A time to reflect

Hip Operation a time to reflect
As most of you know I have suffered for many years with a damaged Knee and Hip due to past Judo injuries, February 2009 I had a total Knee replacement which was a great success and a week ago I had a total hip replacement which was a success, although the after care for the Hip is considerable because it may dislocate in the early stages it could be 3 months before you consider yourself safe. The actual operation is a lot less painful then the knee. These two operations mean I can get back to some normality instead of walking around like a cripple, although I can not return to competition or any form of fighting I will be able to be more proactive in coaching i.e. be able to demonstrate techniques, so I will starting a couple of classes in Sombo and Pankration in Sittingbourne and will running classes at the Summer Camp.
In 2001 I won the World Judo Masters after the win I decided I would have a few months of but I would never fight again in Judo or Sombo from this date as both injuries deteriorated rapidly. It seemed as God had said “You wanted a World Title, now you have it. It is time to finish and make you and your wife’s life more comfortable”. Competiting had been a very costly affair and apart from what people thought I was not a rich man, it was not just about money but also about family. When ever I have an argument with my spouse one the things that comes up “you were away most weekends when the kids were young”, this is maybe why my oldest has been more troublesome since she was 16 and she is 40 this year, thankfully the other two have kept up the family tradition and are very much involved in what I do.
So staying 4 days in hospital was not such a bad thing, cannot say it was not painful but the simple fact is you can not go any where and everything is brought to you including the piddle pot was in a way quite relaxing. Time to read and think, I done a lot of reminiscing especially about my Mum and Dad the obvious things you remember like childhood memories are always there but some things was not so obvious. I can never remember my parents being vindictive or vengeful, angry with people yes and they would often say careful of so and so they are not to be trusted but nothing really violent in later life I had an incident where a favourite student of mine done the dirty and for years I tried reap revenge on him to no avail in fact it made him stronger. The Chinese Proverb “He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself” My mother was a religious women and when I told her my thoughts she quoted the Christian Philosophy “turn the other cheek” but it my father who had the pragmatic answer which was “Do you want to do what he is doing? Answer NO; Does he effect what you do? NO, Does he affect you financially? NO So why are you even thinking of him” This incident happened 30 years ago and everything my parents said was true, I have met the guy on many occasions and hold no malice and would even hire my club to him after all business is business, has achieved anything yes he is now a higher grade and most probably worthy of it but as my Father said he was never a threat and he wasn’t.
This incident reminded me of another occasion when I would not listen to my Parent advice. If you have read my book “Martin for Moscow” you will have read that I had issues with the British Judo Association hierarchy of the time, well after the 1980 Moscow Olympics the BJA advertised the post of Assistant Manager to the British team, So I applied but both my parents warned me if I got an interview it would become a Kangaroo court because of my history and association with other Judo organisations. No I said! They are the governing body they would not do this, so I got on with preparing a plan. My main thought for the team was to involve each players individual Coach in their training as I believed and still do a British Team manager will not know the individual as his coach does, yes they can teach new techniques and fighting strategies but what makes the player tick? What excites them? What depresses them? What are his bad habit or good habits and son on? I travelled to London to a posh Hotel for the interview and you guessed it was as my parents said it was interview of insults to all the other Judo associations and my parents, I am pleased to say I kept my calm, I think the only reason for this is they sat behind a table so did I maybe if we had been closer some of them would have been laying down rather then sitting. It is pleasing say thirty years on most of the those on the board are no longer with us and the BJA accept people from all associations and allow them to belong to all association in the knowledge they are the governing body. Mind you if you look at the 1970/80’s most of the world was run by dictatorships and left wing militant organisations so what could you expect.

Another thing I have always tried to do was if I have a problem get it out of the way as soon as possible as if you leave it to festers it becomes worse as it eats inside you. Another lesson from my father, When I was 16 I had an old Ariel 500cc side valve motorbike I sold it to a guy for £10 and he said he would collect in a week’s time. Instead of leaving the machine alone I fiddled with it and broke the head instead of contacting the guy I waited till the day he was to collect it. Each day my nerves got worse, each day I felt sick because I knew I had to face him. Then the day came luckily enough my father was there when he rung the door bell, so I said to Dad tell him I am not here. What did he do took the guy to see the bike and they both saw the damage, what did my father do walked indoors told me to get outside and sort my own mess out, The outcome was the guy calmly said I shouldn’t have done it and still took the bike. So all that worry was for nothing, So now I tackle a problem head on.

As I get older people have told me I have mellowed that may be true I would liked to think I have got wiser but I can still remember being young, challenging my parents and senior grades, telling them they are to old and they did not understand Judo like us young ones we are the fighters, the champions not the talkers. It is a good job those talkers were strong and kept me in place and listened when my ideas were good and told me to shut up when they were bad because for every one Champion there are thousands who are not and it is them that keep Judo, Sombo what ever alive.

I now listen to ideas and points of view from people of all ages when I run my various organisations, I encourage them to try new ideas because no one man can be the fountain of all knowledge something Young People have a trouble understanding this. OK sometimes you have to make a decision which is not popular but that goes with the job of being head of an organisation or family. As I said I have had many people crap on me from a great height most of the time in was unjustified but over the years I have learnt to deal with it.

Moving on I have wondered what makes some Martial Arts people so obsessed with there own status and in turn what makes them so vindictive and jealous, I spent some time in Local Politics and area of life where you expected a lot of back stabbing etc yet on they never match Martial Arts Politics. So Why?

Martial Arts are very much a Hierarchy both in its attitude to standards (Grades Belts) and in its administration. To run an organisation you need a hierarchal system for it to work and our Belt Promotion was designed as a means of encouragement and to show to others what standard you are. So the problem is not the system it is the people involved, the general thought in academic circles was that the majority of people who really get involved in Martial Arts were not that intelligent and were in the lower social classes who were not given a good education. The part about good education and social class may be true, unintelligent NO. A lot of people I know who have got involved in Martial Arts in a big way i.e. high grades, run organisations etc were people who never achieved a great success in normal life sometimes it was there fault sometime it was not but when they tried the Martial Arts they suddenly realised they were good at it and more importantly they could do something others could not and as they progressed they gained KUDOS from people who in the past most probably did not even acknowledge them. This I feel is one of the pluses of the Martial Arts Improving peoples esteem but there can be a down side. As some become more powerful, more respected etc a few become paranoid and see every one as a rival. How many times do you see Martial Art Players grade go up because a rival has been promoted, infighting starts because someone wants a higher position to increase their status and then there is always the student who thinks he knows better then his teacher and starts his own association and style creating the “ULTIMATE MARTIAL ART” or “HOW I RE-INVENTED THE WHEEL” a lot have less then 10 years experience! I know that I am more knowledgeable then my teachers mainly my mother and father and that’s not being conceited and hopefully my son will become more knowledgeable then me, that should be a natural progression and the way Martial Arts evolve. This should not be something to be frightened of but something you should be grateful to have a student that surpasses the Teacher is a great honour.

Well my Hip Operation has certainly affected my thoughts maybe I can invent a new art “Bone Replacement Mediation” who knows

What of the future:

I feel that Martial Arts will continue to get smaller and I believe that will be a good thing because those who are in it just for money, kudos and power will vanish very quickly and we will be left with those who enjoy what they do just for the sake of it. Judo I believe will be one that suffers the most as the latest rule changes seemed to be designed to appease TV audiences and TV Producers, you will see many smaller competitions offering different rules once again I believe this will be good for Judo.
Myself I am looking forward to promoting my CombatSombo and GrapplingUK with my own Dojo I can organise lots of small competitions in the words of Del Trotter “Lovely Jubbley”

Martin Clarke