Technical Director and coach of the Arts Martiaux d'Asnières since 2006, Fabrice Ruimy answers our questions on his team's successful debut against the Dojo Béglais (7-0 win) and his vision for the rest of the competition.

 

Are you satisfied with your team's first-day performance?

I'm very satisfied because we were up against the Dojo Béglais, who, in my opinion, were at about the same level as our group. I had noted 6 categories where it could be complicated to take a point, but in the end, despite some hard-fought matches, we won by a fairly wide margin. The team was very serious, and I found my judokas responsible and very committed. We're now used to hosting Judo Pro League events, and it's true that at home we're rather serious and committed, so all the conditions were there. They put up a very good show.

 

What is your team's objective in this second edition of the Judo Pro League? 

We're going to try to do better than last year by returning to the Final Four, which was already a nice surprise for us last year. But for the moment, we're not looking ahead to that stage, we're taking it one step at a time. We're not going to get carried away and say we're going all the way. First of all, we're going to try to get out of the group. We know the Bèglais dojo, the Nantais dojo a little less. Tuesday will give us a chance to get to know them. We don't really know what to expect, so in the face of uncertainty, it's best to be wary. I think it's a fairly homogeneous group: nothing's certain.

 

What do you think of the new Judo Pro League format?

I like it. I think that the fact of using several ippon, several waza ari to win the match allows the athletes to dare more, because even if they take ippon the match continues. The 5-minute non-stop formula (editor's note: despite the matte, the stopwatch doesn't stop) shortens the effective fight time and forces fighters to commit much more quickly. We'll see over time whether this formula works, but for our first encounter there were ippons and waza ari on both sides, so the objective seems to have been achieved.

 

What's your team's main strength?

I was talking about this recently with a club member who asked me about it: most of the athletes who make up this team, we raised them, they grew up with us. Maybe it's easier to speak frankly to them, to tell them things. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's easier to have a group formed within your structure than one that comes from outside, even if we also have athletes who came to the club later in their careers. Getting to know them better enables us to have a more accurate view of them, to know how to gauge them and motivate them. Finally, the group also lives through its ability to transcend itself, and the team formula transcends our fighters much more. What's more, with the public, there's a real strength that emanates from the team.