and upon entering the large open-air dojo we were surprised to find over 80 judoka already practicing as they waited for us to arrive! The session was an eye-opener to say the least, with all students paying rapt attention to my every word and action. These judoka had never seen the many drills I demonstrated but they all very eagerly emulated my movements - both in tachi-waza and ne-waza drills! This was a judo-first trip and, although we saw a lot of Singapore in the short time we were there, Geri says we need to go back to see the rest!

The next day - April 24, we again boarded a Singapore Airlines flight - this time to Japan - a pleasant six hour flight from Singapore to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. As arranged before-hand, we met Russ White, shodan, of the White Rock Judo Club outside the Japan Rail Lines office where we exchanged our JRL vouchers for the JRL pass that would allow us to travel throughout Japan on all JR lines including the Shinkansesn (bullet trains). We took the Narita Express to the Suidobashi station in Tokyo, walked a few blocks to our accommodation, put everything in our rooms before walking a few more blocks to the Kodokan!

First stop - the little shop just inside the front door where Russ and I picked up a number of Kodokan souveniers as well as copies of the book Mind over Muscle Writings from the Founder of Judo. This is a great little book, compiled by Naoki Murata, 7th dan, director of the Kodokan Judo Museum and the Kodokan Library. After a long conversation with Murata-sensei on the present make-up of the IJF and on judo throughout the world, he autographed a few copies of the book for individuals back home, and one for myself, of course! I mentioned to Murata Sensei that I had an extensive library of material pertaining to early Canadian Judo, as well as Pacific Northwest Judo in the USA, and promised to send him copies for research for his next book which he is in the process of writing.

In addition to many attractions around Tokyo - temples, gardens, the magnificent Edo Museum, the sumo Kokugikan - we made a special trip to Eisho-ji, the founding location of the original Kodokan in 1882. On our last trip we made rubbings on cloth of the carved stone denoting this location as the original site of Kodokan Judo. Once you have directions, Eisho-ji is very easy to find, it’s not far from the Kodokan, and is truly an inspiring place that all students of judo should visit.

Our stay at the Dormy Inn was only for 3 nights, as they were booked from that point on with others coming into Tokyo for Golden Week - a major holiday where the whole country seems to be on vacation! Our next reservation was at a 103 year old Ryokan (traditional style Japanese inn)! What a charming old edifice! Hardwood floors, tatami rooms, bathrooms and wash up stations down the hall, communal hot bath in the basement - quite an experience! An attendant comes to each room in the evening to lay out the futon for the night and returns in the morning to put it all away.

On April 28 we walked to the Kodokan early as there was a special Shinto ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the passing of Kano Shihan (March, 1938). I also had to pick up my entry package for the Zen Nihon Kodansha Taikai (All Japan High Dan Competition) and, after getting that out of the way, headed up to dai-dojo to watch the ceremony. That over, I dashed back down to change into judogi for the official opening of the Taikai! As in my last two forays at the Taikai, there were over twelve hundred competitors of Kodokan 5th dan rank and higher, with only a few foreigners. My last two times resulted in ippon wins, however this year my match went to hiki-wake. Strange - there were no yusei-gachi awarded but the next day at the All Japan Championships, even-scored matches went to yusei-gachi! My cheering section included Geri and Russ as well as Faouzi who had flown in from Singapore to watch me compete.

April 29 and we have excellent tickets for the All Japan Judo Championships at the Tokyo Budokan! Originally built for the judo competitions of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, it is a marvel of engineering, and very well maintained. Outside the Budokan, Russ and I met up with Faouzi Zerrouk (Singapore), Steve Clarke (Wales) and Keith Durrant, 6th dan a former Victoria Judo Club member who has lived in Japan for over 25 years. We also met up with another Victoria judoka Barry Aldrich, his wife Verlin, their son BJ and his wife Harumi. BJ has been living in Osaka for a few years where he and Harumi operate an international school.

At the start of the formal opening, the spotlights come on sequentially around the dome. The athletes (all 32 of them) march in as their individual names are announced, and then the Japanese national anthem is played - this is a very stirring piece of music and more so with the whole audience singing! Kata demonstrations took place prior to the first match, before the quarter finals and before the final match. Excellent demonstrations of Nage-no-Kata performed by a 6th dan tori & 5th dan uke, Ju-no-Kata by a 6th dan joshi tori & 5th dan joshi uke and Itsutsu-no-Kata (Forms of Five) performed by an 8th dan tori and 7th dan uke (Enoki sensei).

Takahama Sensei, 8th dan from Nagoya, who has been bringing competitors to the Kamloops International Shiai every year, was one of the on-mat officials and did an excellent job! I had a chance to talk to him, Enoki Sensei and Sato Sensei outside the Budokan prior to shiai. Sato Sensei was at the Steveston shiai in February as head of the Tokai University contingent. At the All-Japans there are no weight divisions and it is interesting to see plucky small judoka do battle with the biggest of the big - and sometimes winning! As somewhat expected, the final match came down to Satoshi Ishii vs. Keiji Suzuki. At one point during the match, Ishii had Suzuki pinned in a very strong kamishiho-gatame, and as I watched the osaekomi clock tick away, I started counting the seconds accumulating, 22, 23, 24, 25 and then 26, 27 & 28! Hey, what gives here! Suzuki escapes at the 28 second mark; then I find out that in Japan, osaekomi ippon is still 30 seconds! Oh, there are no koka scores either - at the Taikai or the All Japans - and no blue judogi to be seen anywhere in Japan! Japan also has stayed with red & green mats for the contest area, with red mats still being inside the contest area. Immediately after the shiai Kosei Inouye, who was knocked out in the quarter finals, announced his retirement from competition! The next day many newspapers headlined the tournament wins and losses and featured lots of dramatic photos!

After the shiai, our group completed the day with good food and liquid refreshments as we re-fought every match.

Next morning we are up early to board the Shinkansen (bullet train) for a day-long visit to Mashiko, a small pottery town about 60 km NE of Tokyo. These trains are quite an experience - normally moving at 200 km per hour and capable of over 300 km per hour - houses, fields, mountains just whizz by! In Mashiko, we wandered through dozens of stores selling pottery and also toured a 200 year old indigo-dye factory - one of the few places in the world that still dyes cloth using leaves of the indigo plant. The fermenting leaves are stored in huge vats in the floor; you can watch the cloth being dipped in and lifted out to expose it to the air which causes a reaction thus creating the blue colour. Mashiko is also where we took a great number of our nearly 3000 photos.

The next morning saw us at Jonathon’s, our favourite breakfast spot, then onto another Shinkansen to Chichibu to visit Akane Sakamoto, a former member of Aberdeen Judo Academy who went to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops in the late 1990's. We spent three days here walking the beaches, trails, and mountains, visiting temples and major attractions and catching up on recent happenings in our respective lives.

The next scheduled stop (3 days) on our tour was Nagoya, where we were once again invited to visit by Takayoshi Takei, 5th dan, vice-principal of Taisei High School and head coach of the judo team - one of the top competitive teams in the high school program in Japan. Although Takei Sensei and the senior team were at a national training camp, we were able to attend a junior team practice session run by Taisei teacher and coach Kenji Morita, 3rd dan. Talk about a big dojo. One large area divided by a row of roof-supports, but huge - I would guess about 3/4 the size of dai-dojo at Kodokan!

Both Takei Sensei and Morita Sensei have visited British Columbia previously, attending the Burnaby Judo Club shiai, along with Takahama Sensei.

Also staying at the Taisei High School was Todor Paounov, a 16 year old sankyu from Boston who had arrived a few weeks earlier for a year long stay to learn Japanese and judo! Todor’s father and coach Takei were friends, and thus the arrangement was made for Todor to go to school at Taisei! It’s interesting how far a passion for judo can take you!

Nagoya is Japan’s third largest city with many attractions that sadly, we didn’t have time for. We did spend time at Nagoya Castle and the Nagoya train station (Japan’s largest) - both very impressive and then, somehow, we found ourselves on a train to Seto City - did Geri have something to do with this? Seto City is another famous pottery centre with over 1000 kilns around the city that date back 1300 years. The whole town is a pottery museum with most of its 150,000 residents involved in the pottery industry. There is pottery everywhere - for sale in the many shops, as well as sculptures and decoration throughout the city including on buildings, on bridges and even walkways and garden walls made from broken pottery.

Leaving Nagoya on the Shinkansen, our next place to visit was Kyoto, where we spent 4 very short days - too much to see, not enough time. The very large Kyoto Central Station is an architectural wonder, with the many levels reached by an escalator system that climbs 15 stories! In addition to the five major rail lines stationed here, the building houses many restaurants and a shopping mall, a 500+ room hotel, movie theater and the Isetan Department store and several government agencies! Our first stop in the building is the Tourist Bureau, where the staff make every effort to find the right accommodation for you.

After checking into the Rihga Royal Hotel, we took a bus to the Heian Shrine. Not to visit the shrine, that will be another day. But just around the block is the Butokuden, the oldest wooden-structured martial arts building in the world. Built in 1894, it is a beautiful old structure, still in daily use for a variety of martial arts including Judo & Karate. In our previous visits, we were also fortunate to watch Iaido, Kendo and Naginata sessions. In the early years of Kodokan Judo, Kano Shihan was known to have sent Kodokan instructors to the Butokuden to ensure a standardized level of instruction. Situated near the Butokuden is the Kyudo (archery) dojo, another beautiful building with lots of hardwood flooring and wood-trimmed walls! After introductions and exchanging of business cards, the Kyudo sensei invited us to be seated, and proceeded to give us a personal demonstration of the whole Kyudo ‘approach’ to the actual releasing of the arrow towards the target. I had my small digital camcorder sitting unobtrusively off to the side, silently recording his every move!

Kyoto has many temples, shrines and gardens - some being Kiyomizu ( a photographers paradise!), Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Temple) and Ryoan-ji (famous for it’s Zen garden of sand and rock arrangements). All places were teeming with visitors, mostly Japanese, and many of them were school groups learning their country’s history hands-on. Groups of kids would approach us with notebooks and pencils in hand and the standard line ‘May I interview you?’ Questions were interspersed with giggles, names/addresses were exchanged, small souvenirs were given and the group photo taken, with many of the students flashing large smiles and the famous ‘V’ sign!

Not to be missed is a tour of the Nishijin Textile Centre! It is fascinating to watch as they follow intricate patterns to weave beautiful kimono cloth and obi on a number of looms; using very fine silk threads interwoven with gold and silver threads. A highlight of our visit was a fashion show of beautiful ladies in their equally beautiful kimono. The textile centre has a large selection of articles made from their weavings, including clothing, ties, handbags, and place mats as well as yukata. Of course, we all bought a yukata to wear back home!

The next morning we were again on a Shinkansen for the super fast trip back to Tokyo. On the walk to our accommodations, we just had to stop at the Kodokan to see if there was anything happening. Wow, the place was humming - juniors practicing on one mat, beginner senior classes on another and yudansha randori on the last two mat areas. The juniors bowed out at 6:00 pm, the senior beginner class an hour later and then the whole mat area was open randori comprised of brown belts and yudansha only. My rough count had around 100 judoka out! I took lots of video footage; this small digital camcorder works great, and is very easy to carry! When everything finished, we headed back to the Ryokan to pack for the trip home.

Our last day in Japan. And also our last meal at Jonathon’s! I should buy shares in this place - open 24 hours a day, and always busy! Our dilemma - how are we going to get all of this stuff through the airport check-in without paying a penalty for being over the maximum weight allowed?? It’s amazing how much you accumulate in a one-month trip! We did bring a number of gifts that we gave out thereby creating space in our luggage, but between gifts received (like a double weave judogi!), souvenirs, pottery, books, maps, brochures, posters and information sheets . . . well, you get the picture. In any event, with innovative packing, wearing a bit of extra clothing and carrying as much as we could, we were just slightly over the maximum limit. No matter - they didn’t even check the weight!

Sitting in the Narita Airport lounge awaiting our departure, we note all the TV monitors are set to Sumo matches! Hey, that’s right, the Sumo basho (season) is underway! Great way to while away the extra time. Finally, our flight is announced, we board our plane (Air Canada this time) and after the usual long wait, we are off! A relatively short flight - only 9 hours to Vancouver as opposed to our 19 hour flight to Singapore - but still too long sitting in cramped seats watching a foreign-language movie with English sub-titles on a small screen at the far end of the cabin. Finally, we touch down at Vancouver International Airport - and start the slow process of clearing customs. Then the mad dash to the next gate for the flight back to Kamloops . .will we make it? . .will our luggage make it? We run all the way from international arrivals to domestic departures . . . . . only to find the flight delayed due to mechanical problems! After an hour, repairs are done, we board, and away we go! Forty-five minutes later we land in Kamloops, happy to be home, but sad to be back after a wonderful trip.

. . . . looking forward to the next trip . . . . planning our itinerary . . . . saving our pennies . . . .

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INSTRUCTOR/COMPETITOR SEMINAR NOVEMBER 17/18, 2007
 

The Invermere Judo Club was the site of a self-protection, self-defense, instructor and competitor seminar on November 17 & 18, 2007.

Conducted by John Huntley, instructor of the Aberdeen Judo Academy in Kamloops, B.C., twenty-four interested judoka took part in this multi-faceted seminar. Participants came from the Fernie, Invermere and Salmon Arm judo clubs.

During the first two hour session, the practical use of the Kubotan (self-protection key holder) was the highlight. The participants practiced on their partners with good intensity! Another aspect of the seminar were the hand movement drills utilizing the Filipino rattan baton.

The 1 ½ day seminar also covered teaching methodology for teaching children and adults ukemi, novel ne-waza learning drills, and some innovative European tachi-waza drills not normally used in North American judo concepts.

Seminar conductor Huntley introduced the use of auxiliary training equipment including exercise balls, bean bags, surgical tubing, webbing ladders and even the use of wooden dowelling and newspapers for grip development!

Saturday night saw a number of the participants gathered at the Hermann Mauthner residence for an evening of pizza and refreshments.

Initial planning of the seminar is credited to Fred Gietz of the Fernie Judo Club, and thanks to Bob Gadsby & Hermann Mauthner of the Invermere Judo Club for making it a smooth running affair!

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QUEBEC JUDO INSTRUCTOR VISITS ABERDEEN JUDO
 

On Tuesday, August 7, 2007, Sensei Ron Desormeaux, 5th dan instructor of the Chikara Judo Club in Gatineau, Quebec attended the regular practice of Aberdeen Judo, and put on a mini-clinic for our members.

Sensei Desormeaux and Sensei Huntley have been friends for a number of years, and it was an opportunity for the two sensei to exchange training methodologies and also performance notes for the Kodokan Goshin-Jutsu kata.

Alex Seal, a black belt member of the Salmon Arm Judo Club who has been attending TRU taking teaching courses, was also in attendance, and took advantage of the training opportunity!

Sensei Desormeaux had been visiting in the White Rock area, was on his way to Calgary to visit friends, and took the opportunity to stop and visit with Sensei Huntley and the members of Aberdeen Judo before flying back to Quebec.

Sensei Huntley & Sensei Ron Desormeaux

Escapes from Hon Kesa Gatame

Kuzushi practice

Spatial awareness & gripping

Uchimata synchronization drill

Fitting in for Kata-guruma

Ron Desormeaux Clinic

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Sensei Huntley & Sensei Ron Desormeaux

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COMPETITOR CLINIC AT ABERDEEN JUDO APRIL 28 & 29, 2007
 

Aberdeen Judo played host to a record thirty-five BC and Alberta judoka who participated in a competitor-oriented clinic conducted by Gerald Lafon, 6th dan, head instructor of the Judo America Judo Club in San Diego, California.

Coach Lafon is well known as a ‘go-to’ guy to learn effective contesting techniques as they apply to international judo competition. He has produced Olympic and World Championship competitors and is the official technical consultant to the Bahamas Judo Federation.

The clinic covered backward shaping, unorthodox ukemi, creative warmup drills, crash pad training, new teaching methods for beginners and several other non-traditional concepts. It was an eye-opener according to many of the participants.

 

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B C WINTER GAMES TRIALS - SUCCESS FOR ABERDEEN JUDO ACADEMY JUDOKA!
 

The trials to pick the Zone 2 BC Winter Games Judo athletes were held in Vernon yesterday. Aberdeen Judo had 3 entries and came away with 3 placings!

• Ben vander Laars - 1st place
• Delaney MacLeod - 1st place
• Haley MacLeod - 2nd place

As a result of their placing, Ben and Delany are the Zone 2 athletes in their respective weight divisions and Haley is the alternate in her weight division!

Refereeing at the event were James Chevrette and sensei Huntley (head referee).

Congratulations to our competitors!

The Games are to be held in Kimberly/Cranbrook from February 21 - 24, 2008.

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Aberdeen Judo Mines Plenty of Medals
 

Aberdeen Judo had 6 junior (under-16 years of age) competitors entered at the Canada West Invitational Judo Tournament in Burnaby, coming away with six medals! Ben vander Laars, Andrew Iadarola, and Tommy Brown each won gold medals. Sisters Haley and Delaney Macleod and Christian Pennanen all won bronze medals. Next up for the Macleod girls and Ben Vander Laars are the BC Winter Games Trials in Vernon on December 15! Congratulations to our winners!

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NCCP
 

On September 29-30, a very successful Dojo Assistant course was held at the Abbotsford Judo Club. This was a very diverse group – 15 in all , and many interesting ideas were presented, explored and discussed. The Judo BC NCCP Committee would like to thank the Abbotsford Judo Club for the use of the facilities.

Aberdeen Judo Academy judoka recently attaining Dojo Assistant Certification were the following:

Barb Buckley – 2nd kyu, Trevor Douglas – 1st dan, Kevin Marrington – 1st kyu and Heather Shannon – 1st kyu.

Congratulations for a job well done!

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Joe Marchand wins Silver medal at the Pacific International Open
 

Joe had his first exposure to Japanese judo while competing for the gold medal at the Pacific International Judo Tournament in Richmond on the February 24 weekend.

After defeating two 2nd degree black belts in the preliminary rounds - one from Japan and one from the USA, Joe came up against a 3rd degree black belt, a member of the Tokyo University Judo Team (see photos).

His Japanese opponent was fighting out of a left-handed stance, one which Joe has not had too much experience dealing with. His opponent finally broke through Joe's defense, and threw him with a clean ippon (full point) throw!

Congratulations on a good match!

 

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Aberdeen Judo Academy Junior Class - February 13, 2007

The recent Kamloops International Judo Tournament saw 15 of Aberdeen's 22 junior competitors place in the top 4 spots!

Individual placings were:

Gold - Julius Friedl, Rayden Shannon

Silver - Liam Moss, Emily McIsaac, Victoria Friedl, Christien Pennanen, Andrew Iadarola

Bronze - Shannon Huston, Delaney Macleod, Kathleen Leonard, Tommy Brown

4th place - Haley Macleod, Darin Dick, Reanna Shannon, Zander Mueller

Coaching the junior competitors were Trevor Douglas, Heather Shannon, Barb Buckley, assisted by Andrea Brown and Carola Friedl.

Our two Senior competitors also placed well, with Sean Kidner winning a silver medal in the Senior Novice division and Carl Schrader winning bronze in the Senior Brown & Black belt division.
 

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MMA SEMINAR IN VANCOUVER, B.C.
 

A MMA (mixed martial arts) seminar, hosted by the Kensington Judo Club (KiwaKai Dojo) was held in Vancouver on Friday & Saturday, January 26 & 27 with attendees from Aberdeen Judo Academy, Kensington Judo Club, Nakashima Judo Club, PoCo Judo Club, Burnaby Judo Club and Delta Kaigan Judo Club as well as members of the Vancouver ICA (Integrated Combative Arts) group.
This was the first attempt to combine various martial arts into one seminar, and from all the positive reports received, more seminars of this type are in the planning stages.

 

Activities included Judo, Arnis, Jiu-Jitsu and a 3-hour Kubotan & self protection/self defense session.

Special thanks to sensei Bob Elliott of Kensington Judo - a great proponent of furthering the knowledge of his and other martial arts students - for hosting and setting up the KiwaKai Dojo for the event. Thanks also to my assistant and student Bill Lee for being the excellent example of technical competence that he is!

- John A. Huntley