The 2nd episode of my Pan American Judo Clinic took place in St. Louis Missouri. With a population of 310,000, it is known to be the city where baseball is most popular. Majority of the people are Cardinal Fans. My quest is how do I draw attention to Judo in a city with so many fanatic baseball fans.
Also, what kind of Judokas will it meet? A unique feeling of both anxiety and excitement take me when I visit a new city.
The dojo that invited me was Kirkwood Judo Club which is a Dojo that has a long term relationship with Tohkon Judo Academy. So in that sense, I was a bit more relaxed compared to my trip to Oklahoma. However, the number of people and their age distribution is to be unknown until I get there. The anxiety of my language is the same every time. In the US, different than in Japan, you don’t get to know a lot of stuff until you get there and your ability to react on what you see is a good training for me.
Event Site
An MMA facility named FINNT’S located in Kirkwood, a southwest suburb of St. Louis, is the site for this event. The ground floor is huge fitness center and the basement is the site for various martial arts. In Japan most DOJOs are dedicated to a single category, but here Judo is categorized as one “Martial Art” So this would be equivalent to the BUDOKAN in Tokyo?
It’s very interesting to see different Dojo environments depending on where you go. One of the “attractions” here in the US.
FINTT’S – doesn’t look that “bold” being an MMA facility.
Huge Fitness Center
Judo Dojo
UFC Ring???
They even made a flyer for me. What? $50!!!???
Very Expensive…
Participants
The event has 35 participants. More adults than kids where most of them were older than me. Coming from a country where respect to seniority is high, I was a bit nervous teaching. However, these people had fun, maybe more than kids, where I was overwhelmed and made me feel respect to them. Regardless of age, focusing on what you like and trying hard to learn from an individual younger than yourself was impressive – a pure value that should be brought into Japan culture.
Greetings with a Smile!!
The start of the 3 hour clinic.
Must make it worth the tuition they paid, or better!!
Basics of Judo – approach to Kuzushi Action more than Words
Beautiful Uchimata as a Kid!!
Much better than when I was a kid!!
Ladies trying hard with Uchimata !! Great Effort!!!
Don’t forget to have fun!!
They made me smile!!
The closing Game Time. Everybody (from ages 8 to their 60’s) ran as hard as they can. I enjoyed watching them.
Great smiles at the end!!
Great job everybody!!!
This clinic was more geared towards adults which I only knew after I got there….
Most of them teach kids which some a lot longer than me which made focus in a different way than usual. All participants eyes where shining where they were eager in acquiring something. I was very happy to see their spontaneous attitude and also understood that trying to learn something regardless of your age, is an important factor of life.
In that sense, I believe that I learned more than the participants. Also with my preparation, I was able to cope with the given situation (Small Dojo, Huge distribution in age, etc) where this ability is gradually becoming better and better.
80% preparation, 20% execution. This is critical – where I again felt the importance of this method. I am grateful to this opportunity.
Now I need to prepare for the GKJN cup scheduled for June 5th. This trip to St. Louis gave me the strength to go through this important task. Thank you all.
Thank you to the great Judo-ka’s in St. Louis!!!
