Slight changes to the blog. Google+ group.

The other day an admin from reddit, where I often submit the blog posts, pointed out that this blog contains mostly secondary content and not much of the original posts. I looked back at most of the posts and that's a very good point. As far as I can see there is not much point in making a post with a single or several videos relying on a third party content. This takes time and doesn't add quality to the blog.

At the moment I am writing my Master's thesis, so there isn't much time to work on the original content at this time, yet I do occasionally stumble upon interesting judo related information, which could be shared much easier via Google+. So, join the judo Google+ group for the judo videos and other content.

Meanwhile I will be gradually removing posts from third party sources excluding my posts from my youtube channel.

On getting first dan (black belt)

Earlier this month I've requested my coach to mail me a judo certificate and, well, yesterday I've received a document stamped and signed by the Ukrainian judo federation president officially acknowledging my rank and place in the federation. Apparently the rules have changed and the coaches and the federation awarded me with the first dan. Here is what I am on about, we used to have the Soviet system under which your rank and belt depend on your performance in the national and international tournaments, meaning that to get a certain rank, say a black belt, you'd have to win a national championship. But then again I can back it up with a bunch of diplomas, but now it's all official I guess.

I would like to thank my coach - Vladimir Kuspish, for providing me with the documents. Before this I wore a white belt, which was a little misleading. Well, off to the store or what?