by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Though he has been retired from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for more than seven years now, you won’t find Greg DiFranza spending long hours in the coffee shop rehashing stories of his glory days on the force with his fellow retired officers.
You will find him in the dojo training for his next gold medal.
As a 20-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, DiFranza was looked upon as a highly commended officer of the law. Now, he is looked upon as the one of the best heavyweight, over-30 Kodokan Judo competitors in the world.
In April, the 48-year-old DiFranza won his third consecutive gold medal in the International Master’s and USA National Judo Championships in Virginia Beach, Va.
But those aren’t his only gold medals. Since 2000, he has medaled in more than 20 competitions for his age group, including his three national championship titles and the world championship title he won at the 2005 World Police and Fire Games held in Quebec, Canada.
While he is modest about his judo superiority, DiFranza’s recent winning streak is a clear-cut example of the saying ‘old habits are hard to break.’
Before 2000, DiFranza hadn’t participated in a judo competition in more than 17 years.
Alhough he started practicing Judo at age nine, DiFranza ended up going on a 17-year hiatus from the sport after winning the gold medal in the 1982 Florida State Police Olympics.
“In the early 80s, they had the (Florida State Police Olympics) in Jacksonville and in Tampa and I won there,” he said. “After that, there were no Judo clubs in Jacksonville and between jobs and family and everything else, I wound up taking 17 years off.”
DiFranza said he got back into competing again “by chance” in 2000 when the Sunshine State Games were held in Cocoa Beach. In his first competition after almost two decades away from Judo, DiFranza won another gold medal.
“From there, every tournament that I have been in I have won or at least medaled in,” DiFranza said.
Not bad for a soft spoken, 40-something ex-cop who looks more like a laid-back surfer than a international Judo master. Though he gets a few more bruises and aches competing as an older guy, DiFranza said he has enjoyed competing at the master’s level of the sport.
“It is kind of fun competing with people who are basically in the same age group,” he said. “Nobody is as out for blood as they are when they are 20, but there are some very focused competitors. In that division, you already have that life experience so it is not a matter of all just testosterone. When you go out there you really have to think your way through (the match).
“It is always a joke about the master’s divisions that everybody is an absolute enemy on the mat, but afterwards we are going to go out and get a beer or have dinner and everyone is just as friendly as they can be.”
Even though DiFranza is on a definite winning streak, he said his competitive days might quickly be nearing an end. He admits that his more than 20 years in a sport that involves lots of hard landings and torturous submission holds are beginning to catch up with him.
“It has been nice competing at this high level for so many years, especially this last year, but I am kind of thinking that this will be the last year that I would do this much,” he said.
”The older you get, the harder it takes to heal up. These things,” said DiFranza, using his foot to slap the foam mat at his regular Judo dojo in Atlantic Beach, “are relatively soft enough to take out the force, but Judo has a tendency to take a toll on you after a while. You can only hit the mats so many times. It becomes cumulative in your lifetime.”
DiFranza said he won’t seriously consider retirement from Judo until after his next two major competitions — the U.S. Open Amateur Championships in Ft. Lauderdale and the Pan-Am Championships in Colorado in November.