2013-08-21-Judo
Seminars@Hadley
Judo for Recreation and Self-Defense
Presented by
Robert Simpson
Moderated by
Larry Muffett
August 21, 2013
Larry Muffett
Welcome to Seminars at Hadley. My name is Larry Muffett; I'm a member of Hadley Seminars Team, and I also work in curricular affairs. Today's seminar topic is Judo for Recreation and Self-Defense. Our presenter today is Robert Simpson of Ft. Worth, Texas. Robert was a member of the world blind judo team in 1998 and helped the US bring home a team silver medal. Robert holds a fourth-degree black belt in traditional jui jitso; a fourth-degree black belt in small circle jui jitso; a third-degree black belt in jui jitso in judo I should say and a second degree black belt in hand bow jitso a self-defense method with a cane. Today Robert's going to be sharing his insights with you on judo as a source of recreation, as a way to get physically fit and also its role in self-defense. Now, without any further ado let me welcome Robert; I'm going to turn the microphone to him at this time.
Robert Simpson
Good afternoon everyone, my name is Robert Simpson. I'm legally blind; I was born this way; I have what's known as Leber's Optic Atrophy. I've been studying judo now for about 25 years, and before we go any further Mr. Larry Muffett has given me permission to dedicate this seminar to the memory of Chief Flowers, who is a very good friend of mine who I've known for the better part of 20 years. Mr. Flowers was in law enforcement; he was also a Vietnam veteran and passed away earlier this month so thank you very much, and I would like to dedicate this seminar to Leon Flowers.
I first got started in judo back in 1992. I had done karate and tai quan do and other types of martial arts but found I was having trouble keeping up with both their hands and their feet at that same time. When I was first introduced to judo I found you could do a lot with your hands and what I mean by that is when we touch a person you can feel their movements. You have a sense of when they're on balance, off balance and things of that nature.
Judo is the gentle way is what it means; ju meaning gentle and do meaning way. It's the gentle way however, if it's used for self-defense, it's not so gentle for the person on the receiving end. Judo is played on a tatami or a mat it's about 2" thick. You learn all types of throwing, grappling, arm bars, shine waza which are choking techniques. Choking techniques designed to put a person to sleep not affect their wind pipe in any way to cause any damage.
Like Mr. Muffett said in 1998, I was a member of the world blind judo team;have been fortunate enough to train out at the Olympic Training Center with the sighted guys as well as the blind team. Went to Japan and helped the US to bring home a team silver. I also have many other silver and bronze medals and trophies for my judo accomplishments and achievements over the years.
I first got into judo because I had a really nasty temper and wanted to learn how to control my temper, and it was great for me. Judo for me helped to build self-confidence, self-esteem, self-awareness, and mainly kept me physically fit. I'm 47 years old, people who see me and look at me; they ask me my age. I tell them, and they're like well you don't look like your 47, and I like to attribute that to my physical fitness and what judo has done for me.
Jiu jitso is the parent heart of judo. A long time ago a gentleman named Jigoro Kano introduced judo as a sport to the Olympic community. He was a jiu jitso master; he held a tenth degree black belt in jiu jitso. What he noticed was at these jiu jitso tournaments is that people couldn't get up, wouldn't get up, or they were dead. He thought to himself well there has to a better way to practice this with mutual welfare and benefit for mankind and womankind, of course. He devised kodokan judo, kodokan meaning school, and pretty much what he did was eliminated bone breaking, knee striking for kicking, elbow striking in place of punching and that kind of thing and devised a sport judo.
Judo a lot of people I've talked to said well yeah but judo's a sport. How could it be a viable self-defense? Well, you could ask the same question of boxing and other sports as well. Judo is a viable self-defense because if you throw somebody to the ground, they're going to get hurt. There's no other two ways to say it, no other two ways to soften it. They're going to get hurt. Judo teaches a person how to fall, the correct way to fall. You learn front falls; left side falls; right side falls, how to fall backwards by tucking your chin so as to not hit your head.
You learn ukemi waza, which is really how to roll safely, and you start out in any club or dojo. You might join a dojo is a practice place martial arts. You start out doing the very basics learning how to fall, which is very important. I became such a good faller that they said I could make anyone look good. I've helped many people take many, many falls from them in judo so that they could and achieve their black belt straight on.
I would say in the State of Texas perhaps maybe in the country I've taken more falls than the average judo person. Now to achieve your black belt in judo you have to be willing to stand there and let the person whose testing throws you 40 times. There are 40 main throws of judo known as the gokyo no waza. I can explain how to do and demonstrate all 40 throws. However, for tournament purposes and self-defense purposes, you will probably only master two or three that are what's called bread and butter throws. Any ways like I say I've helped a lot of persons male and female of all age groups achieve and obtain their black belts and am proud to be a part of this seminar here today.
I am currently a USA Judo member. I hold a National CoachingCertificate and credential, and I am currently working with USA Judo to get a blind and visually impaired program started here in Ft. Worth, Texas.
What I did was I achieved my black belt in [one-arm] first. What I mean by that is you heard Mr. Muffett gave you a list of black belts that I currently hold. I'll go through them one more time. I currently hold a nidan and hand bow. Hand bow is a 36" tall rattan stick bamboo is hollow rattan would be the fibers. Japanese police and Pilipino police they use this particular type of stick for crowd control and things of that nature. You learn to do a bunch of kodos and drills and ceremonial type things with the hand bow as you achieve your black belt in hand bow. It now gets a crook on the end of it and a walking cane, and you can then take and use the crook to like to pull people's heels out from under them, give wrist locks, things of that nature.
My main one and my forte is judo. I currently hold a sondan or a third-degree black belt in judo. I have off into jukuro which is a particular type of jiu jitso. It's small circle jiu jitso done in a very confined space or small space and traditionally jiu jitso is a more I don't like to go there, but if I have to it's more of your crippling, mainly that type of jiu jitso.
I like to when I'm doing a clinic or seminar I like to describe to people that small circle jiu jitso is like doing jiu jitso in a phone booth. A lot of times I'll be talking to younger people, and they'll look at me blank you know eyes and then I have to take a minute to realize oh yeah these are younger folks, they probably will never see a phone booth if they don't realize what a phone booth is being born in the age of iPods and note pads and iPads, iPhones or whatever. Good kind of technology.
That's a little bit about my credentials and my background. I am a sensei, sensei in Japanese means teacher. You'll notice if any of you have done martial arts, especially Japanese based martial arts before when you enter into a dojo and you leave the dojo you bow. You see the Japanese people rarely shake hands like we do. Bowing is a form of greeting, and it's a sign of respect. A sign of respect for the many instructors and sensei's that have come before you; and a sign of respect for the many that will come after you. You bow; you wear what's the gi; this is a martial arts uniform. It's very, very thick it's not like tai quan do qis or your heavy karate gis this is a very, very thick gi it's almost like. How do I describe it? It's kind of like a thick quilted material made of cotton. They come in single and double weaves and white and blue. The current tournament colors that you'll commonly see people training in and wearing in a dojo.
Caller
Robert I just have a question I know from the Braille office hours. But I'm in judo and I currently hold a green belt, and I won my first two matches at the Canadian National Exhibition here in Canada and I really enjoy the sport.
Larry Muffett
We want to hold questions until the question and answer period. Okay John, thanks.
Robert Simpson
I used to be afraid to leave my house. I didn't know much back in the day on how to take care of myself, and I'm sure these are concerns that a lot of visually impaired and blind persons have. Through the study of judo, I became more confident, more aware of my surroundings and just more physically fit then I had been when I first started. I'm kind of at a loss here I lost my train of thought hold on.
I dedicated many, many, many hours to the study of judo. When I first got started, I was doing judo six days a week, three to four hours a day. After about four or five years, I became burnt out as they say slacked off a little bit. I still go and participate in tournaments I still instruct, but I'm down to like three four days a week now two and three hours a day. I love it. If you're going to be serious about it like I am I would also a lot of my friends they say well, you went off the deep end with it.
Well, yes I made a lot of sacrifices tournaments do cost money. There's the cost of transportation to get there, there's a cost of registering with a governing body like USA Judo. Most of your tournaments all of your tournaments are sanctioned through USA Judo, which is the governing body. It's also the governing body of Born's Judo. A lot of times you may have to cut back on things. I wouldn't go out to the movies with my friends; I wouldn't go out and have a few drinks; I would take that money, and I would save it for the cost of getting to a tournament, the entry fee things of that nature. Yes, you make a lot of sacrifices. If you're married or you have a partner you might make sacrifices not going out this particular week to put some money aside for your uniform or things of that nature. But it's very rewarding for me in the end, I know that I'm quite capable of taking care of myself if need be and my friends whoever I may be out with in public.
I do have some usable vision; I wear dark glasses during the day to keep the glare and the sun out of my eyes. I don't I have been trained through Cris Cole, which is our school for teaching the visually impaired and blind vocational skills and things of that nature. I do have a white cane. I just don't like to use it because I always have this mindset that it if anyone's looking at a crowd. See criminals they kind of like a crime of opportunity and if they see somebody with a white cane, they might figure hey this person's an easy mark or this is an opportune time to do something criminal towards this person. I use a cane with a crook. I've only been approached once in a negative manner on the street and was able to quickly dispatch. Not you know I didn't hurt them severe they needed they couldn't get up and walk away they had they needed an ambulance but there was no, they still were able to keep their life and things of that nature.
If I remember right I think he broke his arm on the way down when I threw him off my hip or something like that because he reached for the ground and his arm hit. Then shortly thereafter hit the back of his head and got stunned and had a concussion. The police were able to get an ambulance to this person. I don't like going there if I don’t have to; I like to try to be a very easy kind of going with the flow kind of person. I don't like violence, I actually deplore it. But if need be kana will like I said again take care of myself.
Larry Muffett
Hey Robert, would you be up for a few questions at this point?
Robert Simpson
Absolutely, I always love questions.
Larry Muffett
All right Kristen would like to know could you direct us to any resources that explain judo techniques in detail without using pictures or videos. Any suggestions for websites would be especially helpful.
Robert Simpson
Most of the judo information like that unfortunately that I know of right now they do use pictures. If a person is interested in learning judo, and you're visually impaired and blind I recommend that you seek out a local dojo or a person teaching in your area. Find out their credentials, join a class and have them explain the techniques to you by feeling it and understanding what they're doing. As far as I have been like I said to a few websites, and they do explain the techniques visually unfortunately at this time.
Caller
Hi Robert, it's John from Nova Scotia, I'm sorry I butted in earlier, but I wanted to let you know I have a green belt in judo in Canada here. My favorite throw that worked for me is osoto gari. It's a foot throw and you sweep the person's foot, and you eventually throw them to the ground. I got a Nippon for that, and I won my first two fights at the CNE in Toronto, Ontario.
Robert Simpson
All right John, yes I'm quite familiar with osoto gari. Osoto gari is a leg leap technique where you step up next to a person. Let's say if you're facing each other, and you have what's called a grip you might say you like grip like the left arm and the right lapel. You would step forward putting your left leg next to their leg, reaping or sweeping they're leg out from under them and congratulation's youpon is very good you won that match. Most excellent.
Larry Muffett
Robert, Elizabeth has some questions here. She said what is the difference between its S H I A I and kata K A T A? She'd also like you to see if you could describe techniques for throwing someone that you could describe verbally over the presentation?
Robert Simpson
Absolutely, the difference between Shiai it's pronounced and Kata is that Kata; Kata in judo is done with two people, and it's designed to show two things. At least if you do the knogo Kata which I've done and taken a couple of silvers and bronzes in its designed to, let me try this again without tripping over my tongue and my lip getting in the way. It is designed to show three aspects in judo, which is off balancing a person, the movement and the throw itself. A very successful throw I've been successful with is ogoshi, which is a big hip throw. You would if a person grabs a hold of you; you would if you're right handed or left handed take you right arm and reach around behind them securing their waist. Grabbing the left arm pulling it firmly to you, standing with your feet in between their feet and sticking your hip way across to the other side of this person with bent knees and then to throw them, you would simply lock your knees and twist really hard to the right or left and throwing the person off your hip onto the ground or on to the mat. That's a throw I like to do very well.
But that's the difference between Shiai is done more at tournaments. It's a fighting way of doing judo it's very rushed whereas Kata you can generally tend to take your time a little more work at your partner's pace. I love to do the knonago Kata there's just something that's just so graceful about it. But that's the difference Kata is designed to show you an attacker and a defender. Tourey is the one who would attack the person doing the throws in Kata and its pre-arranged it's a pre-arranged set of moves you know what moves you're going to do ahead of time. Whereas in a Shiai competition, you might pull any one of the 40 throws that you know how to do later on out of your hat and win a tournament with that.