Team BJC Squad members attend 'The Gathering' with Shohei Ono and Takanori Nagase
12 Oct 2024
lars Scotland
THE GATHERING- LARGS SCOTLAND 12-13/10/24
The BJC National Squad were on the road again to attend The Gathering in Scotland, which was a weekend of superb Judo technical training by double Olympic Champions Shohei Ono and Takanori Nagase. Nagase is also the current Olympic Champion, winning Gold U81’s in Paris.
Five squad members were selected by the squad coaches for this amazing opportunity as it was felt they would benefit the most from this course and gain better contest skills and knowledge.
One Judoka and coach made their own way to Scotland, whilst the rest of the squad travelled via Birmingham to a pickup point and then travelled together the long journey up to Scotland. The venue was at the Sport Scotlands National Centre in Largs, West Scotland. We arrived Friday evening and the staff at the venue were very helpful and there was a real buzz about the place as other Judoka were also arriving to book onto the course. The ladies stayed onsite at the centre’s hotel, which was excellent, the guys stayed locally at an air BnB, this was due to limited residential places on offer. The venue and facilities including the organisation were excellent all weekend.
The course was set over two days, Saturday starting at 9:15-17:30 and Sunday 9:00-12:30. The Mat was in the main hall and was four contest areas in size, which was needed as there were around 200 Judoka, ranging from 3rd Kyu (orange belt) to 9th Dan (red belt), ex Olympians, Common Wealth Champions and many high grades were all there to learn from the very best. Also coaching on the course was Takafumi Kitahara who is the National High-Performance Coach for Scotland, he was also used as an interpreter as Nagase had limited English.
The first day saw Ono and Nagase take it in turns with two master classes in the morning and afternoon, followed by a randori session (free practice) at the end so Judoka who wanted could test themselves against these two Judo legends! The second day saw Kitahara also coaching a session followed by Nagase and Ono.
Incredible techniques on display by Ono were his leg guard escape into Osaekomi-waza (hold down techniques) using the belt. In Nage-waza (standing techniques) he showed how to break grips to gain advantage and position over an opponent and how to use action reaction to throw with his Uchimata (inner thigh) in all directions.
Techniques from Nagase were his Ne-waza (groundwork techniques) turn overs from defence into Sangaku-Jime (triangular strangle) and movement, posture and position to throw with his Ashi-Guruma (leg wheel).
Techniques from Kitahara were his Ashi-waza (leg/foot techniques) using circular movement and hand control to throw with Okuri-Ashi-Barai (double foot sweep).
Kitahara was excellent at explaining techniques for Ono and Nagase and all three were happy to walk around the mat and help the Judoka fine tune their techniques. They were very helpful, asking for questions and answering with great insight. A highlight of of the weekend was when Ono threw Kitahara with a no handed Uchimata which made every Judoka gasp with amazement, he quickly clapped himself with a cheeky smile which got a round of applause and lots of laughter.
The course ended lunch time on Sunday with lots of group photos and the opportunity to get a personal photo with all three coaches. The organisers thanked everyone who attended, including coaches and helpers, before handing out signed life-sized posters of Ono and Nagase to lucky raffle winners.
To sum up the Gathering if you want to attend a fantastically run and organised Judo course coached by the very top Judoka, look no further to be inspired and improve your Judo going forward and to take something special back to your clubs to also inspire the next generation of Judokas!
SQUAD JUDOKAS COACHES
Isaac Avison Les Eacock
Marcel Keleman Thomas Lish
Charlotte Haines Debra Small
Honey Howling
Mila Mleczkowska
