Kodomo-no-kata

Together the two organisations have composed the kodomo-no-kata (forms for children) and although some aspects are perhaps the area for club coaches; there is certainly content that you as a parent can use to engage and help your child in their Judo.

For example, the “prologue” includes elements like how to wear a Judo suit, how to bow and basic standing positions. Later their are also things that you can help with, such as the stepping patterns.

Video presentation

In 2021 the Kodokan put together a workshop online for the kata which you can watch as a parent who does not speak Japanese and pick up some components you can help your child learn. It includes a little on how your child will sit in a club for example.

Take a look and see if you can see what takes your eye.

For most children it is entirely fine to wear a mask at Judo both when practicing and when watching demonstrations, resting etc.

Best practice currently is still evolving, however some consistent themes are for participants to wear masks when listening to the instructor. Often wearing a mask when being the passive partner in an exercise or being thrown.

Instructors will often not wear masks whilst teaching so that lip reading is possible and voice clearer.

Clubs should also be focusing efforts into ventilation; so expect open windows (you may want to check if it is ok for your child to wear a t-shirt under their gi if they don’t already as it might be chilly. Hand gels might be in use and as always you should ensure your child is wearing a freshly washed judo suit and are themselves clean and healthy.

Some clubs will have testing rules in place, typically lateral flow tests. If your child has any symptoms they should definitely not attend Judo classes at this time.

Masks for most people are a small inconvenience that helps protect other participants. If your child has a medical reason to not wear a mask seek advice from your doctors and speak with the club to see what solutions can be found.

It is a fantastic summary of Judo and echoes much of what we have written about here at Judo4Parents.com.

Highlights worth considering for example is the section on “What Is Expected From The Judo Parents”, which like our post: The parents role in judo highlights the importance of participation in Judo being fun and rewarding, more so than being an opportunity for sporting glory.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) is involved in promoting Judo participation in children, via the “Judo for children” project. The project aims to:

Judo for Children fights against any kind of discrimination and segregation. It promotes a powerful educational activity that helps to built the mind and body of the younger generations. It instils the judo values such as respect, honor, friendship, self control, modesty, politeness… and give them skills for life

As we reboot this website, we will continue to find new things to share with parents ideas for you.

What Causes Injuries?

There are two main types of injuries; “collision” and “overuse” injuries.
Collision injuries are simply injuries that occur when an athlete has a collision with another person or something else… like the floor. This typically happens when a mat is crowded and someone is thrown onto someone else who has just been thrown. Or trips over someone else. Or when a throw is not well controlled and your child gets thrown overly hard or awkwardly and gets hurt.

Overuse injuries are when muscles or joints are damaged by being over used. This is the sort of injury that is typical known as a bad knee, sore shoulder, wobbly ankles, dodgy fingers etc. We see this sort of injury in adults more than children. In fact we should NEVER see this sort of injury in a healthy child in sensible training.

Elite level athletes train at such a level that they run very close to the thresholds where overuse injuries happen. Children on the other hand should never be training so often/hard that they pick up over use injuries. So if your child has picked up a overuse injury; you need to consider very seriously about the levels and quality of training they are receiving.

What to do if your child in injured?

Firstly, follow the normal first aid procedures. R.I.C.E is a good starting point. That is REST, ICE, COMPRESSION and ELEVATION. Specifically, if your child gets hurt, they should stop doing Judo immediately (rest), they should put something cold on the area injured (ice). Next they should have some sort of bandaging (compression) and put the injured part up (elevate). This will stop continued injury and control the swelling/bruising. Depending on the injury a trip to your doctor or emergency care would be sensible.

Your child should then be allowed the time to heal. They should not go back to Judo until the injury is healed properly. Returning too soon to training is a really common factor in repeat injury. A twisted ankle if not fully healed may cause your child to fall awkwardly and either hurt the ankle again and/or cause another injury.

Injuries are uncommon in Judo. Bumps and bruises do happen. Falling can causes some immediate pain and tears (especially in younger children) and it is a delicate balance sometimes between the “get back on the horse” idea where we don’t want a small bump being over-reacted to and your child falling our of love with Judo and not treating injuries seriously enough.

Children are fragile; their bones are not the same as adult bones. Their bodies are growing and can break in ways that for non medical people can be hard to appreciate. Children have also be known to get quite serious injuries and not report them as being serious as they do not have the life experiences to know an injury is actually serious. Many parents tell anecdotes of how a seemingly small fall causes a bone fracture in a child. And vice versa, sometimes the pliability of a child’s body protects them from what would be a definite injury in an adult.

If in doubt… seek medical advice.

A final point on armlocks and strangles.

Recently, with the popularity in adults of the UFC and MMA there has been an increase in the participation in armlocks and strangles by children. This is often done safely and many coaches will assure parents that it is safe.

It is not, in my opinion, safe. A better statement might be that it is an un-required increasing of the risk of injury in children for little if any benefit. It is important to appreciate that damage to joints is very serious… they do not heal as easily as a simple bone fracture or twisted ankle. Especially in a young body that is growing it is not a good injury to have. Equally, a child’s neck and throat are not as developed or robust as an adults. So the risk of injury is increased and the types of injury associated with the neck are very serious.

So please think long and hard before allowing your child to participate in any armlocks or strangles.

This video is a terrific animation of the idea that by enrolling your child in Judo, you are teaching them an important life skill. Judo can be thought of in the same way as swimming lessons.

You teach your child to swim so they can be safe in the water, you teach your child Judo so they can fall safely.

Most experienced Judo participants and coaches will have anecdotes about falling and not getting hurt. In Judo we learn how to fall forwards and backwards and not get hurt. That might be tripping over a tree root in the woods (this happened to me last year) or falling of your bicycle Judo will teach the skills that can save you from minor and major injury.

You may want to consider a adult beginners course to learn breakfalls (Ukemi in Judo terminology), which might be a good way for you and your child to enjoy Judo together too.

Judo is a sport where children compete in age and weight based divisions. This is a wonderful thing for many children (and their parents) as it means the physical differences between participants are limited; increasing safety and enjoyment. However, we need to be aware of the negative health risks such as compromised nutritional status, diminished physical performance and impaired growth and development.

A very common issue is rapid weight loss, typically called cutting, or weight management.

Recent research in 2016 investigated this in children and found it was being done by 80% of participants. This included such activities as fasting (not eating at all) and skipping meals along with increased physical activity; with the aim being to make a specific weight.

For many of us in Judo coaching this is very worrying and as a parent it should be of concern too.

There are many coaches and health professionals that do not feel any child (specifically under 18 year olds) ever “make weight”. Parents play an important role in monitoring the subtle pressures (and direct pressures) from club mates and coaches. In the literature two thirds of children indicated that the coach was prime influencer for rapid weight loss activity.

No Judo coach should ever tell your child to cut weight to make a category. Children in Judo simply do not need to do it; the perceived benefit of making a weight category do not balance the risks caused by fasting and skipping meals in a developing child. Then their is the added risks of eating disorders.

Even if your child is overweight (as described by a doctor or other health professional), it is not the coaches role to tell your child to lose weight. They should encourage a healthy lifestyle (exercise and healthy eating); never losing weight.

As experienced coach will not be telling a child to lose weight for sports reasons. Parents should listen to the coaches and be aware of any suggestions from coaches to lose weight. This is a safety and professionalism issue and I recommend you speak with the coach or the club welfare officer.

As always, please email me (lw@judocoach.com) with any questions you might have.

Rather than join a gym (January is when gyms pick up lots of new memberships); how about joining a Judo club instead. Judo is a terrific exercise, and doing Judo with your child can be a great way to spend time together. Even if you only do Judo for a few weeks together before you join a adults session.

So you might like to try this as your new years resolution:

• 6 weeks Judo with your kids
• Join adult beginners
• Blackbelt.

Even so, it have been amazing that three people have already bought the book via LeanPub already! I hope they enjoy it and I really hope they provide some feedback so that I can add, correct and remove content to make the book an even better resource for parents of children in Judo.

I have basically finished removing the blog posts that were included that are not relevant to a book format and done some structural changes. I have also cleaned up a large number of spelling and typing mistakes that come direct from the blog. I have started expanding the BJA Mon grade section as I know that the subject of belts and how to help your child get new belts via the British Judo grading system is an area that people value and that the resources to help are few and not very good at times. Writing the pages it is highlighted to me that this blogs pages on the syllabus are some of the few resources for parents available. As I finish typing up the pages, I will transfer it back into the blog I think so that as well as the book format the web format is available for you.

I would like to ask you all for your assistance, please let me know what content you would appreciate having in a book for parents. If you are a Judo coach, what would you want parents to know when they come along to the club? If you are a parent, what do you wish you knew before you took your child along for the first time? What did you learn early on? What advice do you give other parents?

I shall try and include (and reference you if you would like that) all the advice and tidbits of information you all share. It all goes towards making the book a great resource for other parents, so please add your two cents worth!

Lance

The popularity of this little website about Judo aimed at parents has always amazed me. It is a pleasure to receive emails from parents thanking me for some post I wrote that they found valuable. So, I have decided to take the experiment one step further and turn the ideas from this site into a book about Judo for parents.

I have started by importing the content from this site into the book and am re-writing it and adding to it to craft a good set of pages for your enjoyment.

I have also decided to use LeanPub to write and publish the book.
LeanPub lets me do some really cool stuff. Firstly it takes care of most of the tricky stuff like formatting to specific layout and allows me to just write. It also allows me to easily publish to ebook format which allows me to publish early for you and to give you free updates as I revise the book based on your input.

It also lets you pay what you think the book is worth. On LeanPub you can buy the ebook at whatever price you think you should pay, which is useful for you and me. You get to pay a reasonable price and I learn what the price people think the book is worth. Once we are all done, I will also publish in paper form.

So, please take a look at the book over at https://leanpub.com/judo4parents buy a copy if you’d like to. Comment on the book and watch me revise the book to cater for what you say; you’ll get the updates for free of course. The more people comment on this blog and on the book and the netter the book will be in the end!

Lance.

This video is a bit of fun, filmed at the Judo club, by the children in the club. What a great diversion from “normal” lessons this must have been.