Musician cum judoka How Kuruvoli found his love for Japanese martial art
SIMIONE Kuruvoli is renowned as an Olympian and has also represented the country numerous times as a judoka at Oceania and Pacific Games meets.
After retiring from competitive sports, he scored a gig as the Flying Fijians masseur.
He has even delved into music and was a drummer and vocalist with Maxie’s Mules, the houseband at one of Fiji’s popular ‘70s night spots, the Bali Hai on Rodwell Rd, Suva.
Kuruvoli’s years of judo training was put to good use when he sat behind the drums as his powerful right foot drove the kick drum pedal with such a deep thump and provided the bedrock for Maxie’s Mules music.
While his glorious legacy in sports and music is the stuff of legends, many would be quite unaware of his very humble beginnings.
Kuruvoli left school when he was in Year 10.
In 1968, when he was just 17, he decided it was time for him to move out of home and make a life for himself on the bustling streets of Suva.
Kuruvoli managed to land himself a job at a construction site and earning a meagre $6 a week, he somehow managed to pay rent, bus fare and food.
At night as he lay down on a thin, worn-out mattress in his one-bedroom flat in Toorak, he would often ponder on whether this was the kind of life he would live for the rest of his days.
More than 54 years later, Kuruvoli said he could look back and shake his head in amazement at his life journey as a former judo Olympian and multiple times he represented Fiji at the Oceania and Pacific Games with 28 years of service to the country.
Kuruvoli said he lived by the motto – “It’s not about how you start the race, but how you finish it.”
He said even though he had a rough start, the Nabouwalu, Kadavu native believes his sporting endeavours ended on a high note when he went on to become an undefeated judoka in five weight categories for 25 years before retiring.
“I was attending Lelean Memorial School at the time before I dropped out in Year 10,” the 71-year-old said.
Kuruvoli was brought up in Kasavu, eight kilometres from Nausori Town, where both his parents were working for government in the Agriculture sector.
“But after my mother passed away in 1962, I decided that I should move out from home and go live in Suva.”
He moved to a relative’s place at Howard Place in Tamavua before he secured an apprenticeship program with Reddy’s Construction in Samabula where he was paid 15 cents an hour.
“After five years at the company, I received my certificate in carpentry and my pay was increased to 25 cents an hour.”
In 1968, after receiving his certificate, he decided to move out of his relative’s place and rented a room in an apartment in Suva.
“I managed to find a room in an apartment called the Matanisiga House in Toorak, which is now the Queen Victoria School Old Boys Clubhouse.”
This was where he met former national judo rep Viliame Takayawa — the man who introduced him to the sport.
“His room was opposite mine and I remember coming back from work and seeing his judogi – the attire judoka he wore — hanging on his door.”
A few days after moving into the room, he befriended Takayawa who later invited Kuruvoli to attend judo practice with him.
It was here that his interest in the Japanese martial art came about.
“I was paying $2 a week for the room I was renting in and barely managed to cover my bus fare and food.”
To help make ends meet, he would spend his weekend playing for different bands around Suva as a drummer — with one of his most memorable being with Maxie’s Mules at the Bali Hai.
“I joined a few bands and I was able to make extra cash by performing at functions in the weekend.”
Kuruvoli said his daily struggle to survive and trying to eke out a living in the Capital City were experiences he would never forget.
“Sometimes I would only have tea, bread and butter because it was really cheap back then. I remember breaking off the mould of the bread so that I could eat the good parts of the loaf.”
Despite the challenges he was facing, Kuruvoli’s judo practices with Takayawa, who was also a judo instructor, resulted in him slowly developing a passion for the sport.
“After a few weeks had gone by, I started to get a hang of the sport and then I became obsessed with it.”
Because there were no other trainers or coaches for judoka in those days, he and others interested in the discipline would study judo textbooks provided by Takayawa.
“We would have our training sessions at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Hall in Suva. There were no coaches or any officials to teach us, we just studied the techniques from the judo technique book. So we would look at different pictures in the book and discuss among ourselves how it was supposed to be carried out.”
Kuruvoli made his first appearance for Fiji as a national judoka rep to the 1971 South Pacific Games in Tahiti. He was only 19 years old at the time.
He said Takayawa, who frequently travelled overseas to further his judo skills, would come back and teach what he had learnt.
“He travelled to Japan, Guam, New Zealand and when he returned, he would teach me.”
Kuruvoli said his friendship with Takayawa was something he treasured because if it wasn’t for him, he would still be working in construction.
“We were very close friends, Takayawa and I, But sadly, he passed away in 2010.
“I went into the South Pacific Games in 1971 with no experience at all but I managed to defeat two black belt holders from New Caledonia and secured a bronze medal.”
He again represented Fiji at the 1975 South Pacific Games in Guam but had to fund his own expenses to and from the tournament.
“At that time, judoka in Fiji had no sponsors so there was no funding for us, the athletes. If we wanted to attend a tournament in another country, we had to carry out fundraising drives to fund these trips.”
Kuruvoli said those were some of the challenges he and other athletes faced while trying to represent the country.
“Takayawa owned a security company at the time so this was where I worked for the next few years. We also trained and taught our security guards judo to defend themselves if the need arose.”
He was able to travel to New Zealand to take part in the Oceania Games in 1979 in Rotorua after months of fundraising with Takayawa.
“I really wanted to travel once more and represent Fiji in judo so in 1978, Takayawa and I started fundraising for our trip to the 1979 Oceania Games - this was how sure we were that we would make the squad.
“We use to participate in marathons and would ask people to sponsor us for every kilometre we completed and we used to get 20 cents per kilometre.
“Every other weekend we would run six to seven kilometres in order to fundraise. But that was OK because we were training at the same time.”
He managed to travel to the 1979 Oceania Games but only secured a single win against a fifth dan judoka.
“He was from Mongolia and was one of the best in the competition. Before I fought him I found out that he often travelled to Japan where he trained for competitions like this. Defeating him was another huge achievement for me.”
After the Oceania Games that year, Takayawa travelled to New Zealand where he managed to attain his black belt under the New Zealand Judo Federation.
“Shortly after he received his black belt, he took me to New Zealand to receive mine as well. So at the time, we were the only judoka in Fiji to have judo qualifications under the New Zealand Judo Federation.”
He later managed to find work as a security guard at the Morris Hedstrom Company (now MHCC) in Suva and trained at the YMCA Hall during lunch hour.
“At lunch, I would change into my training clothes and jog down to the YMCA Hall for training. After work, I would again go down to the hall for our weights sessions.”
Kuruvoli said he managed to find a balance between his occupation and keeping fit for judo, and always kept himself in shape in the hope of making the national squad to every overseas tournament over the years.
He said judo taught him many lessons and developed his discipline over the years.
“Judo teaches you the art of perseverance, being truthful, humble and consistent. The ultimate aim of judo is not on winning matches, but is about training the mind and cultivating your character.”
Kuruvoli went on to represent the country at the 1983 Oceania Games in Auckland and again in 1985 in New Caledonia.
He was named in the national squad in the 1984 Olympic Games in the United States and 1988 Olympics in Korea.
In 1994, he travelled with the national side to the Oceania Games in Sydney, Australia and competed at the South Pacific Games for the second time the following year. That trip, he said, was special because his two high school student daughters, Ema and Alumita Kuruvoli, were also part of the national side and scooped a bronze medal each.
Kuruvoli last represented the country at the 1999 Oceania Games in Guam, where he brought home a silver medal.
Today he is the technical director of Fiji Judo Association after he took up coaching soon after retiring from competitive judo.
“Sometimes I look back at my life, at all the struggles I have lived through and ask myself how I got through it.”
Kuruvoli is father to six children, a grandfather to 22 and great grandfather to four.
“Almost all of my grandchildren had been involved in judo because I always encourage them to take up the sport.
“Even at this old age, I can still move around and do a lot of things people my age cannot do. That’s because I still train and exercise to keep fit.”
Comparing judo from the early ‘70s to how the sport is today, Kuruvoli said there has been a lot of improvement and believes it will continue to grow.
“If I had half of the facilities and support these athletes have today, I would have been able to get gold at all of my games.”