The
accommodation at the dojo was very good. We had a small apartment to ourselves
below the dojo. The kitchen was easily big enough for the six of us and had a
separate dining area for us to eat together. The bedroom was a little small but
it did have three bunk beds so at least we got a bed each and didn’t have to
share. I think there was probably a drain close by though as we all agreed that
there was a funny smell. Maybe it could have been linked to the “deflating
balloon” sound that we all used to hear each evening as we were going to sleep?!We had to cook food for ourselves which seemed to go ok however, without Danny and Carl I am not sure we would have coped as well. Perhaps next time we should invite Gordon Ramsay along to give the Finneys a break. We all took it in turns to do the washing up though we all liked Crouch’s short cut; whenever he was on duty he celebrated by smashing a couple of glasses, so we had less to wash up!. Does he do that at home or is he Greek I wonder?! Well it was his birthday on the Wednesday and perhaps he was just in a party mood. We tried to give him a party meal at the football club across the street so we did make an effort for the “smasher”.
As generous as ever Chris gave us some money before we left and appointed me as “banker” with strict instructions to spend it wisely. Despite the temptation to hit the town we resisted and made sure that we spent it on nothing other than food and accommodation – honest Chris!! (We kept receipts for everything and we did give you the change).
On
a more serious and very painful note, each day we did two training sessions; one
commencing at 08:00 until 10:00 and the second from 18:00 until 20:00 each
evening Doesn’t sound a lot does it? All I can say is that you should try it!
What did we do in between times? We simply ate and slept!The morning session was based around improving our techniques. The second session mainly consisted of nagi komi and randori. I fared reasonably well in the randori sessions however I was largely out muscled being considerably lighter than all of the members at the club. I’m pretty sure I was the only U-46kg fighter at the camp!! Maybe I should give up the Wellbeing diet that Jason insists we endure and switch to a meat, potato and beer diet like Finney. Being Commonwealth Champion twice suggests it has a lot going for it.
After each session we spent a considerable time improving our flexibility by doing various stretches and I believe that this is something we should do after sessions at Tonbridge. Perhaps we should enrol in a yoga night school class?
During each technical session Carl made me concentrate on three aspects of my ipon-seo-nagi:
• Foot positioning
• Looking up and not bending forwards
• Not bending my legs too much
Carl also taught me how to use an over the top grip for o-uchi, co-uchi and o-soto gari.
Carl also pointed out that I should keep my back straight when I fight and stop dropping to my knees. I feel that my judo would improve greatly if I learned how to do a standing technique other than o-uchi and co-uchi, and worked hard on perfecting tomenagi.
Best of all about the training sessions though was fighting with boys from all over Europe as well as from the Munich club itself. It really adds to your experience, as the guys over there fight in a completely different style which means you never know what is coming. The coaches at the club, Richard Trautmann and Ralf Matusche, also taught us some great moves. Just like Chris, Richard was an Olympian and even took bronze medals at Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996. It’s a real privilege to learn from such great players.
Sorry Chris, but the only thing for it is for you to book us a return trip to Munich. Maybe next time we could go in summer, or perhaps Finney has a good idea by combining the next visit with the Oktoberfest – this sounds interesting and cultural, we should check it out on the internet!
More Munich Training Camp Photos
Dean Garlick
Tonbridge Judo Club
Band C, U-46kg player
(and first time Munich ‘tourist’!!)
