‘Coaching Judo to Juniors’ and ‘Judo in School Education’ are the first two DVDs of the I.J.F. Coaching Series, and are presented by Education and Coaching Director Yasuhiro Yamashita.

Mr Yamashita, ex-World champion Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki and FF’s Danny Hicks officially launched the DVDs at the IJF Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on 6th September, two days before the 2005 World Judo Championships.

Both DVDs contain a five language facility - English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic. The plan is to have German, Russian and Chinese added in the near future.

In ‘Coaching Judo to Juniors’ three experts - Michel Brousse, Peter Gardiner and Franco Capelletti - all agree that children can, and should, enjoy judo.

From northern Italy and the slums of Brazil to the Scottish borders and the beautiful dojos in France, the experts demonstrate a wide variety of coaching techniques and games.

‘Judo in School Education’ focuses on the spread of judo in Japan.

It takes an indepth look at the history of Japanese judo, the structure of it within schools, the famous All-Japan judo championships, and even an exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin - where he explains the influence judo has had on his life.

Hicks added: "I believe that this is a very important step by the IJF, which for the first time is reaching out to communicate directly on the ground with the most important people in judo development - the coaches."

Both DVDs are currently only available on PAL playing format. The NTSC facility should be completed by the end of October, at which the point the DVDs will become a double-sided disc.