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Training with Olympians

Some of the most rewarding experiences in my judo career is attending a clinic. I'm a bit of a judo nerd so I love getting autographs and having my picture taken with some legendary people. The clinicians can be a local judo head instructor or an up and coming cadet judoka or a 2x Olympic gold medalist. This past weekend, I got to meet Ayumi Tanimoto -- she was a force to be reckoned with when she was in her prime. She topped the Olympic podium twice making her one of the first people ever to win back to back gold medals at the Olympics. She is on my short list of favorite judo players of all time. I brought my children up to meet her, and although they've met Olympians before, my son ....
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Kids' Summer Camp

We ran our inaugural Kokushi Midwest Kids Summer Judo Camp this past week and it was a success. We had 8 campers and that was the perfect size for me to handle as I had never run a camp before. I did have an idea of some goals that I wanted to accomplish -- I wanted the kids to learn some basic history and culture, judo rules and hand signals as well as some famous judo people. These are some things that I don't really cover in an hour class because most kids are tired after school and just want to blow off steam.... but by having a 3-hour judo camp for 5 days, gave me the perfect opportunity to do this. We started the days off with stretching and calistenics (squats, push ups, planks and ....
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Adult Promotions

Congratulations to our four adult members who promoted this past week. Over the course of three nights, they demonstrated throws, pins, escapes, chokes, joint locks, transitions, combinations, kata, ukemi and a general knowledge test. I've been to dojos where testing is a grueling three hours, and by the end you are just brain-dead. I changed it up, and we did throws one night, ground techniques another night and kata on another night. I threw in a few curve balls to the upper ranks, but they all took it in stride. We tested for about 30minutes each night and randori'd the rest of the night. It took off a lot of pressure and we all helped each other through it. I'm proud of them. ....
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Summer Vacation

The school year is just coming to a close, and our youngest judoka are ready for their summer adventures. Some kids will hang out here for the summer, some will do some traveling and some might even move away (sad emoji!) . All of us at Kokushi Midwest Judo wish our kids the best of luck on their adventures for the summer and hope that they come back to us once school starts up. Unlike most sports, judo is year-round, so we will continue training on our usual schedule. We will take a dojo-wide vacation (August 1-20th). Tuition will be pro-rated. We will be doing a judo kids' camp from June 24-28th --- this is a first of its kind for us, but I know for sure that no judo gi is required. ....
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Testing Yourself

Most people think that competing in a tournament is something that they would never do. I never thought I could do it. But there is nothing like the nervousness when you see your name up on the board, or the jelly that your legs become when you step onto the mat with someone wanting to crush you on the other side or the blood rushing out of your head when the referee yells, "HAJIME!". There is a bit of tranquility when all you can hear is your heart pounding in your chest, the feeling of your opponent grabbing you and instant sweat that starts pouring from your face. There is no other way to put yourself and your skills to the test. Due to all the craziness of my husband's schedule and ....
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Kids at Judo

Our kids' program is slowly growing and I couldn't be happier with this group of kids. They all work hard together as a team by helping each other out and encouraging each other as their skills develop. We work a lot on our foundations of knowing how to safely fall as well as developing much needed endurance, stamina, co-ordination. We do one or two "judo matches" per class and there is no winner/loser in our matches. If someone is thrown, we compliment them on their falling technique. If someone is doing the throwing, we make sure we encourage the pulling/pushing as well as the proper throwing technique. Sometimes we will circle up and I'll have each child demonstrate their best ....
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Shinjiro Sasaki Recap

We had a great time with Shinjiro Sasaki this past weekend. He went over several foot techniques such as osoto-otosh, deashi barai, okuri ashi harai, tsubami gaeshi, uchimata and kouchi gari. It may seem like a lot, but he said that if we just found one technique that would improve our judo, then it was a successful clinic. We were honored to have several people make the trek to Champaign -- people from Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and other parts of Illinois. We hope they come back to visit soon. ....
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Shinjiro Sasaki Clinic

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IJF Academy Level 2

I have just returned from spending a grueling week in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic completing the IJF Academy's Level 2 course. Upon completion of this course, I am now a Level 5 European Coach. We spent the week under the guidance of Daniel Lascau (1991 World Champion from Romania), Mark Huizinga (3x Olympic Gold Medalist from the Netherlands) and Mikihiro Mukai (Kodokan Kata specialist). Throughout the week, the faculty was a little intimidating but they were very supportive throughout the whole process.Each day consisted of 6hrs on the mat (3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon). There were 8 Americans and about 20 Dominicans (many of whom I completed Level 1 with). The first ....
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The Importance of Falling

This post is taken from Vince Skillcorn's Facebook page. It talks about the importance of learning how to fall. Do you have children or know people who take part in Judo classes? Have you seen people being thrown around the room and think "that looks painful." ... and yet the person who has just been thrown jumps straight back up and tries to do the same thing to the other person. Judo is great fun and to be able to throw somebody around the room requires everyone taking part to know how to fall safely this is called 'Ukemi' in Japanese. This is very important for beginners to learn for the obvious safety reason (reducing concussion's and broken bones), from the very first class. ....
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Lew S.

This is an outstanding school. People of all ages are welcomed. The instructor is a 2nd degree black belt who is very friendly, knowledgeable, and caring. The school is a safe (wonderful mats) and clean environment.

Nathan W.

I miss this dojo! Everyone here really makes you feel welcome, and it's a really great choice to learn Judo! Grace does an amazing job and the brand new facilities are excellent! I no longer live in the area but I'll be coming back any time I get a chance.

Natalie H.

Great Judo instruction and a beautiful facility to train in.

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