Question for people with BJJ and Judo experience

[Throwing Dummy]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. The coach at the judo club isn't Pedro, it's Cho In Chul, who represented South Korea in 96 and 00. I have seen video clips of Jimmy Pedro, however, and the guy is flat-out amazing.

I definitely plan to go into it with an open-mindset...I'm certainly more than happy to learn judo for its own sake, and I'm definitely aware that the rules are different. I'm just kind of in the dark as to the specifics. The level of technique and athleticism of the elite judokas is unreal and I'm sure that I'll get something worthwhile out of training almost exclusively in judo for 3 years, even if some of it isn't necessarily directly applicable to BJJ.

More thoughts/experiences are welcome!

I've had a seminar with Cho at my MMA gym, and two of the coaches there are Cho Black Belts. None of our BJJ blues can touch Cho on the ground - he looks to me like BJJ Brown or even Black - he's solid. For reference I am BJJ blue and Judo Green belt.

His stand up is awesome. Go to UC and train with him. Then come down to Modern Combatives on University Ave for your BJJ and MMA.

 

[manic_mailman]

hate to break it to you, but cho in chul isn't teaching at cal judo anymore :icon_cry2. however, cho in chul's colleague ji-whan han is now here, and he's no slouch either. he won the korean championships in 1996 and competed in the 2000 olympics.

as for teaching, i personally think he's great. no judo session that i attend is wasted, and i learn something new everytime. he's very thorough in his demonstrations, although there is a language barrier for him to overcome. the classes though are usually split into white-brown and then higher degree brown-black, so if you feel confident on your ground game i think you might be able to roll with some of the higher degree brown-black folks (and we've got some excellent judo players that have competed nationally).

 

[manic_mailman]

oh yea, and there's also a ralph gracie academy a bus ride away, but i heard they have ridiculous rates there.

 

[SLSLAVEN]

Anyone heard of Lowell Slaven? It when to a school of his for a while because it was the only thing in town. He claimed to teach jj and judo with the emphasis on judo. I never heard anything other than how Judo was greater than Bjj and wrestling. The ground grappling was a bit lacking. Just an example of how Judo really, really depends on the school.

Hmmmmmm. So a white belt is commenting on a legends ground grappling. Hmmmm.

 

[SLSLAVEN]

Anyone heard of Lowell Slaven? It when to a school of his for a while because it was the only thing in town. He claimed to teach jj and judo with the emphasis on judo. I never heard anything other than how Judo was greater than Bjj and wrestling. The ground grappling was a bit lacking. Just an example of how Judo really, really depends on the school.

Mr. Slaven is more of a Master than I am sure you have ever had the pleasure of taking instruction. It does sound as though you are very unappreciative so a student such as yourself could never be worthy of his guidance.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Train with the best grappler available. If Jimmy Pedro is around, he's probably it.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Anyone heard of Lowell Slaven? It when to a school of his for a while because it was the only thing in town. He claimed to teach jj and judo with the emphasis on judo. I never heard anything other than how Judo was greater than Bjj and wrestling. The ground grappling was a bit lacking. Just an example of how Judo really, really depends on the school.

Yeah, I knew Slaven Sensei fairly well when I was doing Judo in Indiana. He presided over my BB test in fact. Even when I was there his hips were a mess, he didn't do much on the mat other than teach so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't do a whole lot with him personally, and his school was pretty competition oriented so I'd expect a preponderance of standup. I do recall him not liking BJJ very much, though this was in the early 2000s when BJJ was mostly seen as related to MMA and a real threat to Judo, maybe his stance has changed since then. I don't know. But he was a huge booster to the Judo community in Indiana so I'm not going to say anything bad about him.

 

[QingTian]

I'd be very surprised if the instructor doesn't smash you at will on the ground. The other students however depends on the club. The thing about university clubs is that people come and go, so you get something different each year.

 

[Zankou]

Necro enough? Locking the thread down.