ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some of the adaptations of judo skills and techniques applied by women practising judo. Drawing on the principle of maximum efficient use of mind and body, along with the concept of softness overcoming hardness, the authors explain that women make use of mechanical laws to effect techniques, especially as female opponents are likely to have a lower centre of mass than their male training partners. The authors discuss skill acquisition and the value of kata practice in developing those skills, drawing on a range of academic literature illustrating how this has been applied by female judoka. Fitts’ three-stage model is used as a framework to discuss the development of technique. The authors apply constraints-led learning to create a skill acquisition framework for judo.
