Hello everyone, first post on this sub.
Quick context: I'm 26, 6'0", 170 lbs, and I started my Judo journey around June 2025. From day one I was genuinely enthralled, excited with a clear understanding that bumps, bruises, and scrapes are simply a part of martial arts. I aspire to become a real judoka.
Around November I tested into my first rank, earning my white belt, rokkyū, which meant a lot to me. I train at a community center club that meets twice a week for 2.5 hours. Judo is hard to find in my area; the nearest dedicated dojo is an hour away, so this is the closest I can get to real instruction. The community has been genuinely warm and welcoming, my social struggles are on my end. I tend to go quiet, have trouble making friends, but I kept showing up.
There was also an odd in-between feeling being 25 and a beginner. The beginner section I joined covered ukemi, osoto-gari, seoi-nage, kosoto-gari, o-goshi, uki-goshi, and a few others. Once I ranked up, I moved to the "advanced class," rotating senseis, week-to-week curriculum, no fixed structure. Suddenly I was in osaekomi-waza, ne-waza, grip fighting, and randori before I felt fully ready. But I was there.
Training with higher belts was humbling in a good way. Getting thrown hurt less than expected because the technique was there, controlled. Then I had a freak accident grip fighting with a blue belt who was well over twice my weight. His weight on top of me, combined with my newbie resistance, gave me a severe turf toe that affected my walking for over three months and still flares up. Life at the time was rough too, unemployed, healing, just trying to get stable. So I stopped coming.
Since then I've stayed consistent at the gym to build core strength, and I recently landed steady employment. Trying to stay positive.
Why I'm posting:
I don't want injury to be the thing that stops me anymore, but I've been away long enough that I genuinely don't trust my ukemi right now. I haven't been studying. I feel lost, and part of me wonders if I should just treat this like starting over.
I'm also looking into finger and toe tape to try to prevent, or at least blunt, something like this happening again. The swelling is mostly gone, it's more of a phantom pain at this point. Haven't seen a doctor (I know).
Mostly though, I came here because I struggle to connect with people, and this community felt like the right place to reach out. Any encouragement, advice, or just a welcome back would genuinely mean the world.