Stubborn is an adjective that is sometimes used to describe me. After years of futile attempts to get some of my kids’ mothers to try Judo, I decided that a different approach was needed. One thing I was convinced about was that my moms did want to do Judo, in spite of saying they didn’t or that they would never do it. Yet talking to them and observing them as they watched their kids perform in class only reaffirmed my conviction that all we needed to do was change the setting before some of them would actually get on the mat and roll around with us.
The first thing I decided was to create a mom’s class within our kids class. Thankfully, our mat is large enough to conduct two separate classes simultaneously. Moms were already at the club watching their kids, and I knew they wouldn’t or couldn’t stay another hour and a half to participate in the adult class while their kids waited for them. Besides that, my adult class, which consists of mostly large brown and black belt males, is understandably rather intimidating for petite moms.
After eliminating the first excuse for not doing Judo, I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. They could try Judo for the entire month for free, and we would loan them gis. No cost, no commitment, free trial period. Hard to ignore.
Next up, I assigned the moms to two assistant coaches, both females, one of whom is a mom too, with a son in our program. Having women as coaches removed the intimidation factor further. In addition, since the two coaches work out with the moms during drills and combative exercises, they serve as female role models for our moms.
Moms with their coaches.
Finally, we needed to work with a curriculum that would slowly but surely build up their tolerance to the physicality of Judo practice and maintain their enjoyment of the activity, while minimizing their fear of, you guessed it, being slammed on the mat! As it turned out, most of the moms are very aggressive, but falling was anticipated with trepidation. Accordingly, we starting with a ne waza dominated curriculum, followed by low amplitude throws from the knees, and then moms throwing coaches. Moms randori at times with their child. Eventually, we will have moms throw each other. We are, and they are, in no rush to get there yet.
Who says Judo isn't fun?
All of my moms are in their mid-30s to early-50s! Every time I look over to their side of the mat to make sure things are running smoothly, they are smiling and laughing. So it’s readily apparent they are enjoying the sport, and the fitness and self-defense benefits they derive from the practices. Having an all-female group at this stage of their development is a very important ingredient to the success of the program. And being able to bond with the children on the mat is an added bonus.
Admittedly, we are fortunate to have a large enough facility and staff to run our moms program at the same time our kids meet. It’s no secret that Judo struggles to attract enough women to our sport. Perhaps all we have to do is make it easier to do Judo. Eliminate the excuses and make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Moms and their kids bonding after a good practice.
I would like to start off by saying that I agree with the opening sentence! There is another fact that I like to share with anyone I am going to teach the discipline of judo to and that is… there is a 100% chance of injury in the SPORT of judo. I know, this may raise a few eyebrows, but that does not change the fact that injury is a part of the process. There are certain precautions an instructor can make to lessen the possibility of injury, but like any sport the human body can only take so much punishment before something gives way. This brings to mind another tool that can be utilized to entice a different genre of potential judoka and that tool is kata!
Now I started my judo career at Judo America with Coach Lafon and I know just how nontraditional his philosophy is. This actually propelled me, as a late starter, onto the national scene. I had certain abilities that came with my athletic endeavors of the past and Lafon was able to teach me how to apply those abilities to the sport of judo. I also experienced some pretty gnarly injuries based on the dynamic principles that went along with such training. It wasn’t until I traveled to San Jose and was exposed to some more traditional practices that I saw some of the benefits of practices such as kata.
I want to clarify that I do not teach, nor have I ever competed in any forms (kata); however, I did have to train for two days with Fukuda Sensei in San Francisco before being awarded my Shodan by Yosh Uchida. Fukuda Sensei’s dojo is comprised mostly of female judoka. There was one male there and I think he was asked to be there to accommodate me, but the rest of the class was female. The atmosphere was extremely less tense that that of any dojo I had ever attended and all of the judoka seemed to have no apprehensions about training with anyone else in the dojo. This is not always the case as some judoka are a lot more intimidating that others and therefore others are less willing to train with them. It is easier to simply not train than to train with someone who has the potential, whether intentionally done or not, of hurting another.
My point is that the more tools you have to use the better. I train with everyone I can and I take something away from that experience that I use down the road. This is an important philosophy not only in ones personal training, but a must as a teacher who is challenged with so many different learning styles and needs.
Interesting that you should bring up kata, my favorite part of Judo- not! I too at one point in my life did kata. As a matter of fact, I performed nage no kata as uke in front of Ms. Fukuda, close to 35 years ago. I found myself getting more tweaked than during regular Judo practice, because of the rigid landing position required by the kata. Other katas are obviously easier on the body.
Great idea, other sporting genres could have the same idea!