Judo is currently the most practiced combat sport in the world. There is no doubt of its importance for children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. However, due to its inherent complexity, coaches tend to place greater or lesser emphasis only on one of its multiple domains during the judoka formative years. The present study presents a novel developmental approach signaling Judo as an excellent way for physical, motor, educational, and health development across the lifespan. In this study, we consulted 23 Judo coaches, aiming to clarify the relevance and adequacy of the domains (Competitive, Health, Technical-Tactical, and Philosophical-Educational) and phases of the proposed model. Our findings showed that the model contents—physical, motor, educational, and health—are entwined with its four domains, which were considered of utmost importance by experts in the development of judokas. We, therefore, contend that our model is essential to better understand the growth and development of young judokas. Also, it may be a useful tool for Motor Development experts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different types of practice on learning the o soto gari, focusing on the kuzushi (unbalancing the opponent). A total of 64 children (mean age 9.19 ± 1.41 years) were assigned to one of four groups: (1) static traditional practice, i.e., uchikomi – repetition of the moving pattern that characterises the technique up to the point of throwing; (2) in motion traditional practice – uchikomi with the tori (player executing the technique) moving/walking; (3) whole practice with pre-kuzushi – full technique with a preparatory component for kuzushi; (4) progressive parts practice with pre-kuzushi – progressively introducing kuzushi, tsukuri (set-up to execute the technique) and kake (final part of the technique; projection) with pre-kuzushi. Pre-test, acquisition, post-test and retention test were carried out. Movements were video recorded and analysed regarding three aspects: global technique of the tori, occurrence of a movement pattern performed by the tori to unbalance the uke (player receiving the “attack”), and occurrence of actual unbalance (kuzushi). Results showed no significant differences between-groups. However, different within-groups improvements suggest that using a uchikomi with pre-kuzushi can help learners deal with the motor actions of pulling and pushing in order to unbalance the opponent.