I am currently in Yakutsk, Russia helping with the Yakutsk Judo Team. They are preparing for the Children of Asia World Games. They will be competing against more than twenty Asian teams from Korea, Mongolia, Tailand, Hong Kong, Tokyo and so on. The discipline these kids display is remarkable. I watch them train twice a day for three hour periods and realize why the U.S. did so poorly in the last World Championships. These Judoka spend very little time in idle talk, but instead work very intensely with purpose for everything they do. I run a dojo in Oregon, and was asked to take part in this event as a trainer, but I think that in fact it is myself that is being trained. The community effort that is put into these kids is also amazing. Istructors have been recruited from all over the nation and in my case, from outside the nation to help out. Teachers of Sambo and Judo in the area have closed there schools in order to help out these kids with everything from providing them with places to stay, places to weight train, vitamins and healthy diet, recreation on the weekends,and many other needs all on a voluntary basis. I hope that when I return to the states that I can provide my students the kind of learning experience that these kids are having. Different cultures dictate different methods, but I still will aim for similar results. I am very happy to see the way Judo is taught and practiced here and I feel that when these Russian athletes are more able to enter the Western arena, they will teach us all a thing or two.

Great post!

Thank you very much!

I think your students will be fortunate to have an open-minded instructor like you!