About Harrisburg Judo Kai
The Harrisburg Judo Kai Club is the #1 YMCA affiliated club in the nation with over 2000 medalists. The Club currently has 116 national champions and 140 state champions.
All are welcome! Classes are offered for the learning the of martial art of judo and jujitsu, workouts and training, self-defense classes and competition opportunities. All ages and level of experience are welcome. Beginners, or those with experience elsewhere, interested in participating can contact info@harrisburgjudokai.org prior to class to get more information.
Classes are listed in the Events sections, changes and new info can be found in the News section, and our sensei’s can be found in the Contact's section
GettingStarted FAQ
1. How do I get started?
2. Do I need to purchase a gi? If so, where do I purchase them?
3. Can I just start coming to classes any time, or is there a set start date for new members?
4. If I plan to just attend the judo and mma classes and not use the gym for working out, do you think the $12 punch card would still be a good idea?
5. What is practice like? What sort of things do you do at each work out?
My name is Mike Stone. I am the head sensei from the Harrisburg Judo Kai. I have received many e-mails asking questions about taking Judo and/or Jujitsu lessons. I have been teaching Judo at the Harrisburg Y since 1978. In that time we have had over two hundred national medals won by members of our club. At competitions we are very respected.
On the web site we have a calendar which lists times and dates, however I will summarize these for you. On Tuesday night our Judo class starts to unrolling the mats at 7:00 pm and everyone starts to do their own warm ups. I bow in the class at 7:30 and we go until 9:00. The kids class runs along side of the adults but is instructed by another black belt. Thursday night is the same thing except this is our submission grappling night (MMA). Almost the entire night is spent on learning mat work in both Judo techniques as well as Jujitsu (MMA) techniques. The times are the same. On Saturday morning I teach Judo. We like to have everyone come in at 9:00 am to start unrolling the mats. The kids start as close to 9:00 as possible. I bow in the adults at 9:30 and we go until 11:30. The cost for the Y is as follows. You can take out a Y Membership. and the Judo classes are included. You need to call the Y for pricing as they offer several plans. We also have a pay as you go plan. This is where you purchase a $12.00 punch ticket. It allows 4 punches or 4 workouts. If you plan to come to all 3 classes a week then a full membership is recommended. I also have a class Wed. nights at Sporting Hill Rec center in Hampden Township. If you belong to the Harrisburg Y you do not have to pay to go to this class. There are mostly kids who show up but around a contest I sometimes get competitors who come in for an extra workout. We bow in at 7:30 pm. As a club we participate with 40 other clubs from around the state in an open gym one Sunday afternoon a month somewhere in Central PA from 2 to 6 pm. The location floats month to month.
We also like to ask for a $10.00 per month donation to the club to help purchase tape and to help with costs such as Club Charters to the National Organizations. We have about 50 adults and 50 kids. Some people come once a month, some once a week and some to all the classes. You get out of it what you put into it.
We start out warming up and stretching. We then do agility drills and falling practices. I then have the class do round robin mat work. After 20 minutes to an half hour I move to mat work drills. After this we do our stand-up techniques. We drill these then we have a full stand-up competition call Randori.
I hope that this has answered your questions. -Mike Stone-
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