r/judo • u/Tafsky • Jul 20 '25

Other Wear my black belt or "restart"

Hi all,

A few years ago I (22f) got my black belt, after that I mostly taught the basics to new beginners at my small club (like 70 students 80% of which are -13). Last year I fully quit because of work/school/internship and losing interest tbh.

I've been thinking of starting up again next year when I move for my minor, it will just be for a few months but I have really missed the sport and the culture. However the fact that I've done nothing, only a little bjj where I wore a white belt (bc its a different sport, but I do wear the same gi) I'm not sure if I should just sort of "start anew" white belt and all. Or wear my black belt.

On the one hand I trained like a dog to get my black belt and I deserved it at the time, my kata's are still perfect and I still know all the basics, on the other hand I haven't properly trained judo in 3+ years. And at that point I really mostly trained techniques and barely did any actual competitive training anymore. For context: my last proper competition was 7 years ago.

Any advice?

Edit: thank you all for the answers! I think I'll ask the (head)sensei what they'd recommend. And no matter what he says I'll at least remember that I earned my black belt and there's no such thing as demotion.

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u/nitrous604 shodan Jul 21 '25

I had a brown belt and stopped for ~17 years. I came back and wore my brown belt. I did my first tournament 5 months after starting back and it was an international tournament that had no requirements to register. My first match was against a guy on the US National team (I’m from Canada). I lost in about 30 seconds to a perfect uchi mata. I then went on to win a couple of matches and then lost in a bronze metal match but felt like I deserved to be there. It comes back quicker than you think. 4 years after starting back I got my black belt.

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u/neonica nidan Jul 21 '25

I had a very similar experience, off for about 15 years at 1st Kyu, and got my first dan about a year after starting back up, then second dan a year after that. It never fully leaves you!