Alexandre Rucel, teacher at the Ryokan, Judo-Club of the city, reached the rank of judo-association-is-set-to-revoke-vladimir-putins-sixth-dan/” title=”Japan's judo association is set to revoke Vladimir Putin's sixth dan”>seventh dan. Encounter.
What does this represent for you?
It’s a high grade, there must be a hundred of us to have it out of 600,000 practitioners. It represents a whole career as a judoka and a reward obtained thanks to my students. Without a pupil, there is no teacher. When I can’t make a move with a student, I look for it. When I find, I have progressed further. This shows students that even being high-ranking we progress all our lives through students or internships.
It’s not a culmination?
On the contrary, this is where it all begins.
What is this exam about?
There is the presentation of an ancient kata and a technical demonstration of about twenty minutes in front of a jury of eighths in. I also did research for two years in Japan on the origin of this kata and what it can bring to the practitioner.
Do you often go to Japan?
Yes, four or five months a year, to learn. We learn all our lives. When I return, I bring this experience to my students who benefit from it. Mutual aid is one of the objectives of judo. A yellow belt helps a white belt. Black belts are sponsors of a brown belt. It is in this spirit that judo was created.
What did it take as an investment?
You don’t work to get a degree, it comes naturally. But if we don’t work we have nothing. This is a message to pass on to the youngest. By working you always get something.
How did your career start?
I was 6 years old, I am now 65. I was a brawling kid. At the time there was no shrink but sport, and it was football or judo. A high-ranking professor took me under his wing. As I am not from a wealthy family, I could not pay. In return for the lessons I cleaned the carpets and I did things for the club. That’s how I earned my first license at 6 years old. I have had only two great teachers in my life, Igor Correa Luna and Jacques Le Berre, whom I still have today as a teacher.
