Before the competition aspect of the Velika Gorica Get Together Tournament 2024 could commence, an afternoon of assessment and divisioning took place to ensure that judoka were in the appropriate groups. The levels range from 1 to 5 for under and over 16s.
Lead Divisioner, Kerry TANSEY, led the sessions with the coaches instructed to remain mat side so that they could observe the process and have the ability to voice any issues they felt there may be, and to advocate for their judoka. After a number of warm up activities including ne waza coordination and kumikata, the judoka could be assessed based on their physical capabilities.
Tansey explained the purpose of these divisioning sessions,
We are looking to identify the appropriate level of the judoka to compete fairly in a shiai situation, thus enabling their judo ability to be seen and to showcase what they can do. When we have all levels on the tatami, we can clearly identify the differences and it allows us to visually identify fair competition groups.
Since the inaugural event in Venray which was held in November, Tansey can already see progress,
I have already seen that the coaches are more open to learning and really embracing the divisions and levels in order to encourage the development of the players, we know that their levels can fluctuate so these sessions are very important.
We were also able to identify in Venray, that level 5s need to be solely on their own so that they can have the attention they deserve, and then 1-4 can have their respective sessions. They need to be separate, not only for attention, but to give them appropriate activities depending on their levels.
At the end of the divisioning sessions, Tansey announced that they were happy with the assignments based on todays performance, however also highlighted that it was the duty of the coach to act in their judokas best interest and determine how they were feeling tomorrow and whether or not their assigned level is still the best fit.
Author: Thea Cowen