The Shintaro Higashi Show - Heart-to-Heart With Shintaro
Episode Date: April 5, 2021In Peter's absence due to his busy schedule, Shintaro goes solo and talks about vulnerable moments in his Judo career: when he was outclassed by a competitor, when he wanted to quit and when students ...inspired him. Please support us on Patreon if you can: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!
Transcript
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Hello everyone, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi show with Shintaro Higashi.
Peter Yu will not be joining us today. He is working on a big, big project on his PhD.
So just me today. It's just me. I know you guys miss him dearly. I know I do. Peter,
if you're listening, I hope you're doing well. And yeah, I'll probably see you next week.
All right. So I was on my YouTube channel the other day and I decided to poll my viewers.
Hey, guys, is there anything that you want to hear on the podcast?
And this person, Rabasaurus, reached out and said he wanted to hear something that makes me sound vulnerable.
Okay.
He said, I want authentic.
I want relatability.
And he gave me three questions. And they, I want authentic. I want relatability. And he gave me three questions
and they were very good questions. So I figured I'd just go out and do that because, you know,
Peter likes a very structured sort of a podcast, like having everything planned out. I'm kind of
on the opposite side of the spectrum where I improvise everything and I wing everything.
So today is going to be an entirely winged sort of a thing. And I just decided to go
with that. All right. First and foremost, thank you, Rob, for your suggestion. Question number one
is tell me about the competitor who outclassed you. All right. That's a very, very good question.
I've been outclassed many, many, many times on the competition circuit. This is the thing. When I grew up,
I was always put in an older division or a heavier division because my father thought that was the
best way to learn. So for me to go to a tournament, 10 to 12 year old division, I was 11,
and then fighting the 13 to 15, something like that was completely normal. Even as a kid,
when I didn't have any business fighting in the
adult division, my father would throw me in there. I remember the first time I ever fought the US
Nationals in the adult division, I was 15 years old. So this kind of thing happened to me a lot.
And the most it happened to me sort of where I did feel outclassed is when I first started
entering the international circuit. So what they do on the international circuit is they
don't want the best guy in the world versus the number two guy in the world versus number three
guy in the world happening in the preliminary rounds. They want these top athletes to meet in
the semis and the finals. So they sort of keep them divided, right? So they don't meet early on
and they do this through the seed seating system. So if you have
a tournament and there's 10 guys that are the top 10 guys in the world and they're all competing
in that division, they're all going to be seated one to 10. So they're all separated, right?
So what happens a lot of the times when you're going into these tournaments as an unseated athlete is that you get the top guys
right off the bat. And I remember I fought guys like Lucas Kropalik, right? He definitely outclassed
me. He's an Olympic gold medalist. I fought Takamasa Anai. He was number one in the world
at the time. He also outclassed me. I fought Hwang from Korea, who also was top 10 at the time. He also outclassed me. I fought Hwang from Korea, you know, who also was
top 10 at the time. He outclassed me. Pretty much anyone who was ranked top 20 in the world,
I felt like I was kind of outranked, outclassed, right? I remember fighting at the Grand Prix in
Panama against Aredis Despain from Cuba. And actually, I felt like I was kind of in the game a little bit on that one.
But he was another one that beat me pretty good.
And yeah, man, I took a lot of beatings out there on the international circuit.
And I can make my excuses all I want.
But I'm a pretty small guy, right?
I'm 5'9", 2'10", now soaking wet.
And I wasn't in the right weight class.
So there's a lot of factors kind of going against me. you know, 210 now soaking wet. And, you know, I wasn't in the right weight class. So,
you know, there's a lot of factors kind of going against me. I was a small guy in a division,
you know, full of monsters, right? Lucas Kropalik won the Olympics and, you know,
Olympics at 100 kilos, I think. And now he's fighting 100 plus and he used to cut down to 220 so uh yeah I'll talk
about my match with Lucas Kropalik right so he's a gold medalist he's a world champ uh I remember
going out there and competing against him and he's about 6'5 6'6 he put his hand on my collar first
and then I couldn't I couldn't even reach his collar you, I'm 5'9". He had a much longer reach.
And yeah, he pinned me.
Definitely didn't feel good.
You know, I went out there thinking to myself, like, all right, give it your best shot.
When you're going against an Olympic champ, it's one of those things.
It's like, oh, man, like, you know, it's a little bit scary, right?
I remember fighting Anai in Japan.
I drew him first round.
I think it was the World Championships or something like that
or the Tokyo Grand Slam, one or the other.
And first round, I'm fighting Anai.
And, you know, I'm very worried about his hurray.
And I'm, like, thinking about it.
And I'm trying to really be, you know, aware of this.
And then, you know, he's showing her eye,
he's showing her eye.
And then he switches with a dashi
and takes me right to my back.
And, you know, it was brutal.
It was brutal, right?
I took him down once with a,
you could back and then you could shoot him on the legs, right?
So I shot him on the legs, took him down.
He went to his stomach.
Obviously it doesn't count.
You don't get points
for that. And then I went for a flying armbar, which didn't work at all. Uh, but I went for it.
And yeah, what I remember from that tournament was going out there, doing it, losing first round,
and then my phone blowing up because all my friends that i've ever had that moved to japan and my relatives
they saw me on tv getting smoked first round by an eye so my phone was lighting up hey i saw you
on tv you were getting slammed and boy that did not feel good you know uh i was hoping you know
i would get a easier first round draw but you know, no, I got an eye first round. Uh, out of the top
10 at the time, I probably fought six or seven people that were on that list. And I did definitely
feel outclassed. Uh, yeah, it didn't feel good, you know, and that's what I was trying to aspire
for. And every time I lost, I would think to think to myself like oh man am i in the right weight class like do i need to be stronger and
you know there's so many different thoughts that were you know circling my mind like man am i doing
the right thing here i remember going to france and fighting huang first round uh you know for
the world championships i fought huang was it the world championships i fought him and, you know, for the world championships, I fought Wang. Was it the world
championships? I fought him. And then, you know, he really did a number. I mean, it wasn't like,
oh, I got caught. Like he threw me, you know, left, right, you know, and I had no idea what
he was going to do. And I didn't even get one attack off. And that was one of those moments.
It's like, you know, I spent this entire time training. I go out there. I'm staying in the hotel.
It's like a week ordeal, you know.
And man, this guy just gave me a beating and it was like, oh my God, you know, what am I doing here?
So, yeah, I definitely have been outclassed many times.
But the ones that really, really, you know, hit me in the feels are the ones that I feel like I outclassed all the person, but I didn't beat them, right?
And I remember fighting this match.
I can't remember exactly where it was, but I almost threw him like five or six times, like almost launched him five or six times.
Like the scoreboard doesn't reflect, you know, how badly I was beating
this person. And I was tossing him and tossing him, but it's like out of bounds. He goes to his
stomach, out of bounds. He goes to his stomach. I almost strangled him. I almost strangled him.
And then, you know, we go into overtime and, you know, little by little, it's like, I'm getting
tired and tired and tired. And this person is just gaining more momentum
little by little this person not as tired as i am right and he's getting a little bit more confident
like oh this shintaro is not going to throw me here and he almost catches me once he almost
catches me twice and now i'm fighting this dog fight of a match uh and the whole time i'm thinking
to myself like man this guy has no business beating me.
And we go into overtime and then I lose.
And those are the matches that really, really hurt me in the feels.
Because now thinking back, it's like, oh my God.
Of course, you got to let it go.
I mean, you can't hold on to these losses forever.
That's not how you live your life. life, but, you know, those,
those matches, uh, really hit me in the feels, you know, so, next question, Ravasaurus, uh,
asked is, tell me about the time you wanted to quit, and, uh, it's every time when you lose
these matches, right, there's always a part of party that's like, questions what you're doing, like, what am I doing out here, you know, and a lot of the times,
for me, it was one of those days, like, I put everything on hold, right, my career on hold,
you know, I always kind of knew that I was gonna be a judo teacher anyway, but
a lot of the stuff that I put on hold and sacrificed sacrificed and it's just like, oh man, like,
and then you go out there and you lose.
It's like, oh my God, like, what am I doing out here?
Right.
And, uh, those are the moments, you know, that make you sort of want to quit.
Uh, I don't think I've ever had a moment where it was like, I'm going to quit.
Right.
I've never once thought in my life.
And I was able to like distinguish between like doing judo competitively and doing judo because doing judo
because. For me, retiring from competition doesn't mean quitting judo. I'm going to forever do judo.
I'm going to train. I hope to teach people deep into my age. Do I want to be teaching beginners osorogari when I'm 55 years old?
Probably not.
Do I want to be taking Ippon Seinagi Falls for eight-year-olds when I'm 60?
Probably not.
But I will always be tied to the sport.
I will always be, in a way, connected to the sport.
Hopefully, my kid does it.
She doesn't have to.
I hope she does.
But no, I just hope she's happy.
But anyway, I'm going to always forever be connected with the sport.
I never thought like, oh, this is it.
I'm not doing judo anymore.
I've never, never thought that.
I remember even as a teen fighting on the high-level U.S. circuit, going to the junior U.S. Open and stuff,
and hearing some of my friends who've been in the game with me for decades, they're saying, oh man, I want to quit.
I want to quit. I'm quitting judo. And I remember thinking to myself like, what? Why? Why would you
ever quit judo? It's like, it just blew my mind. But there are times when you sort of question
whether or not you're on the right path, right? Especially when you're doing something and you pour your heart and soul into it
and then you're going out there and the results that you produce are inadequate.
And those were some of the moments that, you know, were really dark.
I remember in 2007, the U.S. Nationals.
If you're number one in the country and you win U.S. Nationals,
you secured a spot to go to the World Championships.
Huge deal.
I was not number one back then.
Adler Vollmer was.
And I was going in there
and I beat him in the finals
of the U.S. Nationals in 2007.
So I am ecstatic.
I am pumped.
And when that happens,
the national champion
and the number one guy in
the country has the best two of three to make the world team spot. So naturally, I beat him for the
first one. So I'm a national champion. He's the number one guy. Now we have to enter a best two
out of three for the world team. And I'm really pumped. I'm sort of riding on this high I had just come off wrestling season
and I was feeling pretty good and that wasn't even my weight class you know I think I wrestled 197
and or 184 even I wrestled 184 that season so I was you know fighting 220 I didn't feel like
cutting weight and I was like I'll just go and see how i see how i do and i i won so i'm
pumped i'm going into this thing best two of three the first one i beat him good i threw him with
something he went for uchimata i like urunage him threw him to his back all right that's next one
if i win one more that's it i go to the world championships it was the first ever time that i had an opportunity to fight on a real team like a real big world team situation so now i'm on there uh i'm just chipping
away at him it's right side versus left side situation i keep punching the hand in first
right and he likes to go on to the inside i was like kept shutting it down shutting it down he
goes inside i go around the waist. I attack Sasai.
I throw my hips across, and I'm just out-attacking him, out-hustling him.
I'm not really trying to bomb him with anything.
I'm not trying to out-slick him.
I'm just trying to out-hustle him.
That's the whole goal.
And he gets one penalty.
He gets two penalties.
And he's a big-time, two-hands-on, big Uchimata, big Osoto person.
So I knew if I could just sort of one- on and just like a lot of little attacks and then as soon as he gets two hands on i throw my hips
across first that i was sort of in a great sort of position to win this thing so he gets two
penalties i am feeling really good there's about two minutes left in the match like i already sort
of in my head thought i won this match, right? And we're
sort of fighting 50-50, right side versus left. He flicks his left leg out to go for the Uchimata
Osorigari, and I instinctively grabbed it, which is okay back in the day, you could grab legs.
I hike up the leg into my armpit, and instead of taking him backwards, I clip him in the front of
the knee, which is allowed in wrestling, but not allowed in judo.
And I had just come off wrestling season, so it was very, very instinctive.
It was quick.
It happened.
Boom.
Hanzoku make.
Penalty.
I'm disqualified, right?
And back then, I don't know about now, but back then, when you do a direct illegal move and get disqualified from the match, they disqualify you from the whole tournament, right?
You have to forfeit the match after as well, which meant that he won that match and then he won the match after that by forfeit, which cost me the world championship team.
which cost me the world championship team.
And, you know, it was very, very heartbreaking because it was like one of those days like,
oh man, it was like what I strived for my whole life, right?
2007, what was I, 23 years old, right?
Something like that.
And yeah, man, you know, Hatsukumake
and then I actually didn't realize what happened that i
had to forfeit the match after that i didn't realize it uh until someone came up to me and
said hey man i'm sorry you didn't make the world team i'm like what are you talking about i have
another match they go no you just did a direct dq man you're out and i was like oh my god that
i'm done like i i blew it, you know, the biggest
thing. And it was such a weird thing. It was my first national title. And then right after that,
it's like I blew it, right? And it was like, it was devastating, you know, and I didn't know
what to do with myself. And, you know, I told my father and I remember like, it was sort of in the back area, right? Underneath
the stairs, you know, the first floor and the second floor, it gets connected in the back.
It's like an arena situation. And I remember standing by the stairs and my father comes out
and he's like, oh man, you know, and I thought he was going to be pissed. I thought he was like,
what are you doing out there? Like, you know, you can't do that. Like, what the hell? You know,
I thought he was kind of going to get my face a little bit about it. Right.
Um, but he just walked up to me and hugged me, you know, and then, uh, I just started crying, uh, crying like a little baby, like just crying in his arms, you know?
And, uh, yeah, man, how's that for a vulnerable moment guys?
Uh, man, it was, uh, it was real painful you know and just as i was just
sobbing in my father's arms you know the tournament ends and then everybody who was on the second
floor of the bleachers came coming down those stairs and then you know i'm like oh shoot like
everyone is watching me cry and then i look over the corner of my shoulder you know and then it's
like everyone's kind of looking at me and I'm like,
oh my God,
like now I can't just like get up and then walk away.
And then people see me.
So I just like kept my head buried,
freaking sobbing,
you know,
trying not to like cry.
It was a beautiful moment though,
you know,
and with competition,
you know,
I've been in it for a very long time.
There's lots of moments like that, you know,'ve been in it for a very long time uh there's lots of moments like that
you know and uh i remember you know summer a couple summers before that too i remember fighting
hugo pisanta from brazil you know and in the finals of the junior u.s open i was having a
phenomenal day that day i was throwing everybody upon and then I go against this Brazilian, and, you know, he
completely outclassed me and bombed me,
and just literally just embarrassed
me in front of everyone, he threw me once,
big throw, boom, got up,
trying to fight, you know, back, and then
he throws me again, big throw, boom, and then it was
like, oh my god, and I couldn't look anyone in the eyes,
you know,
so definitely those moments really
hit me in the feels, you know, did I want to quit
after that? No, but yeah, those are some very melancholy moments that actually, you know,
ended up making me better, right, I went back to the dojo and, you know, regrouped and said,
the dojo and, you know, regrouped and said, you know what, I got to be better and maybe train harder, right? Maybe really analyze. And, you know, back in the day, I hated watching footage
of myself losing. So most of the time I didn't even, I couldn't stomach it. And my father would
try to make me sit there and watch it and would always sort of lead to an argument in the fights.
Like, I don't want to watch this shit. I don't want to watch it. Why would I want to watch this? You know, and he's like, no, you got to watch it and analyze it and watch it and would always sort of lead to an argument in the fights like i don't want to watch this shit i don't want to watch it but why would i want to watch this you know and he's like
no you got to watch it and analyze it and understand it and then sometimes like i would
you know loose argument random watching this thing right and uh you know it was a tough one
because it wasn't like my father coming in there we're watching it he's like hey you see left side
versus right side this is why right the arm is posted the frame is there that's why you know you anticipated a thing come in and you
you know he misdirected you and this is the way you could afford it wasn't really like that right
it was like whenever we would watch footage of me getting beat my dad would just be like oh my god
you're getting your ass whipped over here like man you gotta lift weights like you gotta start
running you gotta train harder and it's like it was never that helpful i felt like and uh yeah it was one
of those guys so yeah another time that uh i got bombed just thinking back to fond memories of me
losing out there is uh i fought in a world cup in chile and i'm fighting the european champ from spain he won europeans
or something he's very very good and he foot swept me on my head and i got a nice little concussion
i remember getting concussed walking to the side of the mat and then just like stretching and moving
around on the side of the mat and then my friend friend, Aaron Kunihiro, comes over and goes,
hey, what are you doing, man?
And I told him, like, I'm warming up for my match.
And he goes, what do you mean warming up for your match?
I'm like, I'm fighting.
I'm like two or three up.
You know, like I'm almost on deck.
And the guy, Kunihiro, goes, oh, boy, you got a concussion.
I'm like, what are you talking about?
And I thought he was messing with me. You know, I really i was like hey man stop messing with me i have to fight in
like two or three matches like i'm almost up they're about to call my name and cooney's like
let's take you to the medic i'm like no seriously i'm not like up in like two i completely forgot
that i had fought the match right he took me to the medic and i had a concussion and man i was
messed up for like a
month, I had like ringing in my ears, I couldn't think straight, like light was bothering me,
the whole nine, I had a full-blown concussion, and yeah, it was one of the worst things ever,
and let me tell you, man, that was tough, because it's like, I had to overcome the fear of competing,
or just doing judo, period, because like, oh man, like what if it happens again, right?
So yeah, it was brutal.
And I remember right around that time was when I was like, all right, I'm going to retire from competition.
And, you know, it was a tough pill to swallow because it's like I'm going to the dojo every day still in training, but it was a reminder sort of of my failures, right?
I didn't make it to the highest level of the Olympics,
and I didn't have an Olympic medal,
or I fought in the world championships twice for Team USA,
but I never really medaled in the world.
And it was kind of a constant reminder of my shortcomings on that front.
So that was kind of a tough one to sort of overcome. And know now all of a sudden you're not really training for every anything well which
kind of made you sort of have a tough practice right of like oh man i'm working on this tomanage
i can't throw anybody with it like why am i doing this what am i trying to gain this skill for
and i had sort of this like existential sort of a situation where i'm like kind of questioning why I'm doing it in the first place.
And then, you know, you like tell yourself it's because you love it.
You know, it's these people, they count on you also
because you, you know, need the exercise, right?
And all these different things.
And yeah, it was definitely a tough pill to,
man, this is a dark podcast.
But yeah, it was one of those guys uh but you know moving
on to the next question he says tell me about the time a student inspired you and uh you know that
really sort of is the key for me uh that kept me in the sport too just having students um
yeah the competition's tough and was i happy with my judo career you know kinda right that's
i don't have the accolades that uh you know i felt like i wanted i don't want to say deserve
i didn't deserve anything right you don't deserve anything when you're competing right and i always
felt this thing of like some people like i gotta be the champion and i you know and it's like if you didn't do it you know whether it's not because you weren't good
enough but a lot of the times like yeah maybe you were good enough but you know maybe you got a
tough draw or maybe you got this or maybe the timing was right maybe you were in the wrong
weight class you know all these different things these factors add up So yeah, was I happy with my career? So-so. There's things about my career
that I was very, very proud of, beating people who, you know, I had no business beating,
being out there and making connections and seeing what, you know, the world level judo is about,
like those things are absolutely amazing. But at the end of the day, you know, what really, really made me feel fulfilled was the success of my students. And, you know, I try to preach this
at the dojo all the time. It's like competition is not for everyone. That's not the end all.
And first and foremost, it's like, I don't want to create this hierarchy at the dojo where if
you're competing, you're a first class citizen. If you're not competing, you're a second class
citizen. Like that is something that Iise, that kind of a mentality.
Competition is not for everyone. Competition, a lot of the time, is bad because it stunts growth.
Not always, not always. But if you're only competing and training to compete,
then you sort of miss out on all this other beautiful stuff in the grappling
world, right? Like why would anyone learn, you know, a certain Greco-Roman body lock technique
if you can't do it in judo tournament? You know what I mean? Like why would you do that, right?
But it's a beautiful thing to know, beautiful thing to be able to work on to hit, right? And
I always look at judo and grappling as sort of this puzzle that I need to like piece together
and it's a beautiful thing and it's a work of art.
That's sort of the way I like to think about judo.
And when I do the competition side,
it kind of conflicts directly with that
because I'm trying to craft this thing, right?
Craft this beautiful thing
where all these pieces are connected and all these ideas and all these systems integrated together.
Like in this beautiful thing that is me, right?
It's like this self-expressional thing.
But then I go to the tournament and then, you know, Anai beats me with a foot sweep and it's like, okay, all that stuff just means nothing.
So now all of a sudden it's like, all right, how do I all right so but now all of a sudden it's
like all right how do i beat these top guys how do i play to this game how do i play to these rules
where's the advantage within this rule set period that's it and now you sort of have this tunnel
vision sort of a thing where you're like not really thinking outside of that bubble so i am not
about that you know so yeah i tried to push this sort of a mentality to my students. But every now and then, someone comes to me at the dojo and says, hey, man, I really, really want to compete. And conversation usually starts with why, right? Why?
right? Why? And if it's something as simple as like, you know, oh man, I just really want to prove to myself that I'm tough and I can do it. And you know, you got to think about the risk
reward, right? And then I'm having like that open conversation with this person. It's like,
why do you need this to, and you're going to risk, right? I mean, it's like, what do you do for work?
It's like, do you really want to risk getting a concussion mean, it's like, what do you do for work? It's like, you really want to
risk getting a concussion in a competition. Like you're going against guys that are training four
or five days a week. You know, you work in an office and come to judo twice a week. You've
only been doing it for, you know, five or six months. I know you feel like you're ready, but
you're really not, right? And it's a tough conversation to have.
And sometimes like these people just say,
you know what, I'm going to go anyway.
You know, I'm going to advise against that.
But if you want to go compete, then you can.
And then sometimes they get injured, you know,
and that's just really not a good thing at all.
You know what I mean?
But yeah, so a lot of the times these kids
do end up in competition.
Some of the things that really inspire me the most is just the kids overcoming their fears really is one of the biggest things for me that I like seeing.
I think I spoke about this before.
I had a kid.
His name is Jake.
He was so afraid of competition. He needed to do it to prove it
to himself. And this is when he was a young kid. He was probably like 12 years old. And this is a
long time ago. So he's very different now. He's like a grown man. He overcame this, you know,
and I remember we went to a tournament and then he went out there
very timid this first round and then he got bombed. He was so scared. He was shaking. He was
shaking. And he was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I was
like, listen, man, we're here. We have to do it. If you shy away from this now, you'll forever
regret it. You'll forever shy away from conflict. right? And I remember he was up soon and he was
so freaked out, he just left the tournament, right? But he came with us, so it's like he can't
really leave. But he was just like, went outside, we can't find him. I'm like, oh my God, he's up
soon. I go outside and he's like sitting in between these cars in the parking lot, just like
shaking. He's like, I don't want to do it, man. I don't want to do it, man. I just can't do it. And I was like, yo, listen, yes, you can,
right? Yes, you can. Like I said before, if you shy away from this, you'll forever hate yourself.
You'll never overcome this, right? We have to do this. You can do it, man. You got to trust me on
this. And I convinced him to do it. I convinced him to walk into the mat into the building i
didn't even convince him to like do it first i just convinced him to go into the thing i was
like you know let's just walk inside okay let's just go into the venue you don't have to compete
okay let's just walk in let's just walk back there right you don't have to do it and then we got back
in there and i was like dude you're here anyway might as well go out there right you're still
wearing your gi you know and they're like okay jake you know you're up and they're like all right come on man we can do this we can do this it's all
mental it's in your head we got this right we do this once you never have to do it again and he
went in there and slammed this kid ochigari put this kid so hard to his back boy was he happy he
like jumped up and down and he like ran off the mat
and he was crying and then i was crying because i was really emotional you know things like that
man like really kind of you know i wonder if he thinks about that you know uh and i think
that moment really really changed him you know uh because he came back to the dojo fired up, he was proud, and he trained
harder. And, you know, he's competed since then, and he's done it relatively successfully. So,
you know, I think it's one of those things that, yeah, that's the kind of stuff that really,
you know, inspire me. But, you know, more than that, right, I don't want to say, like,
I get inspired by my
students when they compete. A lot of the times it's what I see in the dojo too, right? Someone
afraid to take a break fall and they do. Someone working on something and they do it and it's
successful, you know, and everybody sort of has their own battles to be fought on the mat, right? Not everyone can spend five days a
week in the dojo and training and, you know, have the ability to compete, right? Everyone's in a
different place, you know, for some of us, you know, some of the people that are in the dojo,
it's as simple as, man, I just want to come into the dojo, make friends and, you know,
feel like I can defend myself and God bless bless them. And I say, hey,
that is your prerogative, and I support you through that. I'll tell you right now, we have
a student, this guy, Greg. He's incredible, incredible, incredibly nice human being.
I really like him a lot. And he is not as big, not as strong as a lot of our other
people on the mat, but boy, is he clever. He just thinks about judo, loves it, never misses a
practice. And he's always trying to create something new in the room. And he always consults
me about it, talks to me about it. Hey, I'm trying this thing.
Hey, I'm trying that thing.
You know, and I really like the way he thinks.
He's not one of those people that says, hey, I saw this move on YouTube.
Can I try it?
It's not really like that, right?
He's like, hey, I'm thinking about this thing.
I think it'll go good with these things that I already do.
So the way he attacks that, and he thinks like the
systematic approach of judo, which I sort of preach all the time. I really like the way he thinks
like that, you know, and he does like a Sode right, Sode right, coming out, lefti pon senagi,
koji, something like this, right? Like a lefti pon senagi to a left koji, something like that.
He hit the other day so smoothly, so cleanly. I oh my god you know and that really really inspired me uh it's like man i gotta be better
right and you know thank you for that greg uh yeah man it's just that's the beauty of teaching judo
i think you know and that goes far beyond my competitive pursuits of just like me wanting to win, me wanting to, oh, I want to make, you know, the world team and just show my judo to the world because everyone needs to see how good I am.
You know, that really was the mentality in the beginning.
But, you know, as I get older, I have to sort of start letting go of some of these things.
And, you know, do I still think about competing in judo?
Yeah, I do.
You know, I lie in bed at night thinking to myself like man you know like my uchibata still i still got it
you know like i still could go out there you know especially sometimes i watch these uh
international videos it's like man i would love to go out there and you know show show them what i
got but you know the time is different now right time is different. I don't have the ability to train the way I used to be able to train just because of my time commitments to the dojo, my students, my work, my child, my daughter.
teaching judo and making someone see sort of how amazing this sport is and teaching grappling,
not just judo, but grappling period, how fun it can be and how much it can enhance your life,
right? That's really sort of where I kind of get my fulfillment from now. Because martial arts and jujitsu and judo and grappling, it could really enhance your life, right? It could enhance your life in ways where, you know, I don't want to say not a lot of
sports can because, you know, of course, any sport can.
Any, you know, activity can enhance someone's life.
But I want to make sure that people who come through the dojo, my dojo, their lives are
better because of it, right?
I'm adding value into their life through
grappling, right? And through my teaching methodologies. The worst thing I think can
happen is someone walks into the dojo, it's like, I want to learn how to defend myself,
or I want to learn how to do this, or I want to learn how to grow a spine and feel, you know,
like I could, whatever. And then they come into the dojo, they start training, and they see that
only the competitors are sort of getting love. And now all of a sudden they're put the dojo, they start training, and they see that only the competitors are sort of
getting love. And now all of a sudden they're put on this path and they're kind of scared. They go
out, they compete, they lose, they get injured, and now they're forever scared of it. Now they're
forever out of the sport, right? I think that's the biggest disservice in martial arts, period.
And I think teachers have to sort of stop living vicariously through their own students and saying, oh, I didn't do it. But you know what? If I make this kid a champion, you know, I'm going to be fulfilled. If I make, you know, this person win this championship, like I'm going to, it's going to be bragging rights in the judo community.
and just think judo holistically and think grappling holistically.
It's like, how can I enhance these people's lives?
And then the more you can do that,
the more people are going to be in the game.
And then the more people you have on the mat,
the cream rises to the top, obviously.
And then those people,
you're going to have a bigger talent pool to pull from.
So that really is sort of the way, I think.
Now, I know I'm just rambling.
But my students inspire me all the time
and it is a very carefully crafted culture in the dojo.
People say certain things,
they'll nip it in the bud
and I'll have side conversations.
It's like, hey man, don't talk to people like this
or can you be more polite in your delivery?
Especially because when there's a hierarchy involved, black belt, brown belt, whatever it is, and then someone talks to someone
a certain way, that hierarchy amplifies the effect of what they're saying and their tone
of what they're saying, right? Good job, buddy, from your fellow equal tiered colleague is great but a good job
buddy from the person wearing the highest colored belt in the dojo means a lot more right and same
on the other side of the spectrum it's like what are you doing man like between two people who are
equals while they're grappling not that big of a deal, but what are you doing? Coming from
a black belt to a white belt, that's a big deal, right? That's a huge deal. So, you know, the dojo
culture is carefully crafted in that way. I'm very, very cognizant of not having this rigid hierarchy
of competitors get first dibs and the non-competitors are not that. And then if you
have this belt, you're better.
I really, really try to go away from that,
even though I myself have a color belt that's pretty representative of the hierarchy, right?
And I kind of sort of feed into that system.
But yeah, it's one of those things.
My students inspire me every day.
I like people coming in and trying to make themselves better, right?
That really is what I get out of it.
It's like people working hard, you know, all right, we're doing a four-minute push-up challenge
and people are pushing themselves to get as many push-ups in as possible.
It makes me be like, all right, you know, I got to stay in shape, get in shape too,
you know?
And yeah, time my student inspired me, you know, it's pretty much every day,
time I wanted to quit, many, many times over, never really wanted to quit, but you know,
the feeling of like, man, what am I doing this for, right, that's real, and then the times
competitor has outclassed me, many, many, many times over on the international circuit,
man, there is nothing worse when you go to a tournament, and you lose first round, and you have to sit around and wait, twiddly your thumbs, watching your teammates compete on the international circuit. Man, there is nothing worse when you go to a tournament and you lose first round and you have to sit around and wait,
twiddle your thumbs, watching your teammates compete
on the international circuit.
And then, you know, some people weren't there on day one
or, you know, people who didn't show up for day two,
they're like, hey, man, how'd you do?
And you're like, ah, I lost first round.
And those are some of the darkest, darkest sides of this stuff.
But, yeah.
Still love it, though. Still love it though.
Definitely a weird episode today. Yeah. So thank you, Ramosaurus, for the interesting suggestion.
You know what? Let me just go through some of these other random questions that I might be poked on here. Let's see.
Transitioning from striking martial arts to grappling martial arts by Irfan. Yeah, I mean,
give it a shot. You know what I mean? How do I transition from striking martial arts?
Just take some grappling class and find a good teacher that can do both, that can kind of give you perspective, you know, and that's a very interesting thing.
And there's some good ones in here.
Please, if you guys have suggestions, you can find me on YouTube and hit me up.
I'm always open to suggestions.
Yeah, I probably should have planned this out a little bit better, but it's
kind of my style. So anyway, what else can I talk about today? Things that I've been sort of into
lately on the grappling front. I've been watching a lot of Mongolian wrestling. That's been very,
very interesting. And one of the things that I saw, I saw a video, this guy Chadi made this video
saying like,
what is the difference between foot sweeps in judo and foot sweeps in Mongolian wrestling?
And, you know, he said, it's very interesting because when you're doing Mongolian wrestling,
they really, really kick the other person when they go for the foot sweep.
They kick and then they big violent movement up top.
And they can get away with that because they're wearing boots, right?
And I found that very, very interesting how uh you know wearing those boots can really change the game a little
bit and you know i love that in mongolian wrestling that they do a lot of circle dashi
like circle trail leg dashi uh i think that's a beautiful thing you know and uh the mongolians
man they're they're amazing at what they do you, they have a lot of success not only in judo and freestyle wrestling and stuff,
but in sumo as well.
And sumo is another one that's spectacular.
And I think it's a little bit underappreciated from the grappling side.
And, you know, people can't see past, like, oh, these two fat guys pushing each other in and out of a ring.
But it actually really is a beautiful sport.
There's a lot of technique to it, a lot of stuff going on.
You know, the rules are super simple, right?
Don't touch the floor, don't go out of bounds.
That's it.
That's all there is.
That's all there is, right?
And naturally, when you try to push someone out of bounds,
you can use that momentum to try to throw them.
So sometimes you see some spectacular, spectacular throws in sumo.
So definitely check that out definitely
check mongolian wrestling out i've been watching a lot of greco-roman wrestling too which i think
is one of the most useful grappling arts and uh yeah find me on instagram find me on youtube
greatly appreciate you guys listening yeah that's a wrap