How did you find Judo and how long have you been doing it?

I was first introduced to judo at age 10. Our Baptist pastor was an Ikkyu and started a club in the church rec room. We were pretty poor, but we could afford the cost of tuition: Attend one service per week at church or Sunday school. My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Montgomery, and her husband helped me buy my first judogi.
I attended sensei/reverend's class for about a year and a half until his 'calling' led him to another church. I gave up organized religion once the carrot was gone and my mother no longer made me go, but I always wanted to get back into judo and kept my judogi until it no longer fit.
As an adult I moved around a lot, mostly in small towns. Most of the time there was no opportunity to continue, but I did when I could.
I walked into my current dojo a Gokyu just over a year ago and was awarded Nikyu yesterday. I'm looking forward to every practice and my growth in the art is becoming easier and more apparent.

Heisenberg wrote:I was first introduced to judo at age 10. Our Baptist pastor was an Ikkyu and started a club in the church rec room. We were pretty poor, but we could afford the cost of tuition: Attend one service per week at church or Sunday school. My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Montgomery, and her husband helped me buy my first judogi.
I attended sensei/reverend's class for about a year and a half until his 'calling' led him to another church. I gave up organized religion once the carrot was gone and my mother no longer made me go, but I always wanted to get back into judo and kept my judogi until it no longer fit.
As an adult I moved around a lot, mostly in small towns. Most of the time there was no opportunity to continue, but I did when I could.
I walked into my current dojo a Gokyu just over a year ago and was awarded Nikyu yesterday. I'm looking forward to every practice and my growth in the art is becoming easier and more apparent.

Great story!!! And good luck... a black belt is simply a white belt that never gave up, and seems like you are well on your way!
Cheers!

Believe it or not (thankyou Mr Ripley) I was bullied at school,
my Father had a friend from his Air Force days who was also the
Master of his Masonic Lodge and the Manager of the local Youth club.

Dad took me down to the youth club one night and introduced me and
then said that he would be back to collect me in a couple of hours !!
That was my 9th Birthday...24th February 1965.....the rest is, as they say, "History" !!

I knew about judo since I was a kid, but I always thought I was too skinny to train(shows you my ignorance). I did train kyokushin karate when I was a kid, for about a year. When I was in college I started following mma and researching martial arts, deciding I should train something to get in better physical condition and learn to defend myself. I wanted to train BJJ, but there was a judo club a few minutes from my house, so I started researching judo to see what can it offer me. It turned out it can offer me almost everything BJJ can on ground, plus excellent throws, plus good conditioning. So I started training in 2007 and I've been training ever since, three times per week. I learned that I had no talent whatsoever, but I kept trying. Now I'm a brown belt, and I recently entered my first competition and won bronze.

Funny thing is, I haven't been training for a very long time, but judo was a quite different sport when I started.

On what can really only be described as a whim I wandered into the local dojo as a curious fifteen year old whose prior interest in sports of any kind had been almost nonexistent and with levels of athleticism and coordination appropriate to that... watched the whole class, walked out, bought a gi before the next one, and that was that.

I was a karate orange belt and undersized when I was 11 or 12. I used to talk striking over grappling with my new, same-size school friend, who was a provincial judo champ brown belt. Judo was wrestling - geeky. His name was Ted. He came to visit me in my town and we got the karate gloves on and fought it out and he destroyed me, numerous times. Then, my other buddy and I had at him and he destroyed both of us.lol Then, later at school, I got the tuffest guy in our grade(nice guy) to playfight him and Ted smoked him too. Ted never did appear a fighter-type. I was pretty impressed.

13 years old, new town, new school, tough neighborhood in NJ...
My dad said to me, "You are going to learn to defend yourself!"
Walked into a judo class with no idea what to expect or if I was going to like it or not.
That was 40 years ago last month.
Still active, still teaching, still exited every time I get to the dojo.

When I was either 11 or 12, I asked my parents if I could take Judo. We were broke and sadly they said no, although in 1983 I imagine it probably was not that expensive but financially times were tough at the time. I forgot about it for the time being...

I wrestled in high school & boxed in college. Then at 41 (yeah, 41) I decided to take up Martial Arts. I've been an avid MMA fan since the early UFC days. So I spent about 500 hours lazily researching martial arts considering everything from price to practicality.

Anyway, I was considering BJJ but the $150-200 a month (New York) was a huge turnoff. Then it hit me- go back to my original idea from 1983 lol!

Long story long, I've found a nice small Judo (and jujitsu) school at half the price of any BJJ school that is both sport and self defense based with plenty of newaza (i think thats groundwork, right?). Now if only I could figure out how to do ukemi without gassing out (yeah Im a mess) or hurting myself (yeah Im a klutz).

chicken salad wrote:When I was either 11 or 12, I asked my parents if I could take Judo. We were broke and sadly they said no, although in 1983 I imagine it probably was not that expensive but financially times were tough at the time. I forgot about it for the time being...

I wrestled in high school & boxed in college. Then at 41 (yeah, 41) I decided to take up Martial Arts. I've been an avid MMA fan since the early UFC days. So I spent about 500 hours lazily researching martial arts considering everything from price to practicality.

Anyway, I was considering BJJ but the $150-200 a month (New York) was a huge turnoff. Then it hit me- go back to my original idea from 1983 lol!

Long story long, I've found a nice small Judo (and jujitsu) school at half the price of any BJJ school that is both sport and self defense based with plenty of newaza (i think thats groundwork, right?). Now if only I could figure out how to do ukemi without gassing out (yeah Im a mess) or hurting myself (yeah Im a klutz).

Are you in NYC? And if so, which club do you belong to?

Back in the 50's I was at the Flushing YMCA, in Queens. I was in the seventh or eighth grade and had just started to go to the Y. I watched some guys in white pajamas roll a large mat onto the basketball court and then proceed to throw each other all over the place. Wow!
I enrolled in the class . The Sensei's name was Charles Yerkow.
I have been practicing ever since.

Like a lot of people I had done martial arts when I was young but then career and family took over. In 2010, I was stationed in Monterey, CA and I discovered a really good Kendo club that also had one sensei who taught Iaido one class per week. I started for Kendo, but quickly fell in love with Iai and was really doing Kendo so I could do the Iai class. When I was transferred the closest Kendo dojo was not only over 1.5 hours away, they also didn't do Iai and their monthly dues were ridiculous - I don't know if it's mandatory in Judo, but in Kendo to be a member of the AUSAKF the school has to be non-profit so most are in Y's or Buddhist Temples, etc, but I think these guys set up shop in a strip mall and maybe they weren't making a profit but they still had to pay the rent AND they're no longer in business. Anyway, eventually the bug hit again. I'll admit at first I was considering BJJ but $120 a month? Then, it might sound cliché, but I saw Ronda Rousey and did a search for Judo dojos and low and behold there was one right down the street from me. Went in and watched a class and joined up the very next class. Three months later still going strong, I just wish my schedule allowed me to make more than 1-2 classes per week. In June I'll get off this shift work and I'll be available for up to six classes per week. I don't know if this old body can take that much, but at least the option will be there.

Hi!

I found judo seven years ago, when I watched "The Karate Kid", but that looked me too harmful, so I did judo, still do it! I have now the blue belt and became four years ago third on Regional Championship and I think it's a great sport, but more harmful than I thought in the beginning haha.

My first introduction to judo was a cadet in military school. I was taking Shotokan karatedo but one of my company mates was taking judo. He was banged up all the time, and finally seriously injured. Of course it turned out that the judo club was poorly taught and organized but I didn't know it at the time.

Over the intervening years I took Hapkido in Korea and on a couple of US military bases, and Aikikai aikido in California.

When I moved to Tokyo 30 years ago, I joined a club to take Nihon Jujutsu, which was somewhat related to Hapkido, at least in my mind. It was strictly incidental to me that the same instructor taught judo, but the more I saw his judo I was hooked. Beyond what I had seen as strictly jacketed wrestling there was an entire world of completely unexpected advanced technique and subtleties. I just hadn't had the proper introduction to understand what could be learned in judo.

8-9 yrs old I wanted Karate... Karate Kid had just come out. My Dad Said No. Learn to fall take some knocks and we'll see. Stopped after a few weeks/months I don't know why. Went back couple of years later. guessing it stopped when at 12 I asked for GI and I told my dad I had learnt to strangle!.

3rd time lucky? Well my son started (bored of swimming). I watched for a while and a friend who was on a crazy diet (Lost 7 stone) wanted to build some fitness, So I dragged him a longto the senior class, I needed the excuse! what can I say. I go less often then I would like (weeks inbetween) but make a technical class (no randori) every week in a corner while my son is on the mat.

I shuffle Family, Job, Cycling and Judo. I'll have to decide to take things more seriously if I want to compete but I'm happy and an Orange belt almost 3 yr's later.

My Mum joined a local club in London as a teen because my Dad (her boyfriend at the time) was having fun at the boys & girls club with his mates. After a few years off, 3 daughters & moving to a new town she took up Judo again. She had us join when I was 9, my older sister 10 & my little sister was 5. My parents wanted their girls to be strong & independent so they encouraged sports & education.

I'm the only daughter who kept going, I've now been training for most of the last 38 years. I run my own club & promote women's martial arts through a couple of organizations in the US (where I know live). My elder sister encouraged both of her children to try Judo in their new home of Scotland. Her teenage son still practices occasionally & his dad got the bug & just recently promoted to Shodan.

With a large number of friends, boyfriends & family members who have tried Judo Mum started a whole dynasty of Judoka. Just because she wanted to make her boyfriend jealous when she was 15!