Do the risks and dangers of Judo outweigh the benefits for instruction in kids and teenagers? This is a question parents and members of the judo community have asked themselves in the past years.
Judo is an intense combat sport where judokas use fast pace throws, sweeps, chokes, and bars to pin their opponent on the ground. The aggressive aspect of the sport raises questions about the safety of Judo, especially for judokas of a younger age. Experienced and mature judokas know how to control their strength and avoid miscalculations that could be critical for their opponents. However, children and teenagers may lack the proper restraint, and some have begun to wonder whether they should practice Judo.
Ronda Rousey is one of the most famous Judo practitioners in the world. In “Rousey’s Journey Out of Pain, Through Judo” we learn about the difficult times she went through in the past and how Judo helped her overcome these obstacles. Her father’s passing, her speech disorder and her struggle to make friends made Ronda’s early life very difficult, but after her mother signed her up in a Judo club she was able to move on by making new friends and finding an “outlet for her grief”. This article emphasizes on the positive aspects of Judo and its social benefits for difficult children and teenagers like Ronda who ran twice from her home.
In a study led by the University of Central Florida, research shows that there is a physical and social benefit in practicing Judo for kids with autism spectrum order (ASD). Judo could help overcome the challenges that come with their condition like sever anxiety and struggles with social interactions as it “promotes social interaction” and “emphasizes mindfulness”.
Different groups of kids with ASD were introduced to Judo and after a certain amount of time, their health improved, they became more social and seemed to really enjoy the sport. This study focuses on the positive aspects of Judo and specifically on how it could be beneficial both physically and mentally for kids with ASD.
In the article “Judo as a Second Home for Orphans in Nepal”, readers discover how Judo changed the lives of orphans in Nepal. With help from the international Judo community, a local judo instructor offered classes to orphans.
They were able to build strong social relationships as they lived together, trained together, and competed together. Many of the kids were offered scholarships to schools for their performance in Judo. This article focuses on how Judo helped the kids overcome the tragedies that struck them in the past, make friends and get amazing opportunities.
In “Japan Confronts Hazards of Judo”, Daniel Krieger and Noriko Kitano discuss the hundreds of cases where teenagers have suffered catastrophic injuries while practicing Judo. In this article we learn that different factors have led to an unsafe environment in many scholastic judo clubs where coaches often pushed students too hard to the point of no return. Terrible consequences ensued as hundreds of teenagers became disabled, comatose and in extreme cases some have died. There are hundreds of undocumented cases like these ones where severe injuries result while practicing Judo but many of these were never reported so that proper measures could be taken to minimize the dangers and risks of Judo in Japan.
These cases were a wake-up call as government officials, alongside judo associations, launched campaigns to increase judo safety with specific safety guidelines. However, the terrible injuries and fatalities resulting from teenagers practicing Judo are alarming and many have begun to wonder if practicing Judo is “worth it”?
Judo is a very popular sport that is practiced in over 200 countries around the world and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people practice judo around the world. Everyone concerned by Judo will have their own answer or point of view concerning the practice of Judo in kids and teenagers and its hazards.
Two main trains of thought emerge. The first one is the one that says that there are many physical and social benefits in kids and teens practicing Judo. Those that align themselves with this idea do not think that the hazards of Judo outweigh its benefits. They believe that Judo is still worth practicing and that the hazards are either “rare” or “controllable” and most believe in the latter.
The second train of thought is the one that says that there are many dangers to an intense combat sport like Judo and that kids and teenagers have died of these hazards and that consequently, these dangers cannot be ignored. Those that agree with this idea believe that kids and teenagers practicing Judo is too risky, that Judo is a sport that is too dangerous for younger people to practice.
But what about those that know nothing about Judo? How can they formulate an educated opinion about whether kids and teens should practice Judo despite the risks and dangers of the sport?
The sources cited previously each provide a husk of their stance on the question; the first three seem to emphasize on the social and physical benefits of Judo for kids and teenagers while the last source focuses on the dangers of Judo and the catastrophic results they produced in the past. However, all of them have one thing in common: they do not give a cut yes or no answer to the question “Do the risks and dangers of Judo outweigh the benefits for instruction in kids and teenagers?”.
Someone who knows nothing about Judo could look at each of these sources and build an opinion on the matter for themselves based upon the sources’ claims.