Colin Oates is a left handed fighter. When up against same stance opponents, those also in a left stance, his only thought as he took to the mat was ‘stop the left hand’.

He did this initially by targeting his partner’s left shoulder and chest, before transitioning down to a sleeve grip.

Here, ...

Colin Oates’s mentality against left handed opponents was ‘stop the left hand, catch the hand, break the grip’.

He felt most uncomfortable when his opponent managed to get a high lapel or collar grip. If they managed to get the grip, his main way of dealing with it was by easing their hand down ...

In this clip we see Colin Oates’s gripping strategies against left handed opponents, used in the heat of competition.

In the 2014 Paris Grand Slam, Oates perfectly demonstrates his game-plan of stopping the left hand, by targeting the chest, against double World Champion Rishod Sobirov of Uzbeki...

Colin Oates says that in his early competitive career he spent a lot of the time finding ways to neutralise his opponent’s attacking abilities.

Against right handed opponents his principle gripping technique was the sleeve pull through. He credits the pull through as one of the main reasons he h...

To move from an average international competitor to being inside the world’s top five in his weight, Colin Oates made some significant adjustments to his Kumi kata.

The biggest transformation against right handers came when he started to dominate the back of his opponent. Rather than fight for t...

A gripping scenario Colin Oates was not happy with was when a right handed opponent pinned his left sleeve, whilst fighting to control his right sleeve.

Oates’s response was to snap off the sleeve pin on one side, then neutralise his opponent’s grip on the other side, before taking his favoured ...

In this clip we see the competition variations of Colin Oates’s gripping strategies against opposite stance opponents. This sleeve pull through allows Oates to get a deep and dominant grip around the back, against Israel’s Raufman, on route to winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Samsun Grand Prix....

Multiple European Medallist Colin Oates is best known for his Sumi gaeshi - it was the technique he scored with most, and he had a total of four variations.

Throughout his entire competitive career, Oates was tweaking, improving and adding different elements to his Sumi gaeshi. There were three ...

Colin Oates, a left-handed fighter, uses Sumi gaeshi against right-handed opposition. For Oates’s Sumi gaeshi to be most effective both judoka need to be fully gripped up. So, he is quite happy to allow his partner to take the first grip on his jacket.

He then feeds his partner’s lapel into his ...

Colin Oates regards his foot movement pattern as the single most important element to his Sumi gaeshi. He learnt this pattern from his Japanese coach, Go Tsunoda, which is traditionally used to set up the big forward or rear throws. Oates, however, managed to successfully incorporate it into Sumi...

Colin Oates’s underhook variation of Sumi gaeshi comes from when neither judoka has a sleeve grip. This technique evolved when Oates was chasing his opponent for the sleeve, but they were fighting hard not to give it up. As a result, momentum comes into play even more so than his standard variati...

Colin Oates has an unusual reverse Sumi gaeshi, which perfectly compliments his standard variation of the technique. He learnt the reverse Sumi gaeshi from French World Champion Stephane Traineau early on in his career. However, he only incorporated into his judo several years later, but now cons...

As with all of Colin Oates’s Sumi gaeshis, momentum is absolutely critical and it’s no different when it comes to his Uchi mata – Sumi gaeshi combination. Oates pre-plans this combination against opponents who are defensively strong against his Uchi mata.

The Uchi mata, however, must come with ...

In this clip we look at how Colin Oates used his Sumi gaeshi at the world’s biggest competitions.

At the 2011 Qingdao Grand Prix Oates uses a belt grip to score Yuko and win in Golden Score.

On his way to winning the bronze medal at the 2014 Samsun Grand Prix Oates grips deep over his opponent’...

Colin Oates used Sumi Gaeshi not only as a way to score from standing, but as his primary method of initiating Newaza. His leg escape into Mune Gatame worked hand-in-hand with his Sumi Gaeshi. So much so that Oates would regularly attack with Sumi Gaeshi with the intention actually being to set-u...

Sometimes Colin Oates’s opponents would catch the leg far too tightly for him to free it in his usual manner. So he developed a tie off variation of his leg escape into Mune Gatame, so that he wasn’t trying to free the leg using his lower body alone.

If the partner has managed to keep a tight gr...

When opponents became familiar with Colin Oates’s leg escape they would start bringing their arm in tight to their body, to prevent him from going under their armpit. So he developed a reverse variation, prising their elbow up and entering from the opposite direction.

Once inside, he secures th...

In this clip we will look at competition variations of Colin Oates’ leg escape

On his way to the bronze medal at the 2014 Samsun Grand Prix, Colin Oates defeats Georgia’s Tatarashvili using his leg escape after a failed drop Seoi nage attempt by his opponent.

As Oates tries to release the leg, ...

Colin Oates has two excellent Kosoto garis which he uses against same stance opponents. The first is his sticky foot variation.

He says that sticky foot Kosoto gari is particularly useful against opponents who adopt an extreme stance.

It works on the basis of trapping your opponent in their mov...

Colin Oates’s Kosoto gari is a three part trap; it starts by forcing Uke to pull away, then locks their lower leg into position, and finally the sticking to their foot - all of which contribute to the momentum of this throw.

The initial trap comes from the threat of a standard direction of attac...

Colin Oates’s bear-hug Kosoto gari is used against left handed opponents that come out in a right stance. In this situation an opponent would normally be looking to win the grip-fight, taking a high left handed grip, before switching to their preferred left stance.

So the response from Oates is ...

In this clip we see how Colin Oates used his Kosoto gari in compeititon, and how it varied as he adapted it to each specific scenario

On his way to winning the bronze medal at the 2013 Rijeka Grand Prix, Colin Oates produces a beautiful sticky foot Kosoto gari in the eliminations.

After pulling...

Here is an exercise Colin Oates uses to train weight transference.

By placing four cones to create the shape of a square in a two by two metre area, Oates demonstrates a very effective way of changing direction quickly and adjusting your body weight accordingly.

This ability to transfer your we...

In the later part of his competitive career Colin Oates was regarded as one of the best lightweight Newaza technicians in the world.

Oates says that it was his groundwork that elevated him from an average international competitor to being inside the top five in his weight.

He had two techniques...