Hi Rick/Dave,
I have just stumbled across the judokong website, and in particular a post from
7th April 2009. I'm not sure what progress has been made, but I thought I would
provide some comment - better late than never.
By way of introduction... I am kiwi, currently living in Germany. I am a rower,
but wanted something new to try during the long cold Auckland winters. I had an
interest in learning judo, so started training with Rick and loved the
technical challenges of judo, as well as the fitness aspects of course. After a
couple of winters, I moved to Cambridge and began training with Derek Maggs in
Hamilton, which was also great fun. I currently hold my green belt, although
haven't played judo for about 5 years now - a situation I intend to change
later this year (after the current season of the German Rowing League).
I would like to make some comparisons between Judo and Rowing. I have now rowed
for 18 years. I am a fairly good rower, but was not able to win a national
title, although I was a member of one of the four Regional Performance Centres
where I rowed in boats with athletes that are now World Champions. I also
coached rowing, and won numerous medals coaching crews in the novice grades. I
know what good rowing technique is, and I have a fair idea of the sorts of
training that is needed to do well in rowing. I am also friends with many of
the current world champion rowers you hear about on TV, and I know how hard
they work even just to remain in the NZ team, let alone to win medals at
international competitions.
RowingNZ also has the Level 1, 2, and 3 coach education system. I also sat
through the Level 1 coaching course and didn't learn a single thing. As I said,
I have been rowing and studying rowing for 18 years. So, I can see Rick's point
of view on these courses. However, I believe that such courses are a SPARC
requirement (you can check this). Therefore, you shouldn't bite the hand that
feeds. SPARC has available significant sums of money - so, you'll have to play
the game if you want them to look favourably upon Judo. Not to say that Rick
should do these courses himself (I would very much doubt that Dick Tonks has
the RowingNZ Level 1, 2, & 3 certificates - he has Olympic gold medals
instead), but Rick may have to respect the fact that it is necessary to have
them and not give them too much criticism. The courses are good for the 17
& 18 year olds, or parents, who would like to help out clubs/schools with
coaching shortages.
Further on this point, the best coaching instruction I had was when the local
association paid for Mike Spracklen (google him - he's a legendary rowing
coach) to come and give a seminar. I actually heard him a second time at the
national coaches conference where Dick Tonks also spoke. Another guy that spoke
was employed by RowingNZ to monitor the physiology of the rowers. These 3 guys
(and others) were/are at the forefront of current rowing training - and they
don't always follow what the text books say. This was a valuable coaching "course".
From a broader perspective, I must say that I was disheartened to hear that the
primary objective of Judo NZ was to win medals at the Commonwealth Games in
Glasgow. There are two other events that should instead be the focus of the
primary goals: one of them is in 2012, another in 2016. Why are you not talking
about the Olympics?????
Rowing is currently NZ's most successful Olympic sport. No medals were won in
rowing at the 1992 or the 1996 games. Then in 2000, NZ won a medal and it
happened to be gold - and there's been no looking back since then. My
understanding is that this success started with two people:
The Coach: Dick Tonks
The Athlete: Rob Waddell
The coach is a no-nonsense coach. When he says something it is important. When
he asks his athletes to do something they do it, even though it hurts. When the
athletes ask if they get a break on Queen's Birthday, he asks if the German's,
Russians, and Romanians celebrate Queen's Birthday. Dick Tonks knows what he
wants to see and is determined and persistant to see it. As an example of this,
I was told of a training session of a now-retired 2005 World Champion. This
athlete (and crew) went for a ~120 min training session, taking about 20
strokes each minute, which is about 2400 strokes. In Judo that would be the
equivalent of practising one throw 2400 times. The athlete knew the specific
part of the technique that needed improvement. For that session, after every
stroke/throw, the coach said one of two words: "yes" or
"no" - 2400 times. This is persistance. This is how results are
achieved.
The athlete in 2000 was Rob Waddell. Yes, he's a man-mountain. But athletes
like that are not uncommon in rowing - at 1.88m and 93kg, I can feel like a
midget walking through the regatta park at a Rowing World Cup or World Champs.
The difference with Rob, is that he had it mentally. He was willing to work
hard, he was determined and organised enough to achieve his goals, and he made
excellence a habit.
Rob's win gave every rower in NZ belief that they could win an Olympic medal as
well. In fact, one young kiwi watching Rob's race in Sydney with a pie and a
coke in his hands was a guy called Mahe Drysdale - 5 years later Mahe won the
first of this 5 World Championships. There is now a long list of multiple World
Champions and names that people in the street might recognise: Caroline and
Georgina Evers-Swindell, Mahe Drysdale, Nicky Coles, Juliette Haigh, Rebecca
Scown, Eric Murray, Hamish Bond, Nathan Cohen, Joseph Sullivan, Storm Uru,
Peter Taylor.
I believe Judo could be the same. The challenge for Judo NZ is to find the
right athlete and the right coach. Two people who are willing to work
incredibly hard to get the right result. This not only gives young judoka
someone to aspire to, but it gives JudoNZ SPARC funding for the next attempt -
look at the funding RowingNZ now has (see list of names in previous paragraph).
Of course, there can be others in the system too. NZ had a coxless four and
women's single qualify for finals in Sydney, but everything possible should be
done to facilitate the potential star of NZ Judo.
As Rick points out, this will require the country's top athletes living
overseas and competing in a tough judo environment. Mahe Drysdale used to spend
every NZ winter training in England with multiple world champ medal winner AND
his own competitor Alan Campbell. Every training session needs to have an
Olympic final intensity. After some time, Mahe found he could remain in NZ the
whole year round and train alongside the Evers-Swindell twins as the boats had
the same speed. And the environment at RowingNZ has now, in the space of 10-12
years, developed into such a competitive training environment that it is the
foreign crews that come to spend time in NZ. This is the sort of progression
that JudoNZ should be striving to achieve.
Of course, I haven't mentioned that these rowers are now all full-time. But, it
wasn't always like this. Sponsorship started off in the form of cans of Aunt
Betty's creamed rice. But, as results start to be produced, sponsorship will
come a little easier.
If they haven't done so already, JudoNZ should be scheduling one or a series of
visits to RowingNZ headquarters at Lake Karapiro to learn what they can about
how to build a legacy. If you ask nicely, you might even be able to follow a
typical training session on the water - this is perhaps useful for the handful
of athletes you identify as gold prospects for Rio.
Best of luck.
Kind regards,
Tim McDonald
