Going to a university with limited resources has afforded me the opportunity to casually interact with other grapplers, namely BJJ players and Varsity wrestlers. It might not seem like a big deal, but in the "real world" most time spent on the mat is with people of the same style. Cross-training takes extra time and money, not mention complete respect for the other art and acknowledgment of the shortcomings of one’s one (what a crazy concept, right?). The space/time (not space-time) allocation at Dodge is really tight, so my Judo class starts right after a BJJ class and regularly we run into wrestlers who are curious about the funny white suits. In other words, we get to talk and bounce ideas off of each other without having to take a trip to a foreign dojo or gym. Before this, my experience with other grapplers was at Judo tournaments, where practitioners of a different style were pointed out immediately as though they had just walked into the wrong neighborhood.
When martial artists interact with each other the question of "who's better?" is inevitably raised. As disciplined and mature as people pretend to be about the issue, the fact that Shooto, UFC, and Pancrase attracted so many people shows that people are curious. UFC and other smaller MMA organizations have a disproportionate representation of BJJ and Muay Thai fighters nowadays, but I'll leave the possible causes and implications of that for another post. I think the draw to competitions like this comes simply from people being taught that what they are learning works. No right-minded Sensei or Coach would ever tell their student "Hey man, what I've been teaching you for the past 10 years of your life isn't practical or effective," so over time we all at least sip the Kool-Aid and believe we've got the right answer for how to deal with a strike (for example). Seeing a different style make the same claim challenges what Coach Master Chief Sensei-sama always said, and the natural reaction to want to prove the other style wrong.
Anyway, the matching of Judo vs. folk style wrestling eventually caught up with me. I was challenged by one of my fraternity brothers to a match— he actually descends from a line of collegiate wrestlers. Other brothers were placing bets on the match, face-off pictures were taken, and we all had a good laugh. This match never happened, but I eventually got around to rolling with a friend (a Varsity Wrestler) after finals were over. To clarify here are the rules we used:
When martial artists interact with each other the question of "who's better?" is inevitably raised. As disciplined and mature as people pretend to be about the issue, the fact that Shooto, UFC, and Pancrase attracted so many people shows that people are curious. UFC and other smaller MMA organizations have a disproportionate representation of BJJ and Muay Thai fighters nowadays, but I'll leave the possible causes and implications of that for another post. I think the draw to competitions like this comes simply from people being taught that what they are learning works. No right-minded Sensei or Coach would ever tell their student "Hey man, what I've been teaching you for the past 10 years of your life isn't practical or effective," so over time we all at least sip the Kool-Aid and believe we've got the right answer for how to deal with a strike (for example). Seeing a different style make the same claim challenges what Coach Master Chief Sensei-sama always said, and the natural reaction to want to prove the other style wrong.
Anyway, the matching of Judo vs. folk style wrestling eventually caught up with me. I was challenged by one of my fraternity brothers to a match— he actually descends from a line of collegiate wrestlers. Other brothers were placing bets on the match, face-off pictures were taken, and we all had a good laugh. This match never happened, but I eventually got around to rolling with a friend (a Varsity Wrestler) after finals were over. To clarify here are the rules we used:
- No time limit
- No-Gi
- Best 2 out of 3 matches
- Start standing
- Match ends by 30 second pin or submission
- No striking
I didn't just go around challenging people of other styles to grudge matches, so this was actually my first time rolling with a purebred Wrestler and I'll tell you, it was an experience! I lost by pin the first go and I won the last two by submission, all in all lasting about 10 minutes. By the end of it I was completely exhausted and he seemed fine, which was unnerving. The biggest difference between us besides his 30 pound advantage was that he was much better conditioned than I was. I practice Judo regularly, but I wasn't nearly as quick, explosive, or powerful as he was. Like a twat, I bet him lunch that I'd win all three times so I was paying for my overconfidence!
Over our $20-capped lunch I asked him what his training consisted of and it sounded more like a lifestyle than anything. The team works out early in the morning, wrestles and drills technique, eats together, drinks together... you get the picture. To be honest, I was kind of jealous of this when I started to think of the 3-4 hours a week I spend on Judo. On some level it's understandable since Varsity implies that they commit a big part of their college experience towards wrestling, while Judo at Columbia is only a club sport. So, I took a second and fantasized about what it would be like to be part of a Varsity Judo program. It seemed magical and wonderful, and then I realized that that level of commitment already exists… in Japan. I came across this video:
Over our $20-capped lunch I asked him what his training consisted of and it sounded more like a lifestyle than anything. The team works out early in the morning, wrestles and drills technique, eats together, drinks together... you get the picture. To be honest, I was kind of jealous of this when I started to think of the 3-4 hours a week I spend on Judo. On some level it's understandable since Varsity implies that they commit a big part of their college experience towards wrestling, while Judo at Columbia is only a club sport. So, I took a second and fantasized about what it would be like to be part of a Varsity Judo program. It seemed magical and wonderful, and then I realized that that level of commitment already exists… in Japan. I came across this video:
I don't mean to imply that Americans don't work hard at Judo and never produce strong competitors, because they do. It is, however, a fact that Japan takes home more Olympic gold medal than the United States in spite of its smaller population. This may be my Yankee pride talking, but I refuse to believe that it's due to some fiercely guarded Judo-related secret that the Japanese are keeping from us. Just like my friend was better conditioned than me because he practiced more often than I did, I think that the Japanese are more successful at Judo because they do it more. On pure inspection, it seems like the average American dojo doesn't practice for more than 2-3 hours at a time whereas the various big schools in Japan practice… a lot more time than that. They train more people to a higher level and thus have a higher chance of producing successful international competitors. I don't expect the US to suddenly adopt the Japanese treatment of Judo, but I definitely think there needs to be a change in its infrastructure. My theories on how to improve this, I'll write about next time!
Thanks for stopping by, you're alright!
Ben
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