What judokas come to mind that have done well yet started relatively late in life? When I say late I mean anything over 20 years old.
I know most successful judoka start as children.
Thanks!
It depends on what you define sucsess as. Olympic champion, national champion, local medalist, black belt etc.
I have seen many start at 30+ acheive their black belt. I would class that as successful compared to 99% of what people achieve.
I think the human body is amazing. I think that unless someone has an existing, debilitating injury and the person has the time to put into it I think people can achieve amazing things despite such setbacks as 'age'. They say 40 is the new 30, and at 34 I feel better, stonger and faster now than I did at 25, that's for sure. If you eat well, supplement, get plenty of rest, pace your training and don't try to push your way through injuries I think you can still do very well into your 30's and 40's with grappling arts, even competitively.
I think a lot has to do with your attitude as well. It's a marathon, not a sprint, but sometimes you can handle the sprint, and sometimes you have to enjoy how far you have come.
Hell, I know a guy who's 60 who still boxes at a local gym. He can go 8 rounds with the linebackers and thugs who come in to learn to box and he doesn't even breathe. Anyone dares to mention his age he laughs and tells them to 'get dressed'.
There is a guy in our club pushing 60, and is working towards his 4-kyu. He is a superheavy and competes in shiai against superheavies 35 years his junior, and makes a respectable showing of himself. Outstanding!
this is far too subjective to discuss. narrow it down please.
The best I've seen in the US is my boy Special-K. Kenny Lott. With little or no grappling experience, he went from linebacker at Oklahoma to a top-10ish US roster guy in about 4? years?
Thank you for the responses guys.
When I said successful, I meant in competition. Not necessarily an olympian, but someone that does well regularly and may have made a name for himself in the judo circuit. A well respected athlete who may or may not make it to the "upper" level of judo, but is still a badass.
Thanks
in judo, most of the best has beguin from 4 to 13 years old.
LeftBench, I don't think you're going to get the kind of answer you are looking for until you throw out a number. Let's start with this number: 40 years old and in good shape.
i think you can start late in judo and compete in masters, there are various age brackets.
but you can't start at 24 and become senior world champion. judo is too deep in talent for that.
"There is a guy in our club pushing 60, and is working towards his 4-kyu. He is a superheavy and competes in shiai against superheavies 35 years his junior, and makes a respectable showing of himself. Outstanding!"
that is impressive and seriously hard to imagine.
Junon he was in the army for a long time, I think that shaped his mentality to keep pushing forward. He's also going back to school. On top of that, it's not like people are always patting him on the back and giving him props. People pretty much ignore him and he keeps on pushing. It's hard enough at 28, but 58?
please..i am training often with former world sambo champ and many times national judo champ, he is so much slower than me, waits for counters only. and he is what 37-38.
there is NO way a 37-38y old except may be in the over 100kg weight class that can compete with 20+y old guys.
and 60 for judo, thats ok, but not with 30y olds. thats ridiculous.
tell him that, LOL.
If my weird judo knowledge is correct, I think, there was an olympic team member named allen coage (sp?) who started at cranford at 19.
jm
Cool stuff, JudoMonk.
Rocky Marciano didn't put on boxing gloves until he was 20 years old.
years ago judo was less popular so occasionally someone who started late could become great, all mostly in the HW or SHW divisions.
nowadays thats very difficult as judo is much more popular and hence the players are of higher caliber.
IF somebody is a very talented grappler already (wrestling, maybe bjj) and
comes over to judo later in life--say late 20's, early 30's--and decides to
make it his mission in life... then i'd say he could potentially fight for a
medal at the US Nationals in under 3 years at any weight division. mind
you 66 & 73 kg would be the most difficult as they currently are the
deepest divisions we have.
so, if Josh Koscheck came over to judo and wanted to fight 81kg... yea, id
say that if he started training in March of 2007 he will be taking a medal
at the nationals in April of 2008. but, he was a 4-time NCAA medallist,
won it once, and is really doing great in bjj.
"If my weird judo knowledge is correct, I think, there was an olympic team member named allen coage (sp?) who started at cranford at 19."
Bad news, JM.
How you doing, bro?