East-West School of International Studies' judo team
For many, “school sports” evokes thoughts of soccer balls, basketball hoops, and baseball bats. For a group of 35 students in Queens, however, school sports now means falls, rolls, throws, and groundwork.
Starting in the 2007-08 school year, students at the East-West School of International Studies in Queens joined New York City’s first-ever public school judo team.
The boys and girls who joined the team competed in judo tournaments in the City and on Long Island. Nine of the students earned Junior 1st degrees (striped belt) and 12 have earned Junior 2nd degrees (yellow belt).
“The main principles of judo are mutual benefit and maximum efficiency, and these [ideas] can be used in daily life, helping to make our student-Judokas better people,” the team’s coach, Gayle Horowitz, said. “I look forward to the day when other schools have judo teams, and we can build the martial arts community in the New York City public schools.”
Horowitz, a physical education teacher, has a second-degree black belt in judo. The students also participated in a clinic taught by three-time U.S. Olympian Celita Schutz and Y. Matsumura, one of the highest ranked Judokas in the United States.
Competing in judo fits in with the East-West School’s mission of teaching students of all backgrounds about Japanese, Chinese, and Korean culture and language.
Tenth grader Melissa Best said being on the judo team has complemented what she has learned in the classroom.
“I am in second-year Japanese, and judo helps me learn more about Japanese culture,” she said. “It’s fun, and it’s not as aggressive as other martial arts. You don’t have to be the biggest person to win.”
East-West’s judo team is featured in the Summer 2008 issue of American Judo magazine.