What do you do after you lose in a judo competition?
Do you pack your stuff up and go home or back to your hotel?
More often than not I’ve seen judoka make this error. Most of the time judoka make it because they get emotionally involved in the loss of a judo match or competition.
After you’ve lost the match or the competition, it’s over. There’s nothing that you can do about. What you can do right then, at that present moment is make the best, quality decision for that moment and that means, you immediately transform from a judo competitor, to a judo student.
To explain, right after you have lost the judo match and are out of the judo competition, your job and primary focus for the rest of the day should be to watch, learn and record.
WATCH, LEARN & RECORD
1. Watch the judo players who have advanced further than you. Watch their warmups, how they play their matches, the strategies they invoke;
2. Record their matches. Film their matches so that you can analyze their matches as you will analyze yours after the competition. Study your competition. Always create more opportunities to study and scout;
3. Learn what it is that they have done and are doing to get to the point which they are and learn what it is that you did not do which has you watching from the spectator position.
IN SUMMARY
The golden thread here is that you must become a student of the game of Judo if you want to be a successful judo player. Practicing is only one element of the judo puzzle when it comes to getting good and being good. Another element is studying. Without studying the game of judo and gathering information to study, it is almost impossible to be good.
I had to learn early in my judo career to turn my losses into wins even if I lost on the mat. Meaning, even if I lost on the mat, I would win in the long term because I had more data to study, more matches to watch and I had observed more judo on that day that I lost, than I had previously. I always found a way to become a better judo player, even when I lost a match or judo competition.
Having A “Okay Now I’ve Lost” Strategy is important too. When you lose, and you will lose judo competitions from time to time, make sure you do not lose the lesson!
And NEVER leave the competition after you lose. You’ve already paid for the competition. If you are not competing, stay and observe!