Philadelphia Judo Club

Philadelphia Judo Club is the longest continuously operating judo school in the Philadelphia area and one of the oldest martial arts academies on the entire East Coast, founded in 1949 at the dawn of post-war American judo and operating today out of 1168 S. Broad Street in the Newbold/Point Breeze neighborhood. Three quarters of a century in the same city means the club has trained generations of Philadelphia families - parents and grandparents who learned ukemi here in the 1960s and 70s now bring their own kids and grandkids through the same Kodokan-based curriculum. The kids program is split by age and experience: ages 5-7 train Tuesday evenings in a one-hour class designed around fall practice, listening skills, and the first few foundational throws and pins, while ages 8 and up train multiple times per week (Monday, Thursday, Saturday) in a more technical syllabus covering the standard nage-no-kata throws (osoto-gari, ouchi-gari, seoi-nage, harai-goshi, tai-otoshi), ne-waza pins and escapes, and structured randori once basics are clean. The club has a strong competition tradition with members regularly placing at regional and national USA Judo events, but no pressure to compete - many kids train recreationally for the discipline, balance, and confidence the sport teaches. The S. Broad Street location is accessible from South Philadelphia, Center City, Graduate Hospital, Pennsport, and Passyunk Square, with SEPTA Broad Street Line access. Trial classes available; judogi (gi) eventually required for ongoing students.