Western sophomore Jake Munsey slips a traditional white judogi over his T-shirt.  He takes a thin, green belt in one hand and quickly bows before stepping barefoot onto the vinyl mats.

Munsey ties the belt around his waist for the first time. 

He kneels beside a dozen or so students who are dressed in white.  They wait for their sensei (teacher) to speak.  The last time Munsey was here, his belt was white—the color for beginners.

“It just feels different having a green belt down there,” Munsey said.  “It felt like everyone was kind of looking at me.  I felt watched the whole practice.” 

Munsey is a member of Western’s Judo Club.  Twice a week, the club meets in the Wade King Student Recreation Center to practice. They condition as a group, counting sit-ups and other exercises in Japanese.  Then they work on throws and chokes with partners, followed by lessons in judo technique. 

“Right when I started, I found it hard,” Munsey said.  “I’d come home with bruises and stuff because I didn’t know how to land.”

Head sensei Mark Glaser said although the word “judo” can be translated as “the gentle way,” it is not always the gentlest sport.  Injuries are common, especially with beginners.
A maxim of judo is to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum effort, Glaser said.

“It’s kind of like physical chess,” he said.  “You’re not trying to pound your way through it.  As you get better and better, you use less energy.”
Glaser has been teaching the club since he came to Western as a student in 1987.  At the 2009 Senior National Judo Championships, he took home a gold medal in his weight division for 45- to 49-year-olds.

Club President Derek Scott said he was drawn to judo because it is more competitive than most martial arts.  Scott said during his three years of training in Aikido, another martial art, the emphasis was on self-defense; in judo, the emphasis is on competitive sparring (randori).

“I do it for the exercise, but more than that I do it for the competition,” Scott said.  “The whole point is getting a good throw on someone.  It’s really satisfying.”

Almost all the club members started doing judo within the last year, but some have already competed in tournaments. 

The club will host a state tournament at Western Feb. 20.  Sensei Joel Carlson said he would like to see at least 10 students from the club participate.

Western senior David Huynh was the club’s only representative at the most recent regional tournament, the 2009 Rainier Cup in Lakewood on Oct. 10.

Huynh said he started the tournament with a win in his first match, but injured his shoulder in the next match and was beaten two times in a row. 

During practice sessions, white belts will sometimes spar with black belts.  Western freshman Lindsey Parkinson said the emphasis of the club is on learning judo rather than winning matches, so sparring with upper belts is not discouraged.

New members are welcome to show up and see if they are cut out for the physical work that goes into judo.

“Judo’s pretty rugged, so I’m not going to get a lot of people to stick with it,” Glaser said. “But we definitely are willing to have anybody come by and try it out.”

Share this article:
                                   

Be first to comment on this article

Only registered users can post comments.
Please login or register.