Either the mat is coming toward you, or you are moving toward the mat, but whichever it is, you find yourself on it before you can blink. 

“Your brain turns to mush, because you have no tact or information of what is going on,” said Bill Parker, retired Coppell High School weightlifting coach and outdoor adventures teacher.

Parker is currently a sensei at Jita Kyoei Dojo, located in the CHS Wrestling Center. He has been teaching at the dojo since 2016. Parker initially started this dojo with his friend and training partner, Arthur Zwolski.

“[Zwolski] and I were not very thrilled about how judo was being taught. We had a little different opinion on judo, so we started training here at CHS since 2016,” Parker said.

The creation of Parker’s dojo at CHS was after years of moving around and training in various places in Dallas. 

“It was a mad scramble to find a place to train,” Parker said. “Before COVID-19, we used to train at CHS on Monday nights, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, we would train at a studio in downtown Dallas, until that went out of business. The owner of that studio got me to teach at his new school [Chamberlain’s School of Self Defense] in 2002, where I did for 15 years, until that went out. Now, we are just training here at CHS for the most part,” he said.

Parker has been practicing judo for 58 years, ever since he was a child.

“I have known Bill since he was ten,” Parker’s instructor Paul Uyemura said. “He came to me with his parents when I was teaching in Kalamazoo. He was very shy, and that was why his parents wanted him to take judo- to become more aggressive. Now he is teaching [a class] himself, so I come here to support him, even if I cannot do much myself.”

Parker has stuck with what Uyemura said to him years ago, and has been inspired to teach judo himself ever since.

“When I was little, my instructor told me that judo is an activity for a lifetime, and I believed him,” Parker said. “That has stuck with me for all the years.”

Parker believes in two key guiding principles of judo, which have shaped his unique view on judo through his years. The first is Seiryoku-Zenyo.

“Seiryoku-Zenyo means maximum efficiency, and that carried with me throughout my whole life,” Parker said. “When you have a job to do, you look at it and think about what is the most efficient way to get that job done. That does not mean you are looking for the easy way out, it just means if you can do it efficiently.”

 The second philosophy is Jita-Kyoei, which his dojo is named after.

“It means mutual well-being and benefit,” Parker said. “I like to theory that through our training on a daily basis; everyone helps each other out, everyone grows, everyone gets better, and hopefully everyone becomes a better person because of that.”

With years of judo and self defense experience, Parker has learned more than just the various moves and stunts; he has learned the science involved with this art.

“The physics and the engineering involved with it is fascinating, as well as the study of how the body actually works,” Parker said. “You deal with [the terms of] levers and fulcrums, which a lot of judo people do not even talk about. And then, you can get into the psychological aspect, which is a whole other level. There is also geometry; we speak in those terms.”

Parker’s favorite technique in judo is called Seoi Nage.

“It is a type of shoulder throw which I used for decades in competition and have been very successful with it,” Parker said.

Having taught judo for more than 15 years, one would know these advanced moves, but it is essential to be comfortable with the basics.

“A lot of times people get wound up and they want to do the big fancy stuff, but the way you do the fancy stuff is to know the basics. [Parker] is very good about focusing on and being diligent in training the basics,” Jita Kyoei Dojo instructor Mark Randolph said.

The dojo is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 6:00-8:30 pm.

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