To be, or to become, a referee for the disabled G-Judo referee, there are some basic prerequisites.
First of all, you must already be a licensed judo referee with sufficient experience. Only then you can give the right level of attention to the competitors rather than to the match itself. Another essential quality is an empathy for people with mental disabilities, and you must have sufficient knowledge of the physical abilities and disabilities of the participants. It is also an advantage if you understand – from personal experience – how such sportspeople engage in their chosen sport.
Alongside judging and leading the Judo match, the G-Judo referee also gives structure to the match for the lower level competitors and provides security for all participants. He or she must have understanding of the competitors emotions, and be able to communicate with them in an effective manner.
Refereeing
In a judo fight (Level 1 & 2) there are 2 competitors and 1 or 3 referees. The referees manage the fight “by the book”. In a G-Judo game (level 5, 4 and 3) there are 3 participants of which 2 are in judogi and one is in black. In such a match the referee manages “from the heart”. The lower the skill level, the greater the role of the heart. Go to classification page
Therefore, especially with the lower levels, the most important rule is that the referee is responsible for the safety and well-being of both competitors. For this reason the referee is allowed to adopt a personal interpretation of the rules – excepting prohibited actions – where the safety or well-being of one of the participants is at risk. Special attention is given to the neck of the competitor, in order to prevent accidents related to Atlanto-axial instability. That is why there is a very specific article in the rule book (art 2 sub 4) which says “ the referee ensures that both in tachi-waza’ and ne-waza the neck is not strangled in such a way that risks for injury exist !”. This means that the referee has to be very alert to the correct execution of the Ne-Wasa techniques such as :
e.g. Kuzure-Tate-Shiho-Gatame Hon-gesa-gateme Kata-gateme and some Tachi-Wasa techniques like e.g. Koshi-Guruma Kubi-nage.
This all means that G-Judo refereeing is more a matter of instinct than of application of the rules. You must be able to sense when things can be permitted, and when you have to intervene.
Naturally, there are also some specific rules you must be aware of like the special rules for G-competitors who have additional visual (IBSA) or hearing limitations. See VI-judo
Additional special rules cover how to award scores in both Tachi-waza matches – where scoring is done as in all judo games – and in Ne-waza matches with the use of tilting techniques such as : Ippon-seoi-nage, Koshi-guruma, o-soto-gari, makikomi (!!) etc, where depending on the “landing”, and the control scores can be awarded with either koka, yuko, wazari or even ippon.
There are very strict rules regarding how and when to intervene to stop forbidden techniques. Naturally, all prohibited actions from the standard IJF rules are equally not allowed for G-Judo. Additionally, in Tachi-Waza, all forms of sutemi-waza / all forward throws on 1 or 2 knees / to pull away 2 legs of your opponent with both hands e.g. morote-gari, ryo-ashi-dori are prohibited. In Ne-Waza matches, all forms of ude-kansetsuwaza, all forms of shime-waza and all forms of sankaku-waza are forbidden.
The G-judo referee must be able to explain to all levels of competitors why these actions are to be avoided.
Some special kinds of interpretations of the rules are generally accepted in G-judo, in such a way that an “ippon” at the very start of the game can – if there is reasonable doubt – be interpreted as a “wassari” (this is not the same as the UK rule of “no ippon in the first 15 of the match”). Another example is that the referee needs to be very fast with a “sone-mamma”. It is better here to be too early than a fraction too late. Nobody minds if you miss a few seconds for an osea-komi / tokota situation, but everyone will blame the referee for allowing a neck injury to happen.
As G-judo Referee, you know you have had a successful day if there have been no real injuries on your mat that day, and if all participants are looking forward to the next tournament !
As a final remark, I would like to add that there are no fixed rules for these special interpretations. If a G-judo referee has not been able to develop, within a reasonable period, the necessary gut feeling for when, what and how to apply the appropriate interpretations of the rules – he or she will never acquire the skill. Also, if your drive to become a G-Judo referee is with the expectation that it will be easy, nice or just fun – please don’t even begin !
For those of you who – after reading this – would still like to become a G-Judo referee, there is a last, serious, warning “Think carefully about it before you start, because before you realize it, it has become an addictive activity”.
Herman Rurup
Chairman National JBN Referee Committee G-Judo E-mail him
PS
If you want, JBN can help you with a 60 slide power-point presentation on training G-Judo referees Example of the slide-show
