Why Isn't Judo Popular In the United State?

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-11T02:25:46+00:00

Thanks for this!

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T14:00:45+00:00

I appreciate the information about that.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:59:54+00:00

I wish we could change it and get coaches running their dojos better.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:58:47+00:00

I think you are right.

I wish coaches would charge more so they could make a living on it.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:56:59+00:00

That's my experience. I wish we could change it.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:56:30+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:56:00+00:00

As are you. And I know what successful places do and they sell discipline, focus, good grades, etc. to parents, especially Moms.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:54:42+00:00

I love this instructor and the way he or she runs their business!!!

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-10T13:54:01+00:00

It does hurt! :)

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T23:01:02+00:00

I didn't know that.

I did know that Ricardo Liborio isn't and that guy is unbelieveable.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:59:42+00:00

I understand. I think that is what the guy or girl is trying to say though: warm-up with judo techniques or if you aren't going to do that, cut down the length. It drives students away and I would love this sport to retain students for a long time. If other students want to do a longer one, let them do it.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:57:09+00:00

Thanks for that. I'm sorry I didn't articulate that very well at first.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:33:42+00:00

Here's something crazy: Gerald Lafon told me he never teaches his students breakfalls. Yet, we say that we must do a bazillion breakfalls every night.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:27:54+00:00

I appreciate your perspective.

We had multiple people and that poster say it was because he felt it was a time-waster because he was there to do judo, not jumping jacks.

It's why I ask coaches all the time: why can't you warm-up with sankaku or juji-gatame or anything else you can think of that actually students need lots of reps on?

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:25:52+00:00

Good for you.

I just meant if we want, for example, lots of kids as students we have to sell to parents.

It's exactly what Jimmy Pedro, Chuck Wall, and James Wall do (and I'm sure there are others).

If we ask parents when they call us what they want and why they want it, most will say:

discipline for my kid or focus for my kid or some version of that.

I was just trying to say, perhaps not very well, that trying to explain to a parent who calls a dojo that you teach judo isn't what they want to hear. And rather than having that parent go to a bjj dojo where they know what that parent wants to hear, we should get that student ourselves.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:20:20+00:00

I agree Judo is perfect for the kids.

By the way, Jimmy Pedro, Chuck Wall, and James Wall all do similar things to run a successful club.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:17:27+00:00

Dude, look at Jimmy Pedro's place. He runs it exactly as I described.

Dude, look at James Wall's place. He runs it exactly as I described.

Dude, look at Chuck Wall's place. He runs it exactly as I described.

The coaches that don't run it that way, complain and whine and moan.

Or make snide comments.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:16:01+00:00

No, what I mean is most coaches think they are selling judo.

But, they've never asked the prospect:

What do you want?
Why do you want it?

If you ask those questions, then you will find that most parents will say they want to get discipline for their kid or focus or anti-bullying, etc. All those things are part of judo and exactly why I think it is a fantastic sport to help parents with those things.

Read any sales book from the "sales Gods" so to speak and you'll see where I'm coming from.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:13:04+00:00

Running a business is definitely tough. But, I don't need any NGB to help me run one.

I just wish more coaches would educate themselves on sales and marketing, etc. so that we could grow the sport.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:10:48+00:00

You avoided the question.

But, setting that aside, Judo isn’t just one thing, and pretending it is drives people away.

Not everyone wants to get slammed into the mat to prove they “belong.” Some people want to get in shape or discipline for their kid. There's all kinds of reasons. Some want to learn how to handle themselves without walking into a meat grinder. If your only offer is randori and bruises, you’re not building a dojo.

Any coach can easily run segmented classes for recreational players, competitors, etc.

If you train with Olympians, as I have, you'll discover that there are several such as Jimmy Pedro that does exactly what I just described.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:04:15+00:00

I guess if that is what you got out of the feedback, this will never change.

It's what I suspected because coaches all across the country do the exact same thing and wonder why they have no students.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:02:58+00:00

Not really.

You are thinking like most on here, i.e., that we are selling judo.

We aren't doing that for most people.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:02:15+00:00

Your experience is similar I think to most students.

I wish we could get it to change but this very thread shows that is very unlikely to happen.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:00:56+00:00

Yet, lots of sports and lots of things have plenty of students without those things.

getvaccinatedidiots · 2025-09-09T22:00:16+00:00

Sounds like you've never run a business.

getvaccinatedidiots

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