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This weekend 80 delegates
comprising of referees, technical officials and coaches came together
from around the UK to attend the National Refereeing & Technical
Officials Seminar in Walsall.
Saturday morning included
a practical session where kumi-kata and leg grapping situations
were discussed with players demonstrating acceptable and unacceptable
grips and techniques that can now be used incorporating the new
leg grabbing rule, which has evolved since coming in, in January
2010. There has been a significant increase in the number of contest’s
won by Ippon.
By removing the opportunity
of a player to initiate a throwing action with a leg grab whilst
also encouraging them not to get into a negative posture of bending
over and attempting to grab at a leg - the Judo techniques now
being performed, alongside the players posture becoming more upright
and being less like ‘wrestling’ style posture, the judo performed
has improved with more successful wins. At the recent Grand Slam
Paris tournament 227 fights were won on Ippons out of 368 fights
– that is 61% of the fights won by a Ippon.
Mr Henk Plugge from the
Dutch Judo Federation who was an Olympic Referee at the Beijing
Olympics 2008 gave a very passionate and informative insight of
his journey to become a referee and how he reached the highest
level of refereeing in the World.
His journey started out
purely to assist his club with officials and for the first 11
years he only ever refereed locally and then he had the opportunity
of moving forward and with determination, perseverance and luck;
he then was able to take his Continental Refereeing examination
followed 6 years later by his International Referee Examination
in South Africa.
He described how you must
invest and enjoy every moment you have working on the mat and
that if you wish to move forward at each level and you have work
and family commitments; it is essential to take the time to discuss
your direction in refereeing so that they may support you. Even
though refereeing is a hobby, whilst on the mat you must take
it seriously and endeavour to keep improving your skills. Most
important of all, that when you are refereeing you think only
of the fight and have a clear mind.
DVD examples of techniques’
were shown and questions of validity and possible penalisation
were asked and talked through by International Referees - Peter
Crumpton, Dave Stanley and Elaine Down; which created some very
interesting discussions during their sessions. The examples shown
highlighted the speed in which a referee has to give a decision
and how they must look at the whole picture of both players contribution
to the situation so that the score or penalty is given to the
correct player.
Dave Stanley – International
Referee and Jean Paul Bell – Paralympic Performance Coach presented
the role of referee whilst refereeing a Visually Impaired player.
We currently have a VI World Champion – Ben Quilter and it is
important that we are able to incorporate more opportunities’
for players at junior and senior level who have a visual impairment
in competitions. Referees were advised of the subtle support that
is needed when refereeing visually impaired players and how that
their actual judo is no different to that of a sighted player.
In the afternoon Dr Lisa
Allen the Judo Manager of the London Organising Committee for
the Olympics Games 2012, did a presentation on the Volunteer Application
process and highlighted all the different roles individuals can
get involved in and the time commitment a volunteer has to give
when at the Games. Many individuals at the seminar are keen to
become involved at the London 2012 Games and found Lisa’s presentation
extremely informative.
The last session on Saturday
was held by Jess Fack the Children’s and Young People Volunteer
Officer. She gave an insight on how her role was to support and
encourage young individuals into officiating, refereeing, coaching
and club volunteer roles etc...and how senior volunteers with
experience in these particular areas of the BJA can mentor, support
and encourage the younger volunteers through the system.
Two young referee’s Natasha
Maslen and Graham Holmes informed the delegates of their favourite
and worst moments in Judo as volunteers and how they feel about
the support they are shown – this was extremely positive to hear
from them.
The delegates where put
into small groups and asked to draw their ‘perfect mentor’ and
some of the final pictures caused quite a stir and laughter from
those present, but the key elements for a good mentor came through
– knowledge, respect, understanding, appreciation of the sport,
time to give, listening skills and encouragement.
Saturday evening everybody
came together for a meal and had a pub quiz followed by an Abba
Tribute duo and disco which was great fun and enjoyed by everybody.
Sunday morning Tracey Forman
– HR Manager for the BJA presented a session on conflict management
– which was a new idea to raise awareness of how you can handle
a potentially difficult situation and turn it into a positive
outcome. How we must look at ourselves and take into account our
body language, facial expressions and how we express ourselves
verbally.
Additional DVD training
examples were shown and the seminar finished with a question and
answer session.
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