JUDO
Judo remains the "core" of the club, and we offer classes for children and adults. For the hundreds of students who have passed through its doors in the 30+ years since it was established, South Hills Judo Club has been more than a place to learn and practice judo. It has been a place to gain confidence in one's physical and mental abilities, a place to test personal limits, a place to learn the lifelong benefits of physical conditioning, a place to grow as a person, and a place to help your fellow students grow.

The there is a social dimension to the club that is rarely found. South Hills Judo Club is one of the oldest clubs in Pittsburgh and produces many talented players, including several National and International Elite players, including 1996 Olympian Dr. Marisa Pedulla.

We strive to offer something for everyone whether you are an elite competitor, a recreational player, a beginer, older student, or have an interest in Kata.

About Judo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judo (meaning "gentle way", is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budō) and combat sport, that originated in Japan in the late nineteenth century. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or applying a choke. Kicks, punches, chops and thrusts are also practiced, but only in pre-arranged forms. They are not allowed in Judo competition or freestyle practice. According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), judo is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. The other three are Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling and Sambo wrestling.

Ultimately, the philosophy and subsequent pedegogy developed for judo became the model for almost all modern Japanese martial arts that developed from "traditional" schools (koryū). Practitioners of judo are called judoka.

History and Philosophy
The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kano Jigoro 1860–1938). Kano was born into a well-to-do Japanese family. His grandfather was a self-made man; a sake brewer from Shiga prefecture in central Japan. However, Kano's father was not the eldest son and therefore did not inherit the business. Instead, he became a Shinto priest and government official, with enough influence for his son to enter the second incoming class of Tokyo Imperial University.

Kano was a small, frail boy, who, even in his twenties, did not weigh more than a hundred pounds, and was often picked on by bullies. He first started pursuing jujutsu, at that time a flourishing art, at the age of 17, but met with little success. This was in part due to difficulties finding a teacher who would take him on as a serious student. When he went off to the University to study literature at the age of 18, he continued his martial studies, eventually gaining a referral to Fukuda Hachinosuke (c.1828–c.1880), a master of the Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū and grandfather of noted jūdōka Keiko Fukuda (Fukuda Keiko, born 1935), who is one of Kano's oldest surviving students. Fukuda Hachinosuke is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis of or free practice (randori) in judo.

A little more than a year after Kano joined Fukuda's school, Fukuda became ill and died. Kano then became a student in another Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū school, that of Iso Masatomo (c.1820–c.1881), who put more emphasis on the practice of pre-arranged forms (kata) than Fukuda had. Through dedication, Kano quickly earned the title of master instructor (shihan) and became assistant instructor to Iso at the age of 21. Unfortunately, Iso soon took ill, and Kano, feeling that he still had much to learn, took up another style, becoming a student of Tsunetoshi Iikubo of Kitō-ryū. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on free practice; on the other hand, Kitō-ryū emphasized throwing techniques to a much greater degree than Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū.

By this time, Kano was devising new techniques, such as the "shoulder wheel" (kata-guruma, known as a fireman's carry to Western wrestlers who use a slightly different form of this technique) and the "floating hip toss" (uki goshi). His thoughts were already on doing more than expanding the canons of Kitō-ryū and Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū; full of new ideas, in part as a result of his education, Kano had in mind a major reformation of jujutsu, with techniques based on sound scientific principles, and with focus on development of the body, mind, and character of young men in addition to development of martial prowess. At the age of 22, just about to finish his degree at the University, Kano took 9 students from Iikubo's school to study jujutsu under him at the Eisho-ji, a Buddhist temple. Although two years would pass before it would be called by that name, and Kano had not yet been accorded the title of "master" in the Kitō-ryū, Iikubo would come to the temple to help teach three days a week, this was the founding of the Kodokan or "place for teaching the way."

The word "judo" is composed of two ideogramsju, which means gentleness, and "do" way or road (the same character as the Chinese "tao"). Thus Judo literally means "the gentle way", or "the way of giving way", and may also be defined as "the way of suppleness", "the way of flexibility, or "the way of adaptability". To English speakers, Judo and Jujutsu would mean "the easy way", as in the easiest way to accomplish something. Judo takes from jujutsu ("gentle art") the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing (usually with the aid of a foot to trip him up) his momentum to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling). Kano saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks, and sought to unify it according to some principle; he found it in the notion of "maximum efficiency". Jujutsu techniques which relied solely on superior strength were discarded or adapted in favour of those which involved redirecting the opponent's force, off balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage. In "Mind Over Muscle", a compilation of Kano's writings, the concept of "maximum efficiency" was extended into daily life and evolved into "mutual prosperity". He saw Judo as a means to governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally andmorally. In this respect Judo was seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo. In the book there is much discussion of the application of Judo philosophy to education - another of Kano's great interests.

Combat Phases
Judo assumes that there are two main phases of combat: the standing (tachi-waza) and the ground (ne-waza) phase. Each phase requires its own mostly separate techniques, strategies, randori, conditioning and so on, although some special training is devoted to 'transitional' techniques to bridge the gap. Some judoka can become quite skilled in one phase and be rather weak in the other, depending on where their interests most lie, although most are rather balanced between the two.

Free-Style
Judo emphasizes a free-style sparring called randori as one of its main forms of training. A part of the combat time is spent sparring standing up, called tachi-waza, and the other part on the ground, called ne-waza. Sparring, even within safety rules, is considered to be much more effective than only practicing techniques. Using full-strength develops the muscles and cardio-vascular system on the physical side of things, and it develops strategy and reaction time on the mental side of things, and helps the practioner learn to use techniques against a resisting opponent.

Judo's Balanced Approach
Judo's balance between both the standing and ground phases of combat gives judoka the ability to take down opponents who are standing up and then pin and submit them on the ground. This balanced theory of combat has made Judo a popular choice for many.

The Standing Phase: Tachi-Waza
In the standing phase, which the contest rules state has primacy, the opponents attempt to throw each other. Although standing joint-lock and choke/strangulation submission techniques are legal in the standing phase,[2] they are quite rare due to the fact that they are much harder to apply standing than throws are. Some judoka, however, are very skilled in combining takedowns with submissions, where a submission technique is begun standing and finished on the ground. Strikes (i.e. punches, kicks etc) are not allowed due to their certainty of injury, but an athlete is supposed to 'take them into consideration' while training by, for example, not fighting in a bent-over position for long, since this position is vulnerable to knee-strikes and others striking attacks.

The main purpose of the throwing techniques (nage waza) is to take an opponent who is standing on his feet, mobile and dangerous, down onto his back where he cannot move as effectively. Thus, the main reason for throwing the opponent is to control the opponent and to put oneself in a dominant position. In this way the practicioner has more potential to render a decisive outcome. Another reason to throw the opponent is to shock his body through smashing him forcefully onto the ground. If an exponent executes a powerful yet fully controlled throw, he can win a match outright due to the theory that he has displayed enough superiority. In actual fact, this kind of victory is very difficult to achieve if the opponents are equally matched. Therefore points are given for lesser throws in the standing phase of combat. In a real fight, throwing an opponent in itself can shock them, and the impact can potentially knock the opponent unconscious (depending on the hardness of the fighting surface).

In keeping with Prof. Kano's emphasis on scientific analysis and reasoning, the standard Kokokan Judo pedagogy dictates that any throwing technique is a four phased event: kuzushi, off-balancing; tsukuri, body positioning; kake execution; and finally kime the finish or coup de grâce.

The Ground Phase:Ne-waza
In the ground phase, which is considered the secondary phase of combat, the opponents try to pin each other, or to get the opponent to submit either by using armlocks (leglocks are not allowed due to safety regulations) or by chokes and strangulations.

Osaekomi
Osaekomi (pins) are considered important since in a real fight the person who has control of his opponent can hit him with punches, knees, the headbutts and other strikes. If osaekomi is held for 25 seconds, the person doing the pinning wins the match. The reason for requiring such a long pin is that in order to be able to hit the person underneath you effectively, you have to have full control of him for a long time. In a match, if you pin your opponent for less than 25 seconds you get points depending on how long, with the minimum being 10 seconds. This also flows from the theory that you will be striking a pinned opponent, and after 10 seconds will have possibly weakened him somewhat with strikes, at least enough to merit giving some points. A pin can even result in a submission if the opponent is exhausted or his body frame cannot endure the pressure from the pin. This has sometimes happened in competition when an already injured opponent has been pinned, and the pin has placed pressure on the injured area, such as the ribcage.

However, if the person being held down has wrapped his legs around any part of his opponent's lower body or trunk, he is pinning his opponent as much as he is being pinned, as his opponent cannot get up and flee unless the bottom man lets go. While his legs are wrapped around his opponent, the bottom man can employ various attacking techniques, including strangles, armlocks and 'do-jime' (body scissors), while tying the opponent so that he cannot effectively strike from above. In this position, often referred to as the guard in English, the man on top does not have enough control over his adversary for the position to be considered osaekomi. The man on top can try to pass his opponent's legs and pin or submit him, or he may try to break out of his opponent's guard and stand up. The bottom man can try to submit his opponent from his guard or roll his opponent over to get on top of him.

Scoring in judo consists of four grades of score: ippon, waza ari, yuko, and koka. An ippon literally means "one point" and awards the match. This is awarded for a throw that lands the throwee on his or her back, since it requires skill to do this in sparring, for a mat hold of sufficient duration (25 or 30 seconds), or for opponent submission. A waza-ari, for a throw leaving an opponent 66% on his or her back, or for a hold of near-winning duration, is a half-point and if two are scored, they constitute the full point needed for the win. Yukos and kokas are lower grades of score-- tie-breakers-- that do not add up to one another, and scoring is lexicographic-- a waza-ari beats any number of yukos, but a waza-ari and a yuko beat a waza-ari with no yukos. It is not uncommon for a match to be decided based on kokas-- for example, 1W2Y2K vs. 1W2Y1K. If scores are identical at the end of a match, it is decided by the two corner judges and referee, the winner being determined by majority vote.

The time that you hold your opponent down for varies with the score given. If you are awarded an ippon, there is no need to hold down and opponent as they are already beaten. A waza-ari score means that you hold down the person for 20 seconds, then you have won. Any score less than that means that you must hold down the person for the full 25 seconds.

Joint Locks
Joint locks (Kansetsu-waza) are effective combat techniques because they enable a judoka to control his opponent through pain-compliance, or if necessary, to cause breakage of the locked joint. Joint locks on the elbow are considered safe enough to perform at nearly full-force in competition to force submission from one's opponent. Judo has, in the past, allowed leglocks, wristlocks, spinal locks and various other techniques which have since been disallowed in competition to protect athletes' safety. It was decided that attacking those other joints would result in many injuries to the athletes and would cause a gradual deterioration of these joints. Even so, some Judoka still enjoy learning and fighting each other informally using these techniques that are banned from formal competitions, and many of these techniques are still actively used in other arts such as sambo and jujutsu.

Chokes/Strangulations
Chokes/strangulations (Shime-waza) are Judo's deadliest techniques. They enable the one applying the choke to force the adversary into unconsciousness and even death. The differences between a choke and a strangle is that a strangle cuts off the blood supply to the brain via the sides of the neck, and a choke blocks the airway from the front of the neck. In competition, the judoka wins if the opponent submits or goes unconscious. A strangle, once properly locked in, can knock an opponent unconscious in 3 seconds.

Uniform
Judo practitioners wear white or blue cotton uniforms called judogi (which means Judo uniform in Japanese) for practicing Judo. Sometimes the word is seen shortened simply to "gi" (uniform). This judogi was created at the Kodokan and similar uniforms were later adopted by many other martial arts. The judogi consists of white cotton drawstring pants and a white quilted cotton jacket fastened by a colored belt indicative of kyu or dan rank. The jacket is intended to withstand the stresses of throwing and grappling, and is as a result much thicker than that of a karategi. Before competition, a blue judogi is assigned to one judoka for ease of distinction by judges, referees, and spectators. In Japan, the traditional red sash (based on the flag's colors) is affixed to one judoka belt, however in Europe and North America, a colored sash is typically used for convenience in local competitions, while a blue judogi is assigned to one judoka at the regional, national, or Olympic levels where the visibility, particularly to television cameras is more important than tradition or convienence. It should be noted that some Japanese practitioners and purists tend to look down on the use of blue judogis.

Techniques
While Judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, pins, chokes, joint-locks, and methods of percussion, the primary focus is on throwing (nage-waza, ), and groundwork (ne-waza,). Nage-waza is divided in two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza, ) and sacrifice techniques (sutemi-waza, ). Standing techniques are divided in hand techniques (te-waza,), hip techniques (koshi-waza,) and foot/leg techniques (ashi-waza). Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which the thrower falls directly backwards (ma-sutemi-waza) and those in which he falls onto his side (yoko-sutemi-waza).

The groundwork techniques are divided into: attacks against the joints or joint locks (kansetsu-waza), strangleholds or chokeholds (shime-waza ), and holding or pinning techniques (osaekomi-waza).

A kind of sparring is practiced in judo, known as randori meaning "free practice". In randori, two adversaries may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling technique. Striking techniques (called atemi-waza) such as kicking and punching, along with knife and sword techniques are retained in the katas. This form of pedgogy is usually reserved for higher ranking practioners (ie. blackbelts) (for instance, in the kime-no-kata), but are forbidden in contest,and usually prohibited in randori, for reasons of safety. Also for reasons of safety, chokeholds, jointlocking - and the sacrifice (sutemi) techniques, which can be very spectacular, but often dangerous are subject to age and/or rank restrictions; in the United States, one must be 13 or older to use chokeholds, and 16 or older, or hold the rank of shodan or higher to use armlocks.

In randori and shiai (tournament) practice, when an opponent successfully executes a chokehold or joint lock, one "taps out" by tapping the mat or one's opponent at least twice in a manner that clearly indicates the submission. When this occurs, the match is over, and the tapping player has lost, but the chokehold or joint lock ceases. Because this allows a merciful exit to the match, injuries related to these holds are quite rare.

Kata
Kata are prearranged forms displaying several judo techniques. They have several purposes: to illustrate the basic principles of judo; to demonstrate the correct execution of a technique; to teach the philosophical tenets on which judo is based; to illustrate techniques that are not allowed in competition; to preseve ancient techniques that are historically important but not used anymore in contemporary judo.

Knowledge of different kata is a requirement for the attainment of a higher rank or dan.

There are seven kata that are recognized by Kodokan today:
• Randori no Kata (Free practice forms), comprising two kata:
• Nage no Kata (Throwing forms)
• Katame no kata (Grappling forms)
• Kime no kata (Old style self-defence forms)
• Kodokan Goshin Jutsu (Modern self-defence forms)
• Ju no Kata (Forms of gentleness)
• Itsutsu no Kata (The five forms)
• Koshiki no Kata (Ancient forms)
• Seiryoku Zen'yo Kokumin Taiiku no Kata (Maximum-Efficiency National Physical Education Kata)

Styles
Jigoro Kano's Kodokan Judo is not the only style of judo. Kano took the name Judo from Jikishin Ryu Judo, which is an older school but not really seen outside of Japan. A sub-style of Kodokan Judo that developed in Japanese inter-scholastic competition is known as Kosen judo with the same range of techniques but greater latitude permitted for Ne-waza (ground technique).

Teaching in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed an alternative approach (Kawaishi Ryu Ju Jitsu) to instruction that continued to teach many techniques banned in modern competition. In Austria, Julius Fleck and others developed a system of throwing intended to extend Judo that they called Judo-do.

Mitsuyo Maeda introduced Judo to Brazil in the early 20th century. At this time, groundfighting (newaza) was very popular and not yet limited by the rules. He taught Judo to Carlos Gracie (1902-94) and others in Brazil. The terms Judo and Jujutsu were at that time interchangeable. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu remained rather aloof to later changes in international Judo rules which added emphasis to the standing phase of the fight, and thus remains a distinctive form of Judo to this day.

Sport
Although a fully featured martial art, judo has also developed as a sport. Judo became an Olympic sport for men in 1964 and, with the persistence of an American woman by the name of Rusty Kanokogi and many others, a sport for women as well in 1988. Popular legend insists that the men's judo event in 1964 was a demonstration event, but according to Michel Brousse, official researcher and historian for the International Judo Federation, Judo was in fact an official sport in the 1964 games. Thanks to Dutchman Anton Geesink who won the gold medal in the All Categories division defeating Aiko Kaminaga, Japan, judo lost the image of being "Japanese only" and became an international sport. The women's event was a demonstration event in 1988, followed by becoming an official medal event 4 years later. Men and women compete separately (although they often train together), and there are several weight divisions

Collegiate competition in the United States, especially between UC Berkeley and San Jose State, contributed towards refining judo into the sport seen at the Olympic Games and World Championships. In the 1940s Henry Stone and Yosh Uchida, the head coaches at Cal and SJSU, developed a weight class system for use in the frequent competitions between the schools. In 1953, Stone and Uchida successfully petitioned the Amateur Athletic Union to accept judo as a sport, with their weight class system as an official component. In 1961, Uchida represented the United States at the International Judo Federation meetings in Paris, where the IJF adopted weight classes for all future championships. Of course the IJF was created largely based on the earlier European Judo Union where weight classes had also been used for many years.

The object in a judo match is to either throw your opponent to the ground flat on his back, to pin him to the ground on his back, or to force him to submit using a choke or an armlock. This will score an ippo, a decisive score). In the case of throwing, anything else, such as landing your opponent on the hip or shoulder from a throw, will be waza-ari, yuko or koka (waza-ari being the highest of the 3, koka the lowest) or even no score. Technically speaking, a waza-ari is a "near-fall", two of which will earn the match. Yuko and koka are scores of lesser value that are not cumulative to either that higher waza-ari. Rather, they are used as deciders if the match ends before either of the higher scores is acheived. On the typical electronic scoreboard, yuko would score 010, vs. 001 for koka. In the event that the match a draw, the clock is reset to match-time; and the contest is to be resolved by a sudden death whereby the first contestant to achieve any score wins. This is called the Golden Score rule. If there is no score during this period, then the decision is by a majority of two--the referee and two corner judges.

After a throw occurs (whether or not it is scored), combat may continue on the ground. Pinning an opponent, with both shoulders on the mat, for 25 seconds (20 if you previously scored a waza-ari, since two half-points will complete your ippon) results in an ippon. An automatic ippon is also granted when one's opponent submits (which frequently occurs when strangleholds / armlocks are used). If there is no ippon, the one with the highest score wins. Penalties may be given for being inactive during the match or using illegal techniques and fighting must be stopped if a participant is outside the designated area on the mat (tatami). If the referee and judges need to discuss something during groundwork, the referee will call sonomama (which means "do not move") and both fighters must stop in the position they are in. When they are done, the referee says yoshi and the match continues.

All scores and penalties are given by the referee. The judges can make a decision to change the score or penalty given by the referee.

Sport and Beyond
Despite the literal meaning of judo being "the gentle way", competition judo is one of the roughest and most demanding of sports. Regulation time in a World Championship or Olympic match is only 5 minutes, but will leave participants exhausted; in the event of a tie, matches proceed to an overtime phase called Golden Score which can last as long as regulation time.

Because competition judo does not contain the kicking and punching so common to other martial arts, Judo is often portrayed as friendlier than, for instance, Karate (although some forms of Karate emphasize the control of character and aggression). Proponents believe this contributes to judo being underrated as a method of self-defense although advanced kata do contain defenses against kicking, punching, and armed techniques. In addition, while throws executed with proper break falls on soft mats can seem light and graceful, their more practical application on a hard surface (and potentially with greater intent to harm) could be very dangerous. Even in the controlled environments of a match or dojo training session, injuries can easily occur due to a lapse in focus or overzealous application of a technique. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Judo techniques are often effective in self-defense situations.

Due to their knowledge in ne-waza/grappling and tachi-waza/standing-grappling, various accomplished judo practitioners have also competed in mixed martial arts matches. Fedor Emelianenko is PRIDE Fighting Championships's current heavyweight champion and consistently ranked the world's best heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter. Karo Parisyan is a top contender for the UFC's welterweight championship, and Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist in 1992 and World Judo Champion in 1999, is another top fighter in PRIDE FC. Other Olympic gold medalist and world champion judokas such as Pawel Nastula and Yoon Dong Sik also fight in PRIDE. It should be noted that the ability to throw an opponent to his back and apply a pinning technique is of enormous importance in these kinds of competitions, as is the ability to finish off a downed opponent with strikes or a submission hold. Judo, uniquely among combat sports, puts equal emphasis on the initial throwing and the final pinning and submitting phases of combat, ideally enabling practitioners to dominate grappling-fights from the get-go.

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