Religious Headgear

(Revised 7/17/18)

As the national governing body for the sport of judo in the United States, USA judo is responsible for the safety of judoka and creating and abiding by rules that protect the safety of competitors to the extent possible.

USA Judo is also proud to live in a country that allows freedoms not always allowed in other countries, including freedom of speech and religion.  As such, and as a country that celebrates its diversity and equality, USA Judo has determined that it will review requests to wear religious headgear during competitions on a case-by-case basis.  The main points of consideration for these requests are as follows:

1. Can the wearing of religious headgear create a safety issue for the individual wearing the headgear and/or his/her opponent?
2. Does the wearing of the religious headgear give the person wearing it an unfair competitive advantage or disadvantage?
3. Is the desire to wear headgear by an athlete due to their religious practice(s) or due to the advice of a medical doctor for safety purposes?

If the answer to questions #1 and #2 is “no” as determined by USA Judo, and the answer to question # 3 is “yes”, USA Judo will likely allow the wearing of headgear.

Again, USA Judo will review religious headgear requests on a case-by-case basis and reserves the right to not allow headgear of any kind if the safety of any athlete may be put into jeopardy by the wearing of headgear or for any reason deemed as detrimental to the sport of judo in the United States.

For any individuals desiring to wear religious headgear, please call USA Judo at 719-866-4730 with as much advance notice as possible before the competition for which wearing headgear is desired.  Thank you.