I might get crucified for this, but that judo needs to focus on its martial roots and not just the sports aspect of it. I'm all for the sports of judo, but I see too many people "gamify" it and do things that would in fact be dangerous for yourself outside of a sporting context. The sport should serve the martial aspect, not the other way around. This was why Jigoro Kano created judo, and the peak that a lot of the pioneers strived for, a lot of us nowadays have forgotten that.
Adding more throws / options is a move in the right direction, but the sport is still regressive in the shido play and also awarding ippons from throws that would normally result in back takes / non dominant positions as the result.
The sport originated from a martial art based on being able throw and control an opponent on the ground for self defense / attacking.
Is it as bad as Olympic taekwondo? No, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been on a downward slope. Similar to taekwondo in the 80s / 90s
I think there's no way to truly stop shido play. The stakes are simply too high, and if you get rid of shidos, athletes and coaches will still try to kill the game in the name of victory.
I think the issue of the rolling ippons is overstated, although I do kinda wish we encouraged remaining in control as criteria... if only because it looks cooler and its easier to explain. But we want big throws, and requiring control like that will make big throws harder to come by.
Any rule system has fuckery, it’s not like BJJ has perfect rule sets that are flawless. Shidos are a necessary evil so to speak. We want big throws but at the cost of realistic positions.
I think there is a balance to hit in regards to forcing action, punishing stalling / bad positions, and getting big throws attempts, and throws
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u/luke_fowl Jun 07 '25
I might get crucified for this, but that judo needs to focus on its martial roots and not just the sports aspect of it. I'm all for the sports of judo, but I see too many people "gamify" it and do things that would in fact be dangerous for yourself outside of a sporting context. The sport should serve the martial aspect, not the other way around. This was why Jigoro Kano created judo, and the peak that a lot of the pioneers strived for, a lot of us nowadays have forgotten that.