I enjoy groundwork in Judo. I prefer it to the throws. Don't get me wrong. I enjoying throwing someone who weighs considerable amount more than me over my hip, but I think the groundwork aspect of Judo adds such a great dimension to the art. I hate the idea that Judo is losing this in favor of a more TV friendly throwing art. So my question is, what would it take to convince the various Judo governing bodies to allow more time for groundwork during competitions, especially the olympics. Can anything be done?
Probably not, but why let that stop you? The best part is actually competing anyway so just do it in your own Dojo. There's always (dare I say it) BJJ...
but if Judo emphasizes more groundwork I can save money on classes and not have to turn to another school
Aaaahhh! The dreaded BJJ! The d34dl33! *runs off in panic waving arms over head* :Angel: Judo's a sport, there I said it. Whew, got it out of the way. They must promote the sport to continue international recognition. If emphasis on throwing is the way to do it, then so be it. If you wish to counter this trend, write letters, start a group and lobby and get like-minded souls into posititions of authority. Me, I train with like-minded souls. Let the world do as it wishes.
judo's a ma and a sport. Its become generalised, so it can be iether traditional judo which i prefer, groundwork is alot of dfun ^^ or it can be more sport judo concentratingon throws and in a way self defense, i'm sure in self defense classes you may be shown how do thro an attcker, maybe shown an ippon seionage but i don't think they'd show as much, pinning the attacker down with some nifty arm discolating pin. Yeah, olympic judo was disapointing, very boring, both competitors just standa round make a 'basic-fake' attempt to attack so they don't lose points to the opponent, and when one person finalyl goes for a throw the other just counterrs... 4 mins and 30 secs of pushing a person around for a couple of secs of a throw ^^ wheres the matwork!!!!
linguo, i also love the groundwork and like you, prefere it to standing work. there are some ground work only tornaments going round which is really interesting since alot of non-grappling stlye fighters par take. i havent managed to get myself into one of these torni's yet since they all seem to be down south or way out east. i did however do a bit of grappling at a local karate club, when the sensei found out i was a judoka, he changed his lesson plan to take advantage and introduce grappling to his class. one of the black belts there was in one of these ground work tornaments and did pretty well (first bronze out of 7)....... i hammered him 4 tap outs in a 2 minute grapple. i wish a tornament would come within range. anyway, look out for ground work torni's by you. oh BTW most the ground work tornaments i've heard of involve striking aswell.
i wish my friend ali were posting in this forum. he'd say: newaza is the stuff that judo is built on. he also said that judo should never lose it's martial art aspect. that's why he formed his judo grappling school, which was created to keep pushing the martial art aspect of judo. too bad it closed down becuase of his scheduling conflict.
As a BJJ guy, I have to say i have see judo seemingly going further and further away from good ground fighting - my BJJ club did a little club tournament against a local judo club and i dont think they won a fight (despite throwing us all round the dojo). I have a huge amount of respect for judo - but it seemed in this case that the judokas sport fighting menatlity hindering them - ie they gave there back away to BJJ guys (usually suicide), because they were trying not to be pinned! I would love to see Judo going back to its martial heritage more, as i would love to be able to throw like that, but it never seems worth joining to just learn the throws alone
Don't get me wrong. I think the throws still make it a meaningful art. Planting a guy into concrete with an ippon seionage or even O soto gari is a pretty effective skill out on the street, but I think the groundwork is a great component of the art that I want to see preserved. I wish they would just change the rules to allow for more groundwork. It probably still won't compare to BJJ, but it will go a long way to keeping one of the best parts of the art alive. Also, I agree about turtling. I hate giving my back away in favor of a turtle. To me it doesn't make sense. I was told to always go to my belly, that I'm not strong on my back. I thought to myself "hell no, if I did that in a street fight, I'd get clobbered". There is a good BJJ school around here though. I'd like to see our clubs get together and see what grappling gaps we need to fill in.
Judo competitions do place a lot of emphasis on competitions, if you want to fight on the ground do BJJ or wrestling.
i hope that there are still places out there that preserve the old pre- olimpic judo. the judo that was both a sport and a martial art. the judo that placed the newaza where it should be. i want my son to learn that kind of judo. i hope it isn't too late. save newaza. save judo.
What if Judo competitions no longer awarded ippons for throws and re-vamped their scoring system? Maybe throws would get some a higher rating, but should not decide the match.
Well the place i train at does about as much newaza as tachi waza so i guess not all judo school just emphasise stand up, it just depends where u train.
In real life, I'd rather know decent groundwork but be excellent at throws than the other way round, which is why I'd rather do judo than BJJ. In a real fight, groundwork is something I will do as an absolute last resort, not as an offensive weapon. I would much prefer to put them on the floor then stamp on their head/run away than to go down with them and put myself at further risk. Perhaps this is why judo values throwing more highly than groundwork. I don't know, I've only done 2 judo lessons, but that seems like the obvious answer to my novice brain.
All MA's evolve with time for some reason or the other, I enjoy both standing and groundwork, for this reason I practice Judo and submission wrestling. Pretty much just trying to complement one with the other. As for an Ippon after a throw.....well just avoid getting tossed around.
I also love Ground Work and most of my students enjoy it as well although standing work is good to do ground work can help your stamina alot. If you got a pettition maybe with enough people willing to sign it and enough people willing to do more ground work compettitions you might eventually get someone to listen to you even if you do have to do it more than once.
I'm a noob in judo yet but I too would like more groundwork. (but on the other hand i don't care cause there is so much to learn yet...)
