When my dad and his siblings were growing up, judo was a huge and important part of their lives. My dad's stories of his childhood are filled with long family road trips to judo competitions all over the country and judo mishaps with his siblings. I was six when my...

My introduction to judo came when I was about 10 years old. I had just started middle school and had joined the school’s wrestling team. I had also just “lost” one of my best friends from elementary school, meaning that he decided to attend a different middle school...

I remember when I was nine, putting on my first judogi, thick and weird smelling; granted it was not expensive at all. Having that judogi on made me feel different, it immediately made me feel that I was part of something special, something that was apart from what...