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+9

Hanon

genetic judoka

Jonesy

judoratt

finarashi

Judo Dad

tafftaz

jkw

MMAWarlike

13 posters

Info on a Judo Instructor please

MMAWarlike: Posts : 1
Join date : 2013-02-01

Post n°1

Info on a Judo Instructor please

by MMAWarlike Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:15 am

Looking for info on a Judo Instructor, Name is ***********.....I cannot
find much on him and his claims. I am not disputing his claims as such
but before I pay him money to teach my kids I would like some concrete
proof and thought that you guys would be the best people to find out for
me. He claims to have Graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA
Judo Champion. I would love to know his Lineage etc.
Here is his website http://www.***********.com/ He has a lot of claims but I cannot find anything to back them. Thank you for help
guys!

Last edited by ThePieman on Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:02 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Personal info removed by ThePieman.)

jkw: Posts : 130
Join date : 2013-01-04

Post n°2

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by jkw Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:42 am

They have a nice website.

I couldn't find the part where he graduated from Tokyo Police Academy or claimed to be a US champion. Was it in this section? http://www.************.com/instructor.html

The list on that page looks more like an account of places he's trained and people who've influenced him.

Looks like they're having fun and fees are pretty reasonable. If you've got questions or find something unclear perhaps speaking directly to Mr. ********* would be the best approach?

Last edited by ThePieman on Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:03 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Personal info removed.)

Guest: Guest

Post n°3

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Guest Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:47 am

MMAWarlike wrote:Looking for info on a Judo Instructor, Name is ************.....I cannot
find much on him and his claims. I am not disputing his claims as such
but before I pay him money to teach my kids I would like some concrete
proof and thought that you guys would be the best people to find out for
me. He claims to have Graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA
Judo Champion. I would love to know his Lineage etc.
Here is his website http://www.***********.com/ He has a lot of claims but I cannot find anything to back them. Thank you for help
guys!

After reviewing his page I personally do not see any McDojo "red flags". He seems well traveled. I would have been interested in knowing what his rank is and who or what organization he is ranked through. There is nothing on the web site indicating his rank. Unless I misread I think the monthly fees seem very reasonable for 6 days a week training. I would encourage you to visit a class and see how he and his assistants interact with children. I know it must be hard to be able to determine what a good instructor is if you have no Judo experience so I think it's good that you are trying to do your homework.

tafftaz: Posts : 330
Join date : 2012-12-31
Age : 59
Location : Wales, UK

Post n°4

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by tafftaz Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:52 am

There is a grading video of his club on youtube which has attracted negative comments. This might be the reason why the OP is trying to find more info on the club.

However I agree with Dave. Go along and see for yourself. Most clubs will offer the first lesson free so you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I hope it all works out well in your search for a dojo

Judo Dad: Posts : 147
Join date : 2013-01-01
Location : Australia

Post n°5

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Judo Dad Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:15 am

The main thing is how he treats the kids. Watch and see. Does his teaching embody the kind of philosophy that Kano espoused? If so you have nothing to worry about.

finarashi: Posts : 507
Join date : 2013-01-11
Location : Finland

Post n°6

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by finarashi Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:53 pm

Info on being USA Judo Champion. on IJF male adults one can find. Onne can though be USA Judo Champion on Masters level. Masters level championshis attact people who compate in age categories. Usually for many age categories there are not so many entrants.

In addidion many more organizations than Judo organizations operating under IJF organize championships.

IMHO the main thing is how he treats kids. Do they have fun. You put your kids to somewhere where they don't like ot be and no matter how many medals the head instructor has your kid will quit given time. Ask locally around for comments on kids.

judoratt: Posts : 309
Join date : 2012-12-30
Age : 67
Location : Seattle

Post n°7

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by judoratt Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:12 pm

I realy don't see any outlandish claims the web sight. If you have any problems just ask to see rank cietificates. But nothing on the web sight raises any flags with me. I belive the highgest rank Claimed in judo is shodan 1st degree.

Jonesy: Posts : 1070
Join date : 2013-01-02

Post n°8

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Jonesy Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:05 pm

MMAWarlike wrote:Looking for info on a Judo Instructor, Name is ***********.....I cannot
find much on him and his claims. I am not disputing his claims as such
but before I pay him money to teach my kids I would like some concrete
proof and thought that you guys would be the best people to find out for
me. He claims to have Graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA
Judo Champion. I would love to know his Lineage etc.
Here is his website http://www.***********.com/ He has a lot of claims but I cannot find anything to back them. Thank you for help
guys!

I think you need to be a lot more subtle in what you post. You say you are not disputing his claims but then proceed to do just that. This site is not Bullshido! Where does he claim to have graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA Judo Champion - I did not see it?

Have you visited this dojo, have you spoken to the instructor, have you asked him about what he supposedly claims? Additionally, have you observed a class - are the lessons well structured, do the children seem to be enjoying themselves, do there appear to be any unsafe practices? By the way having been a Champion is no guarantee of any of this, have been through a coach eduction programme, having an aptitude for teaching, a passion for judo etc is far more important.

Some of these schools are people's livelihoods posting insinuations can damage them.

Questioning is fine

genetic judoka: Posts : 541
Join date : 2012-12-30
Age : 38
Location : Florida

Post n°9

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by genetic judoka Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:14 am

what really stuck out to me was the intro video. quite impressive, actually.

I saw nothing about USA champion, all I saw was "competition: many local, national, and international medals." I saw nothing about being a champion of anything. was the list of names the list of people he's studied under? if so that's pretty impressive.

Hanon: Posts : 537
Join date : 2012-12-31

Post n°10

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Hanon Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:58 am

Jonesy wrote:

MMAWarlike wrote:Looking for info on a Judo Instructor, Name is ***********.....I cannot
find much on him and his claims. I am not disputing his claims as such
but before I pay him money to teach my kids I would like some concrete
proof and thought that you guys would be the best people to find out for
me. He claims to have Graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA
Judo Champion. I would love to know his Lineage etc.
Here is his website http://www.rikidojousa.com/ He has a lot of claims but I cannot find anything to back them. Thank you for help
guys!

I think you need to be a lot more subtle in what you post. You say you are not disputing his claims but then proceed to do just that. This site is not Bullshido! Where does he claim to have graduated the Tokyo Police Academy, been a USA Judo Champion - I did not see it?

Have you visited this dojo, have you spoken to the instructor, have you asked him about what he supposedly claims? Additionally, have you observed a class - are the lessons well structured, do the children seem to be enjoying themselves, do there appear to be any unsafe practices? By the way having been a Champion is no guarantee of any of this, have been through a coach eduction programme, having an aptitude for teaching, a passion for judo etc is far more important.

Some of these schools are people's livelihoods posting insinuations can damage them.

Questioning is fine

No offence but isn't this why the forum has admins and mods? Surely once you saw the intent of the OP one of you could have PM'd him suggesting a modified post? As you write the teacher in question can be damaged by such debates if allowed to continue in such a way?

Just a thought?

regards,

Mike

ThePieman: Posts : 263
Join date : 2012-12-28

Post n°11

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by ThePieman Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:07 am

I have removed the personal information but left the rest as there is some good advice here for the OP.

Hanon: Posts : 537
Join date : 2012-12-31

Post n°12

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Hanon Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:12 am

ThePieman wrote:I have removed the personal information but left the rest as there is some good advice here for the OP.

Exactly and thank you.

Hows things with you?

Mike

ThePieman: Posts : 263
Join date : 2012-12-28

Post n°13

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by ThePieman Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:32 am

Hanon wrote:

ThePieman wrote:I have removed the personal information but left the rest as there is some good advice here for the OP.

Exactly and thank you.

Hows things with you?

Mike

Hmmm, Just got home from training where I had to sit out for a time. Crying or Very sad

Crying or Very sad

I seem to have pulled my hamstring really high up (bum high), last week our session was a lot of uchikomi and my partner was a uchimata specialist, so as uke I felt like a can can dancer; I really must stretch more!

I hate being injured almost as much as I hate grumbling about injuries so I will leave it there. Mad

Mad

I hope you and yours are well, and you are keeping your hand in somehow. Wink

Wink

BillC: Posts : 806
Join date : 2012-12-28
Location : Vista, California

Post n°14

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by BillC Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:29 pm

ThePieman wrote:I have removed the personal information but left the rest as there is some good advice here for the OP.

Gonna butt in here ... I wouldn't have made this post were it not a new forum with new policies yet to be expressed.

- The OP named names, one I have not forgotten as the dojo is in my home town ... besides the admin in haste missed one ... I know the former dojo where this gentlemen taught. Have already checked back home by email to see if a nice lady still living there there can look into this. If she doesn't know, I'll ask the guy who thrashed my ankle while I was teaching him osotogari who still works out at the previous dojo. Judo is a small world really, of informal networks ... including this forum ... are much more accurate than any formal background check can be ... and they have the potential to be proactive.

- Sure, this is not Bullshido ... but I think it's the admin's job to decide if this new forum is going to have a wide or a narrow policy on regards to checks on reputation.

- As for me, I prefer a broad policy.

Why? I have experienced the fallout of the unwritten "code of silence" policy. Exaggeration of claims is fairly common ... not saying that is what is going on here at all ... but such claims do damage the reputation of judo. The fact of officially exaggerated rank is bad enough but the goofballs who promote themselves often seem to have other, scarier habits.

At its worst, the policy of not answering such questions, not even bothering to check has lead to fraud and the titillating types of abuse that some folks here love to write pages and pages about ... after the fact. Think that hasn't happened? Think again.

It is a fine line I realize. I know the libel laws in the UK are quite different ... good business for your court system that people go "over there" to file such lawsuits. But maybe one ought to leave standing the essence of an inquiry that asks "anyone know this guy and want to vouch for him?"

This guy is probably way cool and as my old dojo in that town imploded,
it would be nice to have another place to work out when I visit dear old Mom. But don't shut down the question.

ThePieman: Posts : 263
Join date : 2012-12-28

Post n°15

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by ThePieman Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:03 am

I agree with your premise Bill, but we could end up with a thread about every sensei and coach out there and that would definitely do more harm than good.

Maybe we could do a sticky along the lines of "what to look for in a good club", where we could all post some good tips?

Stacey: Posts : 554
Join date : 2013-01-17
Location : your worst nightmares

Post n°16

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Stacey Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:01 am

beginning judo sticky? How to find a good dojo or something.

We do have to be aware that the influence of BJJ and other sports will include people wandering into judo using what they know about how to judge a good bjj school or tennis school or whatever to judo. There are definite differences in what a judo dojo emphasizes in a good dojo, especially for children and recreational judoka (if you're an elite level judoka or looking to make that leap into elite level, then yes, the questions are a bit different, though they still don't involve much in terms of lineage beyond how other students of that dojo have performed at the elite level).

Other sports DO highly stress lineage. We stress methodology, safety, atmosphere, openness, etc. much more than we stress whether or not the head instructor has 50 million credentials. Yes, we even make jokes at the expense of other martial arts and whatnot where the lineage involves a mystical mountain somewhere out East where some recluse "transmitted" knowledge or gave secret scrolls involving things like dim mak to the guy trying to run a martial arts school. It's because of the proliferation of that sort of mythology that some people are actually asking about lineage - the lineage needs to be valid and not a result of a mail in dan mill.

Anyway, a parent into martial arts but not necessarily judo isn't going to know this stuff, or look for USJA/JF/JI or whatever association. A parent into MA may also wonder why there are no junior black belts since that's quite common in other MAs.

Asking about a particular instructor? meh - hope the guy got a few new students as a result of the responses to this thread before it was changed. But, the original question is still valid, just as pointing out that lineage doesn't mean as much as association and the stuff we, as a community, find valuable - current coaching cert from a NGB, good facility, happy students, no sign of people doing stuff that's dangerous.

Blacksmith: Posts : 33
Join date : 2012-12-27

Post n°17

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by Blacksmith Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:18 am

It was I suppose only a matter of time before this question was raised. I had hoped it would be much later rather than sooner. This site is not Bullshido, or the UndergroundForum - each of which have a culture and set of interests very distinct from what we do here. Not necessarily better or worse, simply different.

A question that is legitimate is one thing, one that looks to use the forum/its members to settle a personal vendetta is something else entirely. A matter of safety or criminal activity is in a league of its own. How much time was spent on the old forum talking about an instructor who it turns out that many had seen exhibit bad behavior, but was still in business and was then arrested for a second occurrence of sexual misconduct, or another who took an underage athlete drinking and then it went downhill from there? After the fact it was amazing how many people said there had been signs, equally amazing how many people said that they had no warning or inkling that anything was amiss.

I think that this is a type of question ("Have you heard of X", "Is Y
really all that and a bag of chips?", "What is Z's lineage?" ) that is
not going to go away, so it might be useful to have a policy to handle it. One that is clearly understood so it can be upheld by sys_admin and the mods fairly, and complied with by the members and still be of service to the judo community.

BillC: Posts : 806
Join date : 2012-12-28
Location : Vista, California

Post n°18

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

by BillC Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:09 am

ThePieman wrote:I agree with your premise Bill, but we could end up with a thread about every sensei and coach out there and that would definitely do more harm than good.

Maybe we could do a sticky along the lines of "what to look for in a good club", where we could all post some good tips?

Yes, that would be a good start. How about a thread to list some things that the membership would like to offer up?

My first thoughts run to things like "Who sanctions and insures the judo at your club? Who is in charge ... and then who teaches? Are you incorporated? How much am I in for to join your club, and can I quit paying at any time?" IMHO that's what people SHOULD ask first ... but they never do.

I field most of the first time inquiries by email or phone to our club ... a club of something like 170 official members by the way ... though clearly there is a lot of turnover.

People always the wrong questions first ...

- I want to work on my standing game for BJJ/MMA/XYZ ... can I wear my ($400 thin cotton) gi?
- Can I use judo in a fight? (there must be a whole lot more anxiety in the world left over from school years than I experience personally)
- "My sensei was a 15th dan red belt in Ryuu No Iki Judo in Nowhere, Texas and he won all the divisions at the Olympics and kicked Bruce Lee's ass in a fight on the same day (I guess some surgery was required to take the women's divisions too) ... do you know him?"

Ya' see ... it's that last one that's sticky one ... hard to respond with "yah, a I know him, he's the one that's full of horse manure." It's also the most hopeful of the questions, because it shows that our prospective students have their BS filter adjusted to at least the minimum discretion setting.

So maybe you are right, maybe a list of common questions ... and some good answers ... to assist the cautious might be a good idea.

P.S. ... until I looked just now at what Google came up with I didn't even know our club had a Yelp page ... and know what? The first entry is a shill.

Judo Dad: Posts : 147
Join date : 2013-01-01
Location : Australia

Post n°19

Newbies (Off Topic)

by Judo Dad Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:28 am

As a contact person I also field most of the first time inquiries by email or phone to our club. Our club is in what politicians call a low socio-economic area. The first question most people ask is how much for lessons and later in the conversation do I need a uniform and how much is it going to cost. They usually tell me they have done this or that or that they have never done anything like judo before. They really don't ask much more than that. Perhaps they get the information they need from the Club flyers/posters or website. About 75% of all enquiries turn up and talk to the Sensei, most of those sign up and come on the mat. Then some we never see again but most come back and buy a judogi. Then most don't make it past twelve months. I am offen surprised by the ones that buy a judogi and shortly after quit. Nevertheless the club has grown steadily over the last couple of years.

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Post n°20

Re: Info on a Judo Instructor please

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