Also a great point about “judo bullies”. One thing I’ve learned is that people don’t really fight with or for their bodies — they do it for their ego. Either to build it up or protect it from being torn down further.

When I first joined the Burnaby judo club in BC, they kept a very close watch on me, in fact in a rather offensive manner involving subterfuge. One of the senseis asked an older more mature Orange Belt named Jake to keep an eye out on me (not for me, on me) to make sure I was safe and would not injure others.

Although he was never supposed to tell me this was happening, my dedication to training eventually won Jake over and he complimented me by telling me he realized my mindset was that of an athlete and eventually he admitted that he had been assigned to me.

At first I was offended… until he showed me the knee brace he put on his leg every day after training and that he would likely have to use for the rest of his life because a Japanese black belt he successfully threw once felt he had to “get back” his throw as he had “lost face” by getting caught by an orange belt. Then I understood where he was coming from.

However, this said, I was still offended as they seemed to have completely missed the irony that all my experience in martial arts including being a former sanshou instructor made me the safest white belt they have ever worked with and that Jake’s injury was brought on by a senior black belt.

Adding further irony and insult, they very likely contributed to my hernia. I’m not saying they were totally responsible as I do too many different activities to place the blame on them entirely but I’m sure they had something to do with it.

Very often in martial arts, I often feel I am doing the work of two people — protecting myself and protecting the person I’m working with. It’s unfair, but that’s the mark of an experienced instructor.

Both experienced judokas must tread carefully with beginners and beginner judokas must tread carefully with experienced ones. Essentially it comes down to this — YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. Nobody else is going to take it on.