The third session of the Improve Your Club Seminar was carried out by Olympic Silver medallist, Vitaly MAKAROV. The Champion focused on what known as his signature technique, Uchi-Mata. During his tutorial, he focused on different aspects of Uchi-Mata, from the posture to the footwork and so on. It was certainly a very successful morning for all attended. Mr. Makarov expressed his toughts after the session;
“It was a pleasure for me to deliver one of the sessions at this seminar. Everyone paid attention and asked many questions, which I was very pleased with. It was also nice to receive positive feedback from our guests from Kodokan, and to be reassured I am teaching the right things. These sessions are not about opening secrets here, it is about making sure that coaches who are working with children can correctly demonstrate important movements in judo. Because incorrectly taught techniques can cause serious damage such as a very bad injury and so on. Furthermore, once a child has been taught something incorrectly, it is really hard to change those, let’s say, bad habits.”
“In regards to why I choose Uchi-Mata, well, it was my favourite technique but not my only one. Unfortunately, people only remember me as knowing how to throw Uchi-Mata – he laughs. However, I have more techniques. Nevertheless, what is important is that once you master one technique correctly and efficiently, your opponents will begin to be cautious about it which creates opportunities to build onto your repertoire with more techniques to implement as a reaction. Overall, it was a great experience and I am pleased I was able to share my knowledge here today.”