On the eve of the Cadet European Championship 2024, the Referee Commission, led by EJU Head Referee Director, Alexandr JATSKEVITCH, held an on-tatami, practical session with the refereeing team.
As always, the rules and special situations are revised, attendance of the Refereeing Seminars is always encouraged to have clarification in most scenarios, but this weekend is especially important. At cadet level, athletes are still very much in the developmental phase, and though winning is nice, at this age, the focus is on education and the responsibility of the referees.
Jatskevitch is very happy with these preparation meetings for his team, knowing they will be responsible for clear decisions and helping the athletes to understand. For example, understanding when to allow continuation with gripping, not to make rash decisions in regards to defensive gripping, but also much clearer situations which have been common in the past events among cadets including waki gatame.
For example a standard grip, if I attacked with sode, the grip would likely come off, but if I take the side, it might initially look negative but it is for the purpose of the technique. This is something we need to look for and not assume is something negative. Not only gripping or techniques, but also the attitude of the athlete, we see one going forward and looking positive and the other simply moving around and avoiding the grip, the other attempts a throw, may be a false attack, but then the other wins without doing any judo and this we cannot accept. These sessions are not specifically for cadets, but for judo in general, it was the request of our President to start having these prior to the European Championships.
In total, 22 videos were analysed during the meeting, discussing both the current rules and looking at potential rule changes following the Olympic Games 2024.
Author: Thea Cowen