| Liberty bell judo welcomed Nicolas Gill to philadelphia from Montreal. He is a two time olympic medalist (bronze and silver), 4 time olympian and 3 time world medalist and came to philadelphia on November 4th to put on three clinics at liberty bell judo club. Judoka from the Philadelphia area plus some members from clubs in Virgina and Maryland attended the workshops. The first class was for young children ages 6 - 12. nick spent alot of time on drills and warm up exercises, especially ne waza techniques. The kids got a chance to fight Nick in ne waza which was the highlight of the session for them. The second class was set up for advanced youth. A nice turnout of green blue and purple belts came to learn from Nick. He spent time on turn overs, chokes and tai otoshi in this session. Zachary Kransdorf from Liberty Bell had the pleasure to be uke for nick throughout the day. The last session which lasted almost 3 hours was for transitional juniors and seniors. the best part of the session was the tachi waza work with kata guruma. a favorite technique of gills. He went onto say how kata guruma helped him win his silver medal. Nick showed all different set ups and methods to grip for the throw. he uses his kata guruma as an off side throw. Nick, a lefty, showed how to set up right kata guruma. He also showed his uchi mata and o soto gari. In ne waza he practiced chokes and arm locks form the bottom postion. He stressed keeping your back off the mat to be able to move easier and control your opponent. The sessions were attended by about 60 - 75 total students from Liberty Bell Judo and the Philadelphia area. It was a real nice day for the Philly judoka to meet and be on the mat with one of the best ever from North America. |
