Cockey
I have studied judo for over 50 years with many instructors, some national champions. However beyond demonstrating throws, none could explain the biomechanics of the sport. Then I trained at Mambi Judo in Tampa, Florida, under Del Diaz, who had studied judo since age seven. Before moving to Florida, Sensei Diaz had been a division chief at the Cuban Olympic Training Center. In his division
were boxing, fencing, Olympic taekwondo, and judo. The knowledge of biomechanics for judo comes from Japan. Masayuki Takahama, a six- time champion of Japan’s National Police Force, westernized Japanese teaching methods into a system. Takahiko Ishikawa, All-Japan Champion, assisted in teaching competition skills for Cuba. Sensei Diaz agreed to hold a special class for me and two other black belts. Although we had much experience in judo, what we saw was vastly different from what we had known. Sensei Diaz explained that this was New School, the Japanese term for judo that had evolved through competition. Sensei’s training partner, who had studied judo extensively in Japan, elaborated about how Japan teaches two types of judo -- traditional and competitive. I had a friend who had been trained as an elite judo athlete and as a coach in a sports academy. He came from Lithuania. This country is renowned for sambo and traditional judo and had taken a bronze medal in judo at the World Championships that year. Training with him would show the difference between Old and New School Judo. When my friend does judo, he leans his head away and uses strong bicep motions to pull his opponent. In New School, kuzushi (off-balancing) is performed not by arm strength but by shifting weight between toes and heels. This allows for arms to be relaxed with elbows down. The judoka executes throws more by pushing than pulling. Power is more from the front than the back, without strain on the spine and with fewer back problems. My friend invited me to Lithuania to meet his coach, Petras Vinciunas. I was nervous about teaching something to a coach held in such high esteem, but he was friendly and open to new ideas. He was especially interested when I described how New School was developed for grip fighting and breaking through defenses. After showing some throws and explaining differences between the two schools, I asked him to hold me in a strong stance not allowing me to move. I then controlled him as I moved out of my weak position into a throw. New School is about control. My experience in Lithuania proved to me that New School works! I continued to drill and improve my skills and have tested them against many opponents stronger and heavier than I. I now teach at Grady’s Family MMA Gym. Owner Don Grady, skilled in judo, wrestling, boxing, and jiu-jitsu, wants everyone in his gym to learn New School. It is a perfect fit in an MMA studio because New School has biomechanics identical to other fighting arts. And because New School utilizes pushing instead of pulling, it works well without a judogi. Last year I attended The Greatest Camp in North Carolina, where I demonstrated New School. All who watched returned with cameras to video my presentations. I am writing this article in preparation for the next Greatest Camp. While writing this article, I met someone who had studied Japanese martial arts for 45 years and had been stationed with the U.S. military in Japan. He trained at a grandmaster’s dojo that had never accepted a foreigner. Fortunately one of the instructors was an English professor who wanted someone to practice English with. After many years training there, the American observed a seminar for the Japanese master instructors. A special guest explained that though judo instructors had been taught by demonstrating throws, the leadership had decided it was time for change, especially for the play arts, a Japanese expression describing Olympic-like competition. Now teaching would focus on sports science and biomechanics. They would call the new system New School and the old, Old School. The special guest explained that New School was about controlling an opponent. He then demonstrated the biomechanics that made it impossible for other instructors to pick him up, even though he was small and light. The American vividly remembers the event because he had never witnessed anything in Japanese culture to prepare him for the admission that they would change to something new. He explained that to understand the concept of New School, imagine that you have a plastic flowerpot that’s been in your yard for years. As the pot aged, it changed color and shape because of things growing in and around it. New School is like chiseling off growth to bring it back to its original state. To me, that description fits, because all who have seen New School judo agree that it returns judo to its original art. Robert M. Cockey stands between Mike Tusay (in white judogi), who represented the USA in the 2014 African Open, and Gediminas Pakalnis of Lithuania. Sensei Cockey coached Pakalnis at the recent Dallas Invitational and President’s Cup. Cockey teaches New School-style judo in his New School Judo club in Florida.
