She teaches judo and wrestles deer. Clovis 83-year-old is ‘tough as nails’ | Opinion

There aren’t very many settings where it’s acceptable, least of all encouraged, to place hands on an 83-year-old woman and throw her down.

Of course there aren’t many octogenarians like Myra Kirk-Goode, head sensei of the Clovis Judo Club.

Kirk-Goode began practicing judo in 1956 when she was 16. Last April, she attained the level of 7th degree black belt from the United States Judo Federation, making her one of the highest-ranked practitioners in the Central Valley.

“Just the Central Valley,” Kirk-Goode clarifies, modestly. “There’s guys that are higher ranked than me in the Bay Area and LA.”

Opinion

Twice a week, Kirk-Goode leads the Clovis Judo Club through 90-minute practices inside the padded wrestling room at Alta Sierra Intermediate. Even though she’s completely unassuming in the way she interacts with students, they can’t help but regard her with reverence and awe.

“It’s a privilege to be able to learn from someone who’s so knowledgeable and so dedicated to this art,” says Cassandra Asanuma, a judo novice who received individual instruction from Kirk-Goode during Wednesday’s session. “It is an amazing experience to work with her.”

“She can still do everything,” says Alex Peterson, a 15-year-old blue-purple belt who has been practicing for eight years. “Every once in a while she’ll just rock me when I (don’t) expect it. She still has her technique.”

Kirk-Goode begins practice by leading the class through an extensive set of stretches. From neck to stomach to ankle, every muscle in the body gets twisted and pulled. The head sensei demonstrates each position and counts off the stretches in Japanese.

‘She’s tough as nails’

After everyone is loose, it’s time to practice falling. In different variations and positions, students toss themselves to the mat while cupping their hands slightly to produce an audible thump. They do it flat on their backs and to each side. They do it while walking forward, while backpedaling, while somersaulting and while performing a pseudo-cartwheel.

“C’mon! Get up fast!” Kirk-Goode hollers when someone spends too much time on the mat.

When it’s time to pair off for individual work, the head sensei doesn’t always take part but will occasionally allow herself to get thrown. That mostly depends on two factors: her partner’s experience level and how much she trusts them.

“You have to have the skills to be able to throw in a way that she can fall correctly and not hurt herself,” Peterson explains.

“I don’t know how she does it,” says Alex’s father, Ronald Peterson, a junior sensei with two teenage daughters in the club. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through. She’s tough as nails.”

While judo sometimes leaves her with bruises and scratches, Kirk-Goode says her worst injuries have been a result of other activities.

“I had a hairline fracture on a vertebrae once — that’s from trampoline,” she says. “And messed up toes on either foot from two different horses.”

Until judo entered her life as a teenager, Kirk-Goode spent much of her free time on horseback. Her family owned property at Sierra and Dewitt avenues, which during the mid-1950s was outside the city limits. (Before that they resided in an area that today lies at the bottom of Pine Flat Lake.)

‘They won’t let us take shop’

When the Clovis Judo Club began, Kirk-Goode’s brother received the initial invite. But after she and several other girls with brothers in the club expressed interest, the head instructor, a Japanese farmer named Yoshito Takahashi, allowed them to join.

“There weren’t a lot of things open to girls in those days,” Kirk-Goode says. “We wanted to join Future Farmers (of America). Now you look at the picture of FFA and it’s almost all girls.

“They wouldn’t let us take shop, either,” she adds with a laugh. “Just home (economics).”

Kirk-Goode credits judo with keeping her strong and limber enough to perform duties around the Academy farm she shares with her husband, Ron Goode, the North Fork Mono Tribal chair and a fellow advanced black belt.

The couple raise deer for food — the animals are visible from Highway 168 — and Myra’s responsibilities include wrestling deer into the chute for processing.

“Ron usually tranquilizes them first,” she explains. “But you still have to get them down.”

After practicing judo for nearly 70 years, Kirk-Goode has no plans to stop teaching classes. She takes inspiration from her sensei, Keiko Fukuda, a 9th degree black belt who lived until 99 and instructed from a chair until shortly before her death in 2013.

“I’ll do this as long as I can,” she says. “I’m not out to be anything big time. I just enjoy coming here. It’s a different kind of exercise than what I have to do at home.”

Teaching judo and wrestling deer. Normal activities for a remarkable 83-year-old.