I used to train in Zen Judo and was taught by Dominick McCarthy who apparently founded it in 74. After recently speaking with some people from a different club who are members of the British Judo Association I found that a lot of people had negative attitudes about the club and it's founder Mac. I don't want this thread to become a *fest between different clubs or styles, but I trained a long time ago when I was quite young thought Mac was a really nice guy. I was just wondering if these negative opinions about Zen Judo were common among the Judo community, and if so why, what happened to cause those opinions etc?
I've only ever heard of it by name, but I think the basic dislike of any other organisations by the BJA is simply because they feel they should be the only governing body. aside from that, most people in the BJA have no idea about the organisations they complain about, and if they take time to look into it, they see that other organisation may emphasise different sides of the art to the contest that the BJA focuses primarily on.
Heya Rus, I've heard of Zen Judo some time ago. From the negative 'feelings' I had conveyed to me at the time I stopped inquiring. I think that the reason around it at the time had to do with the quasi religious aspect portrayed of it at the time (true or false). I think there's an article online about it. Try looking at www.judoinfo.com I think that's where I saw it. Like to hear more about it if you feel like writing either an article, a log in your journal or a new thread. Why'd you stop training there?
I think it was because it was the same day my football team changed training too, I couldn't do both :/ If I can find out some info I'll write it up somewhere!
Found this web site for Zen Judo a while ago - http://gordonlawson.tripod.com/bzj/ - I was/still am interested in learning Judo in "non-competition oriented" environment. Wanted to learn the more of the martial aspects of Judo, but no club nearby so I make do with a JudoScotland affiliated club. The BJA people probably like competition Judo so therefore slag Zen Judo off.
After speaking to the same people again they unfortunatly put forward more negative opinions about all the other martial arts, so I'm not holding much credance in what they have said now. But this link airs some views: http://judoinfo.com/discuss/index.php?showtopic=781&hl=zen+judo There are a few innacuracies in the comments (from what I experianced) as it was certainly competative, at the end of every class there was a moderatly competetive set of 'winner stays on' randori which started with the while belts and moved up until the black belts, tournaments were held regularly which different groups from the area came to and there were other events that premoted a competetive attitude. As for a lack of newaza, i googled as i didnt know what it was http://www.judoinfo.com/techdrw.htm we did all the pinning techniques mentioned on this site, but i never learned any of the chokes or arm locks. I never noticed a spiritual side to what we did.. Whether my experiances were limited as I was being trained as a child, I can't say, but I'll keep digging.
