This is a piece that I wrote in December 2006. It is as relevent today as it was then. The High Wycombe Judo Centre are now catering for young rugby players on a regular weekly basis.

SHINJIDO FOR RUGBY

Background

On 26th November 2006, the Welsh Rugby Coach, Gareth Jenkins issued a statement that the All Blacks owe their current supremacy to judo. The New Zealanders have included judo sessions as part of their training. They have employed judo coaches for 3 years. The Welsh squad had judo sessions for a month prior to their game with the All Blacks, bringing in the Welsh National Judo Coach, Neil Adams. These were “enlightening to say the least” and are being continued on a regular basis. Gareth Jenkins wants all his regional squads to take up judo as a serious part of their training.

Leicester Tigers have been having judo instruction. They are currently arranging for their squads to have regular judo sessions and are about to equip 650 with judogi (judo suits).

Judo is set to become part of the rugby scene for all serious contenders.

In many respects Plymouth Albion under the tutelage of Graham Dawe, were ahead of the field. They had an introduction to Judo, Aikido and Shinjido in February 2003. I first captured their imagination by inviting a player twice my weight to push me. I was able to push him back the length of the dojo. In just a few sessions new skills were developed that have remained parts of their game.

There is little doubt that judo can benefit rugby players; likewise a rugby player should make a good judoka. Both sports require strength, stamina, speed and courage.

The Shinjido Option

Shinjido has been developed through Judo, Aikido and Tai Chi experience. It is based upon sound principles one of which is rarely seen in martial arts – GAP (gravity assisted power). It can be demonstrated that throwing or putting someone down, takes less effort using GAP. It is likely that judo could lead to infringing the rules of rugby if the throws are blatant; especially should injury occur. Shinjido throws are far more subtle and can be applied with or without harm according to need.

The judo world is not fully aware of Shinjido although this is likely to change. The annual coaching review of the year featured Roy Imman OBE, Andrew Moshanov, British Team Coach (former Russian Team Coach) and myself. At that time I had already developed around 50 new techniques for use on the judo mat and the repertoire has continued to grow.

Whilst judo skills will benefit a rugby player for tackling, it is of less benefit to the player with the ball. Judo is a sport for one against one. This is where the Aikido concept can be of benefit. Aikido as a martial art is predominately about avoidance.

First you evade your opponent’s force and then you counter. A common practice in Aikido is four or five man attack. They all come at once and it is up to the Aikidoka to evade and stay on his feet. This has obvious parallels with rugby. A combination of judo and aikido would be extremely valid for rugby. Shinjido offers both in one package and more besides.

Conditioning

Rugby places very high physical demands upon the player. The training emphasis is on power and stamina and there are well established routines to cater for physical conditioning. Shinjido exercises would compliment this with exercise to develop mind and body co-ordination. Being relaxed and centred in martial arts is similar to “playing in the zone” in sports and games. Using the word relaxation may be somewhat misleading. Complete relaxation is only achieved when the body is totally supported. In sport and martial arts, there must be an optimum level of tension and this will alter according to the activity. I was experimenting with this aspect some 30 years ago with judo players. A rugby player needs to be focused but should perform better and be less prone to injury, if in general the tension is reduced to the optimum level for the game.

Mind and Body Co-ordination

This is a term frequently used in the soft (internal) martial arts such as Tai Chi, Hising, Pakua and Aikido. It is also a phrase used by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. Relaxation plays a large part in mind and body co-ordination. Tohei Sensei (who was responsible for the spread of Aikido outside of Japan) placed great emphasis on his 5 principles for developing Ki (Chi in Chinese) The first principle is relaxation and is stated as “Relax Completely”. This should be interpreted as dynamic relaxation for the obvious reason that your body would require support.

Skills

Ideally one should look at every aspect of the game and question how could individual performance be improved? This could range from taking a penalty, where simply the ability to relax under pressure could be important, to new ways of taking an opponent down and securing the ball. Techniques for rugby, taking full allowance for the rules, should evolve. A technique only becomes a skill when it can be used in a real competition environment. For that reason an on going program should be established. This would enable the coach to attend to individual needs, thus producing more players with unique skills. Squad members should be encouraged to join their local judo club for additional practice. Judo mats are very resilient and the risk of injury would be less than that of traditional rugby training.