My Judo Experience

Preface

I believe that my experience with martial arts made me who I am today and I feel like that is the case with most people. It is emotionally addicting and it tends to change people's lives for the better. I wrote this memoir in appreciation of martial arts, especially judo, and the amazing community of martial artists. In this memoir, I go over why I decided to do martial arts and every element that it changed in my personality.

My Judo Experience

Just like any other Egyptian kid I was raised playing football. No, not that one. The one where you actually use your feet. Football is the most popular sport in the world overall and it is also the most popular sport in most countries. As a young kid, my physical activity was almost entirely football related because most younger kids went to football practice, we played football in P.E. classes, and it was all we did in our free time. Being raised in that environment, not being good at football made a lot of people feel that they were not good at sports in general which was a huge misconception that most people fall victim to. The worst thing about it is that most people came to this false realization subconsciously and that made it very powerful and dangerous. Such subconscious beliefs, in my opinion, are the cause of much of the injustice that happens around us today. Victims of bullying, discrimination, and abuse generally do not stand up for themselves because they have been continuously told about how weak or inferior they are until part of them starts to believe it. The problem of these subconscious shackles is that they are virtually invisible, and you can’t fix a problem that you can’t see.

            I spent much of my time playing football, getting better and developing my style. I was

having fun but I started to have second thoughts about the way I chose to spend my time. In

Egypt, in the aftermath of a revolution, the streets didn’t feel as safe as they used to. Maybe they

really weren’t as safe, but maybe it was just me looking at them with a different mindset. I thought about what if I get in a street fight or what if I get mugged, what good is football to me now? I thought that I could spend my time learning something more useful. That thought was always lingering in the back of my head, but I didn’t do anything about it until I got in a fight playing football.

            Usually arguments in football are just a result of competitiveness and aren’t personal. That time it escalated quickly. We had been playing for almost two hours. This guy who was defending for the other team was being overly aggressive and too serious about the game overall. As usual, it starts by trading insults, maybe a shove, and then the real action starts.  I got punched in the face a couple of times before I realized what was happening. People around us broke it up but that experience altered my perception of things. I realized that inevitably there will be a moment where I would need to defend myself and there won’t be people around me to help, I needed to be prepared for a moment like that.

I believe that everything and everybody is here for a reason and that everybody has an important role to play in this world. It wasn’t until my first judo practice in 2014 that I knew what mine was. It is important to find your passion, dream big, and follow your dreams and I have not been so determined to accomplish anything as much as I was when I started practicing martial arts. Over the past four years I have practiced about five different martial arts but judo was what started it all.

Back in Egypt, I used to go to a big sports club named “The Egyptian Shooting Club”. It is one of the biggest clubs in Egypt and has a wide range of different sports for members to choose from, but their main sport was skeet shooting. They also had highly ranked soccer, basketball, handball, and swimming teams.

For my entire life I had wanted to do martial arts but the main reason I could not do that was because most of the gyms that offered instruction in combat sports were very far from where I used to live and I did not always have someone who was able to drive me there. One day, the club administration decided to introduce three combat sports which were karate, taekwondo, and judo. I talked to a few friends and we all quickly signed up.

My first practice is one of the most important events in my life so far since it changed the way I think, and it ignited my desire work hard and grow as a person. The moment I saw the Japanese tatami mats I was very impressed with how large they were, and they were very new and clean. A judo mat has a large ten squared meter yellow square which is the combat area. The combat area typically has a two-meter-wide border of blue mats around it. The texture and firmness of those mats screams of quality. That was also when I met my first coach, a middle-aged man about five feet and nine inches tall. He had short black hair, brown eyes, and a clean shaved face. He was very muscular, and he was standing with his feet shoulder width apart and his back straight which showed confidence. Also, the way he walked and held himself said military. He was very tough and did not tolerate any tardiness or laziness in practice. This man focused on how judo wasn’t just a sport but a lifestyle. He taught us about honor, discipline, and perseverance.

Judo taught me a lot about honor and respect. In the sport of judo, as well as Japanese culture, you start by bowing to the mat or the place of practice to show your respect and appreciation to the place and it marks the point where you leave everything else behind and focus solely on training and improvement. It also shows respect to your teammates who are simultaneously using that place for their benefit and it shows your dedication to cooperate with others for mutual benefit. This changed the way I think about places and taught me that the value of things is not what they are made of, but what they mean to you personally. Afterwards, you bow to your teacher and they do the same to their students and that teaches that honor is about mutual respect and appreciation. Japanese culture is centered around respect and honor. Japanese people are very polite, and they have very strict rules when interacting with elders, parents, and teachers or anyone who is considered of a higher status in society. For example, the captain of the judo team is addressed by everyone as “Senpai” which is a Japanese word used to refer to any person of higher ranking than the speaker.

In the beginning of practice, I looked around and everyone but a few people were dressed in regular gym clothes and not a judogi (proper judo clothes consisting of a jacket, pants, and a belt) which was not what I expected to see in a martial arts class. My coach started by a brief speech about the basics of judo, how ranking works, and the importance of respect and punctuality. I didn’t really listen the first time he spoke about punctuality until I knew that the punishment for tardiness was a getting thrown once for every minute late. Getting thrown in itself isn’t so bad, but it drains you. After the coach said what he wanted to say we started running along the border of the mats for warm up. Our practice was two hours long, the first hour being cardio and conditioning and the second  judo techniques. The first hour was very difficult and tiring. I almost did not have the mental strength to keep going because I was not used to hard exercise. Thank god that I didn’t quit. The second hour however was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I don’t know what to make of it, but judo came naturally to me. I could see everyone else struggling with learning their first throw but after only a couple of times I was moving between the different steps or stages of leaning the throw very comfortably. When I am doing judo, I get to this perfect state of Zen where everything is happening automatically. As soon as I touch my training partner and get my proper grips on their judogi, which is the traditional judo uniform, I can feel everything like how their weight shifts from foot to foot or backwards when they bend their knees. I can feel how fatigued or determined they are and when their arms stiffen when they feel they’re about to get thrown. Sometimes I even feel that I could do judo with my eyes closed because of how all my other senses are engaged and give me the information I need to throw someone. If I focus hard enough I can even predict their every move and react accordingly to execute the most beautiful of throws.

Practicing martial arts influenced my life in many ways. The first way is that it showed me how violence should be a last resort. In my opinion, the more a person knows about martial arts or fighting in general, the less likely they are to seek out trouble from that kind. That is because they understand how fragile the human body really is. It is true that physical violence could be necessary sometimes; however, this is rarely the case. Also, for most people anger has a cause-effect relationship with physical violence. When a person starts to practice martial arts regularly, they start to sever that link and as a result, anger does not cause them to act irrationally anymore. Violence has never solved problems and that is why when countries have military conflict will often stay turbulent for a significant amount of time. Peaceful means on the other hand have shown much more stability and progress, for example Martin Luther King and Gandhi’s efforts to do a positive change in their countries.

I have done other combat sports after I started judo and each of them impacted me in a unique positive manner as well. The main thing that all those sports had in common was the sense of comradery and brotherhood which I had not experienced in team sports. I believe that this is not unique to combat sports but perhaps individual sports, meaning that this team spirit can be found in sports like Swimming, Tennis, or Gymnastics. It amazed me how everyone was genuinely dedicated to the team and the improvement of their teammates just as much as they were dedicated to themselves. After years of training, I came to the realization that even though having a good, knowledgeable coach is important, beyond a certain level, you can only improve by competing against different. In other words, the better your teammates are, the more you can improve. In wrestling for example, everyone has their own unique style that they developed over time and I find that the styles of wrestlers vary more than judo practitioners in general. As a competitor, you have to make sure that you are prepared for everyone, so having a large number of teammates is also important because then you can ensure that you are exposed to a larger variety of styles. To sum this up, in combat sports and individual sports in general, a team improves together as one. The amount of improvement that you can achieve depends on your team’s skill and number, and both tend to increase with time. Finally, the bond between teammates results in an environment in which everyone tries their best to help others.

In conclusion, my experience with judo and martial arts in general changed me on many levels. Firstly, it changed the way I think by showing me the importance of hard work and dedication. It taught me discipline which is the one thing that you will find is shared by all successful people. Punctuality is a big part of discipline and it means that you, your assignments, and any other tasks that you have are on time. Discipline also means that you are less affected by your emotions which means that you can think more rationally about your actions when you are stressed or frustrated. Judo also teaches mutual respect, the more you give the more you have. The more respect you show people the more you will get in return and that helps a person build a good network of relationships which is an essential resource for success. Also, the sense of brotherhood and comradery that I found in all the teams that I have been a part of lead me to meeting a lot of people who had a positive influence over me. Most people speak about the physical benefits of martial arts; however, I feel that training started to change my mood, attitude, and mentality long before it started to affect my overall fitness and physique.

I expect that martial arts and judo will continue to influence me throughout my future. With all that I have learned and the skills I have acquired in life so far, I intend to do my absolute best to improve the world that we currently live in. Currently, my major in college is Computer Science and I believe that with the degree of perseverance, respect, punctuality, and discipline that I have acquired through my training, I can achieve something truly great. Through martial arts I have learned a great deal about the art of fighting and I do not intend to stop. This next fight however is fought with knowledge rather than fists. The main issues I will be focused on improving in my field will be regarding security and privacy. People nowadays put all their personal information online and the access to that information is given to the wrong people. This is a power that is continuously being abused and I refuse to leave that unchanged. After I have achieved my initial purpose, I will dedicate my life to improving computer science education and coding literacy which I will start from my home country. I know that the road to success is one that is filled with obstacles, but I also know that I have more than enough strength to reach the end. This is the only the beginning as my story is still being written. It will be a story of struggle, pain, and triumph. By the final chapter I will leave behind a better world than the one I was given. I will ensure that future generations have a beautiful world to enjoy and improve upon, and for that… I will be remembered.