Judo, Karate, Taekwondo

---

Sure I liked it, but I think there were times when I felt lazy. On those occasions, my parents kept up the motivation. So, martial arts were an important part of my life.

Judo
Did it from 74-83 (from 7 to 16) at the Matsuura academy in Sao Paulo. I was not very fast or strong, but 10 years is a lot of practice. I trained 3 time a week without missing more than a few sessions during this period.

I still practiced occasionally after 1983, while in college, but I am now retired.

My younger brother was better than I. Differently from him, I did not get many important titles in official competition. My best postions were 2nd or 3rd places in Sao Paulo state regional championships. I was a heavy-weight until I was 10 or 11. After that, I lost a lot of weight and competed in lighter categories.

I was 7 years old when my Dad took the picture above.

Karate
Did it from 77 to 86 and was a shodan (black belt). I was not very fast or flexible, but 10 years gave me good technique. For about 7 years, I learned Karate with Sensei Takashi Shigeeda and later trained at the university too.

For a while, I also taught the session for kids under 14. I would practice at least 3 times a week (interleaved with my Judo days).

Karate has two types of competition: "Kumite", which are fights and "Kata", which are technique demonstrations. I competed in both categories, but was better in Kata. In 1980, I was the Sao Paulo state vice-champion.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is the Korean version of Karate. It uses higher stances and more kicks than punches. It is more sport and less martial art (some people may disagree on that accessment). Otherwise, it is very similar.

Practiced it for about a year in 1996. Did it mostly to make company to my (at the time) girlfriend.