Announcement

author

Team Chicago Soccer Club Partners with Martial Arts Training Service!

Posted by Phil Nielsen on Oct 06 2010 at 01:12PM PDT in 2010-11

Team Chicago Soccer Club and Martial Arts Training Service (MATS) are excited to announce a partnership, which will allow Team Chicago Academy players access to a soccer-oriented Judo training program at a reduced rate.

Ajax Amsterdam, generally regarded as one of the top youth development schemes in the world, has implemented a Judo program for all its players, to assist them in both improving their own body control and the ability to manipulate an opponent’s body within the confines of the FIFA Laws of the Game.

The Ajax Judo program has been wildly successful, so Team Chicago is excited to be able to facilitate a similar program for our players.

The program will kick off with a demonstration at PlayUSA on Monday 10/18 7-8pm during the Academy Session. That night the Academy Session will run 6-8pm, with an hour on the field, and an hour on the small indoor field watching and participating in the demonstration. MATS will bring several of its top-level students to give our players and parents a chance to see the types of abilities a Judo program can foster.

After the demonstration MATS will host 4 Monday night 1-hour sessions in November & December at its Dojo on 55 Industrial Drive in Naperville. The cost for Team Chicago players and families is $65 for this program.

At the end of the program players who want to continue can either join the regular MATS classes, or if enough Team Chicago players are interested, a separate class will be formed.

Please, check out the MATS website at www.martialartstraining.com, and the following explanation of Judo

Meaning of Judo
Formalism and strict conduct are typical of traditional judo.

Judo: "The way of gentleness".
The word "judo" shares the same root ideogram as "jujutsu": "jū" (柔?), which may mean "gentleness", "softness", "suppleness", and even "easy", depending on its context. Such attempts to translate jū are deceptive, however. The use of jū in each of these words is an explicit reference to the martial arts principle of the "soft method" (柔法, jūhō?). The soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force to defeat an opponent. More specifically, it is the principle of using one’s opponent’s strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing his momentum (often with the aid of a foot to trip him up) to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling). Kano saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks, and sought to unify it according to a principle, which he found in the notion of "maximum efficiency". Jujutsu techniques that relied solely on superior strength were discarded or adapted in favour of those that involved redirecting the opponent’s force, off-balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage.

The second characters of judo and jujutsu differ. Where jujutsu (柔術, jūjutsu?) means the "art", "science", or "techniques" of softness, judo (柔道, jūdō?) means the "way" of softness. The use of "dō" (道?), meaning way, road or path (and is the same character as the Chinese word "tao"), has philosophical overtones. This is the same distinction as is made between Budō and Bujutsu. Use of this word is a deliberate departure from ancient martial arts, whose sole purpose was for killing. Kano saw judo as a means for governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. He even extended the physical principle of maximum efficiency into daily life, evolving it into "mutual prosperity". In this respect, judo is seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo.