He Could Fall for This Sport : Judo Championship Provides a Challenge for El Cajon’s Reed

Tony Reed has heard the question before.

“Why are you in judo?”

A sophomore at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Reed is an 11th degree purple belt in judo.

Some of his peers might not understand Reed’s interest in judo, but it doesn’t faze him.

“I just ask, ‘Why are you in baseball?’ ”

When he was 9, baseball didn’t interest him and he assumed he wasn’t going to grow big enough to succeed at football or basketball. Knowing nothing more about judo than what he learned from a brochure that appeared in his mail box, Reed signed up for a class at the El Cajon Boys’ Club.

“He was into Bruce Lee like any 9-year-old,” said Shirley, his mother. “He wanted to learn karate, but I couldn’t stand thinking of him getting hit or kicked in the face.”

Reed, who is 5-feet 5-inches, eventually tried karate. But, for him, the sport wasn’t challenging. He won the western regional championships after only three months of training.

“But I still find judo challenging,” Reed said.

Reed, 15, will be competing Friday and Saturday in the United States Judo Assn. Junior Nationals competition at the Town & Country Hotel Convention Center in Mission Valley. He is entered in the 121-pound and under, elite division.

If he wins, he will go to the Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs in August. He is also training to make the U.S. Olympic team in 1992.

It isn’t easy to stereotype Reed. He is an active Boy Scout, the lead singer and keyboard player in a band recently started with friends and wrestles for his high school team.

But he has devoted most of the last six years to the form of wrestling developed in Japan almost 100 years ago. Judo relies on strategy and balance to outwit and throw one’s opponent. The goal is to throw an opponent on his back and pin him for 30 seconds, scoring an ipon. The sport also teaches self-control--any display of emotion is frowned on--and respect for one’s instructor, the referee and the opponent.

In six years of judo, Reed has not only excelled physically, but has been injured only once. Two years ago, he broke his arm trying to throw a larger opponent.

His mother not only appreciates the relative safety of judo, but what it has taught her son.

“He has a lot of self-confidence,” she said. “And I don’t have to worry about drugs or smoking. If you do that, you’re a loser in judo.”

Reed isn’t bothered by the discipline and manners his sport requires. He has become so accustomed to showing respect that occasionally he looks out of place in the world away from judo.

“Sometimes, when I enter a room or I’m wrestling in a match, I find myself bowing,” he said. “But my friends say, ‘Oh, that guy’s just into judo.’ ”