Judo Pt 2

Where were we? Oh yes, on the internet. I was writing about Judo.

When i began Judo, as i mentioned, we started doing 2 things. Breakfalls & pushups. My initial experiences with both were...challenging. The first standing roll that i tried had me careen off target (the ground) and i whirled crashing into a radiator attached to the wall. I remember seeing stars & the instructor told me, "not bad". If we got hurt, our instructor usually said something slightly positive. I remember getting thrown on my head & getting knocked out for a few seconds, and afterwards the instructor told me "that wasn't too bad".

I got better at breakfalls eventually and stopped falling on my head & getting knocked out.

Pushups were tough. As i mentioned, the first night i went to the club we were told to do a shocking amount of pushups. Everytime a kid talked during class, we'd all get 25 pushups. If a kid tried to argue with Gary or talked back, he'd get 50 pushups (our club was all boys). I struggled with being able to do pushups, but did get better at them.

Of course, there was motivation.

Gary had a rule: you could do the pushups assigned or you could fight him instead. Most of us would just opt for the pushups. One night a kid named Mike decided that instead of doing the pushups, he'd fight Gary. When i say that Gary would fight you, i don't mean that he'd spar with you. I don't mean that he'd toss you around. I mean that Gary would beat the crap out of you. He would throw students around full force and pull out all the stops. There are tricks that you can do to less experienced opponents when you're executing throws (you're tori if you're throwing) that, if done properly, will make the other guy (uke, if you're being thrown) fall a helluva lot harder and cut off your breakfall technique prematurely. Gary would do all of that. He wouldn't just sweep the leg - he'd doing over the shoulder throws that would have you sailing down from 6 feet up. He'd even do that move that you see Captain Kirk do where he grabs the guy, pulls him in, rolls on his back while planting a foot in the guy's chest and hurls him into the nearest space-wall.

This kid Mike decided that instead of doing the pushups, he'd fight Gary. Gary cleaned the floor with him. It was both exhilarating & terrifying to watch. The kid could not stand after because he was so exhausted and smashed up.

The problem was that this kid was a really funny guy but a smart aleck, so his mouth was always writing cheques that his...butt?...couldn't cash, especially when the banker was a 30 something year old black belt. He couldn't help himself. A few weeks later, he racked up a serving of 400 pushups by back talking. Gary asked him if he'd rather do the pushups or fight him again, and the kid thought about it & said "i'll do the pushups". He started doing them about 10 minutes in to class & did pushups for the next 50 minutes. He went hard at first, but then had to take breaks where he collapsed on to the tatami mat. He would start again. By the end of class, he still had about 100 more to do, but Gary told him "good job" and that he could finish them next class. He did.

I never talked back. Who says you can't learn from the mistakes of others?

That kid Mike, i can't recall his last name, but i do remember that he went on to the Olympics for Judo when he was older.