Judo
Judo, one of the many contact sports, does not attract as many females as males. However, in the 1990s into the 2000s, Poly began to have female participants on the Judo team. In comparison to other sports teams at the time, with the formation of a female volleyball team and increasing involvement of females in many sports teams such as tennis and swimming, judo did not have the most number of female athletes. So why is judo an important sport to investigate? The reason behind this is the judo team coach, Maureen Braziel, the leftmost person in the back row of the 1990-91 Judo Team Photo.
But Maureen was more than a coach at a university athletics team. In addition to being the judo team coach at Poly, she is also a famous judoka herself, holding a fifth-degree black belt in judo and a second-degree black belt in karate. Maureen competed in national and international competitions and served as the U.S. coach for the women’s judo team at the Canada Cup in 1984 and the United States Sports Festival in 1985.
Maureen joined Poly in 1982, and she established the men’s and women’s Judo team at Poly the same year (“At NYU”). Maureen served as the Assistant Athletic Director from 1987-97, later named Athletic Director. From judo coach to athletic director, Maureen heavily influenced the athletic scene at Poly. In Poly, and at a national level, she is “a pioneer in female athletic competitions” (“How Maureen”). As a role model for many female athletes, she made her presence and fought for her passion as a female athlete in male-dominating contact sports areas. Advocating to expand women’s judo, Maureen maintained a welcoming environment in the team and encouraged all students to participate.
From the historical photograph collection on judo between 1950 and 1998, the image shows that female students participated in judo, but the exact year is unclear. Possibly due to the inconsistency in the number of female student enrollment, the judo team had years without any female participants. Archival silence again appeared in sources regarding the judo team. In 2003, the judo team did not have any female athletes. For the years after 1998 and before 2003, many uncertainties of female athletes participating in judo exist.
Maureen’s effort to expand women’s side of athletics continued even after Poly’s affiliation with NYU. For judo, specifically, she continued to include female students on the judo team. In the 2008-2009 judo team photo, a female student wearing judogi stood next to Maureen, as a member of the official NYU-Poly men’s and women’s judo team. In other ways, the judo team had more meaning to the students. The welcoming environment of the judo team Maureen started also continued after Poly’s affiliation with NYU. One of the student participants in the judo team later from NYU talked about the judo community. As a woman of color who has been in judo for about seven years, the student was not used to seeing much representation. However, the judo community has been very welcoming, leading her to step out of her comfort zone (“At NYU”).