Oceania Champs - Tahiti 12011

The 2011 Oceania Championships were held in Tahiti from the 16-17 April, 2011. As already mentioned this is one of the most important competitions for Australians who hope to gain selection for the 2012 London Olympics.

The team arrived late on the Wednesday night and had a solid training session on the Thursday and Friday before the competition. Men and women seniors and junior/cadets girls competed on the Saturday with the remainder on the Sunday.

In between in was great to relax in the resort pool or the beach that backed onto the resort. The facilities were awesome and my roomie and I somehow managed to snag a jacuzzi on our balcony!!

The Australians competed well with a number of gold medals in the seniors including:
Womens - U/52kg, Womens U/57kg, Womens, U/63kg, Womens, U/78kg and womens O78kg
Mens - U/60kg, U/66kg, U/81kg, U/90kg, U/100kg
The Australians also took out the mens and womens teams events.

Unfortunately there was very litle time to check out this island Paradise and the team flew out on the Monday.

From a personal perspective although I won my division, I was not satisfied with how I fought. However its important to always put things in perspective. 10 days out from the competition I was still unable to do randori after dislocating my finger in the ACT Open in February. You would think that a finger injury is a minor one...and to some degree it is...but when its your main gripping hand in judo...it makes things hard. So from February until the beginning of April I couldnt do randori and things were looking grim.

I was lucky to be referred to a Sports Doctor who specialises in PRP or Platelet Rich Plasma. There is a mountain of information on the net about this but in simple terms its removing your own blood, spinning it in a centrifuge to seperate the platelet rich plasma, then injecting this placelet rich plasma back into the injury. There is evidence that this assists with muscle, ligament and tendon injuries and is approved by WADA (World Anti Doping) I really dont understand the science behind it...but what I can say is that 3 days later my finger was not sore where the ligament was damaged, it bent more and I was able to do randori...it was unbelievable. This photo shows my finger 10 days out from the competition.

So on the bright side, things can only improve from here...a week off during Easter and back into it...theres definately a big year ahead!

...and a big THANKYOU to my coaches at UNSW, Warren and JB for getting me prepared for this one under crappy circumstances and also to JOLS ADIDAS for their continued support.

One week to Oceania Champs...

So its one week until the Oceania Championships are held in Tahiti. This event is closed to countries within Oceania region. It will include Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuata, Tonga and Samoa to name a few. For the seniors, this is an extremely important event towards their goal of Olympic qualification. In simple terms, a win is worth 180 points on the world ranking list. In comparison, a win at a World Cup is only 100....

During April, all regions are holding their continental championships. Last weekend saw the Asia Championships. Again this is an important event for athletes with the 180 points on offer. You can see the results here:

http://217.79.182.227/www.judo-world.net/jua/continental/2011_abu_dhabi/tta_menue.php?modus=1024&sprache=english

If you are interested in checking out how the Aussies go in Tahiti you can see the live results here:

http://www.intjudo.eu/index.php?Menu=Calendar&Action=List&lang_id=2&mid=8&m_calendar_type_id=6&m_calendar_id=728

As for training going into this competition...its been as good as it can be in the circumstances. Injuries are always going to be a part of Judo and you have to be prepared to compete with them.

Also, Ive had a few people ask about the Adidas judogi....yes they are in stock...and if you intend on representing at major international events, you will need one as of the World Champs this year. (The Adidas gi is IJF approved)

The benefits of music for your training

Any competitive Judo player knows the importance of having the right level of "arousal" when they compete. You dont want to be "overly aroused" to the point where you are too aggresive, and therefore are not thinking strategically. On the other hand, you dont want to be "under aroused" to the point that you have no spirit, no will to win.

The secret is finding the middle...and each training session, competition will be different. Some times you will need to tone down your arousal levels, and other times you will need to pick them up.

Music is a great way of helping you achieve this. Its always good to have a playlist that has a combination of songs, so you can choose something appropriate for how you are feeling.

You will find a good selection on You tube which gives you a start for your playlist. Check out this link for

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jwZBqGPgVE&feature=related

Do you really need a rest???

Sometimes you try and justify to yourself...why I cant train today...

Well check out this link and then see if you still feel that way.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA&feature=related

How does a judo player qualify for the 2012 Olympics?

Hi Guys,

I get a lot of questions about how a judo player qualifies for the 2012 Olympics. I kind of like the thought process of my 7 year old son who said, "So after all the competitions, does Warren get to pick the team for the Olympics?" Warren is my coach and dont I wish it were that easy.

As of this Olympics, qualification for Australian Judo players is a lot harder than in the past .

To qualify for 2012 you must:

*Female ranked in the top 14 on the World Ranking list is automtic entry.

*Male ranked in the top 22 on the World Rnaking list is automatic entry.

* There can only be one from each country. eg: If Japan has a player ranked number 1 in the womens U/63kg and a player ranked number 8, that player cant go and the position is given to the next highest on the list.

* After the above process is completed, Australia will get one more position. So if we have players in the top 14 (for women) and 22 (for men) they automatically qualify. Australia then get to send one other athlete. This will go to the man or women who has the most points on the World Ranking List.

At the end of 2010, the International Judo federation published an example of who would qualify for the Olymics as of the 31 December, 2010.

You can check out the results here:

http://217.79.182.227/www.judo-world.net/_ranking/tta_qualification.php?nation_field=AUS&action=Show

http://www.intjudo.eu/

In all 7 Aussies would have qualified including myself. But the next 16 months is the real test. Everyone will be coming out of the woodwork!

ACT Open

The domestic competition year started out with the ACT Open from the 12-13 February, 2011.

My club (UNSW) had over 20 competitors at this events of all ages. It is great to see the depth coming through the club. We have quite a few youngsters that are really starting to shine..but I wont mention their names here for fear of embarrassment or perhaps future expectations!

Unfortunately for me, the competition was not a good one. My first fight was quick and decisive in about 15 seconds throwing for ippon. However in my second fight, I was winning with a wazari only to find that half way through my middle finger dislocated. The rules dont allow me to strap it or for the Doctor to fix it, so I was left to "put it back in"myself....and can I say it hurt. Anyway the fight went on and the finger dislocated 5 times before the clock wound down and I won. The Doctor put the finger back in after I got off the mat and I couldnt bend it or feel anything...so my coaches helped me make the smart decisions to pull out of the final. So I finished up with second.

What is more disappointing is that on having scans and seeing a specialist the next day, I had to withdraw from the Australian Team training camp in Japan next month. This was to be used as preparation for the Oceania Champs in April.....

So for now, its not a lot of judo and back into the gym, bike, rower and swimming. The Oceania Champs are extremely important in terms of Olympic Selection points and my main concern is being fit for this...which I will

Adversity causes some men to break, and others to break records.

2011...The year ahead

2011 kicked off with a training camp at Wollongong from the 14-16 January, 2011. The venue was the International Judo Centre in Wollongong. There were a number of past and present Australian and State coaches on hand to share their knowledge. There were also numerous past and present National Champions and Olympians on the mat fighting it out.

Friday night was solely randori and the mat was chockers!!! Saturday morning consisted of a technical session for the juniors followed by one for the seniors. In the Junior session I was asked to run a class on one of my favourite techniques yoko-tomoe-nage. I must say I thought it would be too difficult for the kids, but most surpirsed me, picking it up quite well. Its amazing how much you pick up yourself when you teach...just going back to basics reminds you of where you may be going wrong yourself!

With my old State coach Dale - An inspiration to me for a long time

The Saturday afternoon consisted of 3 hours of randori. A bit more techinical Sunday morning finished off with more randori. The biggest problem (and some might say a good problem to have!) was with over 150 enthusiastic players on the mat, space was at a premium!

From a personal point of view, it was great to get some good randori in to start off the year. Although we were definately lacking in women on the mat, the lightweight men are always awesome to train with.

One thing that did strike me was with the number of quality competitors on the mat, it was great to see them mixing it up with the younger kids who at times seemed a little intimidated by it all.

Since then its been back to Club training and its been hard...the heat is a killer and the sessions are tough...we are averaging over 40 on the mat which is just awesome! Many will compete at the ACT Open in a few weeks, including myself. Its a chance to see how Im moving in a competition environment with the bigger picture being a number of International Events later this year.

2011 will be the biggest of my career...its make or break for any of us with hopes of making the 2012 London Olympics...the 2010 rankings have just come out and I snuck into 12th place...meaning that I would automatically qualify for the team....so this year is about leaving no regrets, staying injury free, continual improvement and improving of my past 12 month results. if I can do that...then maybe my dream will come true.

For those interested you can check out the rankings of who would make the 2012 Olymics as of January 2011. Go to the IJF website and follow the links to"example of Olympic Game Qualification" .....but remember, there is a lot of water udner the bridge between now and April 30, 2012 (the cutoff date) ....no one can rest of a past performance....your only as good as your next!!!