Sergeant Tony's Blog

I was eight years old when I joined the judo club.

Pee wee football and basketball were over and little league baseball practice hadn’t started yet. So judo looked like something fun to do until baseball season started. The club’s Sensei (teacher) was a police officer and a 3rd degree black belt. With about 80 members in the club, the four of us eight year olds were the youngest.

What started as something for me to do before baseball season started, became a life long interest.

I learned as a young boy that the world headquarters for judo was in Tokyo, Japan at a place called The Kodokan. I bought a book about The Kodokan that was full of interesting stories, history, and pictures. I dreamed that one day I’d go there.

But how does a little eight year old boy in Fort Smith, Arkansas go to such a place, I wondered.

But that dream came true for me in 1989 when I stepped into The Kodokan, a 10 story building in downtown Tokyo, twenty four years after I’d first learned of it. It was like a cathedral to me, holy and different from any other place in the world.

The first two floors were offices spaces and administration. The next two floors were locker rooms. The rest of the floors were dojo’s, or training areas. Think of each floor as three gyms wide and twice as long. The dojos were covered in mat type material for training.

New people to the Kodokan had to begin training on the 5th floor no matter what your rank was. You literally had to work your way up to the coveted and mysterious 10th floor where the true masters of judo trained and taught. You had to be invited to go up from one floor to the next. Some, I learned, had been training there for years and had not made it to the 10th floor.

I worked like an indentured slave for months to get the invitation to go up to the next floor. Even though I was already a black belt, it meant nothing. I had to prove myself. It was hard and I paid my dues, but finally, after killing myself on the lower floors for over a year, I was finally invited to the 10th floor.

I can’t begin to tell you what it felt like to open the doors and walk into the holy of judo holies. After stepping onto the mat, I turned toward a giant picture of Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, and bowed, as is the custom there.

If Japan has a unique history, culture, and tradition, then The Kodokan has it even more so. And learning those traditions and customs was part of the overall training.

All newbies to the 10th floor enter and stand near the edge of the mat, like girls at a dance, hoping to get asked to spar or practice. There were literally hundreds of jodoka (people practicing judo) on the floor. But after standing near the edge for 3 hours that first time, I never got asked even once to spar.

This went on for a month.

Finally one of the chief instructors was curious enough about this foreigner to ask me to spar. Of the hundreds there that night, I was the only non-Japanese and all eyes seemed to be on me. I was more than slightly nervous.

I shouldn’t have been.

I got my ass kicked quicker than a hummingbird heartbeat. Within nano seconds I was flying through the air almost with no knowledge of the forces and physics that had gotten me airborne.

In America when you throw your opponent it’s customary to help them up. Not at The Kodokan. There the victor struts off and sort of does a circling move around his victim, completely ignoring him at a distance. This was said to allow the defeated to save face. I didn’t feel that my face had gotten saved. I felt humiliated and was determined to do better.

I didn’t. It only got worse.

I became famous among the chief instructors for being agreeable to have my ass handed to me on a regular basis.

This got old fast.

Unfortunately my black belt might as well have been pink. I had stepped into a completely different world where skill was executed with a quick precision that I couldn’t even see, much less defend against.

I had been practicing judo for most of my life but I might as well have been that 8 year old boy all over again.

The good thing about being the favorite foreigner who was agreeable to having his ass kicked was that I got asked to spar. A lot. And in the process I learned a lot. And one night, I didn’t get my ass kicked. I didn’t win … but I didn’t lose either.

For the next several weeks it was a mixture of losing and not losing, but not winning either.

And then it happened. One night, with the 10th floor filled and me sparing with Oguchi Sensei, a lieutenant on the Tokyo Police Department and someone who’d regularly beaten me, I got my first victory! I sent him flying through the air and when he landed on his back, it was as if a pebble had been dropped into a pond.

Judoka nearest us stopped and looked at me. Some older instructors stopped and looked at me. And they bowed. The older instructors nodded their heads in approval. And the circle of people looking my way seemed to increase like the rings in a pond as people learned that Tony-san had won!

Never be afraid to look unenlightened on your journey toward enlightenment, I was told. If you’re afraid to look stupid, there are few things you will ever master. If you are afraid to say, “I don’t know,” there are few things that you will ever learn. If you are afraid to get out of your comfort zone, there are few things that will ever color your world anew. You will have a future of multiplied mediocre days. You will settle, sure that taking a chance will only lead to failure or defeat.

When Oguchi Sensei got to his feet after I threw him, and he saw all of the bowing and nodding … he walked toward me with no expression on his face. I had no idea what was about to happen, what he was going to do or say. And everyone seemed to be watching along with me to see how he would react.

He stopped an arms length in front of me. Looked me in the eyes … and bowed. And as he bowed he smiled and said in a low voice, “Yatto, yokkudekimashita ototo-kun!”

And I bowed back with tears in my eyes and people started to applaud and smile. And then I did something very American. I hugged him! I couldn’t help myself. It was one of the most touching moments in my life. And then I started to smile too and feel slightly embarrassed for hugging on the 10th floor of The Kodokan!

What did he say to me?

“At last! You did so well … my little brother!”

Never be afraid to look unenlightened on your journey toward enlightenment.

———————————

SGT. TONY’S HALF MARATHON TRAINING!

It’s getting close.

Training for the St. Jude Half Marathon begins on Saturday, September 4. This is perfect for the first time beginner half marathoner or even a half marathon veteran.

Can you do this?

If by August 31st you can run 3 miles without stopping in under 35 min, you’ll be ready to begin training. This assumes that you’re doing an hour of continuous cardio on the weekends. There’s 6 weeks to get ready! Not sure? Let’s talk.

Training is open to all. Cost for the three month training is $75 for members of USMC Fitness Boot Camp and $120 for non-boot campers.

——————————————-

AWOL

Have you been away from USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP for a while? Comfortable in Turdeville? Wanna come back? C’mon then!! I won’t bite you! (see above!)

I know how it is. You miss a day or two … and then it’s been a week or two … and then it’s a month or two …

Get back on track. Come back to The Quarterdeck!

——————————————-

BOOT CAMP DISCOUNTS AND FACEBOOK EXPERIMENT!

Facebook has now reached a major milestone: 500 million users!

That’s the population of the US, Japan, and Germany combined! Half a BILLION people are on Facebook.

In the world of cyber-marketing, Facebook usage can’t be ignored.

So here’s our experiment.

Make a Facebook status update and get a discount!

For every status update that you make that references:
“USMC Fitness Boot Camp,”
“Sgt. Tony’s Boot Camp,”
“Tony’s Boot Camp,”
or something similar, you can take $2.50 off your reenlistment fee for each update, up to $20 off for any given month!

Your status update has to be a specific reference to USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP or to me specifically by name.

You can also use Foursquare linked to your Facebook account to “check in” and you’ll get the same discount!

Use your own wording and personality, just include the specifics.

So log-on and get started today!

——————————

SELF DEFENSE

I’ve been asked to teach a self defense class on Saturday morning July 31 and Saturday morning August 7.

This is one class offered twice.

The class is open to anyone, but class size will be limited, so contact me to reserve a place in the class. Let me know date is best for you. Cost is $35 per person or 2 for 50.

—————————————–

WANT TO LOSE 5 to 10 POUNDS BY THE END OF JULY?

Take Shape For Life is the BEST weight loss program I know of. If you’d like to lose weight talk to me. This is the program I used to lose the almost 30 pounds I gained after knee surgery. Let me help you!

You can also go to www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/

——————————————-

BOGA tomorrow at CUMC @ 0530. BOGA is one half hard core boot camp fitness and one half power yoga … BO-GA!

——————————————-

TUESDAY & THURSDAY EVENING CLASS

The Tuesday and Thursday evening classes meet at St. Agnes’ track. These are cardio (walking/jogging/running) workouts and they begin at 5:45 PM.

St. Agnes is at the corner of Walnut Grove and Mendenhall.

Should the St. Agnes track be occupied or the field being used, making the track unavailable to us, we’ll go to St. Mary’s track, at Walnut Grove and Perkins.

———————————————-

CALENDAR

A calendar has been added to the official USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP website.

http://www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com/calendar.html

For you visual learners, you’ll find this an easy way to glance at the week or month and see where the workouts will be, if there’s a venue change.

——————-

What would you do if money were not an issue, fear were not a factor, and failure were not an option?

To your optimum health and fitness!

SEE YOU ON THE QUARTERDECK!

Tony

Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow

USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding
Mailing address: 4888 Southern Ave., Memphis, TN 38117
Cell Phone: 901-644-0145
www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com

http://www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/esuite/home/combatchallenge/———————————

SGT. TONY’S HALF MARATHON TRAINING!

It’s getting close.

Training for the St. Jude Half Marathon begins on Saturday, September 4. This is perfect for the first time beginner half marathoner or even a half marathon veteran.

Can you do this?

If by August 31st you can run 3 miles without stopping in under 35 min, you’ll be ready to begin training. This assumes that you’re doing an hour of continuous cardio on the weekends. There’s 6 weeks to get ready! Not sure? Let’s talk.

Training is open to all. Cost for the three month training is $75 for members of USMC Fitness Boot Camp and $120 for non-boot campers.

——————————————-

SELF DEFENSE

I’ve been asked to teach a self defense class on Saturday morning July 31 and Saturday morning August 7.

This is one class offered twice.

The class is open to anyone, but class size will be limited, so contact me to reserve a place in the class. Let me know date is best for you. Cost is $35 per person or 2 for 50.

—————————————–

WANT TO LOSE 5 to 10 POUNDS BY THE END OF JULY?

Take Shape For Life is the BEST weight loss program I know of. If you’d like to lose weight talk to me. This is the program I used to lose the almost 30 pounds I gained after knee surgery. Let me help you!

You can also go to www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/

——————————————-

BOGA tomorrow at CUMC @ 0530. BOGA is one half hard core boot camp fitness and one half power yoga … BO-GA!

——————————————-

TUESDAY & THURSDAY EVENING CLASS

The Tuesday and Thursday evening classes meet at St. Agnes’ track. These are cardio (walking/jogging/running) workouts and they begin at 5:45 PM.

St. Agnes is at the corner of Walnut Grove and Mendenhall.

Should the St. Agnes track be occupied or the field being used, making the track unavailable to us, we’ll go to St. Mary’s track, at Walnut Grove and Perkins.

———————————————-

CALENDAR

A calendar has been added to the official USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP website.

http://www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com/calendar.html

For you visual learners, you’ll find this an easy way to glance at the week or month and see where the workouts will be, if there’s a venue change.

——————-

What would you do if money were not an issue, fear were not a factor, and failure were not an option?

To your optimum health and fitness!

SEE YOU ON THE QUARTERDECK!

Tony

Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow

USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding
Mailing address: 4888 Southern Ave., Memphis, TN 38117
Cell Phone: 901-644-0145
www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com

http://www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/esuite/home/combatchallenge/