'the Games' kendo...channel 4 [Archive]

chidokan

20th March 2006, 06:03 AM

oh dear....after watching that we are bound to get a load of people coming down the club. "I was watching the Games on tv last night..."

NOOOOOO!!!! GET OUT NOW.:rolleyes:

I wanted to tsuki the commentator at least twice. preferably while he had no bogu on. while using a shinken.

Keegs

20th March 2006, 07:28 AM

I watched it although I wasn't expecting much. I figured it might be entertaining seeing some 'celebs' attempting kendo after a very small amount of training. I thought they did ok all things considered, especially the one in green.
It was annoying when they were talking about various things and getting them horribly wrong so often and the attitude of some of the presenters made me want to smack them :P Especially on the training bit this afternoon when the star wars/lightsaber comments started.

JSchmidt

20th March 2006, 07:51 AM

The 'competitors' did reasonably well given the conditions and restrictions, but I don't think that it was a very good advertisement for kendo.

Jakob

crabbi

20th March 2006, 08:43 AM

don don

20th March 2006, 08:54 AM

Train for three months... into bogu... compete on UK television and in front of a live audience...

They really did very well and are a credit to their trainers...

It was enough to get people along to a Dojo... the rest is up to us...

I agree with Crabbi... A recruitment opportunity, surely? A good time for beginners courses... but you`d need to be quick...

George Brown

20th March 2006, 09:10 AM

It was good to see Kendo even **mentioned** on TV.....shame about the presenters - who I though were more suited to childrens programmes.

A great opportunity to get publicity for the art....I may even get my finger out and get back into training (work and health permitting) :-)

ekajati

20th March 2006, 05:22 PM

I think the presenters did an excellent job of pitching it to the most likely group of viewers, eg people who know nothing about Kendo or possibly even MA, and who were watching "just for a laugh". Going on about it being "sacred" sounded a bit bollocksy but may have contributed to the typical viewer taking the whole idea a bit more seriously rather than just dismissing it as some weird Japanese thing. I'm only a beginner myself so can't really judge, but I did think that the second pair (eg just before the finalists) looked pretty good for people who'd only been doing it a short time.

crabbi

20th March 2006, 05:41 PM

I agree with Crabbi... A recruitment opportunity, surely? A good time for beginners courses... but you`d need to be quick...
You're absolutely right there Don Don San...!!!

Great to hear from you... Your message box is full so I have sent a note to your ntl account... Is that still active?

All the best...

Commander

20th March 2006, 06:57 PM

It was very good to watch kendo on TV (For the first time) For the amount of time and training they had, i think they did pretty well.

It would be good to have more kendo on TV though, it was very entertaining :smiley:

Is there any TV channels, i.e sport that broadcast kendo?

Thanks

gaarhaar

20th March 2006, 07:00 PM

I thought the two finalists did great. I could have gone to Sheffield to watch, I think one of our crew did go down there and I was speaking to one of the coaches last Wednesday. Really, for a 30 min slot on telly they conveyed it as good as we could expect. I thought the contestants got into the spirit even if some of the footwork and rei was a bit ropey (I'm thinking of the poor sonkyo) Jamie Theakson and that other bloke would have ruined it were it not for the contestants.

If it brings people to the dojo, even just to have a look see then great the BKA has done it's job.

Tim.

mingshi

20th March 2006, 08:20 PM

Hey, that's a nice men-uchi... but where did they find those funky dou??

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/games2006/news/article.jsp?id=1025

stephanie dee

20th March 2006, 08:26 PM

I was ashamed that my friends and family saw those matches as their first ever examples of Kendo. A few people I spoke to said "Thats what you do isnt it?" to which I quickly replied "Yes, not like that!"

I agree, they did well considering the time and coaching they had. But still, didn't stop me from shouting a wee bit at the tv...

Frame

20th March 2006, 08:59 PM

for those of you who missed it or don't live in the UK you too can enjoy the pai...the games

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/games2006/video.jsp

i haven't watched it yet, i'm bracing myself for it now :|

rawilliauk

20th March 2006, 10:07 PM

I drove down to Sheffield last night and watched 'The Games' live. OK, the 10 match round robin heats were held in the day, so there was only 2 x 2 minute Semi finals and a 3 minute final, BUT, it was reasonably entertaining.

What you didn't see on the TV was the pre-match 'entertainment' - 5 Kendoka from the Halifax dojo, including 3 GB squad Kendoka. Here the crowd got to see a few drills by experienced practitioners. There was quite a buzz!

Hopefully the crowd picked up on the fact that scoring is much more than just landing a firm hit on your opponent - I had to educate the crowd behind me on the need for synchrony of Kiai, front leg stamp and hitting to Men/Kote/Do.

Richard

MikeV

20th March 2006, 10:45 PM

The games re-lit my fire, I used to practice 17 years ago in the midlands, and have looked a few times into a dojo near me now in the southwest. The nearest was always in South Wales, and now I see there is one in Bristol just down the road, and they train on Tuesdays....thats tomorrow, have i still gut the guts, i definately have the GUT..

stephanie dee

20th March 2006, 11:00 PM

What you didn't see on the TV was the pre-match 'entertainment' - 5 Kendoka from the Halifax dojo, including 3 GB squad Kendoka. Here the crowd got to see a few drills by experienced practitioners. There was quite a buzz!

Yay! The people who went were Gareth Mason, Mark Halls, Gary O Donnell, Keith Rose and Andy Fisher. Gary and Keith are my senseis!!

I can't help but feel a great swell of pride when I say that I do Kendo with those lot. You don't really get much better than them.

hunnysan

21st March 2006, 12:03 AM

i wish kendo was on t.v. here so i'd have something good to watch..i guess for now i'll settle for watching whatever is on the internet

rottunpunk

21st March 2006, 12:11 AM

i agree they did do well for only training for three months, though they were getting very close and missing obvious targets. but then they are only 3 kendo months old.
i probably looked worse than that after 6 months.

but samYurai?
since when has samurai had a y in the middle.
the commentators remind me of those that do the olympics and talk bollox over a sport they know nothing about.
:p

D'Artagnan

21st March 2006, 02:39 AM

Yay! The people who went were Gareth Mason, Mark Halls, Gary O Donnell, Keith Rose and Andy Fisher....

Not that Ginger B*stard?!

The Games, in my opinion has provided something that Kendo is severly lacking in, public attention. Who cares if the celebs weren't that great at it, how many times do you tell somebody you do kendo and they say "what the hell is that? ive never heard of it!"? at least with a little exposure more people will know at least what it is!

All of the guys did brilliantly! they told me that they've only had 4 sessions of Kendo!And Adam R. had only had 1!! i've seen people in british taikai that have worse kendo than some of them, especially Jade (the guy in green) he is pretty natural.

As for the commentators i dont know i didnt see it on tv cause i was there at the arena.

I think it actually portrayed kendo in a positive way, you have to remember that the average joe, hasn't a clue what good kamae, foot work or zanshin is anyway!So they wont criticise it for that! Like crabbi said, if it gets people into the dojo its a good thing.

ps. the bougu came from emaishop (eikobudogu UK)

D'Artagnan

21st March 2006, 03:24 AM

Just to reinforce my point

i am the email contact for details about my club, i usually get 2-3 inquirys a month.

Today i have recieved 6 already. How can that be bad?

crabbi

21st March 2006, 06:18 AM

All of the guys did brilliantly! they told me that they've only had 4 sessions of Kendo!And Adam R. had only had 1!! i've seen people in british taikai that have worse kendo than some of them, especially Jade (the guy in green) he is pretty natural.

As for the commentators i dont know i didnt see it on tv cause i was there at the arena.
Wow... with those time constraints in mind they did brilliantly...!!!

Remember that this wasn't a Martial Arts documentary... it was designed as entertainment for the masses...

In light of this I believe that all of the Kendoka involved did us proud... they maintained a dignified presentation of Kendo whilst providing a very exciting spectacle for the public...

As I said previously ... what we do with the interest that has been generated is up to us... let's not waste it...!

The commentating has come under scrutiny in this thread... I think that it walked the narrow line between information and entertainment very well... All of the target areas were given their correct names and by the end of the programme the shouts of Doh, Men and Kote would have been familiar to even the most casual viewer.

Salmon Sensei was on hand for the commentary, Honda Sensei was refereeing and Budden Sensei was giving last minute coaching and encouragement to the participants... The BKA was well represented...!

Let's not criticise this event... as Andy said, this sort of publicity is rare for Kendo... Let's maximise this opportunity for the good of all of us...

JSchmidt

21st March 2006, 06:48 AM

Well. I disagree.
As with Stephanie, I had to defend kendo several times today. "Is *that* what you do?".

Jakob

Washington

21st March 2006, 07:06 AM

KhawMengLee

21st March 2006, 07:10 AM

hahaha!

Jade - I did some kurrati.

Frame

21st March 2006, 08:43 AM

tbh, i wouldn't be suprised if the equivalent members of "water kayaking world forum" or "curling world forum" are doing the same thing thinking "god i hope no one thinks that's representative of what I do".

I know the other sports actaully get tv time but at least there are comments from randoms off the channel 4 forums like "I liked it there should be more kendo on tv". Remember that the only other "air time" that we get is stuff like Last Samurai and Kill Bill.

But yeah i do agree it was a bit :\ WOuld of been nice if they aired the national geographic documentary straight after or something :p

JSchmidt

21st March 2006, 09:15 AM

tbh, i wouldn't be suprised if the equivalent members of "water kayaking world forum" or "curling world forum" are doing the same thing thinking "god i hope no one thinks that's representative of what I do".

Apples and oranges. Most people already got an idea of what kayaking and curling is and what it is supposed to look like.

Paburo

21st March 2006, 09:31 AM

Just to reinforce my point

i am the email contact for details about my club, i usually get 2-3 inquirys a month.

Today i have recieved 6 already. How can that be bad?

ummm, when you get 10 inquiries a week consistently for a couple of years... and when your dojo is 100+ members and there is not enough room for all so you have to tell each and every new inquirer that suscriptions are close.... aaah my friend, you'll kinda hate this position and start to see the bad side of it... i can tell you :D

Washington

21st March 2006, 02:01 PM

aye.. totally agree on the coverage.. I would of started kendo years ago if it was available here and I actually knew it existed.. just getting an honest chuckle out of the quote :)

D'Artagnan

21st March 2006, 08:25 PM

ummm, when you get 10 inquiries a week consistently for a couple of years... and when your dojo is 100+ members and there is not enough room for all so you have to tell each and every new inquirer that suscriptions are close.... aaah my friend, you'll kinda hate this position and start to see the bad side of it... i can tell you :D

I wish kendo was popular enough in Great Britain, for that to happen, but it just isnt at the moment.

Everyone who i have spoken to who knows NOTHING about kendo (like most of the general public) were actually impressed by its representation on The Games, Like i said they cant really tell the difference between people who are good, and people who arent. So they just thought it was really cool.

Neil Gendzwill

21st March 2006, 10:43 PM

GMason

21st March 2006, 10:46 PM

I was involved in the demo for the games with D'art, and everything i have heard about the Kendo was positive....

Most people who I know... that know nothing about Kendo... everyone I spoke to said things like.

OOO I want JK to win... Oh no I wanted Peter to win.

They don't understand or want to understand the technical side of kendo.. they just wanted to see some resonably famous people possibly making fools of themselves.

The guys who actually did the games where all saying that their first match they hated it.... but by the last match they loved it, and I think that it is obvious by watching Marcel's (MC Plat's) matches.... his first match was runnning around and just hitting but after he had seen the other rehersal's by the BKA members he had changed totally and was actually trying to do kendo.

Jade was excellent for someone with 4-6 sessions under his belt, and was obviously going to win.

JK was trying so hard.... he was asking for advice on how he should be fencing etc... and deserved to be in the final

Peter Duncan was so concerned with doing the art justice it was unbelievable... that was all he kept saying....

all in all they took to the idea of Kendo very very well. It was basically the arty types on the program that tried to take the show off at tangents.

Personally I think Budden Sensei and Honda Sensei did a first class job at keeping the show on track, but also giving just enough to make Kendo appeal to the masses.. which all in all can only be a good thing.

rottunpunk

21st March 2006, 10:57 PM

Well if anything that link makes for a good submission for "quote of the day"

...Jade won all four of his bouts, repeatedly landing hits on opponents with his light sabre thingy (or shinai to the experts)...

:silly:

the ceefax commentry was better.

kendo, a martial art that utilises fierce bamboo swords.
:p

Matt Molloy

22nd March 2006, 12:36 AM

the ceefax commentry was better.

kendo, a martial art that utilises fierce bamboo swords.
:p

Well they can be quite fierce. There are times when I almost daren't open my shinai bag. :D

Cheers,

Matt.

D'Artagnan

22nd March 2006, 12:49 AM

Well they can be quite fierce. There are times when I almost daren't open my shinai bag. :D

Cheers,

Matt.

Well i must have fierce Hakama, cause there times when i almost darent open them too!

emitbrownne

22nd March 2006, 12:59 AM

Most people who I know... that know nothing about Kendo... .

GMason .. you know me, and the fact I know nothing about kendo :)
I thought the Games were brilliant.

I dreaded it at the beginning.. listening to Theakston made me want to turn over, but once I saw the fencing, I started to enjoy it.

I was even cheering like a football lout during the final match, screaming
"Go-on Jade... go on"

I thought the fact that despite the big arena and the pressure of the crowd, he seemed to do his best to DO kendo. He was the best technically, in my opinion.

Corking entertainment.

Paulo

Martin (Wakey)

22nd March 2006, 03:31 AM

Without going into too much detail family problems have meant that Kendo hasn't been even close to a priority for many weeks.

However, I managed to stumble over the E4 heats and was really excited to see Kendo on telly. I forgot all about the stress of the last few weeks whilst trying to spot people I know in the background of shots.

I have to say that heading back up the M1 to Yorkshire in time to catch the Finals it was only luck that didn't land me a driving ban.

I really enjoyed seeing it. I definitely miss Kendo at the moment but life gets in the way sometimes.

Mr Mason sir, I hope to be back at the end of March. Is that a Shiai night? If so, I guess I'll just have to break my Shiai virginity. Woot, as I believe the internet coolerati say!

chidokan

22nd March 2006, 03:52 AM

I would have been a lot happier if they had had commentators like Gareth on who knew what the were talking about, and maybe a good demonstration of what can be achieved. We do need more publicity, but it has to be positive. I spent the morning at work explaining 'its not quite like that...' and 'yes theres more to it...'

[Kensei 剣の聖者]

22nd March 2006, 03:58 AM

they sucked so bad for the amount of time they had been practising, i swear to god most of them were standing in what looked like a karate stance, legs totaly bent, JK was like crouching with his back bent , ther was no zanshin at al, i dont think is aw a single person COMPLETE a sucesfull or unsucesful cut, the do was basicly a 90 degree movement like choping , they did tzubazeraiin the sky over their heads then jus stared at each othe , wierrrd they did theg reen dude was pretty good i reckon , most probly because he has "7 years" karate experience but apart from that it was DIRE . lets be hoenst after even a month most of us hav basic grasp of Suburi and footwork, maybe not fumikomi but they didnt carry themselvesl ike Kendoka ,

Mowvran

22nd March 2006, 05:16 AM

I think on balance it was a good thing.

If after only a few lessons they had displayed perfect Kendo then Kendo is too easy.

They did however fight with spirit, they tried and as Paul said the enthusiasm was contagious.

I enjoyed watching and people I work have asked is that Kendo I responded Kendo was much more than they had seen but it was a start, for the first time they asked questions. It has raised the profile of Kendo and this must be a good thing.

Andy What are the odds on 5 from 6 being bullied out in 2 weeks
( wish I was there to see it)

GMason

22nd March 2006, 06:23 AM

It's difficult to get a balance between entertaining people and educating them I guess... everyone has their own view on how it should be done.... BUT just be glad they axed the.....

All contesants in a semi circle in their best Ninja movie Hasso no Kamae :-)

It was soooo bad even the contestants complained it was cheesey :-)

D'Artagnan

22nd March 2006, 06:33 AM

']they sucked so bad for the amount of time they had been practising, i swear to god most of them were standing in what looked like a karate stance, legs totaly bent, JK was like crouching with his back bent , ther was no zanshin at al, i dont think is aw a single person COMPLETE a sucesfull or unsucesful cut, the do was basicly a 90 degree movement like choping , they did tzubazeraiin the sky over their heads then jus stared at each othe , wierrrd they did theg reen dude was pretty good i reckon , most probly because he has "7 years" karate experience but apart from that it was DIRE . lets be hoenst after even a month most of us hav basic grasp of Suburi and footwork, maybe not fumikomi but they didnt carry themselvesl ike Kendoka ,

I think that you perhaps dont realise, that although they had '6 weeks of training' it wasnt 6 weeks of pure kendo! they had loads of other sports to learn too. Like i said, they told me that they had only had about 4 sessions or so. most people arent even in bougu after 4 sessions, and they were asked to fight a shiai! I stand by that i have seen people worse than those guys, competing in the Lidstone.

As for correct cutting, if they had needed to do what most experienced kendoka have to do to score ippon, nobody would have scored. so whats the point of watching that?

I actually thought the commentary was quite good, especially the parts of it done by the chairman of the BKA...

Neil Gendzwill

22nd March 2006, 06:42 AM

As for correct cutting, if they had needed to do what most experienced kendoka have to do to score ippon, nobody would have scored. so whats the point of watching that?I thought Jade played better than many people I've seen with a year of twice/week practice. There was at least one men on the videos that would have raised flags from me in a regular mudansha tournament. He moved very well for such little experience, very natural compared to his opponents, surprisingly quiet kensen... very nicely done.

Halcyon

22nd March 2006, 06:53 AM

So who exactly are these blokes taking part in the competition? I take it they are semi-famous in the U.K.?

The great I AM

22nd March 2006, 06:20 PM

So who exactly are these blokes taking part in the competition? I take it they are semi-famous in the U.K.?Take your best "List" and write a big D at the top of it, and you're somewhere there, apart from Goldie, who broke his leg water ski jumping.

JSchmidt

22nd March 2006, 06:31 PM

So who exactly are these blokes taking part in the competition? I take it they are semi-famous in the U.K.?

The whole show is about as low as TV can go: "Reality"-TV show with C & D list 'celebrities' . Both the 'contestant' and the pundits are doing their best to promote themselves and the whole thing is extremly tacky.

Jakob

crabbi

23rd March 2006, 02:46 AM

The whole show is about as low as TV can go: "Reality"-TV show with C & D list 'celebrities' . Both the 'contestant' and the pundits are doing their best to promote themselves and the whole thing is extremly tacky.

JakobBe honest Jakob... you're just annoyed that no-one used Jodan... right...?

Paburo

24th March 2006, 09:20 AM

Looks great to me, congrats to BKA for a really good effort. I imagine there were all sorts of sports vying to be included in that program.

Paburo, my sensei's advice on getting a really big beginner's class is to simply make it tougher, sooner. The people who were going to stay will stay no matter what, and all the quitters will just quit sooner.

yeah Neil-san... i suggested that to my sensei as well. but i guess we dont want the girls to quit, lol. they may usually not have the endurance a boy has, and the boy-girl ratio in kendo is terrible as-is! shouldnt make it worse.... also, it seems like half the time the newbies with better kamae and ashi sabaki get tired easier than those that are just doing stuff wrong, aaah. so... would really making the classes physically tougher make for a nice cut...? not sure myself. im glad im not sensei!! i just go and train and forget about these issues, hah. :D

chidokan

25th March 2006, 06:03 AM

In big beginner classes I have now started to delegate my senior students to teach. If they complain about how crap some people are, I merely tell them they were worse when they started, so think of what I had to put up with. It shuts them up!:laugh:

MikeV

31st March 2006, 05:50 AM

I asume you all enjoy doing what you do "kendo" and i asume you want it to grow into a bigger practacing art in the UK and not be a small (in the club martial art). If so shut the f... up, it was a TV program aimed at getting sofa loving bods to turn over from the other channel. Listening to you guys go over the shame and embarrassment of five celebs giving it a go is sad. I dont imagine Chris Hoy was on the phone to Chris Boardman, crying about the future of track cycling. Non practitioners of the sport want to read this (kendo world) and feel inspired to give it a go, and not turn tail and run thinking your all a bunch of wining, criticising purists.

steelkendo

31st March 2006, 03:32 PM

Super Kodachi

31st March 2006, 05:04 PM

At first I also thought.... bloody hell this is a nightmare. What a load of balls.

However I think that the nature of the editing (for example the abscence of Scarface and Andys pre match demo - which i knew nothing about) paints a worse picture.

If anyone approaches me and says "so is that what you do?"

I say "yes 6 years ago when i first started kendo. However what I do now is obviously a lot better, for high qaulity kendo vids check this out.... www.kendo-world.com downloads."

No one expects them to be good, they have to learn like a million other sports. And yes i agree with Jakob that the concept of the Z list celeb sport show is tacky, however its media attention and people can be corrected and encouraged if and when they come to a dojo.

I am starting to hate it a little less and...... it actually got my girlfriend interested and she protested her deep seated hatred of kendo many years ago! So it cant be all bad if even she got into. She's like afterwards....
"um yes.... that was actually quite a good men that Jade got wasn't it?"

I never thought in a million lifetimes that i would get her saying something like that. lol

JSchmidt

31st March 2006, 06:27 PM

I dont imagine Chris Hoy was on the phone to Chris Boardman, crying about the future of track cycling.

I grant you that the cycling looked just as bad as the kendo, but then track cycling features on national TV reasonably often and most people have a reasonable idea of what it's supposed to look like...and as with the kendo, I doubt anyone is going to start riding track because of that show!.