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Clapping noises are part of it: falling and rolling exercises at the judo summer school in the Wiesbadener Straße sports hall. © Wolf
Rodgau is the scene of a big judo meeting for a week. The judo summer school in the Nieder-Roden district is taking place for the 40th time. Right in the middle: the highly decorated judo champion Shiro Yamamoto from Japan.
Nieder-Roden – Flatsch! A body hits the mat with a loud bang. As a judo fighter you have to be able to fall. Fall and get up again.
It’s not always that loud. Sometimes the judoka glide elegantly to the ground. Or they roll off. Whether forwards, backwards or sideways: There are different falling techniques for each direction to avoid injuries.
About 70 judokas populate the Wiesbadener Straße sports hall this week. Many have traveled far to take part in the judo summer school of the 1st Judo Club Nieder-Roden. The judo week takes place for the 40th time. The HSG handball players actually needed the hall to prepare for the season. The city offered them two other halls for training.
Judo is not a question of age: from the six-year-old with a yellow belt to the 75-year-old with a black belt, everyone gets their money’s worth. The very youngest is only two and a half. He is happy when he can frolic on the mat. Meanwhile, his mother and three siblings are practicing their throwing, falling and floor techniques.
The athletes train for up to six hours a day on a mat area of around 800 square meters. Two of the three trainers flew in from Japan. They come from the Kodokan, the oldest and most important judo school in the world.
The highest authority in the hall belongs to Shiro Yamamoto. He is in Nieder-Roden for the 27th time. Everyone addresses him with the honorary title “Sensei”, which means something like teacher or master. Yamamoto holds the red belt of 9th dan. This is the second highest level in judo. At more than 80 years old, he is also an example that judo is not a question of age. Hiroshi Sato (6th Dan) also came from the Kodokan. Although he is allowed to wear a red and white belt, he has worn a simple black belt out of respect for his highly decorated colleague.
After a warm-up phase together, Shiro Yamamoto looks after the group of those who want to expand their kata knowledge. Hiroshi Sato makes a wide range of offers for children and young people, but also for coaches. A third trainer from the ranks of the 1st Judo Club takes over the technique and competition training.
The judo summer school started in 1981 as an offer for advanced club members. This quickly developed into an offer that was in demand nationwide. Individual participants even travel from Austria and France.
After a three-year Corona break, the 1st Judo Club hopes to reach the previous number of 100 to 150 participants again soon. This time, among other things, the judoka from North Rhine-Westphalia are missing because the school holidays are over there. And something else is different: Because the bridge to the Don Bosco Home is still closed, the athletes have set up their tents behind the community center this time.
The club considers a comment by their guest of honor from Tokyo to be a great honor: the sports hall is now “the Kodokan branch office” for a week. (by Ekkehard Wolf)
Shiro Yamamoto demonstrates the correct grip. © Wolf, Ekkehard Acknowledging gesture from the master for a successful kata exercise. © Wolf, Ekkehard
2023-08-30 08:34:28
#Judoka #learn #masters #Japan
