Thank y'all

I want to take this opportunity to thank, from the bottom of my heart, Sensei Jeff Miller and Sensei Dave Shorey of Acadian Judo for offering such a wonderful training experience this weekend. I also want to especially thank my honorable opponent, whose name I missed, but who gave me a great match and a good lesson today.

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Today I participated in a USJA judo referee clinic and mock shiai at Acadian Judo. By the end of the ref training it was apparent to me that there was no way I was going to get in the ring as a referee, so I jumped into the competitor pool. There were only two people in my weight division and they were beginners, so Dave, who was arranging the pairings coaxed one of the referees into giving me a match. It was my first match with real-shiai, non-gentleman's rules in about 12 or 13 years.

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My opponent was younger and larger than me, though I outranked him considerably. He was quite solid too. The first half of the match I was blind - I don't have a clue what was happening, but somehow I ended up with a koka (minor score) over the other guy - God only knows what I did to get that. Then I started calming down and prodding him and probing with deashibarai. I didn't get a score, but he got a shido (minor penalty) for noncombativity. Then at literally the last second I threw a sumigaeshi (sacrifice throw) as a counter to his infernal leg picks that he kept throwing on me (we'd previously spent half the time grounded after a leg pick with him lying prone and me trying to turn him over but the ref got bored and stood us up). Anyway, I got an ippon (full point) off of the sumigaeshi and won the match.

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The lesson I learned... The guy appeared to be afraid of me going into the match. Not like quivering or un-manly or shameful fear or anything, but he seemed to be taking into consideration the difference in rank, as if expecting me to bust him or something - and it put him on the defensive. Can't really fault him, out of the blue he was thrown into the ring with a black belt that he didn't know. The lesson I (re)learned - it is really hard and really exhausting to attack a defensive man your size or larger for several minutes. Besides the excellent lesson, I got a cracked or strained rib (I think he speared me in the ribs with his head and the ref missed it but I'm not sure) - but that's what I get - you've got to pay to play.

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I had a great time and I hope to be able to play at another of these events March 15th in Denham Springs at Wall to Wall Martial Arts. Between now and then I hope to work on a few of Rhadi's strategic tips on his Judo Success Secrets DVD and perhaps I can control my next match better.

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Again, thank y'all