Members of the St. Joe’s judo club, a co-ed club sport that teaches fundamental judo techniques, gather at the Athletic/Recreation Center (ARC) on the University City campus Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons.
Members begin by rolling out large mats onto the floor, followed by a few minutes of conversations to build community. The meeting evolves into warmups, such as jumping jacks or the occasional basketball game.
But what follows is the real reason why everyone is there: practicing judo throws, safety procedures, takedowns and step-by-step instructions on different aspects of various forms of martial arts.
Leading the club is Duncan Waite, MBA ’23, the head instructor for the St. Joe’s judo club.
“Over the years, I’ve learned to create an environment where we can all have fun, coexist where we have some that are super into competition, some that just want to get a workout,” Waite said.
Waite described the judo club as a melting pot of people from various levels of experience. “We truly do have every walk of life,” Waite said.
The judo club is not just a team. It is a community of people from all backgrounds.
“Doing things like judo and jiu-jitsu is just such an intimate sport that it’s kind of hard to not become close and become good friends doing it,” Waite said.
Xinyi Wang ’24, the public relations/social media chair, was one of two women in the club when she first joined. Now almost a third of the members are women. But Wang said she had no complaints about originally being one of the only women on the mats.
“I think it was intimidating at first but then people just kind of treated me as any other person,” Wang said.
Wang attributed this positive environment to Waite.
“[Waite] did a good job in facilitating the conversation so that everybody felt like they belonged and that there [was] a team,” Wang said.
A club that started as four or five people practicing judo in a small room in O’Pake Recreation Center when Waite was a first-year student has expanded and evolved into a club of around 15 people taking part in various forms of martial arts. These forms include judo, jiu-jitsu and various forms of grappling.
The students not only practice within the club, but they also compete in Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Those who have experience wrestling, as well as newcomers, are welcome to compete.
“I would say about half of the people in the club had wrestling [experience or] any type of martial arts experience,” Waite said. “And then the other half is just completely nothing and we’re starting from scratch.”
The vice president of the club, Connor Dugan ’26, had no prior experience when he first joined, but he was hooked from the beginning. He said it wasn’t just the sport, but the culture surrounding the sport that drew him in.
“What I noticed about the club is I really liked the atmosphere and the culture that we cultivated in the club,” Dugan said. “It feels really welcoming to anyone of any skill level or background, and everyone was super nice.”
Dugan said he is looking forward to growing the program.
“I’ve gotten a lot out of the club,” Dugan said. “I want to be able to give back to it and help improve it because it’s something that I quickly have found myself becoming really passionate about.”
Waite said he hopes others will feel welcome.
“This would be a great place to build a little community,” Waite said.
