The Biggest Trophy We Have
Trophies are an interesting thing.
As a child in the 1980s, I looked in wonder at these massive pieces of wood and plastic with an imagination that spurred me to action. I would practice my kata with a piece of my mind picturing the trophy. The motivation was extrinsic, but it was motivation nonetheless. My forms become sharper and more exact.
Now, as I approach my 40th year training, I see not so much the trophy, but the dust that collects on it. My motivation is no longer extrinsic. I don’t need a physical reminder. Indeed, our grand champion trophies read SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MVNDI, “thus passes the glory of the world.” I’ve given away all my trophies. Now they’re sitting on a student’s shelf as a reward for their own celebration.
Standing as tall as some of our young students, the grand champion trophy is a dramatic testament to the blood, sweat, and tears that go into training. Two, three, and even four-post trophies more than three feet tall are a statement. They are the largest trophy we award, BUT, they are not the biggest. The biggest trophy we award measures less than a foot. It’s of a simple bronze boxing glove on a small marble plinth.
What allows this small trinket to eclipse the drama of the three foot grand champion trophy? The name of the award–more precisely, what that name represents. The biggest trophy we award is the Louis Desmarais Sportsmanship Award.
Over the years I have written hundreds of pages about my mentor. Distilling my thoughts and feelings into a digestible blog post is quite impossible. He was so many things to so many people. He was a man far ahead of his time, and he instilled in thousands of students the positive values that competition brings. What matters most in this context is O-Sensei, the competitor.
O-Sensei Louis Desmarais was an all Navy boxer, and entered karate tournaments as a novice in the wild 1970s. Dear to him was President Theodore Roosevelt’s quote about the “Man in the Arena.” The quote hangs in the dojo, in the office, and in my office as Dean because of him. While O-Sensei embodied the message of the quote literally, he also embraced it metaphorically. He taught us all that the only people who make no mistakes are people who don’t try anything, who don’t grow, who don’t step into a psychological arena. It is his embodiment of this quote that served as the inspiration for the quote on this “biggest of trophies”. On this trophy reads another quote by President Roosevelt, “The one indispensable requisite is character.”
In the Independent Martial Arts School, earnest effort in competition is expected. Grace in victory is expected. Honor in defeat is expected. We cheer when someone else wins, and we thank our fellow competitors when we win. There is no trophy for these behaviors; they are assumed in anyone who wears the patch. The award goes to someone who embodies these traits at a level that serves as an exemplar to others. To rise to this level is rare: rare enough that the award is not always given.
When Ms. Parker brought her granddaughter in for lessons years ago, she mentioned an interest in also taking lessons. I explained our two programs, describing the one her granddaughter would be signing up for as physically demanding, rigorous. Without hesitation and with a point of her finger she said simply, “that’s what I want.” In the years since, she has made good on that, having risen to the rank of sankyu, first degree brown belt, for her first tournament. When we returned to competition five years into the IMAS, she showed the same initiative and signed up. She trained with teenagers in a class that leaves them sweaty and tired. She entered the tournament to compete in a pair of difficult events.
Her expression and comportment in competition served as a model for others. It was clear to all that this is who she is, and this is what she does. She is a brown belt of the Independent Martial Arts School and a competitor. When thinking about this award, the Headmasters try to see the world through O-Sensei’s lens. If he were alive to see Gayle compete he would come over and rest his hand on my shoulder and say, “that is what the tournament is about.”
And that is why we award Gayle Parker the Louis Desmarais Sportsmanship Award.
