Kata practice and concepts according to highly experienced judo teachers and referees

摘要

The objective of the present study was to characterize the kata practice among judo teachers , responsible by S?o Paulo State Federation’s kata competition and grade examinations. A closed questionnaire was applied to 20 teachers (male = 18; female = 2). The sample was 46 ± 10 years-old, with judo practice time of 34 ± 9 years, and graduation 5 ± 1 dan. Practice often varied from 2 (50%) to 4 (30%) sessions per month. Nage no kata was identified as the most performed (78%) and preferred (31%) kata, followed by katame no kata (25%), ju no kata (21%) and kime no kata (12%). Initiation of kata study usually started at the teacher’s dojo (79%) and through courses offered by state federation (21%). Practice is directed to techniques improvement (46%), complementation for judo training (29%), spiritualized/mental practice (14%) and for competition preparation (11%). The following attributes are the most important meanings given for kata: foundation (45%), essence (25%), origin (15%), form (10%) and principle (5%).