Neil Adams positive about new judo rules

The 2018 World Championships host city of Baku in Azerbaijan hosted the IJF Referee and Coach Seminar this week where the the newly-adapted rules were presented to coaches and referees.

The two-day seminar attracted 365 representatives from 98 nations. Day one opened with a theoretical session on Friday morning as the adapted rules were outlined by IJF Head Referee Director Juan Carlos Barcos. In the afternoon former World Champion Neil Adams led the practical session on the tatami alongside former world champion and current IJF Sports Director Daniel Lascau.

Neil Adams, who received the IJF Expert award in December at the Tokyo Grand Slam, demonstrated examples of the new changes with an emphasis on the kumi-kata.
The double Olympic silver medallist said: “The new rules are a culmination of our research of the last Olympic cycle and create a path for judo to be more dynamic. I believe these changes will lead to less shidos, more ippons and overall a more positive presentation of our sport.
“I was pleased with the reaction of the coaches and referees to what was delivered. Coaches need to have a positive approach to the changes to enable their athletes to quickly adapt to them and show their best judo. The kumi-kata will be vital with the loosening of the gripping restrictions and judoka now have more freedom to engineer attacks and that will be very interesting to follow in this trial period for the rules.
“I feel that the seminar was very successful and I look forward to seeing the progression of our sport on the IJF World Judo Tour this year and in the next Olympic cycle.”

In addition to the aforementioned, a smorgasbord of legends shared the tatami including Olympic champions Yamashita Yasuhiro, IJF Development Director, Ki-young Jeon, IJF Sport Commissioner, Hosokawa Shinji, IJF Education and Coaching Commissioner, Inoue Kosei, Japan head coach, Kawaguchi Takao, IJF Referee Commissioner, and Giuseppe Maddaloni, Italian national coach turned IJF Fast Track Refereeing Programme member. 
Saturday saw a resumption of the technical analysis before a presentation of coach training opportunities and the Olympic solidary scheme by Mohamed Meridja, IJF Education and Coaching Director. IBSA Judo, the International Blind Sports Federation, who signed a second and expanded MoU with the IJF in 2016, presented their rules and their plans to implement the new IJF rules while retaining their specific nuances for visually impaired and deaf judoka. A final theory session reviewed several scenarios as 150 clips were presented to show situations such as pushing out, bridging, waki-gatame, ne-waza or tachi-waza, waza-ari or ippon.
IJF President Marius Vizer said in a Q&A session on Saturday evening. “Previously amendments to the rules have been met with some negativity because some individuals have a conservative mentality. Today we have different comments and attitudes. We have a different community who appreciates our vision and creativity."