‘Voodoo Vision’ the Key to Judo Champion’s Success

Mickey Matsumoto throws people. He slams them to the ground, pins them and uses a solid arm choke to immobilize their heads. The 30-year old Torrance resident isn’t a tall, beefy guy with an overwhelming presence. He’s 5-foot-5, 132 pounds.

“Everybody is always surprised,” said Matsumoto’s 26-year-old sister, Sue. “His friends say, ‘Yeah, it’s amazing. He’s real small, but he’s real tough.’ ”

Matsumoto is a third-degree black belt in judo. Last month, he won the Senior National Judo Championship, 60-kilo weight division at Ft. Wayne, Ind. Matsumoto has competed in the annual event for the last 10 years, but had never won it. His best finish was in 1984, when he placed second in Florida. Last year in Michigan he didn’t even place.

“I changed my training,” Matsumuto said, “I got a new coach and I use ‘voodoo vision’ now.

“That’s when you see throwing techniques over and over again so they burn into your brain. You do it through visualization.”

The victory at Ft. Wayne earned him a spot on this year’s U.S. National team, which will travel to Cuba for the Rodriguez Cup in June.

Matsumoto says because he doesn’t earn money competing, the reward for the numerous hours of intense training and abuse his body undergoes is being a member of the National team. He runs every morning and practices judo for about two hours every evening.

He has injured both shoulders and one knee but has seen the world, thanks to judo.

In 1984 and 1985, he was part of the U.S. National team, which takes one competitor from each weight division for its eight-man squad. Matsumoto went to Austria for the World Cup in August, 1984, and to Cuba in 1985 where he won a silver medal in the Pan American championships.

“It was really interesting to be in a Communist country,” Matsumoto said of his trip to Cuba. “It’s strange to see guys standing with machine guns at the airport.

“But on the mat, the Cubans have outrageous stamina. They lack in their techniques, but they’re very strong.”

Matsumoto grew up in Gardena and earned a business degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills. He has been a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for eight years and has a personality that fits his physical appearance well.

He’s reserved, somewhat shy and very modest when it comes to his judo talent.

“It’s kept pretty quiet,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Kutlesa, who has worked with Matsumoto for three years. “He doesn’t brag about it, but I’m 6-2, 230 pounds and if there’s anyone I don’t want to be in a fight with, that’s Mickey. He’ll throw you clear across the room.”

“About a year ago,” said Kutlesa, who now works with Matsumoto at the Los Angles city jail, “a man was stabbed in the neck by another inmate. Mickey was the only one able to disarm the man.”

Matsumoto also teaches the self-defense portion of a refresher class that all officers are required to take once a year. He says that when he patrolled the streets, judo often came in handy.

“One time,” Matsumoto said, “my partner was in a fight toe to toe with the suspect and, I came up to both of them, grabbed them and threw them to the ground with the suspect on the bottom.

“I think (judo has) prevented me from using my weapon a lot of times because of the confidence I have.”

He should be confident. He’s mastered a sport, which consists mainly of throwing the opponent, pinning him until he’s helpless and using various arm locks. He’s also been competing in top-notch events for more than a decade.

When Matsumoto was 7, his two older brothers, who competed in judo, got him started in the sport.

“I had no choice,” Matsumoto said, chuckling. “They just came up to me and said ‘Hey, you’re taking judo.’ ”

He started taking classes at the Gardena Judo Club, where he still trains and teaches youngsters. He won his first title at age 8. It was in a small-club tournament; nevertheless, the victory was exciting.

“I remember what a thrill it was,” Matsumoto said. “I kept screaming, ‘I won something, I won something!’ ”

Today he has more than 200 trophies. Most of them are stored in boxes in his basement, but the important ones are proudly displayed in the living room of the house he shares with his parents and sister.

Matsumoto won a silver medal in the Pacific Southwest Judo Championships in April, where he lost in the final round to a Mexican national team member.

Other titles include the Desert Classic in Las Vegas and the Baja California Judo Championship last year. Matsumoto has also won six gold medals in the annual California Police Olympics, and in 1982 he won a gold medal in the International Police Olympics held in San Jose.

“The thing with Mickey,” said Matsumoto’s coach, John Ross, who was a national judo champion in China and coached at the Olympic training center in Colorado for three years, “is that he really trains hard and he has a lot of experience.

“Lately he has spent a lot of time developing his ground work, which has made him unbelievable. His opponents are afraid to go to the ground with him, and if they stay on their feet, well, he was already great at that.”

Matsumoto doesn’t have a specific goal. He says he’ll continue the sport as long as he enjoys it.

“I really just have a good time doing it,” he said. “Someone asked me recently, ‘When are you going to retire Mick? How long will you do judo?’ I said, ‘When the fun is out of it.’ Right now, I’m having lots of fun.”