Judo Politics and USA Judo’s Future - Ramon Hernandez | The Shintaro Higashi Show

In this episode, Shintaro sits down with long-time judo competitor and coach, Ramon Hernandez, to discuss the evolving landscape of USA Judo. They dive into Judo politics, including the removal of Joe Ragan from the board, USA Judo elections, and the financial challenges facing the sport in the United States. Ramon shares his thoughts on the need for better support for athletes, the role of marketing in growing the sport, and the importance of bringing outside sponsorships to judo. This conversation provides an insightful look into the political and economic aspects of USA Judo and what’s needed to elevate the sport in the coming years.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:25 Ramon's Take on USA Judo Elections
00:05:04 USA Judo’s Acquisition of America Judo System
00:08:17 Removal of Joe Ragan from USA Judo Board
00:14:13 Importance of Athlete Support
00:19:13 Marketing Issues in Judo and Club Management

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[MG-hdmp]

A magazine is not how to market anymore, it doesn't see enough of a general audience to warrant the money paying to make the magazines. It is all through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. (which are free to post on). They need to market the individual USA players and get people invested in those players, not USA Judo as a whole. I'd be willing to bet more people in the US know more of the Japanese national team players or other international players than any of the USA players. The most well known Judo people in the US are people who do not compete anymore, Shintaro, Jimmy Pedro, Travis Stevens, Kayla Harrison, etc. If you want money to come in, you need to market to a wider audience and make it worth companies investing into the sport. You cannot keep marketing to a niche set of people and expect it to grow, you need to get average people to see it and get invested. I could be wrong but that is how other niche sports have grown, they have personalities that they market (BJJ, Crossfit, Strongman, Olympic Weightlifting, Lacrosse).

[andrewmaniglia]

Damn these political judo episodes are great. Like a small scale Game of Thrones playing out

[vladstradnic]

Sensei Shintaro, we’d love a post-election debrief on the USA Judo election! What happened, what to expect next, and how can we hold our elected officials accountable with the Olympics coming to the U.S.? Strong leadership and accountability are crucial for our athletes and the judo community as we approach the Games. You seem to be the one person who can bring some much-needed transparency to this process.

[georgemdonnelly]

The election is over and I still don't know what it means to "focus on the athletes". Obviously, it's a complicated situation but at the local club level, Olympic medals have not helped Judo grow in 20 years. There is top down gatekeeping on all fronts, and Judo in the Unites States is running off the fumes of the system created by the USJF.

[fernandofranco]

No one reads magazines anymore...put that effort into social media...start promoting and marketing athletes and rivalries. Hopefully an athlete has a lot of personality like a Craig Jones that would help keep eyes on him and promote the sport. Right now no one outside of you two and and others like you, know who our top American athletes are.

[MoneyOverFame]

He called you the next "Neil Adams of the United States". That's some high praise right there, Shintaro.

[Dynamic]

Money clearly needs to be made. BJJ doesn’t bring people in because of their top level athletes and it’s not their viewership, or stars, it’s their hobbyist culture. Judo keeps talking about their top athletes and of course they are important, but like any Dojo/ school the bills are paid with the memberships of regular people. Putting an immediate effort In getting these hobbyist to not only train but feel like they are part of something bigger is huge. The huge majority will never be close to being Olympians but they also don’t want some silly Tai Bo version of Judo. They need to feel like there is a version of Judo they do is similar to the high level athletes that’s still genuine.

First thing that would help is the belt progression for 18+. Once that’s done you can put extreme emphasis on the first promotion giving these hobbyist a first medium/ long term goal to aspire to just like many aspire to a BJJ blue belt. No ones crying receiving a judo yellow belt, But maybe if it was truly a year minimum to the first belt, something more refined looking like green and you give it significant importance. You will see people coming to train to aspire to that first belt, just like people aspire to get a BJJ blue belt and wear that thing with pride. I think the current disorganized belt structure is hurting Judo. You receive a yellow or orange belt and you go to another club and those belts don’t exist, or the only ones wearing them are children, it not only brings question to that persons school but the art overall.

Hobbyist bring in friends, family, their children future children. You look at every celebrity who trains and makes the news when they receive a blue belt in bjj and how much publicity it receives and money that generates through that type of advertisement. People speculated mark Zuckerberg was the big donor for CJI. The money is in hobbyist.

[WMG]

Ramon Hernandez used magazines as a way to market the sport. Dude, it's 2024. NO ONE uses magazines anymore for promotions. It's all social media. This is why USA JUDO has issues. Outdated stone age mentalities. USA Judo needs to spam social media, increase more comps, and bring us No Gi JUDO to compete with No Gi BJJ.

[kananisha]

The fact USA Judo doesn't pay and financial support it's athletes is shameful.

[kusotare]

Judo politics is exactly why I didn't want to assume leadership of my home club. I saw how the backstabbing and infighting went on in one of the biggest yudanshakais in the country, and there was no reason it'd be any different in the local yudanshakai. I just want to practice and teach judo in an organization that understands that the grassroots are where the long term strength and future of the sport is.

Also: "We look like the JA now." Ooof! 🤣

[GonzalezAR]

I’m happy I’m not the only one who feels that way about getting feet on the mats and also asking for another $100 for a USA judo membership

[retroghidora]

Everything the guest wants out of a magazine you can also do on social media and probably reach more people that way AND for no more operating cost than what you already pay to have access to the internet. Unless you need to hire people to make graphics or highlight edits or do interviews. But that can all come later, you can start making posts now. The big thing is actually figuring out what will get people excited.

I do have to say that I disagree with other comments about personalities as they are in BJJ being that thing, it's just not what Judo is. I think that ultron meme about leg grabs was funny, I love watching clips of Justin Flores and Randori Archives on instagram, IJF highlights (minus the offensively try hard music choices) that's some of the stuff that I see regularly that gets me excited about Judo.

[rickfinsta]

A magazine? The kids that will fight in the next Olympics don't even have active Facebook accounts much less have they ever picked up a physical magazine! You have a big disconnect between the aging coaching cadre across the country and the young athletes and a magazine is about the most useless way I can think of to bridge that gap. You need hobbyist level 30-50 year olds (that maybe used to compete) brought up to speed on how to coach to the national level (we have international level coaching available, clearly). If you start pouring money into nascent "elite" athletes spread across the country you won't get anywhere new. My personal opinion is you need to figure out how to get hobbyist judo programs piggybacking on BJJ clubs and build those programs using the youth BJJ athletes over time. Maybe spend money getting elite judo athletes to go out and dominate in BJJ competition and run ne waza and "takedown" seminars nationwide? I dunno but BJJ clubs have figured out the money side, why build parallel infrastructure?

[jonathanscroggins]

What I’ve realized nobody really cares about anything except getting free money

[TaboMM]

Hello Shintaro, I've been watching your videos and I love them! I've wanted to learn how to do uchi mata in competition (Front uchi mata) So if you can please make a video about that :)

[thebagnechannel]

Is merging with USJF a solution such that you don’t have two organizations paying duplicative operating costs?

[mattiejitsu]

The future of Judo is on UFC Fight Pass.

[realwildfacts]

Are they making leg throws legal again in 2025?

[jonathanscroggins]

USA judo needs tournaments you can make a world class bjj competitior or wrestler solely off tournaments .

[Howleebra]

I've been trying to introduce Americans to Judo for 30 years and it gets harder every year because they keep changing the rules making the sport more complicated...you can get away with this in a population that grew up with judo but trying to introduce the average American to Modern IJF Judo is basically impossible with its radically more safe, simple and permissive sister Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on every corner.

Maybe if they focused on freestyle judo but IJF...no way 😒