Golden Gate Xpress reports on Humintell’s director Dr. David Matsumoto. Not only does Dr. Matsumoto run Humintell but he is also a SF State psychology professor and former Olympic Judo coach. After 43 years in the sport of Judo he was promoted to seventh degree black belt at the age of 50. A huge accomplishment considering that only four individuals in the USA hold that rank.
He has not only practiced and trained in judo but has dedicated many years to coaching judo. He was a volunteer coach in 1999, “I was one of the few coaches apart of a team that got a gold medal in 1999. To be there, see it happen and to hear the Star Spangled being played and the flag is raising, you’ve got your athlete on the podium…it is an amazing experience.“
Dr. Matsumoto has a combined total of over 70 years in psychology (nonverbal expression), research and judo. He currently owns/runs the East Bay Judo Institute, which he took over many years ago. When asked why he is so dedicated to the endeavors he pursues, he the said that the sport recharges his mind to put all his energy into his life and work, and he is able to combine his love of Judo with his research.
It was his time as a coach in the Olympics, where he was able to see the intense, raw and what seemed to be uniform emotional reactions of Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists. After his return he began research on these raw emotional reactions using footage from the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Matsumoto and his team examined the physical reactions of players when they know they’ve immediately won or lost. An interesting discovery from his research, is that even though silver is a higher level of accomplishment than Bronze, in terms of emotions those second-placers are “generally sadder and have more regret” than the athletes in third.
“Bronze medalists win their last match, while silver medalists lose their last match and are left thinking of what could have been,” Matsumoto commented.
Dr. Matsumoto’s next research , already in progress, it to study the expressions of dominance and triumph and see if the results correlate across the winter and summer Olympics.
“I believe it always occurs regardless of the sport, but we are looking forward to documenting that in research.”