Judo novice catches on quickly

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Salvatory Peña Velez wasn’t quite sure what to do when he stepped onto the mat for his first ever judo match.
Where should he bow? How often? Just when would his fight begin?
"I don’t know any of that," Peña Velez said. "We come in and slap hands in jujitsu. The bowing and stuff is a little different, but I can get used to that."
But once the referee signaled for Peña Velez’s fight to begin, he knew exactly what to do.
Peña Velez took the gold medal in his weight division and also competed in the open weight division in the Show-Me State Games yesterday at Smithton Middle School.
"I train hard, and I just envisioned myself winning," he said.
At 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds, Peña Velez lost his match in the open division to a competitor who was 100 pounds heavier and nine inches taller.
"I’ve never ever backed down out of a fight," Peña Velez said. "I knew how big he was, and I tried to make him as small as I could, but the guy knew what he was doing and he had a lot of weight on me."
Peña Velez moved to Columbia five months ago from Inglewood, Calif., where he had studied jujitsu since 1995. Originally from Cuba, he moved to California when he was 1 year old.
After not being able to find anywhere to continue his jujitsu training, the 28-year-old only began learning judo two weeks ago. A friend got Peña Velez in contact with Randy Russell, who runs Mid-Missouri Judo, and Peña Velez decided to give it a try. Besides the three lessons he has been to, Peña Velez has been studying by video as often as possible.
"I’ve been looking at videos day in and day out," he said. "I’ve just learned a lot of moves and whatever I’ve learned in the three classes that I’ve gone through.
"I can absorb stuff really quick. Jujitsu does that to you. You have to be able to lock those moves in your head, because if you don’t, and when you’re in that position and you don’t throw them, you’re done. You only get one chance sometimes.
"I know I don’t know much judo, but I can always revert to jujitsu. That’s where my confidence comes from, my jujitsu background."
If not for his jujitsu background Russell said he wouldn’t have allowed Peña Velez to compete.
"He has a natural background so that helps," Russell said. "I wouldn’t want him competing unless he came to some classes first."
Peña Velez said the hardest habits for him to break have been his jujitsu fighting tactics. In jujitsu there is more ground fighting, and in judo there are more standing moves with throws.
For a judo novice, Peña Velez did not lack confidence before his fights, guaranteeing he would win a gold medal.
"He doesn’t know the word lose, so he’ll win," Russell said.
Waiting through the junior divisions and other adult divisions, Peña Velez laid on a mat on his stomach with his sock-covered feet tapping against the wall. When his name was called, he popped up, instantly ready.
His first match went quickly. He absorbed a charge from his opponent before picking her up and slamming her to the mat on her back for a win in less than 10 seconds.
His second fight almost went the entire three minutes before he pinned his opponent - this time it was a man - for the win. Afterward, Peña Velez stood up and raised his arms over his head with fists clenched and looked to the top row of the bleachers at his wife and friends in celebration.
When he stepped off the mat, Russell, who has practiced judo for 43 years and is a seventh-degree black belt, gave some words of encouragement to his student.
"I really like judo," Peña Velez said. "I never thought I’d be involved in judo, but now that I am, I’m happily involved."

Reach Philip Batson at (573) 815-1780 or pbatson@tribmail.com.

Fonte: Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia,MO,USA - http://www.columbiatribune.com/