I’ve always taken some interest in martial arts. I thought it was a necessity to know self-defense, and I’ve asked my parents to sign me up for martial arts. Judo specifically had stuck with me for a while as my friends signed up alongside me as well. I started in the children’s class and it was an hour long. I mainly learned basic hold-downs and throws, otherwise, we would be playing games. As I moved up the ranks, my friends and I were moved to the junior’s class. Everything changed. Class was now an hour and thirty minutes, the teachers were more strict and we were actually doing exercise alongside learning more complex throws, hold-downs and arm bars. When I hit the green belt, I quit.

It was pretty hard for me to enjoy judo at first when I was moved to the juniors class. The teachers were tougher, the drills were more complex and we were required to attend tournaments to advance to the next belt. It was a little bit of a rocky start until 1 of my closest friends, Dylan signed up. From then on, we had someone to talk to, partner up with and most importantly, crush him because he was a newbie. Even if going to judo forced me to get off my butt and exercise, it was enjoyable at times when I had nothing to do, and I wanted to see my friends. But as time moved forward, my Ski and Snowboard schedule leaked into my judo schedule and slowly we stopped attending.

My friend Dylan:

Learning Judo is important to me because it gave me a good base to start with in martial arts. I’ve learned to break-fall, hold people down, throw them and got exercise out of it. Because I know judo, it gave me a confidence boost around in public, because I can take care of myself in a fight, and instinctively protect myself from injuries. This was also the sport I’ve invested the most time in, going to tournaments and making my friendships closer in the club. In the end, Judo helped me out both physically, and as a person.