Stephenjudoka
7th July 2001, 21:15
What sort of person is needed?, what sort of talent is called for?, what sort of physical attributes are required.
Top physical performance is somewhat analogous to a racing car: the very importance of its design, the pressures for maintaining exellence and the stress produced by sustained high performance throw the needs of the family saloon into stark relief.
The same is true of judo performance: by studing the needs of the champion, the needs of the novice in the way of training and preparation become clearer than in any text book.
If I tried to make a shopping list of all the qaulities I think a good Judo player should have, I would be bound to omit some. Worse than that, I would be implying that if the individual did not have all, or most of those qaulities, they could not be a good competitor.
The truth is, a good champion makes the best of what they have.
After all, top performance is freqeuntly a matter of compensation. If an individual lacks some supposed essential charateristic, they may well deliberately cultivate some other unique charateristic of their own which far outways the supposed benifits of the traditional factors.
For example traditional Judo is said to be an essential qaulity of a top Judo player.
However many French and Russian Judo players reach the top of international competition, they rely not only on skill but strength, they are not always the most traditional of Judo players.
Their non - conforming is in more ways than one, their strength. It is an essential part of their skill. Ask then to change it and you risk weakening that skill altogether.
Who is to say the traditional stand up Judo player is better than the player who bends over and wrestles, the attacker is better than the counter player or the thrower is better than the groundwork specialist.
The great thing about Judo is anyone can become a champion whatever shape and size they are and what ever style they choose.
What do you think?.
Stephen Sweetlove
The older I get the better I was.
Top physical performance is somewhat analogous to a racing car: the very importance of its design, the pressures for maintaining exellence and the stress produced by sustained high performance throw the needs of the family saloon into stark relief.
The same is true of judo performance: by studing the needs of the champion, the needs of the novice in the way of training and preparation become clearer than in any text book.
If I tried to make a shopping list of all the qaulities I think a good Judo player should have, I would be bound to omit some. Worse than that, I would be implying that if the individual did not have all, or most of those qaulities, they could not be a good competitor.
The truth is, a good champion makes the best of what they have.
After all, top performance is freqeuntly a matter of compensation. If an individual lacks some supposed essential charateristic, they may well deliberately cultivate some other unique charateristic of their own which far outways the supposed benifits of the traditional factors.
For example traditional Judo is said to be an essential qaulity of a top Judo player.
However many French and Russian Judo players reach the top of international competition, they rely not only on skill but strength, they are not always the most traditional of Judo players.
Their non - conforming is in more ways than one, their strength. It is an essential part of their skill. Ask then to change it and you risk weakening that skill altogether.
Who is to say the traditional stand up Judo player is better than the player who bends over and wrestles, the attacker is better than the counter player or the thrower is better than the groundwork specialist.
The great thing about Judo is anyone can become a champion whatever shape and size they are and what ever style they choose.
What do you think?.
Stephen Sweetlove
The older I get the better I was.