Twenty-one years after a devastating head injury ended Robert Cumming's martial arts career, the now 50-year-old back in Kingston after competing in world Jiu-Jitsu championship
Author of the article: Jan Murphy
Robert Cumming, a Kingston martial arts instructor, recently competed in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Master World Championships in Las Vegas. PHOTO BY JAN MURPHY /The Whig-Standard
“I’ve been doing martial arts since February 1, 1986,” the now 50-year-old lifelong Kingstonian said one week after he competed in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Master World Championships in Las Vegas, a milestone that represents a powerful full-circle moment in his life.
“Taekwondo was my original martial art,” Cumming said.
Throughout his teens, Cumming worked hard to master his craft. By the time he reached his 20s, he even found himself teaching Taekwondo.
“When I was in my 20s and done school, I started to develop a team because I didn’t have a team,” he said. “I created a team that I could then train with and compete with.”
At the age of 29, however, Cumming’s life was altered forever, the result of a devastating injury suffered during training. Following a year of competitions, during which he won a provincial championship, competed in the national championship and at the U.S. Open Championships, Cumming was training with a fighter nearly twice his size.
Cumming and his team often trained with Royal Military College’s competitive team, Cumming said. Because his group of fighters were high-level competitors, it was a good fit for the clubs to train together.
“We’d train at their military national training camps because I had a high-level team,” Cumming explained, adding that in that time, he received a call from the heavyweight military national champion one weekend asking if he could come train with Cumming.
As they warmed up, the 255-pounder connected with a spin kick that caught Cumming, then 155 pounds, square in the face.
“He flat out spin kicked me right in the skull, full force, which broke my skull, my eye sockets and my nose,” Cumming said. “Needless to say, it was one of the most painful experiences I’ve been through. That stopped me from competing.”
The kick effectively ended Cumming’s Taekwondo career. In fact, shortly after, he closed his school and moved to Korea, where he taught Taekwondo for six months, before returning to Canada to attend Bishop’s University in Quebec as an undergraduate. Following two and a half years in Quebec, Cumming returned to Kingston to complete his Bachelor of Education at Queen’s University, and his Master’s in Education with a focus on classroom culture and authority abuse.
“How to help teachers not to burn out so they don’t lash out,” Cumming said. “That was the premise of the whole thing.”
Back in his hometown, Cumming got married and started his own family, he and his wife have a 12-year-old son, Caleb, and a nine-year-old daughter, Mila.
Throughout his journey, Cumming said, he has come to realize that mindset is everything. At 50 years old, he believes that age is just a number if you maintain the right attitude. “If you believe you’re old, you are. If you believe you’re capable, you are,” he said. This philosophy has shaped not only his personal journey but also his teaching at Jung Do Martial Arts, located at BGC South East, a martial arts program designed to provide life skills for kids that we don’t typically teach in school.
There, he instills a “yes, I can” attitude in youth through martial arts. His life skills based martial arts program emphasizes mental resilience, grit, and determination, helping children develop the tools to overcome adversity and pursue their goals.
In collaboration with YGK Combatives, Cumming is expanding his efforts, with Frank Scott, as they introduce a competitive program for youth that focuses on both physical and mental preparation for competition. Their goal is to pass on the lessons they’ve learned, demonstrating that no matter the obstacle, perseverance and the right mindset can lead to success.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that Cumming said he was forced to take a hard look at his life.
“COVID hit me like a Mack truck,” he recalled. Prior to the pandemic, Jung Do ran camps that had more than 100 children attending and a successful afterschool program, but COVID halted everything. Cumming lost his business during the pandemic, which plunged him into a six-figure debt.
“For me, it was a really good opportunity to reflect on life because one of my kids at one point said ‘Papa, you like work more than us,’ Cumming said. “Of course it wasn’t true, but my actions said ‘Yeah, buddy, you’re right, high five.’ I was doing something, but I was saying something else. COVID got us all at home and it was a challenging experience.”
This forced pause gave Cumming time to reflect on his life. At 199 pounds, unhealthy and unhappy, Cumming said he realized he wasn’t where he wanted to be. Determined to make a positive change, he went back to the basics, working consistently on his fundamentals and back in school. Soon, he found himself back on the mats, finding a home at YGK Combatives. It was here that he discovered a vibrant community of adults practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), a martial art he had come to love.
This time, however, he wasn’t going it alone.
“When I decided to compete, my children competed with me,” he said. “It was really cool to be 50 years old, coming back to combat sports after 21 years and have my kids do it with me. So, we all started and competed together.”
At the time of Cumming’s devastating head injury 21 years ago, he was a top contender for the Taekwondo nationals, which were hosted in Kingston that year. But instead of competing, he was forced into an early retirement, his dreams shattered in an instant. For years, he wondered what could have been.
“The question always was, what happened if you had of healed up and actually fought?” he said. “How would you have done at the nationals that year? I was one of the favourites. It was always a thing in my head, and I remember talking to my wife about it.”
This time, he promised himself, things would be different.
Since his return to BJJ, Cumming has won four gold medals. An injury on May 5, however, during the final of his last competition nearly derailed his shot at the world championships.
“I was in the final and I (suffered an) MCL strain,” he said. While recoiling from the knee injury, Cumming said he felt a crunch in his shoulder. “I proceeded to choke (my opponent) out and won, but after the adrenaline wore off, my body didn’t feel right. Because it was left knee and right shoulder, I couldn’t train.”
For more than a month leading up to the world championships, Cumming was sidelined. But this time, unlike his past experience, competing wasn’t taken from him.
“I started training back probably in mid-June,” Cumming recalled. “I had a couple select partners that I would train with, and we’d do more positional training.”
By the time he arrived in Vegas, more than two decades after he was forced to abandon his dreams, Cumming said he found himself soaking in every single moment.
“You walk into something like that, and the coolest thing is you have people between the ages of 30- and 75-years old competing,” he said. “When you walk into a room like that, it really does challenge your perception of what age is. You are walking in and seeing people who are fit, healthy and the energy in the room is impalpable. It’s unbelievable. To walk in there and be a part of that, and feel included within that, is unbelievable. That was so cool.”
In Las Vegas, Cumming showed up, fought hard, and gave everything he had.
“I was in a pool of 27 people,” Cumming said. “I think I was the second fight in the division. The first fight didn’t happen because one of the guys wasn’t in attendance. Then I fought. I had planned everything out. Here’s match one, here’s how much time we’re going to have between. Then match two. Here’s what I need to do.”
In his first match, Cumming dominated with a 7-0 win. His next match against the eventual champion of Master World Championships, was a battle that ended in a 0-0 tie, with his opponent winning by a single advantage in the dying seconds of the match.
“I tried a hail Mary sweep and that’s when he got his advantage,” Cumming recalled.
Most memorable, Cumming said, wasn’t the fight or the result, but rather it was knowing that his wife and kids, students and friends were all gathered back in Kingston watching him fight.
“I called them as soon as I was done,” Cumming said. “They were clapping, it was great. My son says ‘Papa, when you threw him the last time, you should have done this, this and this.’ Thanks, buddy. He’s very observant and he’s a tactician.”
Looking back, Cumming smiled at the thought of what he’d accomplished.
“I started competing in November and I beat everybody in my division, and no one scored a point on me,” he said. “The only person to beat was the guy who won the world championships, and he didn’t even score, he won on an advantage. I’m holding onto that.”
He’s also holding onto his why.
“Why I’m competing is twofold,” he said. “For myself, but also for my kids and for my students. It’s really important for me, there’s a quote my cousin gave to me, it says ‘Your children don’t become who you want them to be, they become who you are.’ For me to talk about hard work paying off, grit, perseverance, all of those types of things, tenacity, I’ve got to be that, I’ve got to demonstrate that. You have to continue to push yourself forward and continue to exercise your own courage in order to influence others to do the same. The last four years have been about really taking care of myself in ways that allow me to take care of others. We have a saying in coaching, you can’t take anyone any deeper than you’re willing to go yourself. That’s crucial to me. I think my kids and who I want them to become, I’ve got to be that.”
Being able to deliver that moment to his children is something Cumming said he’ll never forget.
“I want my kids to be certain people,” he said, fighting back tears. “But that’s me. If I can demonstrate to them that I’m willing to step into the arena, then they will, too. To have them watch, support, and do, that’s amazing. You can’t ask much more.”
Cumming already has his sights set on a return to Vegas in 12 months’ time.
“When I go back, it won’t be about the worlds, it’ll be about the progress, about the development, the things I teach,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t always apply the things that we teach, but we learn them through our experience. I joined Jiu-Jitsu not to compete. The intention was not to compete again, but when you have that in your blood, and that’s what drives you, the wheels start spinning and saying ‘Hey, get back in the ring.’”
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