Judo from a Woman's Perspective

Special Guest

Everyone! This is a guest written by one who helps keep it all together. Janie Goldie. Sensei's Wife. The Bulldog Judo Manager. The Real Boss (got to get my brownie points anyway I can)

Be gentle, kind and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically.

--Keiko Fukuda

Judo taught me that I am capable of anything... I can mentally push past anything and be victorious.

-- Rhonda Rousey

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Janie Goldie and I am the wife of Sensei Travis. I have been doing judo off and on for around 8ish years. I stopped to have our 2 beautiful daughters Kathryn and Evelyn as well as due to life. I work in healthcare and this has made being in class difficult.

Personal Benefits

First, it has allowed me to learn some self-defense which in this day and age I have found to be invaluable.

Second, it has given me confidence in terms of being able to learn something new as well as teaching me discipline. I have anxiety issues and judo and believe it or not helps ground my anxiety and give me confidence and a clear head. I have learned so much. I don't want to compete in it but I want to learn as much as possible. Finally, it helps me get in my fitness and my "me time." As a mom, I don't get to the gym very often and frequently get to be on the mat to train. When I get on the mat, it makes me so happy. I get to be active and be a part of our great sport.

There are so many great judokas that are women. I have been watching the Paris olympics and have gotten the privilege to see many strong and great female judokas support their country. Some of the great female judokas are:

Famous Female Judoka

• Kayla Harrison

  • American judoka successfully defended her 2012 Olympic title in 2016
  • She is the only non-Asian woman to do so.

• Ryoko Tani

  • A Japanese judoka
  • Five Olympic gold medals
  • Seven World Championships.
  • CNN called her "the greatest female judoka ever".
  • After retiring from Judo, she went into politics.

• Keiko Fukuda

  • 10th Dan A Japanese-American judoka
  • Awarded by the United States Judo Federation in 2011.
  • She is also the last surviving student of Kano Jigoro (the founder of Judo).

• Norika Anno

  • A four-time World CHampion and Olympic gold medalist from Japan

• Ingrid Berghmans

  • A six-time World Champion from Belgium

• Driulis Gonzales

  • An Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Champion from Cuba

• Kye Sun-hui

  • An Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion from North Korea. It takes balls to overcome a suppressive culture and become great.

• Uta Abe

  • Olympic gold medalist
  • Five-time World Champion
  • All that at the age of only 24

• Masae Ueno

  • Two-time Olympic gold medalist
  • Two-time World Champion from Japan

• Rhonda Rousey

  • One Olympic gold medal
  • One World Championship gold medal
  • One Pan American gold medal
  • 4 Pan American Championships
  • Many accomplishments by the age of 37
  • She is not only a judoka but she is also a wrestler and a mixed martial artist. She also has as well as 2 Junior World Championships.
  • She has accomplished much in her 37 years so far.
  • I put her on this list not only for her judo but her perseverance despite her mental health issues that took center stage lately and most importantly she didn't quit.

And many more great female Judoka!

To be a female judoka, you don't require much physical strength and can throw anyone regardless of their size. This has been something that I found to be empowering. I love the fact that with great technique, I can throw Sensei. I have successfully done so many times 🙂

This is one thing about judo that I have always liked. Anyone can do judo. Sensei Travis frequently says

An ok technique and good grips can make a great throw; A great throw and bad grip will just be a bad throw

This means that even if you have good technique, positioning and grips you can execute any throw with control. This is huge for us women because strength is not required.

Judo literally means "the gentle way" and can be used offensively and defensively. This is why I think most women should at least study some Judo. It is a sport that empowers women, even though it might not as popular in the states as other countries.

This makes me a little sad and I wish judo had more of a "foothold" in the United States. It translates well to self-defense, and for us women, this is huge! We (unfortunately) live in a world where women are targets for being mugged, robbed and worst Often because we have children with us, we are distracted and thus easy targtet. Thus some self-defense is required to be safe in our socity.