January 2010 is here. And we’ve made it to another year.

Last year was quite eventful for me in the world of Judo and grappling. I had the opportunity to coach a gentleman by the name of Ray Marquez who place 3rd in the World at the Masters Judo Championships. I was also appointed as the Head Coach for the Bahamas for the World and Cadet World Championships and currently work with them on a consultation basis along with some other coaches and advisors to the President of the Bahamian Judo Federation D’Arcy Rahming.

2009 also was the year where I received the appointment as one of the Assistant Coaches for USA Grappling at the 2009 Grappling World Championships where the United States was successful in capturing 4 World Titles on the men’s and women’s side in both gi and no gi. It was a phenomenal experience and felt great coaching Olympians, Olympic Medalists and some of our best athletes in USA Judo.

In 2009 I also finished my dissertation and received my Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Professional Studies. I wrote a kinesiology based disseration to the surprise of my committee. They asked me, “How in the world did you do that?” I replied, “The amazing thing is this. There are books all around the place. You can learn whatever you’d like, if you just pick up a couple and read them.” We all laughed. I had one of the foremost authorities on Sports and a very well published individual in the field of Health, Physicial Education and Recreation, Dr. Newton Jackson and actually wrote about some of the cutting edge developments in sport that I was exposed to while training with Juan Carlos Santana, of the highly acclaimed Institute of Human Performance.

Most importantly, on the judo side, 2009 is the year which many will remember. It is the year in which Judo was changed forever.

In 2009 the International Judo Federation instituted a rule that banned all leg grabs from competition, except in some ambiguous cases which are very hard to clearly identify.

I would go into but I fear to because if I’m confused by the rules, I’m sure you will be to. All I can say is this. If you grab below the belt, and it seems like you did it intentionally and not as a counter-attacking measure, you will be disqualified from the competition. You will not only be given HANSOKU-MAKE but you will be out. The general rule for Hansoku-Make is that you are out of the tournament. It really doesn’t matter much because under the new rules, you are really ONLY guaranteed one match anyway. If you lose, the person that you lost to has to make it all the way to the finals in order for you to have a chance for more matches.

I’m sure you can see that grabbing below the waist is a risk that is not worth the possible reward of a score or disqualification.

All this means is that some of the best and most dynamic throws in judo have been removed. Throws such as kataguruma, morote gari and kuchiki taoshi are gone.

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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
FOR MOROTE GARI?
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Well, for those of those who know me. You know that 2004 and 2008 Olympian Taraje Williams-Murray and myself created a product called “Morote Gari”. It was absolutely a HOT ITEM until this new rule change and then it died. BUT IT WAS RESURRECTED with the Grappling World Championships and the Brazilian Jiujitsu crowd.

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The Benefit of “2-0″
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There’s nothing like starting off a match and having the score of the match be “2″ to “Nothing” in your favor. What I noticed was that because of the high level of implied gripping in the development of my Morote Gari, it was and is HIGHLY effective in Brazilian Jiujitsu and in Gi Grappling. Many people think that you can just go out and hit a regular double leg in the gi. You cannot.

What Was Judo’s Loss Has Become Brazilian Jiujitsu’s Gain

Now one of the most devastating techniques that has allowed me to beat some of the best people and watch some get knocked partially unconcious is now all the rave in Brazilian Jiujitsu. It hurts me to see Judo just give MMA and Brazilian Jiujitsu a “push”. Lord knows we need the push in our sport, but I guess we have enough fans :-/

At any rate, I got a call from the one and only Lloyd Irvin the other day and he said, “Rhadi, I watched the Morote Gari DVDs. I even had my trained snipers ________, ________ and _________ watch it. I want more and I want you to give me some more specific stuff for the BJJ peoople. This stuff is deadly. I’ve seen you do it and teach, but not like this.”

I said no problem and then went into the “lab” which is my war room and began planning out some new stuff for the secrets of the double leg in the gi”.

Stay Tuned… In 2010 there will be a massive takeover on the mat!!! MASSIVE!!!!

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Hey, Rhadi how do you
feel about the rule change?
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The rules are the rules. I can coach across the board from Wrestling to BJJ to Grappling to Judo. Doesn’t matter to me. I just need to know the rules. The rules are the same for everybody. All rules have “holes”. You just have to find the “holes” or what needs to be done so that you can gain an advantage based upon the set rules. Simple.

Some can do this, some can’t. Like I told somebody before, “You are a part-time coach. This is my full time job. I study this. I study game theory. I study sport. I sit down ALL DAY while you are at work doing your other job, doing THIS. So please don’t tell me that you’ve been coaching for 20 years. You HAVE NOT!! You’ve been part-time, playing around for 20 years. I’ve read more books, watched more film, put in more hours and done more time than you could imagine. You haven’t drank from the waters which flow near my presence. Therefore, speak softly and walk away quietly and no one will ever know how much you don’t know.”

My only gripe is in the change within the quad. I wish that this change would have been made, either right after 2008 or right after 2012. To make this change in the middle of a training quadrennial is horrible. Especially for coaches who have put together the macrocycle based upon the former rules.

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TO THE JUDO
PURISTS OF THE
WORLD
==============

Many judo instructors around the world think that this change ONLY manipulates the techniques one can use in judo, when it fact this SMALL RULE changes EVERYTHING!!!!

It changes strategy, if change how metabolic currency is spent, it changes ones strength and conditioning program IN A MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR WAY. It also changes the on the mat training and preparation in a major way. If you don’t think so, please think again.

I’ll give you a little tip. A free one at that……

When “the game” changes, so does the “game plan”.

It’s all a “game” and can be figured out with a proper understanding of game theory.

That’s about all I can discuss on that right now, but the bottom line is this. If you are spending your time learning throws, that’s great, but that’s not what going to win or lose the match for you. Not at all.

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