DUNDEE IPPON JUDO CLUB

Dundee Ippon | Traditional Judo at its best

News

We were delighted to receive a visit from BJC 6th dan Simon Mazzullo at our Broughty Ferry Club in early June 2008. Simon is one of around just 20 people in the BJC entitled to wear the red and white belt and must be one of the youngest. Certainly his youthfulness was in evidence at Broughty Ferry as he took a lively class before partaking in the randori that followed the session. Simon's visit will probably be the first time that a BJC red and white belt has been to Scotland since the 1960s, so the club is honoured that he came to our dojo.

For Sensei Dave it was the culmination of a very busy week in judo, having just returned from the national course in Cromer, where ironically he was coached by Simon's former championship winning kata partner Sampson Sampson, now a 6th dan himself.

Congratulations! Once again Dundee Ippon took gold and silver at the Cumbria and Borders Area Championships this year. In a slightly different format, all the kyu grades were put into a single pool and it was Carl that came out on top with a scintillating display of Ippon judo. He opened his account with a sweep on Marcus and did not stop until he had wrapped up four Ippon victories. Marcus, who gained silver last year, repeated his success but going on to win the remainder of his fights, again all by Ippon. Most notable was his victory agianst a local heavyweight brown belt whom he held down for the 30 seconds. A sign of his progress the victory was against a judoka who last year managed to beat him.

With the gold and silver secure, Khal picked up a bronze medal after a well deserved victory against another local of his own grade. Khal appeared to have won the fight several times, but the referee thought different and in the end he gained the result on a decision.

Marcus and Carl then joined Brechin's Mark Arbuthnott in the open grade category and again fought extremely well. Notably Carl scored an ippon with an uchimata against Mark, whilst Marcus appeared to have the better of a local first dan, before finally being strangled. Both held off and dominated a former national junior champion, only to conceed shidos.

The club will be shut for the last week of May 2008 as Sensei Dave once again attends the national course in Cromer. This year he will be promoting his book on judo, Ippon: the fight for judo's soul, as well as spending time on the mat.

Next major event to look forward in the area is the trip to Carlisle for Mr Mealing's kata course, which takes place on June 21/22nd. Ahead of that, perhaps keep an eye out for a joint event with Brechin as that club consolidate's it's membership with the British Judo Council.

Congratulations! Go to Kal Al-Jasser and Bobby Moore on their promotion to 4th kyu (orange belt). Both took their exams in front of Sensei Chris Neate, 4th Dan on March 27th 2008. Sensei Neate has been training with us for the last two weeks and it has been a delight to have our highest graded member of the club on hand before he again returns to Libya for work. Sensei put both pupils through a rigorous exam, making them perform their techniques on the right and left. It will stand them in good stead as they prepare for the Area Championships, which take place in May.

It is with Regret that we will be saying goodbye to 1st Dan, Patrick, who will be returning to his native Germany this month. He goes with our good wishes and an open invitation to visit us again whenever he is in Scotland.

Congratulations! More success for Dundee Ippon on the road was recorded on the weekend of 24/25th of November when Marcus Cross made the trip along with Dave Sensei and Mark Arbuthnott, sensei from our friends at Brechin Judo Club, to Newcastle for the President's Course.

Change of Premises As part of it's expansion, Dundee Ippon is on the move in March 2008. Outgrowing it's Lochee Boys Club base. With our new mats we are moving to St Margarets Chuch Hall on Ancrum Road, where we will be training on Thursday nights. The format will also be different, with the class running from 7:30 to 9:30 for all ages from the age of 12 up. The youngsters will train for just the first hour, but the idea is that as they get bigger, they will remain on the mat with the adults, allowing for a smoother transition from junior to senior judo. As well as Ancrum Road, the club will also open on Tuesdays from March onwards in a new location in Broughty Ferry. We will be running another 7:30 to 9:30 club, using our old canvas mats at the Forthill Leisure Centre, Forthill Road, Broughty Ferry.

March is, as always a month where gradings take place, and this time those at green belt and above will be travelling down to Carlisle on March 16th, where there will also be a one-day kata course. it is intended that those below that grade will have an in-club grading, also sometime in March.

Further on in the year, the Annual area Championships take place in May (18th) in Washington, where it is hoped we will once again scoop a number of trophies.

Marcus attended the event with the purpose of laying his hands on a blue belt and at the end of proceedings that is precisely what he did. After being put through his kata under the expert eyes of World Champions Angela Brown and Dave Reveley (both 4th Dans) and Dale Fenwick (2nd Dan), Marcus then had to produce his syllabus theory to John Chrisp, Area Assistant Technical Officer for the Newcastle Area and 5th Dan. With that out of the way he then went on to the contest stage of his examination, where, in front of President Otani, he recorded three wins and a draw from four contests.
The event was an overall huge success with Marcus, Dave and Mark all enjoy the event. "President's Courses are always good, but this was particularly good with national squad coach Neil Rhode, also on the mat giving tuition", said Dave.

The only disappointment for Dundee Ippon was the non-presence of Val Duke, who was also intending to make the event, and grade alongside Marcus. Sadly Val damaged his knee ligaments the previous week and was rendered unable to contest. We all wish Val a speedy recovery and return to training.

Congratulations! go to Kevin Noble and Frank Arnot on their promotions on November 11th. Visiting Dan Grade Steve George from Washington, Tyne-and-Wear put the two Ippon Club members through there paces and was pleased with what he saw, awarding Frank his orange belt and Kevin his yellow. Sensei Steve was impressed with the overall standard of the club and it is encouraging that we had a visitor prepared to make his way to our dojo to grade some our students.

Presidents Course: On 24/15th of November, Khal, Marcus and Val will be making their way along with Sensei Dave to the President's Course in Newcastle where they too are hoping to gain new grades. It will be the first time that fighting for results will be necessary for Val and Marcus, so we wish them all well at at course that should be of benefit to all who attend.

Happy Birthday!: We celebrated our two years of existence in August 2007 with a barbeque in Sensei Dave’s garden. (see photos below). The weather stayed bright and warm and a good time was had by all. Special thanks must go to Roofing Contractor Willie Irvine, one of the founder members of the club. Willie no longer trains with us, but remains in touch and was kind enough to donate the meat for the BBQ. Others donated raffle prizes, so thanks go to Frank, Val and Ian for those. The special cooking talents of Khal and Kevin were utilised to stop sensei from handing out food poisoning to all.

The event raised more funds for the club that will, hopefully go towards us acquiring new mats. We are continuing to pursue an 'Awards for All' grant for this also.

Annual Summer School: Sensei Dave Hammond and Chris Neate both attended the 6^th Annual Summer School in Innerleithen at the beginning of August. The event was another big success, with Dave taking the instruction on the first of the four days the event ran. Painfully (for others) he concentrated on armlocks this year, following on from his session on strangles the previous year.

A good time was had, with some excellent tuition being received from BJC Vice President Jim Mealing (7^th Dan). Dundee was further represented by Aikido instuctor Alex Miller, who presented an hour and half session on transferable skills.

Presentation: Dundee Ippon presented a poster to Lochee Primary School in August, depicting the kanji for ‘Mutual Welfare and Benefit,’ one of the principle ethos of Judo. The schools head, Mr. Cannon, was impressed with our taster session and we are currently working on a return to the school for a six week stint, something that will hopefully bring in new junior members.

Junior Section: Dave Sensei and Val Duke will be visiting three local primary schools in the area over the next few weeks to encourage more young people to come along and train at Ippon Judo.

This will be followed by an open evening in the club on Tuesday 26th June. The idea is that juniors can come along for a free session, watched by their parents. With good publicity we can use this to greatly expand our junior section. New adults are invited to attend on that night also.

New Friends: Dundee Ippon are gaining friends rapidly. In early May four members of the club traveled to Brechin to train at the Mudanshakwai club. We discovered that we have much in common in the way we approach Judo and the intention is to continue our links by visiting them from time to time. The club coach has already declared his intention to join the BJC. We naturally extended an open invitation to their members to come and visit us in Dundee and look forward to meeting with them again.

This follows on from the links that have already been established with Milton in Glasgow. Dave Sensei is a regular visitor to the club, where 4th Dan B.J.C. and international competitor David McSkimming gives tuition.

On-going discussions are taking place with a number of other Scottish clubs regarding their affiliation to the B.J.C., with the aim of establishing a Scotland Area of the B.J.C. Anybody wishing to join these discussions can contact us via this website or B.J.C. H.Q in London.

Congratulatons: to Chris Neate who, along with Sensei Dave, attended the National Whitsun Course in Cromer. Chris revalidated his F.P.J. 1 coaching award and also gained his 4th Dan. A very enjoyable week was had by both Dundee Ippon members. Dave also came away with his Shadosha Dia Ichi award, a long and complicated coaching award, which he took a year to complete (most take two). He is also now a qualified club referee (Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh).

A BIG well-done: to Val, Marcus and Khal, who attended the Cumbria and The Borders inaugural area closed championship on Sunday 20 May. The intrepid trio left Dundee at 8 o'clock in the morning and by the time they returned they were laden with five trophies. Defeating Marcus in his first fight, Val went on to win gold in a category that saw all three Ippon students fighting together. Val edged gold by virtue of gaining an extra waza-ari before losing to Khal, whose win tally gave him a joint silver along with Marcus. Marcus and Val then entered the open category where they competed against three experienced heavyweight 1st kyu. Marcus picked up silver by virtue of two straight Ippon wins. He also scored two waza-ari in the other contests before succumbing to strangles in ground work. A big well done to all.

No Judo Tuesday, 28th May: The club will be closed on Tuesday 28th due to the fact that Dave Sensei will be attending the Annual B.J.C. Whitsun course at Cromer.

ClubDundee: We have been accepted into the ClubDundee scheme run by Dundee City Sports Council, which will help us develop the club over the next few years. This is an extra bonus because we were turned down by the Lottery people for a grant for mats. Securing monies for mats is now a priority for the club that is continuing to expand.

Congratualtions: to Blair Robertson, who went down to Galashiels for a 2** JudoScotland event on Sunday 13 May and came away with a silver medal. Blair was made to wait all afternoon as his weight category was the last to be competed, yet he held his nerve to win his first ever competitive fight with an Ippon, using his left-handed taiotoshi counter. Blair goes down in history as the first junior member of Dundee Ippon to take part in a contest and can be proud that he brought back a silver medal; the first of which we are sure will be many. This completed a good week for Blair, who only last Tuesday gained his first orange tab to be added to his yellow belt.

A Big Thank You! A big Thank you to Ricky Cahill who did the Speyside Way Walk, sponsored in aid of our funds for new mats. Ricky's walk took two days and he has raised around £200 for the club. An impressive fete and a massive gesture of good will on his part. Thanks, again Ricky!

Congratulations! Congratulations to Val, Marcus, Frank and Khal, who all gained new grades on Sunday, April 1st when they attended the one day course on armlocks at Innerleithen. Both Marcus and Val had to fight on three occasions, facing at one point a former junior national champion. It was a tough test for both, but they came through; Marcus coming within fifteen seconds of a draw against the experienced brown belt.

All four members benefited from the course, which put a number of armlocks into contest before facing their grading in the afternoon. The grading was taken by club coach Dave Hammond and assisted by Cramlington coach and Dan grade Mike Douglass, who is a close friend of the club. (See Gallery for group photo and picture of Khal and Frank trying to sort out seniority, now they are both 5th Kyu).

Web Presence: As well as being able to keep up to date on national events via the B.J.C.'s national website and area activity via our areas site, we now have our own Dundee Ippon dedicated website, in its early stages. The idea is that the site will allow us to have a profile outside of the club, but the intention is to use it as an internal tool. So please feel free to make any comments you think will make a positive impact. The area site and the B.J.C. site are available on the Links Page. The B.J.C. site now also contains an open forum.

Scottish Clubs: The British Judo Council is receiving increased interest in our activity in Scotland. It is to be hoped that in the not too distant future we will be able to establish an area in Scotland, based around clubs in Glasgow, Dundee and the Borders. This could expand further depending on enquiries. obviously this would make for more activity closer to home. This matter will be discussed at our Area A.G.M. (See diary).

Kit/Merchandise: The club logo can be embroidered on almost any piece of clothing you want. See Jacqui for details. Other B.J.C. merchandise; booklets available. Currently we have in stock lapel badges, key-rings, and a tie.

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Dates for Your Diary

Sunday 23rd September (T.B.C)	Galashiels, Borders	We will be travelling down to Galashiels on 23 September for a day of kata training. This will be an excellent chance to train with World Class kata exponents. Our friends from the North east, Dave Revley and Angela Brown, who are both former World Champions have expressed a desire to help us at this event and current world championship contenders Alex Reid and Paul Laverty from Glasgow have also said they would like to hook up with us.
Saturday 6th October	Newcastle	A road trip for the stout-hearted. The Greath Northern in an international competition that serious-minded competitors might want to have a go at. It is a B.J.C. open event, with many entering from across Britain and abroad.
Sat - Sun 24th -25th November	Newcastle	The Newcastle area is hosting the President's course with B.J.C. President Robin Otani. These courses are very popular and give a great opportunity to introduce ourselves to others of the B.J.C. family.
Please note that zori and white judogi are a requirement for all of these events

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