Josh wrote:"ben.. college clubs that are worse than somebody's home club are a waste. period. people go to college to further their lives-- not to regress. i dont care if they dont want to compete or not, college judo clubs should be geared at taking the young, talented HS players we are fortunate enough to have and turn them into serious senior level athletes."
You are assuming that everybody goes to college to become an elite Judo athlete? Elite athletes and national level competitors are the top of the pyramid,not the base. Oh, and I agree that if somebody already does Judo, and goes to a college club that sucks, it is a waste, in fact, crappy instruction is a waste of everybody's time. MOST people go to college of course to advance. For many, that means trying a martial art or combat sport for the first time. In fact, I'd say for most. And I state this having been involved in two college Judo clubs for many years.
I think that there should be college "clubs" that can provide the HS athlete the opportunity to move forward and excel in Judo. So we agree there.
"if you want to have beginning judo then offer it as a 1-unit PE class like they do volleyball and basketball and katate and all the other crap martial arts. but, keep the CLUB something directed for serious judokas who are coming to that college. "
I don't think I'd characterize karate, aikido, BJJ, whatever, as "crap martial arts".
Although having a 1 credit PE class is a good idea, even better if there are a series of classes, such as Beginning Judo, Intermediate Judo, Advanced Judo (like we had at ISU). In fact, my experience is that the PE class is where you recruit your more serious athletes. If you can get the respect of the PE department by running a good class, the chances of getting their support in further "real" athletic endeavors (such as a real college team) is greatly enhanced.
As an example, the Judo Club at ISU doesn't have "club practices". The reason being is that it was poorly attended in the past, because there were so many other credit Judo classes. The real progress was made in recruiting people to take credit Judo courses. We made a specific effort to recruit athletes from other sports that aren't offered as varsity at ISU. Like wrestling, which is very strong in SE Idaho. And it worked.
The Advanced Judo classes are where the serious training takes place, where the team spirit develops. All those guys DO join the Judo club, BTW. They have to join USA Judo to compete, and for rank promotion.
Some folks come up from the Beginning Judo class as well.
Now, I know you are talking about having a place for the talented HS Judo athletes to go. Of course, there aren't that many of them, but like you say, 4 other places for them to go besides SJSU would be a great start.
Like I've said before, it's all about the money for scholarships. You have to offer something more than just a good Judo program. Plus, the need for dedicated coaches who can make a living at teaching Judo at the college, and who can also run a program.
"the biggest problem in US Judo isnt a lack of athletes or coaches. its a lack of places for them to go after HS. i absolutley promise that if there were even 4 more serious university programs out there that recruited, trained and pushed athletes the way the OTC, SJSU, JMJC, Pedro's do then the overall depth of senior-level judo in the USA would skyrocket."
I agree to some extent. I really dont think that there are that many coaches at the level you describe in the USA. This is based upon what I have seen at several USA Judo Coach Training Camps/certification giveaways.
But, if you only needed 4 (in reality you would need more), you could probably come up with enough, given that they might need to move, give up an already going career, whatever.
I do think, as you have stated before, that JA and JF should come up with some sort of collegiate Judo program. Or at least try to sponsor a couple.
BTW, University of Lousiana at Lafayette had/has a HUGE Judo program and has had one for years. They were not able to recruit ANY of those hordes of HS Judo athletes. No scholaships or sugar daddy, though. They were even designated a USA Judo National Training Center (of course which got ZERO funding or help from USA Judo). So that program already exists.
Also, the program at ISU is of very high quality, well organized, and with a direct pipeline to Tokai (for coaches who come and get advanced degrees at ISU and are their for 1-4 YEARS), and IBU, who sends students to learn English and also for advanced degrees.
Both programs are capable of "pushing" those talented HS athletes, but neither has an scholarship money (although ISU is working very hard to get it started). As I've said before, the Boise area has quite a few high school judoka. We tried directly recruiting there. There was interest, but everybody wanted MONEY.
So, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Just to remind you,Josh, I'm on your side.
I just want to share my experience and take on things with you. We all have somewhat different points of view because we came up in different systems so to speak.