JJIF Technical Congress, Sofia/Bulgaria 2005

Opening of the Technical Congress

The President of JJIF, Dr. Paul Höglund, acting meeting chairman, declared the congress opened and welcomed all delegates and all those present.
After greeting everyone, he pointed out that this would be a result-oriented meeting, aimed at constructive decision-making and joint discussions.
The Sport and Referee Directors were expected to highlight the results of their committee’s discussions, and table down the main issues and conclusions.
The President stressed out that the decisions  made at the congress would be a sound basis for the  future recommendations, due to be addressed  to the Board; all decisions would  be of major importance for the future of ju-jitsu.

The President addressed all delegates, Members of the Board, thanked the Bulgarian JJ Federation and its dynamic President Tomo Borissov, as well as his competent staff for the very good organization of the congress.

It was underlined that the recent World Championship in Madrid, though very successful, revealed too many problems. The attention of all present was drawn to the fact that important matters should not only be discussed, but handled successfully in order to remedy the situation.

The President thanked everybody for their hard work for making the sport of ju-jitsu very successfully – both technical, and referee functionaries. The necessity of increasing the educational activities, of making  a system analysis of the competition system – and outlining those components due to  be changed was stressed out. The decision-making to be oriented to maximize the benefit both of athletes and competitors; all discussions and decisions to be the starting point for making ju-jitsu the best of all martial arts – all this should be the very essence of all debates. The President wished everyone good luck in the discussions.

On the suggestion of Luis Baguena, JJIF Vice-President, and President of JJEU, everybody stood up and introduced him/herself.
 

Referee Committee – main issues tabled down for discussions:

1. Referee passports

The necessity for every referee to have a passport, revealing his/her status – whether being a continental, or world referee, was underlined; furthermore it was pointed out:  the passport to be signed for each participation in JJEU or JJIF tournaments;  the passport to be used for checking whether the referee had been active on the mat, or not. These arguments were put to the vote.
Thus, it was decided to introduce the referee passports, as well as to sign them after each official European or World tournament.

2. Referee Refreshment courses

A very reasonable argument was given: In order to be up-to-date with the rules, referees should attend 1-day refreshment courses before each European, World Championship, or the World Games. This should be a must. If such courses should not be attended, then the referee would not be entitled to act as such. This conclusion was unanimously approved.

3. Selection of referees

The Referee committee’s main conclusion on this issue was announced.  The current practice was explained -  each country selects and sends the referees. The following necessary change was stressed out:  In future there should be a list, on the grounds of the available data base, and this list should be the one to play a decisive role for the nomination of the referees for each tournament. JJIF will recommend to the countries which referee could participate in a tournament. This argument was approved unanimously.

4. Greater cooperation between the Referee and the Technical Committees.

Everybody present embraced the idea that such a cooperation was more than necessary.
A proposal was made: to the JJIF Referee Committee, comprising 4 persons, to  be added: 1 assistant from the JJEU(Roel van Ravens) and 1 assistant from the  PAJJU(Michael Piaser). It was decided that this idea will be  suggested to the Board for further consideration.
 

Technical Committee – main issues tabled down for discussions:

1.Fighting system

The following arguments, based on every-day practices and experience were outlined:
- The mat referee should have the power to conduct, lead and handle the match.
- The big problem, a referee is faced with, is that too many decisions have to be made in one second.
- One mat referee –  to be the only one to make the signs, not the side referees.

These ideas were refuted by the referees – their main arguments were:
- It is difficult for one man to make judgements from different angles, and to see what is happening; one cannot judge for something that is not properly seen; it is not possible to score the points correctly without the side referees.

It was decided that these ideas could be tested. It was also agreed that the final goal should be making a match more spectacular.
The Chairman rounded up the discussion by saying that  the referee and the technical directors, alike,  could jointly test these ideas in practice – on the mat, and then decide what to do and how to proceed.

2. Duo System

Opinions were expressed that the duo system was currently very stiff, and  without any contact whatsoever; realistic reactions should be mainly evaluated – it should be judged whether a throw could be effected so quickly in real-life situations.
It was unanimously decided that  the whole system needed reasonable criteria for judging the realistic techniques; the necessity of more criteria on realism was pinpointed; a requirement to start with the education of referees for adequate evaluation of  real self-defence techniques. It was agreed that coaches and referees should work together. They should watch video recordings in order to find out the correct solutions and come to the proper conclusions. More tests could be made at the summer camp, by paying greater attention  to the criteria.
The Chairman underlined the necessity of making more practical interpretations of the existing criteria.

3. Colour of the Gi

Two different points of view were voiced out:
a) The colour of the gloves and gi-s to be different; possible only 2 options
b) To have a free choice – any colour to be accepted

It was unanimously decided to have 2 colours – totally different from the other martial arts – white and black.
Thus, it was specified: white gi and white gloves; black gi and black gloves.
For the referees – the handcuffs, should also be changed.
The belts to be changed; the scoreboards, etc.

4. Injury Time

A proposal was made that -  if after 20 sec. the injured competitor should  not stand up, then the referee was supposed to call the doctor; three minutes to be given for fixing a joint.
It was unanimously decided to have a very hard judgement – and to reduce the time for lying down to one minute, alone.

The chairman announced a break: from 16:00 through 16:15 hrs.

After the break the proposal made by the Bulgarian JJ Federation was read. No questions were raised, or objections made,  regarding the practical application of the self-defence techniques.

5. A conclusion for the necessity to make a distinction between active and natural resistance was tabled down. The main arguments given were:  60 % of the competitors win due to technical penalties; passivity should be done away with; forbidden acts should be the only  ones to lead to disqualification; two “Chui”  = “Hansokumake”; “Shido” cannot be upgraded to “Chui”; the fight  should not stop all the time(as “shido” only brings more points to the opponent). The proposal was supported unanimously.

6. Medical

A question was raised what  should follow if somebody happened to be  in a knockout. It was stressed out that there was no rule about such a situation. It was agreed upon that if with a concussion, a competitor should be taken out of the tournament immediately.

7. New competition ideas were proposed: before the next World Championship in Rotterdam, to test the following system: 1 round = 3 minutes. It was underlined that this system had been successfully tried in the Netherlands. This could be a good chance to try it on an international level.
Everybody present accepted the idea.

8. A decision was made  that at the Summer Camp in Bulgaria all countries  should be called for to bring samples of materials (tatami, gloves, protectors, etc.); thus the products of various companies could be tested and  the best ones  -recommended to the Board.

9. Straight punch to the head – with regard to this proposal, 3 main points had been outlined:

- whether  it is  to be introduced
- if yes, then the gloves should be bigger;
- the realistic part is very important

Opinions were expressed that this might be a very dangerous step; while the philosophy is quite different – no touch on the face
The votes pro and against were almost equal.
This is why, it was decided that those ones who were in favour, could test it at the next camp.

10. Policy for the Youth (under 21)

An argument for such a policy and active work among the youth was strongly defended. Coaches should start official competitions. The German Federation shared their experience for having a special programme for the youth(under 21 competitors). It was pointed out that JJIF needed world-wide rules for these competitors; all-the-more,  there was a ready-made framework; just  a definite decision was needed.  The proposal that this should be initiated as soon as possible was accepted unanimously; there was only one vote against.

11. About the Dan’s system

It was unanimously agreed upon the following: more explanation should be made at the summer camp; this should be done step by step; there should be a very careful work with the newcomers;  samples should be offered so that a proper training to be guaranteed;  the main guidelines to be on the web-site. The offered drawings of the major basics, summarized by the Sport Director,  were unanimously approved as the perfect guideline for all new beginners.

12. New idea about a Coach Committee

The presentation, made by Bert van Haren, from the Netherlands, was very well done. The idea for achieving a closer inter-relation – between coaches and referees, and for making them into one team was approved.

13. Referees

The following main arguments were voiced out: in fact, every nation chooses its own referees; the rules are the same – for continental referees one must be recommended by the national federations; then one should have at least 2 year- practice on a national level; the exam for continental referees, after the respective proposal of the country, should be organized on a week-end basis, at an easy-to-arrive place; then there should be 2-year practice on a national level; after the exam – there should be at least 3 times in a period of 2 years – active, real practice,  before getting the licence for a continental referee. It was underlined that there should be a clear distinction between national, continental and world referees; continental could be referees only for continental championships; international – for international championships.

14. Others

The following suggestions were made and opinions expressed:
- To work out a procedure for protests; all protests to be given in writing, plus 50 Euro, not subject to refund if the protest is not accepted.
- The guarantee money for the World Games – to be returned immediately afterwards, not in 2-years time;
- For the summer camp – to invite also young competitors and handicapped;
- If there is a difference of 14 points, the match is to finish immediately
- All new proposals that will be tested, to be introduced after the World Games; no immediate changes should be made at present; there should be a time-frame for each separate proposal and its testing;

Closing of the Technical Congress

The President, chairing the discussions, thanked everyone for having made the first step of good cooperation. He thanked everyone for attending the congress  and for the good discipline. He thanked for the work done – the sport directors,  the organizers, and everyone.

The Technical Congress was closed down at 19:00 hrs.
 

APPENDIX: (by Serbian observers)

One of the issues also discussed was whether the haito uchi (circular hand strike with ridge of the thumb) should be allowed. It was mentioned by Dr. Zdravkovic during the session that current gloves do not cover the ridge and that this strike is not controllable enough. Dr. Hoglund was interested in this, same as few other delegates, but the president of Ref. Commission said there were no problems so far with that strike. There was no voting on this matter.
 
Dr. Zdravkovic also recommended during discussion in Sofia that the rules of Fighting System should be as close to WKF karate and JIF judo rules as possible. Some delegates agreed, but no voting was done either.
 
Rest of the proposals which were not discussed or voted were:

1. German recommendation to introduce striking during Part 2 and Part 3 in Fighting system - refused
3. Greek suggestion to introduce a 3-points valid strikes in Part 1 (i.e. perfect kick) = not discussed.
3. Russian suggestion to automatically end the match after the first choke or locking technique - not discussed.
4. USA suggestion from George Anderson to prohibit all open-handed strikes - not discussed
5. USA suggestion from Bruce R. Bethers to implement common lower age limits and time-in-grade for Dan promotions - refused without voting, after several complains and discussion from Danish and few other representatives - who wanted absolute freedom for national organizations to make their own Dan promotions.