Tips For Your Very First Judo Competition
The only real way to find out how good your judo is is by competing.
You do sharpen your skills during day to day randoris, but being able to apply all that in a tournament environment is an entirely different thing.
So what should a judo player expect before entering a competition for the very first time? Read on and find out!
You will be nervous
Everyone is nervous before going out there and competing, it’s just the way it goes.
There is nothing wrong about it at all – in fact, even judokas who competed hundreds of times have that feeling, it’s just that the more competitions you participate in, the better you learn how to live with it.
Though the very first time is the hardest. But guess what, the opponents you’re going to be fighting against feel the exact same thing.
Accept those emotions and let them run through you, but do not focus on them – treat this as just another day.
Because the more you try to fight that anxiety, the more it seems, at least for me, to get amplified.
Do some visualizing
Doing some visualization stuff can really help you on your performance on the mat, not to mention it’ll also work on calming down the nerves.
It works very simple – all you have to do is find a comfortable position, close your eyes and literally think, visualize all the things you are going to do on the mat.
From the bowing, to the start of the fight and all that goes in between. You’d be surprised at how well this works.
You can do this as often and as long as you want to; I’ve heard of top level athletes who do this up to 2 hours in one sitting!
You definitely don’t have to go that far, it’s just that having this tool under your belt can really be of huge help before you go out there on the big stage for the first time. It goes without saying that you can use visualization for all the other times you are going to be competing in the future.
Once you step on the mat…
Fight for grips
It can be overwhelming to have to think exactly what you should do after you bow and begin the fight, but I would always suggest a newbie to focus on fishing for grips first.
You can only throw your opponent once you have established a dominant grip, and then applying kuzushi. This video explains it well:
It’s sure nice to think that you can just grab a hold of someone and throw them right away, but it doesn’t work that way.
You can only throw an opponent once you set everything up leading to it right. In jiu-jitsu, they say “position before submission”. The same is entirely true for the sport of judo.
If you are fighting a right handed opponent, first control his dominant hand and only then think of going for the lapel or collar, and finally breaking the balance and going for a throw. If it’s a leftie, catch the left hand first and then work for a position of your liking.
In the end, it’s rather unlikely you will be able to throw a player who has already competed more than you, but you can only find that out in one way – by trying.
It may feel natural to go more on the defensive, but you should try to attack whenever possible. You may get countered, but that’s the risk you have to take in order to score.
Follow up with newaza
If you manage to take your opponent down, don’t stand up right away thinking you’ve won the match; force him straight into a pin, if you can.
The only way you can win a match with a throw in one go is if you score an ippon. The likelihood of that happening at your level is rather slim, so sticking down to more brute force ways of winning after the throw is the way to go.
And considering the fact that many of the throws you or the player you’re competing against execute will be rather sloppy, the opportunities for ground work will be everywhere. Utilize them!
Get out there and have fun!
Now even though the stuff I’ve mentioned above might sound rather advanced, it really isn’t. To tell you the truth, you’d learn all that along the way anyway.
I guess it’s just a head start, something to get you thinking of what to expect beforehand. But this shouldn’t overshadow the fact that competing is a huge learning experience.