A Konan/United States Judo Federation team attended the 4th Training Camp associated with the 2010 Sanix Tournament for Overseas Teams from Thursday, December 23 – Friday, December 24 (for 2 days) in Munkata, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.
The purpose of the SANIX International Youth Judo Team Tournament is to fulfill a gap in the judo experience. This tournament is one of the few tournaments for Japanese junior high school judo players to participate in an event with foreign teams. The number of the overseas teams participating in the tournament usually average about 8. The intent is to have the foreign judoka experience practice matches with Japanese teams and take judo lessons from Japanese coaches as well as to have judo bouts. The camp is set up to ensure instruction to the participants by Japanese instructors to the overseas participating players and exchange of technique between Japanese and overseas coaches. They also ensure plenty of exercises and practice matches between overseas and local teams
During the event we had the opportunity to have a technical workout from Takamasa Anai -Sensei who has been a world class competitor for Japan in Men’s Judo. His championships include:
- Gold 2010 Tokyo 100 kg
- Bronze 2009 Rotterdam 100 kg
- Silver 2010 Guangzhou -100 kg
- Gold 2007 Kuwait City -100 kg
- Bronze 2005 Tashkent -100 kg
- Gold 2007 Bangkok -100 kg
Worlds
Asian Games
Asian Championships
University
Technical Work Out
During this wonderful training session he focused upon two basic throws to help make sure people first understood the basics and second understand his variations. The following are the notes taken during the session:
Judo Technical Workout Notes from Takamasa Anai – Sensei Dec.25, 2010
Notes taken by the team and compiled by Mr. Shinji Higashi-San
- You should use a 3 finger lapel grip along with a proper hand motion
- It is important to have wrist control during this move.
- You must break the balance FIRST!
- Imagine when coming in that you want to elbow someone in their side. This action will help you to off-balance your partner.
- Focus on your fist. First you should move the opponent sideways then bring him/her into you. ‘I call this the “Sleeping Fist.”‘
- When you step in it is critical that you point your right toe downward in order to ensure proper calf to calf or thigh to thigh contact.
- When moving your right leg into position make sure you do not kick so high that you fall backwards.
- Turn your head to the left to help ensure the off balance.
- Make sure to twist your elbow
- With this move you can take circular steps
- When entering make sure to turn your hips and place them under uke‘s hips
- Make sure to twist your right wrist so that you can gain gi control and can position your right elbow under uke‘s arm pit or across the chest.
- “Seou” means someone giving a piggy-back ride – picture your partner like “Old Lady” who needs the ride.
- Make sure to bend your knees so that you can be below uke‘s center of gravity.
- Pull uke with your left hand to make your create the required space to do the throw.
- Your feet should be facing straight forward when you execute the throw.
- Uke should be load across your right forearm with his/her weight “falling” forward.
Throws (throws taught from a right hand perspective)
Osoto Gari
Morote Seoi Nage
After the clinic participants had the ability to ask sensei some questions. These are the questions and responses:
What did you eat? What are your eating preferences?
Nothing special. I eat most anything. One of the good healthy foods is Natto which is made of soy beans. You get good nutrition from it and especially protein
What do you think before a match?
I have to have a strong feeling that I want to win! I need to make sure I let nothing get in my way of winning! I do not let opponents have their own ways! It is important to control and own the match!” Hard work goes into my training before the events. I need to remember the lessons from all my training.
Have you ever thought about quitting Judo?
During high school, I was No.1. When I arrived at the University I got more competition that I expected. The practices were much harder which made me want to quit. I chose to stay with it. Ultimately, after those practices I became more confident again and was able to perform. It was a hard transition from high school to university.
The overall experience went well. The team members learned a lot on this trip. They were challenged and went through their own transitions learning what it takes to become a better judo player.
Link to newspaper article
Observer article about Nick Joseph and Sanix event