by Sensei Saro Balagezyan –
I have been thinking lately about how many different places Judo has taken me in my life.
And I don’t mean geographically, although there has been plenty of that too.
I mean who I have become through Judo and how many different roles I have been fortunate enough to experience because of it.
I was an athlete first. That is where most of us start. You train, you compete, you want to get better. When you are young, that is pretty much what Judo is. You think about the next tournament, the next opponent, the next belt. You win some. You lose some. You come back to practice and start again.
I don’t think I understood back then how big Judo really was.
Today, I am an internationally certified coach and an international referee. I own a martial arts school. I run a nonprofit organization. I teach kids. I work with athletes and referees. I have been fortunate to travel, meet people from many different countries and cultures, organize programs and events, and sometimes sit at tables where decisions about the future of Judo are being discussed.
None of that was the plan when I started.
It just grew.
One opportunity led to another. One responsibility prepared me for the next one. And somewhere along the way I realized that Judo was teaching things that had very little to do with throwing another person.
That is something I really want our IJC athletes, kids — and their parents — to understand.
There are so many ways to be successful in Judo.
Of course, I want our athletes to compete. I want them to stand on the podium. I love watching one of our kids accomplish something that they worked months or years for. There is nothing wrong with wanting to win. We should want to win.
But eventually every athlete stops competing.
Then what?
That question is important to me.
Because if all we gave that child was the ability to win Judo matches, then I don’t think we finished our job.
Maybe that athlete becomes a coach someday. Maybe a referee. Maybe they open their own dojo. Maybe they become involved in running tournaments or helping a Judo organization. Maybe they travel internationally because of Judo and build friendships they would have never had otherwise.
Or maybe they become a doctor, engineer, teacher, business owner, police officer, artist — anyone — and never work professionally in Judo at all.
But they walk into that life knowing how to work.
They know how to lose without falling apart. They know how to get back up. They know that being tired isn’t always a reason to quit. They know how to respect someone they are competing against. They understand that sometimes a decision doesn’t go their way and they still have to move forward.
They learn to be responsible for another person’s safety.
They learn to lead and also to listen.
They learn that being strong and being respectful are not opposites.
I learned many of those things on a Judo mat long before I realized I was learning them.
And I am still learning them.
Being a referee taught me things that being an athlete couldn’t. Coaching taught me things refereeing couldn’t. Running a school taught me something different again. Working in nonprofit Judo and trying to create opportunities for other people has challenged me in completely different ways.
Sometimes those roles even conflict with each other, and that teaches you too.
That is the beauty of Judo to me.
It keeps giving you another way to grow.
At IJC, when I look at a six-year-old tying a belt incorrectly, or one of our teenagers fighting hard in a tournament, I don’t know where Judo will eventually take that kid.
And I don’t want to decide it for them.
Maybe I am looking at a future champion.
Maybe a future sensei.
Maybe an international referee.
Maybe someone who will run a Judo organization better than we do today.
Or maybe I am looking at a future parent who, twenty years from now, will remember what they learned here and teach those same values to their own children.
I think all of those outcomes are worth something.
Judo gave me an athletic career, but it also gave me a community. It gave me responsibilities. It gave me friendships around the world. It gave me opportunities to teach and opportunities to serve. It put me in uncomfortable situations where I had to grow.
And, somehow, after all these years, it is still finding new things to teach me.
So when someone asks me what I want our students to get from Judo, my answer can’t simply be medals or belts.
I want them to discover how much is available to them.
Compete. Coach. Referee. Teach. Lead. Travel. Help someone else. Take what you learn here and use it somewhere completely different.
Find your own path through it.
Because Judo is much bigger than what happens between Hajime and Mate.
I didn’t understand that when I started.
I certainly understand it now.