Case Study: How Sensei Jörg Bischoff created his own Koka Kids Judo Book
"Every new member gets a copy of the book and I use it a lot during training and always tell the kids to look at it at home."
In this post, I’d like to focus on a judo coach who created his own Koka Kids book: Jörg Bischoff.
Sensei Jörg and Iris Bischoff direct the Sportschule Bischof, in Germany with 200 students and are constantly on the look out for ways to improve their dojo.
Jörg got in touch with me with the idea of creating a book specifically for his club. Could it contain techniques that they taught at their dojo ? Could it be in German?
And so the idea began. A few months later, and between us Jörg and I, had produced “Lerne Judo”, a one-hundred page book for Sportschule Bischof.
Recently, I got back in touch with Jörg to catch up and ask him a few questions about how he is developing judo at his club using Koka Kids materials. Here are his answers. I hope they trigger ideas and inspiration for your own dojo.
Interview with Sensei Jörg Bischoff, Sportschule Bischoff, Germany
How did you get into judo?
Jörg: I started judo when I was 9 years old in my school, on Saturdays at 8:00 am. After two years I started at the judo club in my hometown and soon had my first competition. After many years competing in the German Bundesliga and finishing my studies in sport science, my wife (who is also a judoka) and I decided to start our own judo school. This was in 2006. Judo today plays a big part in our lives. We are running our school full time, I am coach for the Bavarian Judo Association, my sons are competing (one of them became national champion a few weeks ago at cadets).
What your aspirations are for the coming year?
Our judo school has about 200 students right now. Most of them are children and our classes start at the age of four. We want to grow up to 300 members until end of 2024.
How did the idea of having a Koka Kids book for your club come about?
I saw the Koka Kids Judo resources a few years ago and found them great. I started with the certificates of the throws and gave them to the kids when they could do it in a good form.
Then the first books came and I knew I wanted to have our own book for our school in german. So I contacted you and I think the result is great.
The book covers in detail all the techniques and many other things like dojo rules or randori rules exactly the way we teach it at our school. So the book is great for the kids to look at and repeat what they learned in training.
Every new member gets a copy of the book and I use it a lot during training and always tell the kids to look at it at home.
How do you motivate the kids with the cards?
Our training cards are another important piece in our training. Every kid has a card for the next belt, where you can see how many times she or he has to come to training, what techniques must be shown and what she or he already has mastered.
We also have posters of randori rules, basic techniques and the 20 combinations hanging in our dojo.
Going forward, are there any particular resources you would like me to design?
German versions of the basic certificates :-) and perhaps some more groundwork techniques. A certificate for being fit and one for good knowledge about judo in general (rules, moral code etc...)
Would you recommend the resources to another judo coach?
Of course I would recommend your resources. The pictures are very child friendly and they love Uchi Banani and Blushido. I like the pictures too because they look cool like comics but also show the throws in a very good and dynamic style from a technical view. And getting the certificates is a great motivation.
To use Koka Kids at your Dojo make sure you have taken out a full membership which will allow you to download all material. Check prices here:
Do you have a unique way of using the resources at your club? If so, I’d love to interview you. Please get in touch with me, Nik Fairbrother (nicola@kokakids.co.uk)
If you have any comments or questions, please write them below.