Sports With a Kick : For Devotees, Martial Arts Are Fun and Confidence-Building

Jan Trussell is 5-feet-4 and weighs 114 pounds, but better keep her at arm’s length. As many of her competitors have learned, if the cherubic-looking judo player gets an opponent in an arm lock, she is apt to break that arm.

At the Russian Invitational tournament in Lithuania last winter, for example, Trussell said she was trailing her heavier foe when “I jerked her down to the mat and stepped into an arm bar.

“Most people would give up because they cannot stand the pain, but she would not. It seemed like 10 minutes. Finally I heard it break and the referee called an ippon , which is like a knockout in boxing.”

For Athletes at All Levels

Trussell has won championships like this around the globe and is one of the most experienced martial-arts athletes in Los Angeles.

But thousands of local people at every athletic level study the diverse fighting arts developed in Asia. The disciplines include aikido, judo, karate, kung fu and tae kwon do. Competitors practice the martial arts in hundreds of YMCAs, church basements, shopping centers and dingy gymnasiums across the county.

Although it may be hard for novices to recognize, each martial art relies on techniques as unique as a chop to the neck or a kick to the solar plexus.

Judo, Trussell’s specialty, is based upon sporting challenges rather than head-to-head street brawls. Its practitioners master hip throws, falls and choke holds.

Karate is more dependent upon hand jabs and chops delivered with an open or closed fist.

Tae kwon do, sometimes called Korean karate, also relies on fast, explosive blows but enthusiasts deliver their hard knocks with their feet.

These techniques were evident last month at the Nisei Week Karate Exhibition and Tournament, one of the larger annual karate demonstrations, held in Little Tokyo.

The hundreds of variations of kung fuare each based on the fighting techniques of a specific animal. Regardless of their orientation, kung fu specialists delight in unpredictable forays against assailants’ most vulnerable parts, including the eyes, throat and solar plexus.

Kung fu “was invented by a Buddhist nun to compensate for men’s strength,” said Bill Henderson, a Los Angeles instructor. “A person doesn’t have to be as fast as an opponent because it’s based on leverage and redirecting someone else’s force.”

In contrast, aikido seems paradoxical because it aims to neutralize opponents, not to harm them. Practitioners may move slightly to dodge punches, then nudge their attacker off balance.

Games, Movies Drew Interest

Due in part to Hollywood and the Olympic Games, the number of competitors in these arts seems to be growing.

Movies by Bruce Lee brought droves of potential kung fu students into schools in the 1970s, just as the more recent “Karate Kid” films and some aikido throws by Steven Seagal in “Above the Law” lured admiring viewers into those sports.

Local teachers say the inclusion of tae kwon do as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Olympics also has piqued interest in it. The tae kwon do demonstration begins today and runs through Tuesday. The men’s Olympic judo competition and the women’s judo demonstration will be held Sept. 25 through Oct. 1.

Among its practitioners is Jimmy Young Kim, 21, of Cerritos. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound former Cerritos High School athlete will be seeking the Olympic heavyweight gold medal in Seoul, and experts give him a better-than-average chance to succeed.

Those who develop an interest in these martial arts can choose from many schools in each of the disciplines. But experts counsel that it is important to visit the school, rather than to make the choice by phone.

“A lot of people try to shop over the phone, just like buying Levi’s,” said Chan-Yong Kim, Jimmy Kim’s father and president of the California State Tae Kwon Do Assn.

“Pants are identical, but the martial arts are . . . person-to-person contact . . . transferring . . . the instructor’s concept into the student’s mind. Therefore, there is no way we can find a legitimate school over the phone.

‘Visit the School’

“The most important thing is to visit the school to talk to the instructors. . . . Also look at the establishment, recognize the diplomas, the instructor’s qualifications and so forth.

“Many people decide this place charges less, so they are going to settle for this school, and they end up being dissatisfied. In many cases, in two or three months the school disappears.”

For Trussell, 26, the choice of where to work out was easy. She practices and coaches at the L.A. Judo club, a 2,500-square-foot section of a Gardena warehouse that she and her husband, John Ross, 50, run.

In a room divided between weights and thick mats for practice falls, two garage doors on either side of the warehouse were pulled up to provide ventilation as players watched a judo video before a 7:30 p.m. class recently.

Warm-ups, Then Action

Trussell warmed up the class with running, stretches and practice falls before the players competed one-on-one. As they grabbed opponents’ robes--the classic way to initiate a move in the sport--Trussell and three other women often used speed and leverage to throw larger men.

During a break from the workout, Trussell explained her attraction to a sport in which she has broken her rib, wrist and collarbone, dislocated her elbow, torn ligaments in her knee and cracked a vertebra in her back.

“It’s the most fun you can have without getting in trouble,” she said, noting that she was once a troubled teen-ager. But now “I have been all over the world and I have friends all over the world.

”. . . There is always something new. There is always an opponent who won’t let you do what you want, so you have to outthink him.

“I like the physical contact. It takes a funny kind of person to like judo. There’s a lot of pain. You get slammed and your fingers get bent back every night.

“It’s like a wrestler who gets cauliflower ears or a boxer who gets his nose broken five times. Ask them why they do that and it’s hard to answer, but it gets under your skin.”

Not All Are Champions

Of course, not all competitors are dedicated, skilled or involved enough to win world championships.

Dave Sanford, a 31-year-old Inglewood police officer who spars with Trussell, finished third in the national collegiate championships in 1979. He has been involved with judo since he was 10 but uses the sport today primarily as an aid to his police work.

“It’s been very useful,” he said. “It gives me a certain amount of confidence. Several times it’s kept me from hurting people when I might have had to. . . .

“We work in here with people who have black belts and I can throw them. On the streets, no one has any experience. With them, it’s just a matter of whether I have to use all my force. I’ve never been in trouble.”

Vigorous Workouts

Devotees enter the martial arts for reasons other than self-defense.

In a large, well-lit room with shiny hardwood floors in West Los Angeles, 30 men and women practiced tae kwon do one recent night. Where judo enthusiasts concentrate on throws and falls, these practitioners often used the tall mirrors lining the walls to view whirls, kicks and punches delivered with frightening shouts.

In a warm-up period, tae kwon do master Hee Il Cho put the athletes through kick and punch combinations so vigorous that they stopped often to catch their breath.

After the drills, the students--wearing black, red or white robes--donned slightly padded gloves, foot pads that look like shoes and mouthpieces to compete one-on-one. Kicks and punches smacked audibly against bodies.

Exceeded Expectations

After her hour workout, Latana Munang, a Malibu photographer, said she got involved with tae kwon do seven years ago for the exercise.

Now the sport has exceeded her expectations, she said. “I not only get an incredible physical workout but a mental workout as well. And you have something to show for it, which is self-defense.

“It also keeps giving you a goal. The ultimate achievement is the black belt. I have a red belt and two stripes, which means one more stripe and then I go for my black belt.”

Although a student may learn self-defense from the martial arts, many teachers counsel that it is not easy. Even one lesson may help a little, but it may take years to become proficient.

Fitness Comes First

“When you first work out you get aerobic and anaerobic benefits. You become physically fit,” Hee Il Cho said. “Then if you stay long enough, you learn how to defend yourself.

“The majority will take a year or two to learn. Everyone thinks that in a few lessons you can (learn to) defend yourself. That’s just nonsense.”

Trussell defends herself adroitly, and woe to whoever tests her. After the Russian Invitational in which she broke her opponent’s arm, she said she felt no remorse.

“When you go into a contest, both people know that can happen,” Trussell said. “In a local tournament, which doesn’t mean a lot, I wouldn’t (break her arm), but in an international match where my reputation and my country’s reputation are on the line, I won’t stop.”