Is The Ijf Really Ruining Judo?

What's up guys? Preston here with another episode of Grappler Going Abroad. Today I'm talking about something in regards to a comment I got on one of my videos about the IJF and whether or not the IJF's restrictive rules have... are essentially ruining Judo, making it useless for anything other than Olympic Judo competition. Now 2 years ago, I probably would have agreed with this statement. They took away the leg grabs, which was one of my biggest weapons coming from a Wrestling background. So I was a little bit butt-hurt about that. But as I've gotten older, I've started maturing, changing my game and it's become less of an issue now. I want to examine this question and particularly the mindset that goes into saying that "The IJF is ruining Judo." But first I want to examine why the IJF is changing the rules. The IOC, the International Olympic Committee, they base a lot of their decision making off of viewership during the Olympics. So with that being said, they have to make sure that the IJF is doing what it needs to do to make sure that Olympic Judo is fun to watch, which means bigger throws, more activity. So restricting the grip fighting game and taking out the leg grabs, which honestly, a lot of people who are fans of classical Judo see leg grabs as being ugly takedowns, ugly throws. So they took those out and made it so you could only get scored for big throws, you could only score off of big throws. The IJF is doing what it needs to do to ensure that Judo has a spot in the Olympics. Now whether or not Judo needs to be an Olympic sport to be successful is a different story. I think Judo being an Olympic sport is great publicity for Judo as a Martial Art and a Combat Sport. You take Judo out of the Olympics I'm sure the numbers are going to be astoundingly bad, what happens with membership among all of the National Governing Bodies in different countries. So I believe Judo needs to remain an Olympic sport, for the sake of the martial art and for the sake of Judo as a sport. I think we need to examine the reason why this mindset happens. It takes away people's weapons in competition. So people are obviously are going to be a little bit upset about that. I want to emphasize that this mindset does nothing for sport or the Martial art. All it does is create resentment and makes the Judo community dysfunctional. There are plenty of other martial arts out there that have dysfunctional international competition communities and pockets within themselves. I'll probably make a video about that at a later date. You have 3 courses of action that you can take if you're just completely dissatisfied with the way the IJF and the National Governing Bodies operate. One, you can *** quit Judo. I mean, for someone who has invested a lot of time, if you're a black belt or if you train hard, quitting judo isn't really an option. I know if I was so dissatisfied with the IJF, I would not quit Judo, I would try to find other options. The other option is to try and compete under different rule sets. You know AAU has a ruleset that is more traditional, it has leg grabs, AAU Freestyle Judo. You can try moving into Sambo. The 3rd option is to suck it up and change your game. That's really all there is to it. If your game plan pre-2007, 2006, I can't remember when they changed the rules at this point, if you're so dissatisfied with that, that they took away your biggest weapons. You know a show of a good judoka, a good competitor, a good sportsman, a good martial artist is flexibility. Being able to modify your strategy to fit whatever rules you're fighting under. Whether or not you're training for self defense, or training for sport. With that being said, those are your 3 options. That's all I got for you guys today. Hopefully you guys like this video, I know I'm probably going to upset some people by saying what I'm saying. But frankly, I really don't care. I've dealt with this narrative before with myself, kind of wrestled with whether I wanted to continue doing Judo or move into a different sport. Honestly, I don't think the narrative does anything for anybody. I think it really challenges you as a judoka to push forward, continue progressing, if anything you may get a few more tools out of the rule changes. Then if and when it goes back to leg grabs, you'll be able to have a few more tactical elements along with your leg grab techniques. Again, that's all I got for you guys today. If you like this video, please like it, share it, comment on it. If you guys want to see more of my videos, be sure to slam that subscribe button. Don't forget, I have my Patreon page open, I'm getting ready to go to Japan in a couple of months. So if you want to support my start up costs for moving to Japan, be sure to check that out. If you want to help me liquidate my student loans or just help me continue putting out great content, be sure to check that out. My name is Preston and this has been Grappler Going Abroad.