liamyokoyama's personal blog

It's been a while since I wrote any thing here..
I am now back to training spending 4 weeks in Queensland to get fit and get ready for the first comp of 2012 ...ACT Open Feb 11 in Canberra.. need to get a good result in this one as it's the first selection comp for the 2012 OJU championships..
Feb 11 & 12 Canberra ACT International Open . Made 60kg in junior men gold and seniors bronze.. 12 points towards junior men Oceania selection , now only need a good result at the Queensland Open in March to get selected for the team.
Bronze in ACT seniors gave me 3 points on the Australian senior 60kg rankings , I hope to improve on that at the Queensland open...
Queensland Open did not perform well took silver in my age devision and bronze in seniors not at my best form have to do better at oceania..

Just spent a week in Jakata Indonesia wow !
Will update this soon !

Been away seven weeks Japan Kiev and Melbourne..
Back home and back to school have a lot to catch up on so I can get into year 11 next year.
On our way home we stopped off in Melbourne for the Victorian open..
It took us almost 20 hours to get there after a delay of 9 hours in the airport in Bangkok.
We arrived in Melbourne around 5pm on Friday and then had to make it out to Monash uni before 8pm to make the weigh in's. We got there at about 7 so I still had some time to get on the tred mill and run off 800 grms
I made weight 66kg and fought and won Gold in cadet and Junior men and Silver in senior men..

Last day in Japan before flying to Kiev, its been a hectic 5 weeks training at the gym 6 days a week and at Kokushikan High school and Suzuki dojo.
Met some great sensie who helped me improve ..Iwabuchi sensei at Kokushikan and Suzuki sensei. I was lucky to trained with some strong players at Kokushikan high school and at Suzuki dojo . Kokushikan won the 'Kinshu-ki(Golden Eagle flag)' and became the best high school judo team in Japan once again, well done guys !
Now time to sleep and be ready for an early train ride to Narita....
We arrived in Kiev arround midnight and there was some one from the JFA waiting to escourt us through immigration , which was over in seconds and we were out to pick our bags and get into a van to take us to our hotel. Pretty good service. Monday we went for an explore of Kiev underground as the rest of the team had not arrived yet.
One of the JFA interpreters showed us the way to the entrence of the subway and how to buy tickets.
It was not far from the hotel and right next to the sports palace which was hosting the cadet worlds.
The subways are amazing in Kiev at our station we had to go down on the escelator about 300 metres to get to the first platform and then navigate to another rail line to go to our destination. My dad wanted to look for a cheap video cam so we were heading for a shopping area that had applience and electrical store.

It was really interesting to walk around and see .. we also walked around a few malls and my dad bought some sun glasses. Kiev was warm and the people were pretty friendly most of the younger people could speak a little English and every one was helful when we got lost hahaha..
Monday night the rest of the team arrived and we had to move rooms. I was sharing with Noam Tidhar and my dad was with Noam's dad Gil... Tuesday we had our first training session together as a team Dennis Ivorson Rob Katz were the team coaches and my dad also got on the mat to help out as well.
Just a light session for about 90 minutes.
Later in the afternoon we had some time to our selves.
Wednesday we had another session on the mats and in the afternoon the team was invited to go to the Ukraine Australian friendship association down town. They put on a small function for us and we met some local Ukrainian kids and some American Ukraininan students on exchange. We played some games and exchanged small gifts and had a good laugh together we pretty good.
Thursday was first day of Competition so Kai Png and Mark Tobin had to be up early to go to the weigh in. the rest of us went to the venue a little later to watch the 50's and 55 males and the 40 an 44kg females compete.
Mark was the first to fight he had a player from Italy Elios Manzi who eventually finished in 2nd place.
Was a good hard fight and Mark did well but was thrown for ippon at about 1.20.
Kai was up next his first fight was with Josh Bester from South Africa who he dominated from the start scoring wazari and eventually ippon with morote seoi nage.
His next match was against an uzbek Gofur Aktomov Kai took it to the guy from the start and attacked with a drop seoi that the Uzbek was lucky to avoid ,unfortunatly Kai was too agressive and attacked off the ground and the Uzbek was ready with a good counter that score ippon. Kai was looking very good but was maybe a bit to fast to attack with out first controling his opponant and breaking his balance. Still both Mark and Kai played really well. Day over for our players but we staid and watched some good fights
Thursday was my turn to wake early and go to the weigh ins. Noam Tidhar Nathan Katz in the 60's and me in the 66kg as well as Nina Takanaka in the 52kg's .
Noam was first to fight in pool A against a Belarus player Andrie Rozau the fight was a tough one and a close match Noam was unlucky to have a yuko scored against him in a match that was 4 of minutes of hard fighting.
Next up was Nathan in pool C he had a 1st round bye and then he drew Nikita Rakhimov from Uzbekistan in the second round who had already beaten the Korean in a hard fourt fight.
nathan had a wazari score against him early in the fight and later towards the end the Uzbek scored a yuko the match went the full 4 minutes.
I did not watch the fight as I was busy getting ready to face my first opponent on mat 4.
I also had a first round bye in pool C and then draw Kristos Kaouranis from Cyprus who also moved through to the second round because of a first round bye.
He was a tough player and very strong , at 1;22 he was penalized for non combativity and then at 2:10, I almost scored with a ko uchi that I was able to transition in to osea komi and held him for a yuko.
He was again given shido at 2:36 and I went into the attack for the next 30 seconds or so. I attacked with a tai o toshi which did not score but I was able to take him to the mat and apply shime waza and eventualy submit him for ippon.
My next fight was against Altanbagana Gantulga from Mongolia who had to beat the USA and Kyrgastan to get to the 3rd round.
He was a very tall left hander with long legs arms and reach. I kept him moving and reaching in to grip and attacked when ever I felt him comming onto me but could not get a score. He was given shido at 1.08 and I kept up the attacks ans almost scored with ko uchi at about 2:40. This guy liked to play the edge of the mat and kept moving into the corners so I was always off the playing area. He never really attacked much and at 3.40 again in the corner and me off the playing area. He was faking a left entry into a forward throw and I was thinking the ref would call mate as I was not on the contest area but he still had one foot inside when he faked an entry and then stepped behind me for tani otoshi and an ippon score. Good learning experience for me but disapointed I was out in the 3rd round after working hard in Japan for the last 6 weeks.
Nina's division was on mat 2 and she drew a really strong Ukrainian girl in the first round of pool B, Kateryna Syrovatska
Nina was penalized 3 times in the first 90 seconds so had wazari against her and then at 1:48 the Ukraine girl scored a wazari awasete ippon.
That was all of us out and we stayed to watch the rest of the fights.
two of the Japanese I trained with at Kokushikan were still fighting Yuma Oshima in the 60's , he finished the day with Gold and a world title and Norihito Isoda who lost in the final against the Russian to take home the silver.
To Be continued

Been a good week in Tokyo. Monday did 2 hours in the gym in the morning then trained at kokushikan in the afternoon.
Tuesday gym again then Suzuki dojo one on one with Suzuki sensei and then later with the high school boys and then the adults,,]
Wednesday took a break from the gym but went to Kokushikan in the afternoon.. its a long train ride and expensive but the judo and instruction is great.
Thursday went to the gym and then in the afternoon went to the Kodokan for the tsukinami shiai (monthly tournament) fought in the sho dan division.
First fight I won with osaeo komi waza, second kouchi gari ippon, third Morote seoi nage ippon, forth ouchi gari ippon , fifth tai otoshi ippon, sixth ouchi gari ippon, seventh fight tai otoshi ippon last fight I lost by ouchi to kouchi combo for a wazari score .. 8 fights about 30 minutes with out a rest and in hot and humid dojo I was tired sore and hot but felt good .
I now have 7 points towards my ni dan will do my kata in July and i can get my ni dan grade after October. If I had of won 3 more fights, I could get it strait away and not wait or fight in the August tsukinami shiai to get the 3 extra points .. I wont be here August , so I will just have to wait till October when I have held my sho dan for 18 months....

Friday I went to the gym and to Kokushikan in the afternoon for 3 hours training session learnt a lot and felt really sore and tired after.
Saturday no judo just went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the bike and some weights then shower sauna and home to rest ....


This is our third weekend in Japan so we traveled to the beach near Kamogawa city Chiba prefecture and stayed in a friends cottage up on the hill side over looking the beach with big waves crashing onto the shore .
Saturday we woke early and went to the water falls in the hills and swam into the water fall a really pretty place after lunch we took the boogy board and went down the beach to try and catch some waves hahaha the current was really strong and the waves were big.. had a lot of fun too
In the night we had a BBQ and lite off a whole bunch of fireworks hahahah awesome... will post some pictures soon .. back to Tokyo on Sunday and Monday back to training....

Back in Japan for five weeks getting ready for Kiev.. Suzuki dojo an Kokushikan and lots of gym work

We arrived in Perth Monday in the afternoon after driving over, we left Friday night at 7pm so was a pretty long drive but interesting.
We stopped in Penong just west of Paort Auguster the first night and Sunday woke early and started over the Nulabore we had a look at the head of the bite and also stopped along the highway and walked down the cliff to look at the beach. Pretty awesome !
Last night we went an trained at the WA Uni with Sea Nakazawa and Udai sensei from the Kodokan who my dad knows pretty well from when he trained there.. Was good training with some realy good judo ka .. going back Thursday for a lite training session before weigh in's on Friday night...
Should be a good weekend....Won Gold in Cadets and selection to cadet worlds and 5th in young men's..

Been a little busy lately with school and other things, so it’s been a while since I posted an update.
Two weeks ago we went to Auckland with mel and ritchie Brown for the Auckland International Open , we met up with Michael Mark and their dad Mark Tobin over there as well .. I was entered into the cadets and young men’s 66kg divisions and I also did the cadet open weight division. Took Gold in the cadet 66’s, a silver in the open
and 5th in the young men’s.
Mark won gold in cadets 55kg and silver in the young men's and Michael won gold in the young men's and senior 60kg divisions.
Mel was entered in the young women's and senior 52kg and after almost breaking her ankle in her second match she still fought on and won bronze in the young womens division.
I was a bit disappointed they would not let me enter the seniors division, but on the day I was not 100% fit so it was ok in the end.
In two weeks we are going to the Perth nationals , going to leave a week early and drive over with Paul and Jayden Sawyer.

Had a great time in Brisbane over the weekend.... We followed Mel and her family all the way drove from 3 am friday till about 1 pm ..
Hotel was pretty good ..
Made weight on Saturday cadets and young men 66kg.
Won cadets and silver in young men's.. mel won a bronze in junior women's. We went out on Saturday night to south bank and pretty awesome but expencive meal.. Sunday woke early and fought seniors did ok with a bronze. Mel won a silver in the senior women's yay Mel !
Jols martila arts gave me a junior development sponsorship with Adidas ..now I have Adidas judo gi to wear in competitions.... thanks Jol's !
Jols Martial arts

been busy the last few months.
Got home from Europe on December 7th and the next day flew to Japan.
Spent Christmas and New year in Tokyo trained at the Kodokan Kan gaiko for 10 days in the new year and at Kokushikan high school and Suzuki dojo during the week. Pretty awesome..
now back home in Oz back to school and some selection comps for nationals...
Did ACT open and Sydney open and State titles have to go again this week to do the junior mens and seniors as well..
Did the NTID testing when I got back but did not make the top 30 selection lol..
Next is Oceania championships in tahitia this April , then Auckland open in early May..

23 rd International Open Alkmaars 2010.
Cadet U60kg
1st Toshiyuki Yokoyama AUS
2nd Andreas Lindqvist Swed
3rd Bram Lichtenberg Neth (in Blue jacket)
3rd Vincent Maitre France

First week in the Netherlands.
We are staying in a town called Helmond, Its a very interesting and so different compared to the towns and cities back in Oz.
There are a lot of old buildings and churches and they even have a castle in the town.
On Wednesdays and Saturday they have a market in the centre of town with fresh vegatables cheese meats and other things.
The training at club van de Pol is good, I train 4 times a week and on Saturday we do fitness weights and some judo for an hour after.
They have a nice size fitness gym with free weights machines ellipticals a tread mill and some bikes.
The dojo is not really big but its still a good size... the training is different to Germany being in a club , but every one is friendly and can speak some English, it's just a little strange getting used to the Dutch accent. I like the training and I am learning and trying different things.
Last Sunday we went to a tournament in Schijndlese about 60km away it was 400 competitors u13 and u16... I fought in the 66kg division there were 19 others in the draw, they had 2 pools of 9 each and I was in pool A.
I had to win my pool to go into the finals against the winner of pool B.
I won my first fight in golden score with sode for ippon. the next 2 fights I won with wazari and then a hold down.
In the final I was against the no 2 in the Netherlands Nino Striut and it was a good match he fought well almost threw me and I was able to score a yuko and 2 wazari and so I won my first comp in the Netherlands. woop wooop have to keep training hard and cut weight.
because I have a tornament in 2 weeks Ahhhhhh should be interesting lol



This is a picture of the presentation.

Leaving for the Netherlands today.
Will stay in Helmond and train with coach Eddie Van de Pol at the Van de Pol sports school for about 5 weeks and at the Dutch selection training 2 nights a week should be hard training and a lot of fun I hope....

Beggining of the last week in Koln...
Monday was pretty quiet trained in the afternoon from 5 till 9pm..
Tuesday I felt a bit tired and still had to do some school work on line.
I trained with Wolfgang in the afternoon at the randori class was pretty good too but I still did'nt feel good...
Wednesday we went to the mall and did some shopping and I took a rest from training watched some breaking bad on the internet and slept early.
Thusday trained 5pm till 7 with the cadetsdid a technical training working on tachi waza.
After that I did the randori class untill 9pm..
Today we are driving to Bamberg in Bavaria to stay over night , in the morning I compete in the Domreiters Turnier its a German sighting tournament for cadets and juniors. So it should have a lot of tough players.. no problem !

Monday slept in late and did nothing most of the day.
In the evening I did the technical training in the dojo with the others from the school it was a nice and easy class of about 30 juniors.
Martin Drechsler ran the class and my dad was invited to help out on the mat.
Tuesday we woke at like 10 am and went down the super market to get some things after lunch we did a lite gym workout.
At 5pm I had a one on one training session with Sensei Wolfgang Dax he taught me yoko tomoe nage and some other sutemi waza he is amazingly good and really has some much awesome knowledge. He sectioned off some of the dojo buy dropping down a floor to ceiling screen and we had a full comp area to our selves while the cadets had 2 comp area;s to train in and then for 2 hours we practised over and over yoko tomoe nage.. its not easy but it was fun and the way he explains things is really easy to understand..
At 7pm We did the randori class, 1st randori was Wolfgang sensei, he is really good can easily throws you and then explains and shows you little things to learn its real educational and what he taught me was really good .. but I need to practise and remember and use the stuff he showed me .. it was great. I had to do continuous randori with other players and I was sore and tired by the end.
After training we went to the canteen and had something to eat and talked some more with Wolfgang till about 10pm and then went to the room and watch a few episodes of How I met your mother.. then sleeeeeeep..
Wednesday. woke early cleaned the room and did some school work .. in the afternoon I did the cadets ne waza class it was pretty good too. Dad went with Martin to JC Bushido and trained there I think he ran the class there as well.. he said he had fun showing them some drills we do in club training at home .. drills and drills and more drills... some thing different for the German players I guess..
Tomorrow the +100 World silver medallist Andreas Toelzer will be teaching the junior class and after training they are throwing a small party to celebrate his win.. should be good..

Thursday night..
Training started at 5pm we did heaps of drills and naga komi the whole 2 hours .. pretty good tho .. later we met Andreas Tolzer the World Silver medalist .. They had a party for him after training that went til 3 am ... beer music and noise !
looool
Friday is overcast and getting cold did some shopping and will get on the mats later ...Martin and some of the juniors are in Samokov Bulgaria for the Junior European championships....so its should be a quiet weekend might do some skipping and gym work ..