Age No Barrier to Athlete’s Success

Viewers watching judo matches during the recent Summer Olympics in Paris viewed an intense martial arts competition where participants maneuvered to throw and pin their adversaries to the mat. Nicolas Valcik BA’94, MPS’96, PhD’05 is also a judo competitor, but he competes in a form of judo that is more specified by the principles of judo than the sparring found in the Olympics. Katas, the form of the sport that Valcik practices, involves judo’s most basic moves done in a choreographed set of judo and jujitsu techniques.

“Katas are the foundational basis of judo,” said Valcik, a first-degree black belt in judo and second-degree black belt in Heike Ryu jujitsu.

Katas, a Japanese word meaning forms, demonstrate the proper execution of a variety of judo and jujitsu techniques done with a partner and evaluated by judges. Kata forms were originally teaching and training methods used to preserve and pass on techniques like throws, grappling, pinning, choke holds and punches used in judo and jujitsu.

“Kata is very different than anything that people are used to seeing in judo,” Valcik said. “This is actually how judo was taught in Japan. It all dates to the time of the samurai, and when martial arts were outlawed in Japan after the samurai were defeated, it was a way to preserve these techniques.”

Valcik, 53, began taking judo and jujitsu lessons when he was 7 years old. His father was a court and prison psychiatrist who worried that some of his more dangerous patients might someday retaliate against his family. Valcik said his father insisted that his children learn self-defense, and Valcik chose judo.

His father signed him up for a local judo class, and it turned out Valcik was talented. His father looked for someone who could provide higher-level training, and that led to Vincent Tamura, a ninth-degree black belt in judo and jujitsu as well as a 1956 U.S. World Championship representative.

Valcik began training with Tamura and then competing in tournaments where contestants were often lined up in the Japanese style — not by age, but by height. The smallest in the competition, usually Valcik, often had to fight the tallest kids to win the tournament. But that didn’t seem to matter, and he began beating bigger kids.

“My mom would cringe when I went up against some 15-year-old who towered over me,” Valcik said. “She would have her hands over her face, but my dad would be like, ‘What’s the problem here? Just take him down.’”

Valcik continued to train until high school when he was inspired by the 1980 “miracle on ice” game where the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviets for the Olympic gold medal. Watching that game inspired his decision to take up a team sport with the dream of someday joining a U.S. national team. He chose soccer and played through high school, eventually trying out for the club team at UT Dallas before an injury sidelined him and his Olympic dreams.

Valcik attended UT Dallas from 1994 to 2005, earning three degrees including a PhD in public affairs. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and a master’s in public affairs. His time at the University included more than 16 years working in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. While working at UT Dallas, Valcik also resumed his judo training.

In 2013, Valcik left UTD for brief stints at West Virginia University and Central Washington University before returning to his home state for a role at Texas Tech University. It was at Tech that he connected with his former sensei Jim Webb, who suggested he try competing in judo katas.

Because of a permanent knee injury years before, Valcik could not compete in sparring. However, performing katas, which involve choreographed moves, was a way to compete in judo and limit the risk of injury.

“There are seven different katas in judo, and they all require different skills and are very technical,” he said. “It worked out really well for me to do katas and avoid further injury to the knee, which I would have done sparing with 20-year-olds.”

In 2022, Valcik moved back to Dallas. He connected with the nonprofit Denton Junior Optimist Judo Club and met his future judo partner Doug Newcomer, a 59-year-old sixth-degree black belt and kata competitor who also trained with Vincent Tamura. According to Valcik, a great advantage to competing in judo is no age limits.

Newcomer and Valcik began training together to learn, as a team, the various forms of katas, including Ju-no-kata, or off balancing kata, and the Katame-no-kata, or grappling kata. In just a few months, the pair was competing and winning tournaments, which led to the 2023 judo senior national kata championship. The duo won first place in the intermediate division of Katame-no-kata at the USA Judo Senior National Championships in Spokane, Washington.

“Remember, we started working together in January, and by May we were at nationals,” Valcik said. “I adapt and learn quickly, and we were practicing three or four times a week, but no one expected us to do that well.”

By winning judo senior nationals, the pair qualified to compete on the USA Judo National Kata Team in the Pan American Kata Championship in the fall of 2023 in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Valcik and Newcomer took fourth place.

This year Valcik and Newcomer competed in the judo nationals in Ontario, California, and again Valcik won the intermediate division in Ju-No-Kata and second in Katame-no-kata in the open division, qualifying them to join the national team in the Pan American Kata Championship, this time in Bogota, Colombia. The pair placed eighth in the Katame-no-kata event, while Valcik and another partner, Atteeb Javed, placed seventh in the Nage-no-kata, or throwing kata, in which a teammate does a series of throws with his partner taking the falls.

“I had to train a new partner in throwing katas, which is not easy,” Valcik said. “This stuff is real. There’s no pulling a throw. As the partner, you’re taking a fall. The person initiating the action actually throws his partner.”

With their success only pushing them further, Valcik and Newcomer will join the U.S. National Kata Team competing in the World Kata Championships in Las Vegas in November. Beginning with local and regional competitions and advancing to national and international events, Valcik has finally realized his dream of competing for the U.S. on a national sports team. It just took a few years of training and effort in the right sport to make that a reality.

“There’s no age limit to competing, but I have limits to what I can do as I get older,” Valcik said. “If I can avoid injuries, I’m going to extend my career for as long as I can be successful. Then it will be time to train others for the next generation.”

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