George Kerr, British judoka, receives CBE

George Kerr, top judoka and president of the British Judo Association, has been recognised in the Queen's New Year Honours list.

The 73-year-old was given a CBE for his services to judo, coming soon after being awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan.

The secret of a great turn-out?

An anonymous poster asked "What's the secret of a great turn-out?" in response to a picture of a packed mat.

I'd say that there are several elements, primarily:

1. A great class
2. A core group of regulars
3. A good time slot
4. A convenient location
5. Patience

At least these are the factors that have conspired for my class.  It's always been a good class -- hands-on instruction in an excellent martial art -- but it's got better as I've developed as an instructor and a core group of regulars has coalesced.  This year I have been greatly aided by having Anthony assist with the large classes as well as all the colored belts.  Since Jiu-jitsu is predominantly a paired activity I can't teach a hall full of beginners single-handedly: students teach each other and I demonstrate and guide.  Learning this martial art teaches you how to teach one-on-one ... from day one.

The core group of regulars also means that a newcomer observing the class for the first time sees a group practicing with real skill, learning and having fun.  That's appealing.

One of the factors that seems to have contributed to the growth of the class was a switch from Monday to Wednesday nights: mid-week nights seem to draw a bigger group than Friday or Monday evenings in my experience.

We're situated across the road from a major railway station, making the class easy to get to and increasing the catchment area.

Also, it's taken quite a few years for the club to achieve "critical mass".  In the early days sometimes I'd get just one student (or even none), but I was encouraged to persist by my own instructors through leaner times.

* * *

The big classes are great because there's a buzz and energy that you get from a packed mat.

At the same time it's been nice to have some smaller classes from time-to-time, where we have room to do stand-up randori, practice sutemis, and in which I get to spend more one-on-one time with everyone.

Finally, I don't measure success purely in quantity, but in the quality of experience and the learning that takes place.  There's such a thing as too big as well as too small a class.

Results!

Congratulations to everyone who trained hard in the latter half of the year. Presentation day was on Sunday 19 December, and everyone who graded was successful.

Well done:

• Lejoe: Orange belt (1 bar) in both jiu-jitsu and judo
• Damian: Orange belt (1 bar) jiu-jitsu and yellow (2 bars) judo
• Ashley: Yellow belt (2 bars) judo
• Tegan: Purple belt (1 bar) jiu-jitsu
• Ed:  Purple belt (1 bar) jiu-jitsu

Congratulations also to everyone else who successfully graded from the Honbu, Monash Clayton, and Cockatoo.

Winter run

Happy holidays!

The Shorinji Kempo closing ceremony went well and sake was drunk. A time for reflection on this year's achievements and the goals for the coming year.

Science of Kensetsuwaza – Joint Locks

Science of Kensetsuwaza – Joint Locks

Know your joints: don't panic, don't crank it on. Increase your knowledge.

Nice post.

Mind power: keeping clarity when others are trying to spoil your game

"The essence of good cricket is having a clear mind, so the strategy for the fielding side is to get the batsman thinking about other stuff - whether it's the runs he has or hasn't scored in the past, what his feet might be doing, what his head position might be, what the selectors might be thinking about him, what the crowd might be saying," explains Justin Langer, former (excellent IMO) Australia cricket opener.

"As soon as you start thinking about those things, you're away from having clarity in your mind. That's what sledging is for me - sowing some seeds of doubt in a player's mind. But if you're playing well, with that clarity, it can't touch you."

(Taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tomfordyce/2010/12/revolution_in_the_head.html)

Interesting take on mind power: keep a clear mind when there is around you trying to put you off. This shows great self awareness too: confidence in your own abilities.

The perfect Christmas gift for martial artists everywhere

But what sort of kick is that Chuck Norris!?