As many of you may know, lastweek the NZL Masters Judo team competed representing NZ at the Asian Judo masters games here in Japan.
Not satisfied with their very impressive results (Rick Sensei Gold, Pat Toner Gold, Robert Levy Silver Open weight & Bronze weight division plus another bronze from Khan) they have come to Kyoto for a week of intensive girl watching, sight seeing, shopping and of course Judo.
The guys are staying here at the fightclub house, liking it so far - no one is adverse to showering with a gas heated hose that intermittently is not heated for days on end, sleeping on the floor with a 2 MM thick mattress or holes in the floor. Infact they seem to actually like the place which is great- located 2 minutes from the Karasuma Subway line (a main artery line through Kyoto) 5 Minutes walk from a shopping mall, 3 Dojo's within 15 minutes and a gym also within 15 minutes.
It's been good having the guys here so far, Robert has been a great help in terms of knowledge regarding nutrition, training, circuits, gym work the list goes on. I have to have a notebook handy to get all the info, especially nutritional.
I met the team at Kyoto Station yesterday afternoon and it was straight into it, home to drop off the bags, a hasty tour of the manor and then we were back on the lines heading to Osaka to train with Matsuura Sensei's club Daishin Dojo also known as "Kiwi Club" (Matsuura was first national coach of NZ and the Dojo is Sister club to many Judo Clubs in NZ). The training there was good, lots of randori's I wasn't fighting that great but towards the end was sharpening up.
I had a great training yesterday morning at the Kidotai.. literally my best training session there ever, period. Something must of clicked, I was using a new throw I devised, new gripping and new combo's and it caught them off guard. I managed to stalemate Sano San and throw Machia San a few times both guys normally deal me hiding's so to stalemate one and get another was feeling great.
I just received my final scholarship payment, which is great...it's not neccessarily the end of the road right now though. I have a job interview tomorow for a part time job so depending on the outcome of said interview I will decide what the next move is. If I get the job I will be earning more than I would fulltime in NZ doing only 10 hours a week plus my Judo so I cant see how it could go wrong. If I dont make the cut then its a few more weeks of training here and back home to prepare financially for Uni and continue my training there as intensely as possible.
So either result I'm going to be happy.
I really would like to see my family but if I did get the job it wouldnt be long before I could afford to fly for a visit, month or 2. I'm not sure how long I would stay if I get the job anyway.. It's something I'm going to need to play by ear and work out myself.
Did a circuit this morning at the gym under Robs supervision, it's best to do leading up towards a competition working on explosive power to peak perfectly for the fights. So right now looking at doing it twice a week, and 2 days of fullbody workout working on mass until 83/84 Kilo's then going on to power. Ivica will be working mostly off the circuit soon as he is leading up to the NZ Nationals and then the OJU WORLD CUP in Samoa 2 Weeks after so explosive power, peak performance and conditioning are really essential.
This afternoon after a Protein & Complex Carbs rich lunch it's Ritsumeikan Judo training which is allways body wasting and then Enshin Dojo training a couple of hours later at night. Will probably finish that around 10 and be in bed by 1130 since I have to be up at 730AM for training with Riot Cops Judo Team to start the day off. Though after that my next thing will be my Job interview in the afternoon then training at Daishin Dojo which is nearby so that works out really well.
Josepha from Daishin who has given me the lead at the company has been awesome and is lending me a Blazer Jacket for the interview, plus I have the inside interview tips so should go well.
Jordan
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Times a Changin
So much has happend in the last couple of weeks that its hard to provide an update that makes any sense if any...so I'm just gonna take the easy way out and stick to basics.
The last couple of weeks of this Month has been some real high's and low's for my exile from NZ to Kyoto. One low point was getting rather sick (viral or bacterial infection on my lymph nodes) which meant 5 days with no training, expensive medicine... unfortunately it got worse; I had to have a blood test.
Now what most people don't know is that I'm freaked out by needles, not knitting needles but injection needles - Syringe is the medical jargon I believe (I'm no doctor) while this was a very unpleasant activity for me, my good friend & landlord Aoki San found it quite amusing - especially when the Nurse got the wrong vein and had to go again. Poor little Obasan (Baba for short (old lady)) nurse could see and hear that I was not enjoying this one bit and got nervous and missed. This had the effect of causing further stress on myself, my vision is swimming, im hyper ventalating... why is my blood coming out black? is this bad? why is everybody laughing (including the old men in the waiting room)these things and more were running through my head.
Finally it was over and the big brave boy got a sticky plaster (no lollypops in the land of Samurai!)
I have to say I'm very gratefull to Aoki San for taking time from his busy schedule as Boss of Total Home Architecture Corp to take me to the Doc a couple of times - its not easy to get medical care if your a gaijin alien and harder still if you dont speak Japanese.
So I'm on this great cocktail of drugs that would make any pensioner proud, taking 12 pills a day at different times plus 3 Doctor prescribed vitamin drinks.. so I'm getting better but have been told to avoid Newaza for a week as it could cause my Neck Lymph Nodes too much stress... will have to try and keep my Shiaii this Sunday to standing fighting then, I'll do what I can.
Well as I before mentioned.. the price of Doctor Visits and Medicine was no small blow to my limited wallet; Budget Cuts that would make the Government cringe had to be made. First off, whats all this Lunch business about then - well whatever all that fuss is about it has to stop. Secondly how much are you spending on breakfast? "300 Yen" 'WHAT! make that 100 Yen! 2 slices of toast quick smart Mr Reynolds.' So by following this formulae of budget cutting popularised by TV's 'Money Man' I cut corners or more correctly whole blocks out of my budget. Things have picked up again and resolved themselves back to a nice balance, but I did have a lean week or two. Currently eating nice, large nutritous breakfast's again but I did learn a couple of good tricks that I'm going to keep in effect.
Good things going on this Month would include the 3 Competition's I have happening starting from this Sunday and going through next week including my Shodan Shiaii which is really exiting for me right now. Trainings going completely Ace aswell right now - foccussing on Kumi Kata (tactical grips) to dominate and controll my fights and keeping preasure on my opponents at all time. basicaly keeping them on the back foot physically and mentally from the get go.
I have a very strong lead for a part-time job in a English Teaching company, the pay is great to say the least so this could be the timely miracle I have been hanging out for...fingers and toes crossed. I'v been seeing my (fighting, not fashion)style turn a few corner's recently so I'm hoping to see where that end's up.
Got an unexpected phone call from Bill Vincent from New Zealand a couple of days ago who was hanging out with my old man Greg suprisingly, got to say hi to both of them and got told to take a few days off to recover (which Mum also ordered) was nice to get a call so that was cool.
While I'm at it I should nominate my Aunty Trish for a nobel prize for being such a big help during last months turmoil - without her help I would definatly be back in New Zealand right now not training here at this level.
Also we have Ivica Pavlinic staying here with us now for a bit, which is great; he's enjoying the training and is a real help to have here. It's really good to have new faces here and more people to train, talk and hangout with; which reminds me we have the New Zealand Master's team (which is going to be the strongest yet) coming to stay for a week late this Month. Hopefully they enjoy out Fightclub style accomodation that we have to offer. This building definatly resembles the fight club manpad in more ways than one.
I should have alot of actually interesting news to post next time as opposed to this rather lame rant, so hang in there.
Jords
The last couple of weeks of this Month has been some real high's and low's for my exile from NZ to Kyoto. One low point was getting rather sick (viral or bacterial infection on my lymph nodes) which meant 5 days with no training, expensive medicine... unfortunately it got worse; I had to have a blood test.
Now what most people don't know is that I'm freaked out by needles, not knitting needles but injection needles - Syringe is the medical jargon I believe (I'm no doctor) while this was a very unpleasant activity for me, my good friend & landlord Aoki San found it quite amusing - especially when the Nurse got the wrong vein and had to go again. Poor little Obasan (Baba for short (old lady)) nurse could see and hear that I was not enjoying this one bit and got nervous and missed. This had the effect of causing further stress on myself, my vision is swimming, im hyper ventalating... why is my blood coming out black? is this bad? why is everybody laughing (including the old men in the waiting room)these things and more were running through my head.
Finally it was over and the big brave boy got a sticky plaster (no lollypops in the land of Samurai!)
I have to say I'm very gratefull to Aoki San for taking time from his busy schedule as Boss of Total Home Architecture Corp to take me to the Doc a couple of times - its not easy to get medical care if your a gaijin alien and harder still if you dont speak Japanese.
So I'm on this great cocktail of drugs that would make any pensioner proud, taking 12 pills a day at different times plus 3 Doctor prescribed vitamin drinks.. so I'm getting better but have been told to avoid Newaza for a week as it could cause my Neck Lymph Nodes too much stress... will have to try and keep my Shiaii this Sunday to standing fighting then, I'll do what I can.
Well as I before mentioned.. the price of Doctor Visits and Medicine was no small blow to my limited wallet; Budget Cuts that would make the Government cringe had to be made. First off, whats all this Lunch business about then - well whatever all that fuss is about it has to stop. Secondly how much are you spending on breakfast? "300 Yen" 'WHAT! make that 100 Yen! 2 slices of toast quick smart Mr Reynolds.' So by following this formulae of budget cutting popularised by TV's 'Money Man' I cut corners or more correctly whole blocks out of my budget. Things have picked up again and resolved themselves back to a nice balance, but I did have a lean week or two. Currently eating nice, large nutritous breakfast's again but I did learn a couple of good tricks that I'm going to keep in effect.
Good things going on this Month would include the 3 Competition's I have happening starting from this Sunday and going through next week including my Shodan Shiaii which is really exiting for me right now. Trainings going completely Ace aswell right now - foccussing on Kumi Kata (tactical grips) to dominate and controll my fights and keeping preasure on my opponents at all time. basicaly keeping them on the back foot physically and mentally from the get go.
I have a very strong lead for a part-time job in a English Teaching company, the pay is great to say the least so this could be the timely miracle I have been hanging out for...fingers and toes crossed. I'v been seeing my (fighting, not fashion)style turn a few corner's recently so I'm hoping to see where that end's up.
Got an unexpected phone call from Bill Vincent from New Zealand a couple of days ago who was hanging out with my old man Greg suprisingly, got to say hi to both of them and got told to take a few days off to recover (which Mum also ordered) was nice to get a call so that was cool.
While I'm at it I should nominate my Aunty Trish for a nobel prize for being such a big help during last months turmoil - without her help I would definatly be back in New Zealand right now not training here at this level.
Also we have Ivica Pavlinic staying here with us now for a bit, which is great; he's enjoying the training and is a real help to have here. It's really good to have new faces here and more people to train, talk and hangout with; which reminds me we have the New Zealand Master's team (which is going to be the strongest yet) coming to stay for a week late this Month. Hopefully they enjoy out Fightclub style accomodation that we have to offer. This building definatly resembles the fight club manpad in more ways than one.
I should have alot of actually interesting news to post next time as opposed to this rather lame rant, so hang in there.
Jords
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Up & up
Things have considerably improved steadily this month since my last posts high.
Have two competitions this month, both in a week and a half so I'm stoked about that.
Watched my crew from Rits Uni fight at the Kansai Uni games on the weekend, we did pretty well winning through our pool until we got caught against Tenri Uni in some sort of final (unsure if it was final or semi) Tenri took us out by winning all the 5 fights (it was a team fight competition) a couple they won easily but there was a couple we came close to getting them in. Kimura San's Seoi Nage (shoulder throw) came close to taking out his opponent multiple times but just wasnt Quiiiiiiiiiiite there, but bloody close. Another one of our guys (known as Tomo-nage San) dominated his fight by using drop techiniques like Tomo-Nage & other sacrafice throws to get his opponent to the ground where he dominated, getting a few small points by pins and coming very close to getting a good armbar and a choke. Unfortunately he got caught by a sneaky throw towards the end of the fight.
Tenri's a tough tough Uni team, so while the guys where obviously a bit gutted they did a pretty good job, especially considering they didn't put in their best team because of injuries they still put on their best effort. Tenri is really high level for Judo, having a much bigger pool of players and the National Coach of Japan Shinoharra coaching them I believe.
We have been day tripping on Osaka most Mondays recently to train at Daishin Dojo under Matsuura Sensei, who has been kind enough to enter us in the competitions and on Saturday night after the competion invited us over for a true feast of a BBQ, no one could finish what was on the table by a long shot. Lamb chops, Steaks, Chicken, Salad, red wine, champagne, white wine, beer, Sake, fish, sausages, giant sea snails (mmmmm!!!!) the list goes on. It was really good of Matsuura Sensei and His Wife to host us - plus his daughter Seiiko and her Samoan Fiance osefa (sorry I dont have the correct spelling for your name so I'm just winging it.) osefa's pretty keen to come train with us at Rits in the next week or so which will be good fun.
Hugo has spent the last 3 weeks or so off the mat due to a wrist injury when he crashed his bike of all things, haha. But its improving lately and he has just started coming along to do a bit of Uchi- Komi and light randori with kiddies and scrawny teenagers :P
Training has been on form for me lately, enjoying it immensley and everthing is back to normal times so I'm keeping occupied and got good focuss. Kasuga Sensei gave me a awesome bag full of Japanese cookie, including some so hard you will feel the pain at the back of your head when you bite them. Not to be attempted without a bit of tea to soften them.
Iv had a big swollen lump of fluid on my shin lately which really sucks! Its not stopping my training at all but when I go on my runs I can feel it bobbing around! gross!!! Also when someone happens to kick be in that spot it hurts like hell. Of course with my infinite ingenuity I have taken to rolling up a sock and taping if ontop of the lump for some protection (I tape it very heavily so you can't see the sock at all, before anyone says otherwise) and now I have a similar lump on my armpit, albeit much smaller (totally unrelated) might have a flu coming on according to google. Hope not.
It's officially Autumn now, so of course Autumn fashion is in! Big coats, leggings for ladies, scarves, long sleeves. Despite the fact that the temperature is still usually above 34 degrees, never mind that.
Decided to get some more protein powder since I'm weight training through a programme right now for more relative strength for Judo and explosiveness. I'm not actually sure if its the right stuff but it says Judo on the front and the lady at the shop said its recovery, and it was relatively cheap, ichiban Yasui.
We have Ivica Pavlinic from NZ arriving tomorow evening to stay and train here alongside us, should be good fun to have another face around the place.
J
Have two competitions this month, both in a week and a half so I'm stoked about that.
Watched my crew from Rits Uni fight at the Kansai Uni games on the weekend, we did pretty well winning through our pool until we got caught against Tenri Uni in some sort of final (unsure if it was final or semi) Tenri took us out by winning all the 5 fights (it was a team fight competition) a couple they won easily but there was a couple we came close to getting them in. Kimura San's Seoi Nage (shoulder throw) came close to taking out his opponent multiple times but just wasnt Quiiiiiiiiiiite there, but bloody close. Another one of our guys (known as Tomo-nage San) dominated his fight by using drop techiniques like Tomo-Nage & other sacrafice throws to get his opponent to the ground where he dominated, getting a few small points by pins and coming very close to getting a good armbar and a choke. Unfortunately he got caught by a sneaky throw towards the end of the fight.
Tenri's a tough tough Uni team, so while the guys where obviously a bit gutted they did a pretty good job, especially considering they didn't put in their best team because of injuries they still put on their best effort. Tenri is really high level for Judo, having a much bigger pool of players and the National Coach of Japan Shinoharra coaching them I believe.
We have been day tripping on Osaka most Mondays recently to train at Daishin Dojo under Matsuura Sensei, who has been kind enough to enter us in the competitions and on Saturday night after the competion invited us over for a true feast of a BBQ, no one could finish what was on the table by a long shot. Lamb chops, Steaks, Chicken, Salad, red wine, champagne, white wine, beer, Sake, fish, sausages, giant sea snails (mmmmm!!!!) the list goes on. It was really good of Matsuura Sensei and His Wife to host us - plus his daughter Seiiko and her Samoan Fiance osefa (sorry I dont have the correct spelling for your name so I'm just winging it.) osefa's pretty keen to come train with us at Rits in the next week or so which will be good fun.
Hugo has spent the last 3 weeks or so off the mat due to a wrist injury when he crashed his bike of all things, haha. But its improving lately and he has just started coming along to do a bit of Uchi- Komi and light randori with kiddies and scrawny teenagers :P
Training has been on form for me lately, enjoying it immensley and everthing is back to normal times so I'm keeping occupied and got good focuss. Kasuga Sensei gave me a awesome bag full of Japanese cookie, including some so hard you will feel the pain at the back of your head when you bite them. Not to be attempted without a bit of tea to soften them.
Iv had a big swollen lump of fluid on my shin lately which really sucks! Its not stopping my training at all but when I go on my runs I can feel it bobbing around! gross!!! Also when someone happens to kick be in that spot it hurts like hell. Of course with my infinite ingenuity I have taken to rolling up a sock and taping if ontop of the lump for some protection (I tape it very heavily so you can't see the sock at all, before anyone says otherwise) and now I have a similar lump on my armpit, albeit much smaller (totally unrelated) might have a flu coming on according to google. Hope not.
It's officially Autumn now, so of course Autumn fashion is in! Big coats, leggings for ladies, scarves, long sleeves. Despite the fact that the temperature is still usually above 34 degrees, never mind that.
Decided to get some more protein powder since I'm weight training through a programme right now for more relative strength for Judo and explosiveness. I'm not actually sure if its the right stuff but it says Judo on the front and the lady at the shop said its recovery, and it was relatively cheap, ichiban Yasui.
We have Ivica Pavlinic from NZ arriving tomorow evening to stay and train here alongside us, should be good fun to have another face around the place.
J
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