judo

Olympic judo coach to quit over beating claims

22 Comments
By Kyoko Hasegawa

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© 2013 AFP

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22 Comments
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Difficult for him to continue. So it is all about him is it?

Typical passive aggressive response.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I would like to deeply apologise for causing trouble to all the people concerned

And, that is the end of that. He's apologized so no harm or foul. In any other country he would be facing common assault charges, but his public apology is all the punishment he will get.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

He should now open his own dojo.

He should now open his own S/M club.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I'm sure the coward was forced to resign only after the JOC tested the waters with a "reprimand" and saw that it wouldn't suffice.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

forced or remorse whatever be the cause, i hope it teaches those schools coaches to mend their ways of teaching..

5 ( +5 / -0 )

“I would like to deeply apologise for causing trouble to all the people concerned with what I have done and said,” Sonoda told a news conference.

So no apology to those he abused? Just the regular "I'm sorry I was caught" crap?

At Thursday’s news conference, a contrite Sonoda made a deep bow of apology and admitted the allegations were “more or less true.”

That isn't an admittance at all. That's a "I'm not sorry nor am I admitting it" comment.

Will he be brought up on charges of assault and if not, why not? I'm still hoping more athletes come forward and name and shame their abusers. Japan will not change unless it is out in the open and people discuss how this kind bully is wrong and not productive.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Unfortunately, most coaches who engage in abusive behavior also refuse to take an honest look at themselves because of a well-honed sense of denial. They would never admit to themselves or others that they might be doing something wrong. In fact, the abusive coach sees him as a very good coach. However deep down, the abusive coach is a damaged human being who is emotionally stunted and immature. He usually suffers from deep seated feelings of inadequacy and he unknowingly acts these feeling out on his athletes. The judokas did the right thing by not letting this coach get away with his bad behavior.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Naw they had to beat it out of him to get him to resign......

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I think this is a tragedy because he himself probably was trained like that and became strong. He might have believed this was the best way to train his athletes, which is obviously against today's current. It is the Japan's Judo Federation that should revise the ways to train athletes and make all the coaches follow their new 'proper' methods. Without this, these kinds of tragedies will repeat forever...

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Good! Let's hope this starts the ball rolling and we get more and more of these little Hitlers quitting.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I think he has been forced to resign because of Tokyo's 2020 bid as well as the reaction after the Osaka high-schooler's death. My heartiest congratulations to the 15 women judokas for the courage they showed, and I hope they don't face a backlash from the governing body for their actions in reporting this abuse and bringing it out into the open. And I think it's really sad that the governing people are more concerned about how this would reflect on Japan's bid for 2020 and not on the actual case of widespread abuse as part of the Japanese sporting culture and mentality.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I don't know why, but the fact that its a fat, ugly, very unfit guy beating up young girls who probably had the power to break his neck really makes me want to hurl up my dinner.

Im angry they didn't stand up for themselves, when they had the physical power to do so. And Im angry that this was allowed to go on as long as it has.

Im especially angry that probably nothing will get done about it. I hope the girls stand up against this guy, press charges, and they charge him, throw him in jail, and let the prison guards have some of that "discipline" back.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Regardless of how he excused himself, or the circumstances regarding his resignation, he is out of a job because of what he did.

And that's good.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Disturbing. I read somewhere that its in the make up of the Japanese to "perservere" or "just be quiet and take it." And thus take slaps/punches to the face, or whatever else vioent means of "punishment." The worst part about it is I don't see it changing anytime soon because it is pretty much accepted by the majority over here; parents and teachers alike. Poor kids. There's a noticeable difference in reactions to this type of "punishment" between my non-Japanese and Japanese counterparts with the former responding as most posters on here, and the latter with a more less calm " thats the way it is" type of remark without any show of anger or dissaproval.

I remember last summer as I was walking my dog in the park, I heard a man yelling and I noticed it was an old baseball coach with cigarette hanging out of his mouth yelling "BAKAYARO!!" at these elementary school kids. The next thing I know, he runs out to the 2nd baseman, who couldn't have been more than 10 or 11, and rares back and slaps the living #$%& out of him. on top of that the coach was big. The parents watching didn't say jack, but I was furious and was so close to going over there and throwing him across the field and then make him apologize to the poor boy, but my better conscience got the best of me and somhow I managed to leave without puttin' a hurtin' on the old boy. I sure wish I would have filmed it to put up on you tube, though. You don't just go around punching kids out of anger or for any reason and think you're going to slide with just an apology.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Good for the 15 for taking public action. There are PLENTY of ways to make training tough without humiliation. Trust me, I know! Love of the sport wins everyday over bullying/power plays.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

"Ryuji Sonoda offered an apology and a deep bow at a press conference."

Awww... the poor guy! Well, he bowed and apologized, so all is forgiven! Gotta love this country -- you can beat and beat and beat people until finally caught, be it through a student's suicide or the fact that that suicide has prompted people to hesitate less and report such incidents (the only good to come out of what happened at the school), but guys like this will still get away with it if they resign and run like cowards once caught and forced to admit it. Worse yet is that due to this man's career he'll get another job somewhere, probably in a similar field -- and people will defend him, saying, "I was hit sometimes when I was a kid, so it's not so bad!" or, "It toughens them up", or, "He's not a bad man," etc.

If it's "more or less true", he should be on his way to lawsuits and/or jail, not just a "yoshi yoshi" pat on the back after his little performance for the cameras.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

the girls picked the right time to blow the whistle, in between the schoolboy suicide and the media build-up for the olympics. the Govt hasn't been shy nor demure and has shown not even one ounce of decency declaring they don't want stuff like this to mess with the olympics bid but nonetheless I salute their candidness. (I am being ironic, in case you wonder). nevertheless I do hope this is going to stir things on a deeper level and change the attitude, the underlying mentality and even the legal system (or the way it is applied) if necessary.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I watched the guy`s press conference tonight on TV. He was sweating profusely throughout. I think it really goes to show the whole mentality connected with society. It is just an extension of the bullying that we have seen at schools over the last few months.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

This will not help the Olympic bid.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

He should now open his own dojo. I know of people who would travel across the Kanto area just to train under such a tough master, whether it be judo, karate or any other kind of martial arts. Their theory: such a strict (is this the right word?) master turns out better combatants ...

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

He was sweating profusely throughout. I think it really goes to show the whole mentality connected with society. It is just an extension of the bullying that we have seen at schools over the last few months.

If he was sweating so much it shows he was scared this won't be the end of the matter. If he thought society was on his side/was indifferent he would have been a cool customer.

The parents watching didn't say jack, but I was furious and was so close to going over there

Congratulations for having the courage to say that on an anonymous website rather than doing something in person. I mean, you have to be the first foreigner I've heard talk about what he "would have done/almost did".

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Shumatsu_Samurai; yeah, my sentiments exactly. Another great story to tell down the Hub, where nothing actually happened.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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