Q&A: Chuck Jefferson
Chuck Jefferson, Olympic alternate and former Barstow resident, enjoyed the good fortune of having Ernie Smith’s, a championship coach in Judo, Dojo right across the street from his house growing up. Under Smith’s tutelage and encouragement, Jefferson began competing at the age of 5, and by the time he was 8 years old, he had won his first Junior National Championship. Jefferson, 32, lost to his nemesis in the championship match with No. 1-ranked Ryan Reser at the Judo Olympic trails on June 14. He is now in a transitional phase of his life. His competitive career is over, and he will focus on his family life and his career as an assistant coach at San Jose State University.
Q: When you won the eight-man tournament at the Olympic trials, did you feel like you were going to be able to defeat No.1 seed Ryan Reser, two out of three times in the face-off to represent your country at the Olympic games
A: Yeah, I did. After I won the final fight, I definitely knew I could do it. I always felt I could do it, and once I won that match, it really hit me that my dream could come true.
Q: Did it seem surreal after you won the eight-man tournament? Describe the emotion.
A. I’ve been preparing for this all my life. I went into it like it was just another tournament. However, it was a different types of pressure in the fact that it was the Olympic trials. I’ve fought a million times before, and the added pressure is still there because it’s the Olympics. There was a lot of pressure because NBC was filming the finals.
Q: Did you feel pretty confident that you were going to be able to beat Reser in the final match?
A: I did feel confident. It’s one of those sports where anything can happen. The two of us are really close and we’ve gone back-and-forth. I know he is a dangerous player and he has the ability to throw. Even though I feel confident, I have to be careful, with what I do. I think it’s possible that I was too careful and I was trying to protect myself a little too much. Rather than going after the offense, I was thinking more defensively. Maybe I should have gone for the win. That allowed him more offense instead of defense, and that is why he was able to beat me.
Q: Is this an honor for you to be an Olympic alternate or do you feel as though you failed?
A: I guess it’s an honor to be an Olympic alternate, but honestly, it’s not at all what I was looking for, and it doesn’t mean a lot. Being an alternate doesn’t excite me at all. A lot of people, they say “I am really sorry,” and it’s really difficult. I don’t know what to say at that point. People say, “Oh that’s great,” you are the alternate, but when you are on that level and I could have won, and I didn’t, the No. 2 spot means nothing for me. I look at my career as a whole, and I am very satisfied with what judo has done for me.
Q: Do you feel you will compete in any capacity in Judo or are you done at 32 years old?
A: I think I am finished. I think just going into the last three years, this is what I was going for. It is not the end of my life, it’s just going to change and I will start focusing on a different part of my life. I just had a baby boy, my body is healthy and I enjoy competing. The demands of training six days a week in order to prepare to win events is the most difficult part. Training to compete at this level is a huge time commitment and it’s not as important. I have a family now and I can’t just think about spending all of my time at the gym. After you compete at the level I’ve competed, you don’t just casually compete.
Q: Was this your last shot at the Olympics? Are you considering maybe one more try?
A: At this point, it is pretty much for sure. I thought about this the last three years. I have thought I was finished and I ended up coming back. This time it’s for real, I am finished.
Q: What was the most difficult thing about the tournament?
A: The cameras and the television. It was there and I saw the cameras and heard the crowd. The most difficult thing is coming into the tournament, knowing I was going to have to beat Ryan Reser three times. The guy I fought in the first match, I lose to him three months in the nationals. He was a very formidable opponent, he is strong and I have to beat the No. 1 guy. Then I go to match three and it seems like a very long process. I try to keep my mind on one match at a time and worry about what it is in front of you.
Q: Do you feel like you are going to transfer more of that energy into being a coach?
A: I am looking forward to coaching and developing younger players. The things I learned as a kid, I want to share these experiences with other players and hopefully create champions myself one day.
Q: How much do you credit growing up in Barstow towards making it as far as you did?
A: I’ve been helping as an assistant coach for San Jose State University, and I always knew that I wanted to be a coach. Ernie Smith has inspired me in many games. I started Judo with Ernie when I was 5, and one of the biggest things that Ernie did for me was taking me to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Ernie had an extra ticket to the Olympics and he invited me. I fell in love with the sport and made it an aspiration to get the Olympic Games myself.
Q: How much of an impact did Ernie Smith have on your career and your life?
A: I’ve always taken a lot from his style of teaching, and it is something that he instilled in me. He made us learn good fundamentals. I was always teaching the younger kids, and it game me the ability to coach. When I ran the camp, I learned a lot more about how important technique was. It opened my eyes to the mistakes I was making.
Q: Do you think you will ever go back to Barstow and try to help build on their Judo tradition
A: I don’t know if I will ever be going to back to Barstow, although, you never know what can happen. I credit a lot of the training that Ernie did. I know he is very militant in his training, and he put us through a lot of running and lifting weights. He had those rigid training sessions that I went throughout an early age that prepared me. He made me compete. I was competing two or three weekends a month at Los Angeles, Ernie is a big part of the success of my career.
This interview was conducted by Staff Writer Jason Blasco. For more questions and answers check out the Desert Dispatch Sports Blog at http://.barstowsports.freedomblogging.com. Look every Tuesday for more Desert Dispatch Q&As.
