Growing through Judo

Johnny Hoong’s passion for martial arts began reluctantly at the insistence of his cousin Tay. Johnny and his family moved to the U.S. when he was just three years old, settling in Claremont. Growing up, during summer breaks from school, Johnny would often visit Tay and his family, who at the time lived in Cypress Park.

Around the same time, Lou Trammell, a black belt  in Judo and Japanese Jiu-jitsu and local Metro bus driver, began offering self-defense classes for drivers at the Cypress Park Rec Center—a stone’s throw away from the Metro Bus Depot. “The jiu-jitsu program was actually run by a fellow by the name of Lou Trammell. He started the program—actually he didn’t really start a program. He just went to the park because he worked for MTA (Metro) and said, ‘Hey, we get bullied around sometimes by the passengers, and is it okay if I teach some of my drivers self-defense?’”

At first, the class was only for drivers, but soon local children that attended the park grew interested in learning and joining the class. Lou decided to open the classes to the community,  although jiu-jitsu  was more popular at the time, Lou switched to teaching solely  Judo because Judo tournaments were only offered at the time.  Word of the program spread, and Tay asked  his cousin Johnny if he would be interested in joining the classes with him. When Johnny started in the late ‘80s, he was around 11 years old. He remembers how quickly the program grew, filling up with neighborhood kids. The Cypress Park dojo became a mainstay at local competitions, often bringing back trophies.

“Some of these trophies were taller than us at the time—back when they were actually giving us trophies. We were really competitive at that time, and judo was a lot more popular in the past, with more kids competing and so forth.”

While Johnny continued with his judo training, his cousin lost interest. When Johnny started high school, he joined other extracurricular activities, exploring sports like tennis, wrestling, and volleyball. Balancing these activities made it harder for Johnny to focus on judo. He took a two-year break and switched his focus to wrestling instead.

The final nail in the coffin for Johnny’s judo career at the time was the increasingly politicized nature of the sport. Some didn’t like the direction judo was taking. Frustrated, Johnny took a prolonged break, missing the sport and camaraderie he had fallen in love with as a teen at the Rec Center. A chance encounter with Mike Verdugo, who ran the Pasadena Kodokan Judo Club, brought Johnny back. Mike asked him to teach a class, and Johnny agreed to try it out.

“I found the love of judo again. It was like, no politics—just teaching and making sure that the people are learning.” 

Now, Johnny has his eyes set on the Olympics and hopes to one day see his students compete at the games. With the help of Keith Bryant from USA Judo, the Olympic governing party of judo, they’ve expanded and introduced judo to 25 different Los Angeles Parks and Recreation centers.

“We have a couple of Olympic hopefuls. We can see them actually participating in the Olympic Games, and we’re working on it.” Johnny is especially proud of the Cypress Park program, the largest of the 25 PlayLA Rec & Parks programs. Since its inception in 2019, over 5,000 students have gone through the program. His path from student to sensei is one Johnny never could have imagined, but his passion—and a bit of competitiveness—for judo keeps him going. 

“These programs just spark interest, and you don’t know where that interest is going to lead. It was so funny that Tay, my cousin, brought me into the program and never got his black belt. He stopped at the brown belt, and I surpassed him and got to grow this program.

Just imagine if he never said, ‘Hey, Johnny, why don’t you come and do judo with me?’”

Sensei Johnny is currently Judo Coordinator for LA Parks and Recreation Judo program and teaches at 4 separate locations.