North Jersey Judo was established in October 2006 by Head Instructor Ramon Hernandez.  His goal was to evangelize as many people as possible into the martial art and sport of Olympic style Judo while also promoting the positive benefits that Judo has to offer for your mental and physical health not to mention its approach to a positive and proactive life style. 

Judo was founded in 1882 from three styles of Jujitsu by Jigaro Kano, President of the Tokyo Teachers Training College in Japan and a member of the International Olympic Committee.  Judo was introduced as a spectator sport to the Olympic Games in the summer 1964 and is the third most played sport in the world today.

Ramon Hernandez started his martial arts training in September 1994 where he was introduced to Judo, Jujitsu & Karate.  Once convinced Judo was the sport and martial art of his choice, he enrolled at the Cranford Judo Center in January 1997 under the guidance of Yoshisada Yonezuka (US Olympic Head Coach 1992-Barcelona Summer Games & US Olympic Head Coach 1988-Seoul Summer Games).  During his time with Sensei Yonezuka, Ramon earned his first degree Judo Black Belt/Rank of Shodan within a time span of 3 years and 8 months in August 2000.  During that time, Ramon married his wife Norma on July 16, 1999 and were awaiting the arrival of their first child in December 2000. 

After earning his first Black Belt, he continued his training with Anthony Camal of Camal Judo.  Here he was able to earn his second degree Black Belt/Rank of Nidan and get plenty of practical teaching experience with children as young as 4 years old, teens and adults of all ages.

With 12 years in the martial arts and most of it within Judo, Ramon had settled down in Pompton Lakes, NJ with his wife and now 2 children, Ramon Jr. and Gabriel.  At this time, Ramon found his new aspiration to start North Jersey Judo with the idea to pass along Judo and his Judo philosophy to both his sons and anyone interested in a sport and a martial art for life.

During his 2 year existence as Head Instructor, Ramon has had the honor and pleasure of teaching Judo to a number of children and adults with great success.  This experience includes North Jersey Judo students competing at the local and regional level Judo tournaments with plenty of trips to the medal stand.  This also includes himself as he continues to work on his own Judo.  Other successes that his students enjoy have been weight loss, reduced stress and getting into great mental and physical shape.