Tuesday, Aug. 04, 2009

Not the Karate Kid: Highland martial arts expert, 41, wins bronze at Maccabiah Games

The Karate Kid he was not.

At age 41, Alberto Friedmann came out of retirement last month to compete in the 18th annual Maccabiah Games in Israel, the second-largest sporting event in the world after the Olympics.

Fighting in the karate discipline for Team USA, the Highland resident was the oldest participant in his sport. He was among the oldest of 900 athletes on Team USA and the 8,000 participants from 51 countries at the international event for Jewish athletes.

"I've been practicing longer than most of my competition has been alive," Friedmann said. "Most of my competitors were 20, 21 and 22. I have probably lost more competitions than most of these guys have entered."

Tapping into his experience and knowledge of the ring, Friedmann held his own against the young guns. He won a bronze medal in the kumite team discipline and made it to the bronze medal round in his individual weight class before losing.

Friedmann's performance was impressive on its own merit. Factor in that he did it with a severely dislocated right thumb suffered on the first day of competition, and it becomes remarkable.

"It certainly hurt and I had to modify my technique," Friedmann said. "I had to think about what I was doing because I couldn't adjust that right hand the way I wanted to."

Lesser injuries have forced others to the sidelines. Friedmann wasn't about to let it curtail his dream of competing in the Maccabiah Games, something he's dreamed about since he first took up karate when he was 12.

For the world-renowned martial arts competitor and instructor -- who is inducted into seven different martial arts halls of fame and has been featured on CNN, ESPN2 and The Discovery Channel --it was the pinnacle of his sporting career.

"I think if you talk to any athlete, you just accept injury as part of the game," Friedmann said. "I've been working very hard for a very long time to be able to do this, and I wasn't going to let something like a busted-up thumb get in the way.

"It hurt and it was annoying, but I tell my students all the time, you can be in as much pain as you want 10 minutes from now. Right now, you're in the ring and in competition."

Dealing with EDS

A busted thumb was just the latest obstacle Friedmann has overcome in karate. Over the years, he has broken his nose, arm, ribs, fingers and toes -- some many times over.

That doesn't compare to the pain that wasn't self-inflicted. When he was 14, Friedmann was diagnosed with osteopenia, or low bone density. At 21, he was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a group of inherited connective tissue disorders that provides support to skin, muscle and ligaments. Individuals that have EDS experience extremely loose joints, hyperelastic skin that bruises easily, and easily damaged blood vessels.

Doctors told Friedmann he'd be confined to a wheelchair by age 25. Sixteen years later, the lanky 6-foot-4, 190-pound Friedmann is still standing.

He said his will to not let the debilitating disease consume him -- plus his participation in the martial arts -- have allowed him to stay healthy and fit.

"I very quickly decided that it's no fun being in a wheelchair and no fun hobbling around," Friedmann said. "I think martial arts has kept me walking. I enjoy what I do way too much to stop something for a few broken bones and destroyed knees. I just kept going.

"It's not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens."

It hasn't been easy. Friedmann has had four knee surgeries, two shoulder surgeries and two jaw surgeries outside of competition.

Karly Oestringer, manager of the U.S. martial arts team, said Friedmann's story is one of hope.

"He's technically disabled, but you wouldn't know it," Oestringer said. "Whenever he's in the ring, his competitors have no idea they're getting beat up by somebody who could walk across the street and dislocate something. He's been able to overcome that and be an inspiration for people all across the world."

Coming to Highland

Growing up in Rhode Island, Friedmann had a passion for Oriental cultures. Japan's was his favorite. He also was a "Kung Fu" junkie, watching Bruce Lee and David Carradine religiously.

It wasn't until he was 12 that he began practicing the martial arts.

"It was a demonstration at a Boy Scout camp," Friedmann said. "I became interested and thought that this was something I could do."

After college, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in writing and literature, Friedmann went to Japan for a 10-month stint in 1991 to teach English. While there, he began to study classic swordplay. It solidified his focus as a martial artist for life.

While working in Tampa, Fla., as a newspaper reporter, Friedmann opened a Tae Kwon Do school. In 1999, he moved to Boston, where he began to study Asian medicine and continued learning martial arts at higher levels. He has six black belts, including seventh-degree black belts in Wa No Muchi Ryu Kodubo and Karate. (Tenth degree is the highest one can achieve in the sport).

Friedmann landed in Southwestern Illinois in 2001. Searching for a good school where he could get his master's degree in kinesiology, Friedmann enrolled at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He earned his degree in 2002 and settled in Highland, where he opened a small studio to teach martial arts and is engaged to be married.

Friedmann continued to compete internationally, earning five gold medals at the 2000 World Martial Arts Championships in Sydney, Austraila, and five more at the 2004 event in Barcelona, Spain.

He had stopped competing in 2006, but came out of retirement when he was invited to try out for Team USA at the Maccabiah Games. He flew to Chicago and made the team.

"I've been to the world championships and done all of that," Friedmann said. "This is a specific competition I can remember as a kid thinking, 'I'd really like to do this someday.' Up until recently, my sport was not involved in this.

"When I got the invitation to try out for the team, certainly, at my age, it would be the last time I would get an invitation and I better take advantage of it while I could."

Retired for good

Friedmann is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, where he is studying kinesiology with the intention of pursuing a university teaching career and research into Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. He is an adjunct professor at McKendree University and SIUE.

Most of his students don't know about Friedmann's decorated martial arts legacy, although some are privy to his accomplishments.

"There's always a running joke about don't mess with the professor because he'll beat the tar out of you," he said with a laugh.

Friedmann, who is coach of the U.S. Martial Arts Team, leaves for Sydney in five weeks. He said he plans to stay retired from competition.

"I'm done," he said. "I came out of retirement for it and I'm jumping right back in it. I'm satisfied. I'm at the point where I'm past the need to be in the ring and I don't feel that desire anymore. I've satisfied any ego I needed."