36 Year Pause

In May of this year I took up Judo again.

I did it as a child, mainly because my father was a black belt and an instructor at the Ken Marriot Sports Centre in the town of Rugby, UK.

Dad was very good at Judo and taught the British Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams when Neil was a little boy. While I had fun doing it, I never took it seriously and never took a grading.

In 2010 I tried Krav Maga and while it was/ is fun I found that I'm not wired for aggressive combat the way I want to be. Judo is officially a sport and the emphasis is on agility and there is absolutely no striking**

I was teaching English earlier this year in Rome to a 13-year old girl who was always telling me how much fun she had at Judo, at a club down the road, and even had medals for competitions that she'd won. I took a "prova" lesson (free try out while wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants) and had fun so bit the bullet and cycled to Decathlon to buy a suit and a white belt.

I'm now a signed-up member of Judo Tuscolano, Rome.

I joined too late for the annual grading in June (the chief instructor simply said "no, you've not been here long enough and it's not fair on those who've been training since last September") but it was fun to watch the other guys grade, with ages ranging from 13 to my age.

The class is a lot of fun and the coaches are approachable and professional. The groups run 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and last 75 minutes. I am usually knackered by the end of it and with the bastard heatwave Rome got hit by this year, I limped off the mats after the first few lessons with my judogi soaking wet.

We line up in order of seniority, facing the instructors and the only people on my left at the moment is anyone taking a "prova". I look forward to gaining yellow belt next year and moving up a few feet.

This blog was created for Krav Maga a long time ago but as I haven't touched the sport in about 4 years (and not intensively since I took but didn't pass GIC in Australia in 2017) I have now switched it to Judo.

Stay tuned for regular updates as I get my ass kicked by teenagers, 3 times a week.

** which is why it's still hilarious when Austin Powers shouts "JUDO CHOP!!!" as he hits people.