Comments for BetterJudo.com

Comment on Judo’s Consistent Curse by admin

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:41:29 +0000

Which organization requires this for 4th dan?

Comment on A History of Judo by admin

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:37:22 +0000

Yes, I’ve read the original Judo from the Beginning. I had been after Phil to reprint the book for years. I’m glad to hear that has happened.

Comment on A History of Judo by John

John — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:19:17 +0000

Ever read Judo from the beginning? It’s now been reprinted and available on eBay by Philip Porter’s widow.

Comment on Show Me the Evidence! by Steve Scott

Steve Scott — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:55:18 +0000

Don,
It sounds like freestyle judo is something you will enjoy. I hope you get involved. We now have a Facebook group for freestyle judo. We need more people who are willing to host freestyle judo tournaments and get involved.

Comment on The International Freestyle Judo Alliance by Steve Scott

Steve Scott — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:49:39 +0000

Thanks for what you are doing Gerry. I hope others get involved and host freestyle judo tournaments in their areas. The Facebook group will help everyone coordinate activities. Gerry’s right, by the way, in the fact that we have an alliance that can serve as a network of like-minded people working to develop freestyle judo both in the United States and internationally.

Comment on Judo’s Consistent Curse by John Barton

John Barton — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:13:36 +0000

Sam, Not true with all organisations. I was recently promoted to 4th Dan and had to demonstrate 6 Kata, Coach at national level, referee, do all techniques from our syllabus.
Write 6 articles on judo, etc etc. I also had to wait 9 years between the grades of 3-4th dan.And I am a past national medalist with over 45 years of continuous judo experience. Believe me the people I teach know good judo

Comment on Show Me the Evidence! by Donald Mills

Donald Mills — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:56:21 +0000

This post is dead on! Judo is dying a slow death because we as Martial Artist were taught to Learn, Adapt, and Evolve first and Foremost! Judo is going the opposite direction. Let’s say my Sensei taught me the finer points of “Grappling Judo” which he did because he was almost 70 when I started to train with him. As a result my Newaza is simply amazing but I never get a chance to display it because we are stood up as soon as we hit the mat. So I as a club member am expected to pay yearly fees to USA Judo or some other organization in order to compete in a sanction tournament that penalizes me for having strong Newaza. Add in the cost of a plane ticket, gas, Hotel, and food to get to these events and I am unable to play to my strengths. I think I will pass! I love the Stand up Judo but I also love the Grappling aspect of Judo as well. I have rolled with several BJJ players and they always ask me how long I’ve been training BJJ. I just laugh and tell them that this is “Old School” Judo. I see no reason to support a style that is being watered down daily. I train for self defense, health, friendship, etc… I could care less if I ever attended another sanctioned Judo TOURNAMENT! However, I have learned to evolve and cross train with people who are very good at things Judo doesn’t allow anymore. As a result I am able to submit opponents in a short time if we hit the mat! I am all for any organization that is smart enough to allow people to compete in an ART that was formed from Japanese Ju Jitsu and not penalize me for developing a VERY STRONG NEWAZA GAME! Let’s keep it Real People! Judo as we know it today is Quick, Flashy, Throws and if you can’t accept that you may as well not Waste your time or money! There are simply to many choices in today’s Mixed Martial Arts world to settle for something that is a shell of it’s original self. To each there own, but I prefer to spend my time, money and energy on something that gives back and supports those who support it.

Comment on Show Me the Evidence! by Dave

Dave — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:24:03 +0000

My family and I were Judoka big time. Now I run a wrestling club. Love both styles, but have a hard time with the restrictive rules in Judo that have come down recently. Freestyle Judo looks awesome. Like the way we would fight in our club, as apposed to tournaments. Please keep up the fight.

Comment on Show Me the Evidence! by Steve Scott

Steve Scott — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:08:08 +0000

Gerry,
Great post. Here are some of my thoughts from AAU Judo’s perspective. AAU Judo has a bit more than 1,300 judo athletes registered. I do not know what the membership numbers are for USA Judo, USJA or USJF are, but I can report that (in AAU Judo) we have seen a steady increase in membership and activity from 2009 to present. And while I am pleased to see this steady growth, it is small in comparison to the growth of BJJ and submission grappling in the United States.
Judo people have to come to terms with the very real notion that judo is not the dominant martial art (or even dominant martial art that is grappling-based) anymore. The popularity of MMA has brought along the popularity of BJJ and other forms of submission grappling. In fact, there is also a definite increase in popularity for the traditional forms of jujitsu as well as “sport jujitsu” in both the United States and internationally. While judo is an Olympic sport, that isn’t enough to sustain it, in terms of popularity.
In AAU Judo, it’s been our goal to provide a variety of competitive opportunities for judoka in the United States. We offer tournaments 1-using the regular AAU Judo rules (not IJF, as we allow Kata Guruma, Morote Gari, Te Guruma, etc.), 2-using freestyle judo rules, 3-technique tournaments, 4-kata tournaments. In other words, we are attempting to offer a variety of judo activities that the public will be interested in doing. Also, we have made it very clear that AAU Judo is a development program and we encourage people to participate in USA Judo, USJA and USJF activities. (By the way, we are hosting the National AAU Freestyle Judo Championships and National AAU Technique Tournament March 23-24 in Kearney, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City.)
But again, the fact remains that the number of people doing judo is small compared to the number of people doing other grappling-based martial arts, especially in the United States. Go to a big regional NAGA submission grappling tournament and you will see over 1,000 athletes entered. Compare that to a big regional judo tournament and see 250 to 300 athletes entered. It doesn’t take a genius to see what is happening.
There are an increasing numbers of clubs that offer a variety of grappling sports (mine included) and not exclusively judo. My athletes compete in judo (including freestyle judo), sambo, BJJ, submission grappling (with various organizations), sport jujitsu and anything else we can find that looks interesting. As I said, my club isn’t unique in doing this. The powers-that-be in judo need to realize that this is what is taking place and they do not have a monopoly on grappling-based martial arts anymore.
Several years ago, I coined the phrase “judo snob” to describe the person you mentioned in your post Gerry. These are the people who look down their noses at the rest of us, but the fact remains that these judo snobs are becoming (increasingly) fewer in number as time goes on. By the way, there are “BJJ snobs” just as well. These are the BJJ people who think anything not Brazilian is something they look down their noses at. That’s human nature, but it is something that we have to deal with on a regular basis.
To steal a quote from someone else (not sure who said it originally); “Prof. Kano invented judo, not the IJF.” What we have done in AAU Judo is to ignore the judo snobs and pursue judo as a competitive sport, method of physical education and as an enjoyable activity that can be be studied for a lifetime. You can show the evidence to the judo snobs, but it really doesn’t matter (to people like me at least) if they accept it or not. We’re still going to pursue judo in the manner we wish. Freestyle judo is growing in popularity, as are the other types of judo competition offered by a variety of groups and organizations, whether the judo snobs like it or not.
By the way, thanks for doing this blog.

Comment on IJF Responds! by admin

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:04:15 +0000

You are absolutely right about the atmosphere at tournaments. How do we sell Judo tournaments to the public? Also correct about the disconnect between the guys who make the rules and those of us who have to compete for members within the martial arts community.