Of Northern Virginia
We have a mailing list for our members and interested judoka. It is a good way to stay in touch and to find out about upcoming competitions and other events. Unsolicited ads and spam are strictly prohibited.
Both the Junior and Senior competitors won the Outstanding Team Trophy for their divisions on Saturday. Click here to read more.
One of our judo guys, Nick, will be holding an introductory Krav Maga class after practice on Saturday from 1:00PM to 2:30PM in the Martial Arts Room. Class will cost $10 per person. Check it out!
The club Christmas party this passed Saturday was a great success. Thanks everyone for coming!
Krav Maga is also on at the Reston One Spirit 5 days a week. Call 703-796-5508 for times.
The club Christmas party will be held at SportJudo on Saturday, Dec. 12th. at 10AM. Click here for details.
One Spirit Martial Arts in Alexandria, VA is now holding Krav Maga, MMA and boxing classes in addition to Judo during the weeks. There is also a brand-new, full size boxing ring at the gym for use by gym members. Click here for details or call One Spirit at (703) 941-4848.
Ivan and Lela Veskov won two golds each this passed weekend in Norfolk, VA. Congratulations, guys!
Willie fought hard to a 5th place finish at the Junior PanAm Judo Championships in Brazil yesterday. On the way he faced 3 difficult opponents in matches that all went the distance. Pictures can be seen on the USA Judo web site. An article about the tournament can be found here.
We would like to wish Aaron Riley good luck in the upcoming UFC 105 event. He coaches MMA at One Spirit Martial Arts in Alexandria, VA and trains at SportJudo, also based in Alexandria. If you'd like to train with Aaron, give us a call at (703) 941-4848 or email us and ask about his class.
Congratulations to the Junior and Senior teams! Both the Juniors and the Seniors took their respective team trophies on Saturday at the Maryland Open Judo Championships in College Park, MD. In addition, Lela Veskov was named Outstanding Competitor in the Junior competition! Good job, everyone!
Willie and Giuseppe Inserra both won gold at the national trials. Michael Harrison won silver. This means the possibility of international berths for these young competitors. A great job all around. Results are still being posted. Right now, Willie's victory is on the U.S. Judo website.
Michael Harrison is overseas June 2009 competing in three tourneys:
As of 15 June, he won a bronze in the PanAm Games and 5th place in the Vereniging Tournament. Great Job! To find out more, click here.
Next, he travels to South Korea to represent the USA in the Jikji Cup. Best of luck!
UFC legend Royce Gracie will conduct a training seminar open to the public on 16 May 2009. The seminar will be held at our Olympus Gym Headquarters from 5-7pm. The cost is $60 per person. Space is limited. Pre-register by calling Lamonte Tyler at (434) 825-2734 or emailing him at lamonte.tyler@gmail.com. To learn more about Royce's MMA career, visit his website at www.roycegracie.tv.
Dr. Ann Maria DeMars visited Sport Judo on Monday, 23 March 2009, leading instruction of the evening adult class. Dr. DeMars won the world Judo Championships in 1984, the first and only American to do so. In addition to consulting, Dr. DeMars travels the country, coaching judo. Her daughter, Rhonda Rousey, won bronze in the Beijing Olympics. Dr. DeMars blogs about her judo experiences. Everyone from Sport Judo learned a lot from Dr. DeMars and appreciated the visit.
Congratulations to Joe for winning Silver in Colorado at the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) Judo Camp. Joe trained for 2 weeks with fifteen other competitors. He competed in his first tournament on Saturday, February 28, coming in second place in the 220+ mens division. Click here for more info.
Sport Judo won at least 2 first place trophies in the juniors and multiple first place trophies in the adult divisions at the Virginia State Judo Championships held in Arlington, VA on February 21, 2009. We also won a large number of second and third place trophies. Our success is the result of a lot of hard work and great turn out. Congratulations to everyone that competed! We'll post the indivdual results as they come in.
Sport Judo won the team trophy and a number of first and second place victories at the 2008 Maryland State Championships. Great showing!
USA Judo issued its 2009 junior rankings. Willy Inserra rose to #1 for Male 13-14 YOA under 44kg division. Congratulations to Willy. Keep it up and good luck with the winter wrestling season!
SportJudo judoka, Joel Brutus, returned from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after a fierce, but disappointing bout with the player from South Korea. He led the Haiti delegation in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. After a trip to the Great Wall, he is back in Northern Virginia and training again. Welcome Back! More info here. Check out NBC, the official Olympic host, for 2008 Olympic Judo news.
Mike Harrison wins third at Junior Olympics
Congratulations to Sportjudo's Mike Harrison. He placed third in his black belt weight class at the Junior Olympics held 25-27 July at Disney's Cornonado Springs Resort Convention in Kissimmee, FL. For more information, click here.
Jeff Steel Wins 100Kg Division at Nationals!
Congratulations to Coach Jeff Steel for winning the 100Kg Masters division at the 2010 National Championships! Jeff was competing up a weight class and won a gold medal despite this. Great job, Jeff!
SportJudo is a nationally known judo club located in Alexandria, Virginia. Our focus is on sport judo--big throws, submission techniques, and pins. We regularly compete in tournaments. A number of our members have won national trophies. We also have police officers and soldiers who train with us as part of their self-defense regimen. Judo is a formidable (and fun) style of self-defense and sport for students from six to sixty. Stop by and see what judo can do for you!
Head Instructor Maurice Allan, is a former Olympic freestyle wrestler, 7th degree judo black belt, multiple British and Scottish Judo National Champion, and 1975 World Sambo Wrestling Champion. For his contributions to the grappling arts as a competitor and a teacher, his native Scotland recognized Maurice as the "Scottish Wrestler of the Century" and the Queen of England awarded him "Most Excellent Order of the British Empire." More about our head instructor...
We welcome newcomers! We've got classes for all ages and skill levels. Competition is encouraged, but not required. Nobody is too weak or too out of shape to join. We provide beginners with training in the basics. As students progress, they are gradually phased into advanced drills and live judo grappling. We recognize that different ages and different body types adjust at a different pace and are willing to work with each student to maximize that student's potential. Click here for the training schedule...
Check out our kids program, JudoKids. We have a long history of teaching judo to children, teens, and young adults. Some of our kids have grown into nationally ranked competitors. More info on JudoKids...
Sport Judo has teamed up with BJJ great, Pedro Sauer. Pedro earned his BJJ blackbelt from the Gracie family and is recognized as one of the best BJJ instructors in the world. Find out more about Pedro Sauer...
Sport Judo's judoka can now cross train in BJJ and MMA at our Olympus Gym headquarters and at our affiliated schools. We encourage our judo players to cross train in BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA. Check out our BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA schedule at Olympus Gym...
If you have questions or want to try a class, please contact us. Call our head instructor, Maurice Allan, MBE, at (703) 407-1691 or email us at sensei@sportjudo.org....
SportJudo is located in Olympus Gym, just a half mile north of where I-395 intersects I-495 near Springfield, VA. The gym sits on the northwest corner of I-395 and Edsall Rd. For directions and a map...
Sport Judo members can join our mailing list and keep on top of upcoming events and team competitions. Click here to join...
Judo is one of the oldest Japanese martial arts and is also an Olympic sport. The focus on athletic competition forces the judo player to develop techniques that work against an opponent resisting 100%. An athelete scores points by throwing the opponent onto the opponent's back, by pinning the opponent, or by submitting the opponent with an armbar or choke. Unlike some of the more stylized traditional martial arts, Judo does not rely on aesthetic judgments by masters to determine which technique is better. As with wrestling and other grappling sports, we test our techniques in the crucible of competition. For this reason, competition is a key part of the Judo curriculum, but developing proper technique is essential. Our classes combine technique drills with live competiton, known as "randori". Randori is the laboratory within which we test and develop effective technique, technique proven to work effectively against an opponent.
Submission techniques in BJJ, Sambo, and submission wrestling evolved primarily from judo kansetsu waza. Each has taken these techniques in a new direction. Many of us have seen kansetsu waza used to devastating effect by UFC fighters. Arm bars and chokes remain an important part of judo and are a core part of our curriculum. Sport Judo also offers today's grapplers and MMA atheletes a unique opportunity to work on throws that use the gi. Our training routinely includes drills that focus on the transition from a throw to groundwork. A number of competitors in other grappling styles train with our club because of the friendly, but competitive environment that we offer. We welcome wrestlers and BJJ players to our club. Come by and check us out!
