Why Coaching Judo is Cool by capt Ben

 Been thinking and this sometimes leads me to put pen to paper. 

Done right - Judo is a life-long activity.  But it is full of hard facts and my Sensei used to say 'theres  no learning without pain'.   

The most painful fact of Judo is that if you are not pussy and keep training hard there will come a day when you'll be knocked over and realise that you have just passed the point at which you will never be stronger, tougher or better at Judo.  And it sucks.  

Most people don't survive it.

 If I had a dollar for each of the of 'phony tough' that I have seen drift away because they couldn't humble themselves, accept that they were getting old and weren't the toughest guy on the mat anymore I would be a richer man,

But a secret too Judo is that it is a life long pursuit. Actually the 'pain' you feel when you aren't the toughest, best player on the mat is only your ego fucking with you. Judo has plenty more to offer and I guess that is the secret.   

The natural order is to to spread your knowledge and build the legacy.  We pay back by promoting Judo helping more people join us.  Every year we bring our Big Judo kids back to University Judo Club.  Most of us were taught our Judo by Rick and his mates.  We teach their style.  The straight backed tachi-waza and tough ground game are what we teach our kids.  Our instructors style carries on through us to the next generation. 

Rick plus three generations of instructors. Dave, then me, then Jordan, Ben and Henry. Plus a new generation of kids.

Instead of defining ourselves by being tough on the mat as coaches we can keep doing what we love and contribute to growing Judo.  We might 'just' be teaching kids but each of the kids learns the same lessons about life that we learnt from our instructors.  It is a wonderful natural cycle and an important part of Judo.

In Judo you aren't just a single person.  If you choose to be you are part of a wider cycle.  We start as kids. We learn our Judo and become fighters. When we reach that limit we progress to coaching and promoting Judo.  Eventually if we are lucky we become old Judo guys surrounded by generations of Judoka that we have helped.

This guy Mike Bond lived in Japan too long, is judo crazy and has gone thru two wifes .He is wearing Shihan Ebii sensesei, s red and white belt given to him by Rick Littlewood.