DIFFERENT FACETS OF JUDO
Prof. Marcelo Ehrlich
Hello friends of the digital magazine of Martial Arts "El Camino". In this fourth installment, we will continue to show different facets of our activity, experienced personally, at a national and international level, plus the experience of all the Judoka friends we have around the world. In matters of fundamental Judo, there is much to keep writing and talking about, filling books and interviews -as we will continue to do-, but today we will touch on something more domestic, closer to daily life, to a known reality. Thanks to social networks, and the different media, we can know in most cases, where there is a place where they teach Judo. Years ago, we had to do a lot of research, visiting the big clubs, asking friends, and most of the time, when you arrived at the place that they had indicated to you, what they taught was Karate! And it also happened to those who wanted Karate and when they arrived, it was Judo or Aikido. And the misinformation was precisely because nobody informed about the differences and it was preferred that the Dojos have few practitioners! Everything has been changing and that is great, we have brought the activity closer to those who are looking for it, we have brought the information
closer to everyone and we have shown a worldwide development of Judo, as had never been seen before. Since I started in Judo, until today, Uruguay received the visit of International Teachers, Trainers and Competitors, from many parts of the world. Personally, in our Dojos, I received teachings from people from Japan, China, Korea, Israel, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Soviet Union, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, etc., etc., in most cases by agreements to through the Uruguayan Judo Federation and the Uruguayan Olympic Committee. I also went to numerous countries (in America and Europe), to receive teachings, to train with people of a higher level than ours, to clear up my doubts, to see other realities and to show what I did. And everywhere (With a few rare exceptions), I found camaraderie, mutual aid, and friendship. Every time he returned to the Country, he tried to teach everything he had learned. And so they do until today, everyone who goes to learn something elsewhere. When they ask me what Uruguayan Judo is like, what type of school it has (if it answers to the French or Japanese or Brazilian school), I answer that it does not follow any in
particular, that although the technical guidelines are from Kodokan, from the Federation International Judo and the Uruguayan Judo Federation, we have always received and put into practice everything learned. For many years, we have carried out courses and seminars of all kinds, through the National Commission of Physical Education, the Ministry of Sports, the National Secretary of Sports, the Uruguayan Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, the South American Judo Confederation, the Pan American Judo Confederation, Judo and International Judo Federation. This speaks of official training, as very few activities in Uruguay can demonstrate. Of course we are talking more than anything about the sports part of Judo, the official competitions of all levels in Uruguay and the world, of a rich experience in South American, Pan American, World, Official International Championships and Olympic Games. The development of high-performance competitors, the training of Referees and Competition Officials and of all those who work in the development of a sports-competitive activity. We talk about the increasingly professional work and organization of the Uruguayan Judo Federation, to be in tune with the world! Of course, the foreign teachers who come to our country not only teach this sporting facet (only those who come exclusively for that purpose). It is very important to teach all the technical fundamentals, with their details, the teaching of Katas, the teaching of techniques for Security and Self-Defense, the teaching of inclusive judo, children's Judo, Social Judo, Traditional Judo. What about the categories mentioned in the previous paragraph, almost
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