From Derbyshire Park to Japan: Sumo wrestler to compete in Tokyo
Mark Jones is a long way from the sumo ring he fashioned out of pool noodles on a patch of grass at Derbyshire Park in Daytona Beach.
Jones, a sumo champion, traveled to Japan Saturday and will compete in the amateur World Sumo Championship in Tokyo Sunday.
The 35-year-old is no stranger to athletics. He graduated in 2006 from Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange where he played offensive guard on the football team. He also played some college football at Coastal Carolina University near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Jones, a Daytona Beach resident, became interested in sumo three years ago, after a friend he referred to as “the godfather of sumo in Florida" introduced him to the sport.
He said one aspect that attracted him to the sumo ring is the one-on-one battle compared to the one of 11 on a football team's offense or defense.
“When it’s 11 people on the field, you kind of get lost in the wash,” Jones said. “Where in this you’re the only person up. Everything is riding on you. It’s not another person that’s going to be able to help you right now. It’s what you have in your heart that’s really going to dictate how you do.”
And footwork and other techniques help as well.
Teaching sumo wrestling in Daytona Beach
That’s what Jones teaches at Derbyshire Park on Sunday mornings into the afternoons. The ring is simple: foam pool noodles taped together and rounded into a sumo-ring-like circle.
Jones started what he said was the only sumo club in the area: Gorilla Sumo-Beya.
At a practice, Jones instructed the wrestlers as they pushed and knocked each other about until one was forced out of the ring or knocked to the dirt.
“Most everyone that tries this sport falls in love with it right away because of the simplicity of it and the competitiveness of it,” Jones said. "Whoever you are, wherever you are, just come out and try it and I promise you are going to enjoy yourself.”
Jones credits his friend, Cornelius Booker, with getting him interested in sumo.
“I consider him the godfather of sumo in Florida,” Jones said.
Booker, 31, of Panama City, is a two-time national sumo champion. When asked about being the sumo godfather, Booker said he didn’t like the term because he liked to keep a low profile. But he said it was accurate since likely anyone doing sumo in Florida got involved either directly or indirectly because of him.
He said former wrestlers, like himself, and football players are the athletes usually drawn to sumo. And he added that Jones has a talent for the sport.
“He’s pretty much a natural at this,” Booker said of Jones. “He has a really strong forward push, which is really useful in sumo. And not only that, he’s very, very quick on his feet.”
Competing in Tokyo
Jones and Booker compete in the United States Sumo Federation.
Jones competed in a tournament earlier this year and you could say he finished sumo cum laude. He won the national amateur tournament in Orlando in March in both the heavyweight and open weight divisions. Those victories punched his ticket to Tokyo and the land of sumo.
In Tokyo, Jones said he will compete in the 256-pound and up division.
“And that number goes way up from that,” Jones said. “I know there’s going to be a couple of 500-pounders.”
Jones weighs in at 350 pounds.
Jones' day job is working as a machinist at DeLand Technetics. He also coaches his son in Pop Warner youth football.
Jones welcomes people interested in sumo, men or women, to join him at Derbyshire Park.
Jones said: “You come out here and you’re a little overweight, we glorify you for having such a good temple and such a good body to build off of.”
A GoFundMe has been created to raise money to help Jones compete in sumo.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach sumo wrestler punches card to Tokyo competition
