Manual of Throws for Sport Judo and Self-Defense

by Fred Neff

Describes with step-by-step instructions and photographs over twenty throws taken from sport judo and other Oriental fighting arts.

60 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 1976

Reviews

[Tom Peters]

The Manual of Throws for Sport Judo and Self-Defense is a great resource for someone who is interested in how to do basic throws. It gives essentials without pushing all kinds of traditional details that might be expected in a formal book on Judo. There are probably many people like me that are curious how a throw can be done, but do not plan on really having to do one and have no intention to ever take Judo lessons. Though after reading the book I can see how it could give a person who was inclined toward wrestling types of maneuvers an incentive to try undertaking Judo. For myself I have found my natural inclination is toward hitting sports rather than grappling. I really liked playing softball and baseball when I was younger. Until I was in my mid fifties I continued to play softball. Similarly, my interest in practicing karate continued from my late teenage years until my late forties. While these sports fit my personality there are no doubt other people that may be inclined toward grappling-wrestling that would go toward a sport like Judo. A thing that I thought about while reading this book is that the author somewhat varies from my usual impression that a person either is a grappler or a hitter. While I had seen actors in movies and television do oriental fighting tricks I never saw anyone actually do any of these moves in my presence until my family moved to a new city and I visited a YMCA one evening. Since my father's job required frequent moves I never got settled in any community nor for that matter did my family have the resources to encourage me to participate in activities such as the YMCA that would call for a payment of money. Instead when I was not in school I did chores around the house and later when I was old enough worked. I was excited that a new friend invited me to be his quest at the YMCA. On that memorable occasion we watched a men's Judo class. While the majority of the men seemed in my fathers general range of age there was one teenager. He stuck out not only because he was younger than the rest of the men but because he had real skill and grace in doing throws. Because he was not that much older than me I centered my attention on watching him and found it fascinating. After a while my friend took me elsewhere in the building to show me the swimming pool. As the evening went on we again visited the gym area after the Judo class was done. The gym was now open for everyone to do things. I saw the same teenager that had been doing Judo so well alone doing some very cool tumbling moves. He was fantastic at the kind of tricks you would expect to see done by a circus performer. This same teenager I recognized years later demonstrating his skill when I undertook the study of Karate. Again, I was impressed by his tremendous gymnastic talent. He threw kicks that required extreme flexibility, agility, balance and skill. It turns out that the same man that I saw doing Judo, tumbling and karate was the author Fred Neff of this Manual of Throws. He appears to be a renaissance man when it comes to martial arts. Fortunately the rest of us do not need to be gifted to appreciate and enjoy learning about fighting approaches. This Manual of Throws meets the needs of the vast majority of us that either have some curiosity about how throws are done or may want to see if Judo would be a sport that we would like to try to do. To my way of thinking this book is a fine choice for reading.