When Leo White was introduced as a former Judo Olympian to the Waka Mu Sha Judo Program at the Warren/Holyfield Boys’ and Girls’ Club, he recalled the first words uttered to him by 9-year-old Colin Robinson.
“I want to be an Olympian,” he said.
A decade later, Robinson's declaration rings truer than ever. He is still going to school while holding down two jobs. But he trains full-time, has gone against world-class opponents and has his sights set on a world championships this fall.
“He’s still got the world to defeat,” said White, head coach of the the Waka Mu Sha Judo program. “But he’s on his way.”
Robinson has returned home from the Colorado Olympic Training Center to participate in the Judo Junior Olympics Saturday and Sunday at the Gwinnett Convention Center. .
The tournament will mark the final year Robinson can qualify for the Junior Olympic team, with which he has competed on the last two years. If he qualifies, he will travel to Morocco to represent the United States in the Junior World championships in October.
Robinson has already had plenty of success at the international level, winning the Junior Pan American championships in 2007 along with gold medals with the Junior National team and the Junior Olympics in 2008.
“I’m in judo for the long run,” he said. “I want to accomplish something. I’m not in it for a short while.”
It didn’t always appear that way.
Robinson was raised by his single mother, Tuesday, who placed him in every youth sport possible. He played golf and started on his high school football team at North Springs. Initially, he thought he might have a collegiate football career in his future.
“We used to call him Tiger Hood because he also played golf,” White said. “He was very good at golf and football. But he came back to his love, which was judo.”
The full commitment to the sport came, however, in the midst of one of Robinson’s greatest losses.
In early 2008, the sudden death of his sensei, Eugene Goodson, led Robinson to dedicate his season to the memory of his former coach.
Described as a serious, soft-spoken and articulate man, Goodson had quickly endeared himself to the shy and respectful Robinson.
“When Gene talked, Colin listened,” White said. “He was like a little puppy. When Gene sat in the stands, Colin was right next to him. In the long drives there he’d be, sitting right next to him.”
Even now, a copy of Goodson's obituary hangs on the wall at Robinson’s apartment.
“I can wake up and see what a great man he was,” he said. “All my coaches in Atlanta helped me out, but he specifically was like a father figure to me.”
During that season, Robinson qualified for his first Junior World Team and brought home the gold. It set into motion his commitment to competing internationally and, one day, at the highest level.
Thus he wound up at Colorado Olympic Training Center, where Robinson continues to carry out his ambitions.
“If [Goodson] was still alive, I might not still be doing judo,” Robinson said. “I dedicated that whole year to him and before he passed, we talked about making Junior World. For him to up and go, I felt like I had to continue on with what we talked about.”
Robinson said he has set his sights on the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, along with furthering his education with a master’s in sports management.
But as he returns to Georgia to compete for a spot on the Junior Olympic team, he will heed his former coach’s advice: Let’s be the national champion first, then tackle the world later.
White said he has no doubt that Robinson can come out on top.
“He’s going in the right path and he’s not slowing down,” White said. “He’s not taking a step backward. I think in this tournament, he’s going to take a medal. What color it’s going to be, I don’t know. And when Colin wins his medal, it’s our medal. I don’t care if he trains with the Olympic Center. He’ll always be a part of us. He’ll always be our boy.”
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