This month’s cover letter is written by Sensei Josh Peterson. Sensei Peterson has twenty years of Judo experience and spent three and one half years at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has competed with the best Judo players in the world.
Students please read his words of wisdom.
Respectfully,
Sensei Reshel

Dear Parents, Students, & Friends,
One of my old team-mates had a phrase he was fond of: Some Days You’re The Hammer, Some Days You’re The Nail. He told me this the day he won his third National Championship...and he told me again when he blew out his knee a few months before the Olympic Trials.
After twenty years of Judo, I know what it’s like being the nail. I’ve got the dents, dings, and flat head to prove it. Being a martial artist isn’t easy, and getting banged up is just something we have to get used to. Over time, we learn that scrapes and bruises come with the territory but only by looking past them can we achieve our goals.
My friend was told that for his type of knee injury it would take major surgery and 9 months of rehab to get back on the mat. He did it in three. Entire days he spent in the weight room with his cast on, always with a face twisted in pain. Two weeks after his surgery he was back on the Judo mat doing everything he was capable of, which wasn’t much having only one usable leg. Defying all expectations, he went on to make that Olympic team.
Carbon atoms under extreme heat and pressure over a long period of time turn into diamonds, the hardest substance known to man. Every night we come to class, we are exposing ourselves to that same process. Training and practice are the martial artist’s way to become like that beautiful, virtually indestructible gemstone.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re still going to stub our toes, get paper cuts, and catch colds. We’re still human when all is said and done. What we are hardening is our will, our minds, and our spirits. Anyone can learn to throw a decent punch or do a successful turnover. We become diamonds not in the sense that our technique is perfect, or that our bodies are invincible, but in that our will can never be broken.
We learn to overcome every obstacle. We train ourselves so that we may not collapse under every pressure, not be crushed beneath every weight. The harder we practice, the stronger we become...and the easier it is to handle all the tough things life throws at us when we look up and realize that the hammer is going to fall.
Yours in the Martial Arts,
-Josh Peterson