Top ten schools for judo?

[Jody Holeton]

Hey everybody,

I was just went looking for judo information on Google and I found this article by Taizu Noguchi at
http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives/blackbelt/1970/apr70/aau.html
and I found more questions than answers...

I was wondering which schools produce the most Olympic contenders?

I was told that there are only about 29,000 people practicing judo in America.

Isn't judo the 2nd most practiced sport in the world?

Maybe the US should put judo into the "wrestling" category like the Russians. Aren't there a couple of million wrestlers in this country...

[tommysella]

Perhaps small in the USA...but for example in Europe, judo is rather big...

Regards,
Tommy

[MarkF]

Hi, Jody,
Well, since you've relocated perhaps you could put this all in perspective for us.


Isn't judo the 2nd most practiced sport in the world?
[/b]

That depends on who you ask and what the terms are for determing it. I believe it was in David Matsumoto's book where it was first mentioned, and the IJF ate it for lunch, spreading to all judo web sites including the USJI site.

But since that would be next to impossible if you think about it, then it may be the "most popular sport in the Olympics," thus the world. Since nearly all countries are member nations of the IJF, and you state it that way, it could be true, as even those who don't send players or teams to the Games are members.

Hey, I was spouting that, too, until I thought about it, went to a few dozen web sites to see the reasoning behind it, and the Olympic numbers were the only ones which made natural sense.

You may still find it on http://judoinfo.com and the USJI with a keyword search, and a ton of others, especially on Google since they cache just about everything. You could then question as many as you wish on how they came to that conclusion. I don't have the patience for that. I feel screwed enough.:o


Mark

[MarkF]

BTW: I would say off the top that Japan has the most schools, wins sixty or more per cent of its medals in judo, so the answers are there. Next would be Korea and France. Cuba certainly has one of the top schools for women judoka, and again, so does Japan.

Probably the best USA schools are NY/NJ as they have the most recent medal count for the USA, so the school[s] of Jason Morris and Jimmy Pedro. Illinois is always a powerhouse in national competition (or was the last I looked, anyway.

LA rarely produces any international judo players, but other areas of California may.

Above that, I don't know. I could give a description of the best judo dojo, mainly on how they are run, not based in competition, necessarily, thought I was always warned as a kid to watch my behind If I were to fight anyone from the Gardena Judo Dojo in Gardena, Calif. (The have a model dojo, btw. It is one of the best-run I've ever trained at, the kids parents, and older judoka are on the board of Gov there and they decide where, when, how, and what classes, tournaments, their own invitationals, etc. It is also one of the oldest, going back to pre-war days and then some. While it was mostly a JA dojo, even in the sixties, it is as the neighborhood is; it has changed over time, but has always been an outstanding program.

It may not be what you are looking for, but these days it's the best I can come up with, unless I crunched numbers, etc.

Mark

[efb8th]

Hi, Guys.

Sensei Ushida at San Jose State is spoken of very highly in my circles, though I have never met him. People I respect respect him. That's a good start.

Regards,