In less than a year, Roy Sims has gone from unknown to a potential star for the U.S. Sumo team.
Sims, 33, continued his meteoric ascent up the sumo ranks after winning the U.S. Nationals in the heavyweight and open division on June 13 in Missouri. Last year in the U.S. Sumo Open, Sims won a bronze medal in a heavyweight division that featured a couple of former world champions.
With the pair of victories at the U.S. Nationals, Sims earned the right to represent the U.S. national team in the World Sumo tournament in Japan at the end of August.
“It’s a huge honor,” said Sims, a Hollister native and 2000 San Benito High graduate. “I want to represent the United States in a big way. I want to do well and win, but I really want to show the world we have a viable chance in this sport at the world level.”
Sims was so excited about his performance at U.S. Nationals that instead of taking last week off to recuperate from the grueling workouts preceding nationals, he opted to watch video of some of his future opponents while mixing in a couple of squat workouts.
Sims returns to competition at the place where it all started in Long Beach, site of the 2015 U.S. Sumo Open on Aug. 8. A year ago, Sims entered the tournament with just a month of training, a newcomer who defied the odds with hard work and a desire to compete.
This time, Sims possesses more experience and savvy to go along with superior fitness. Prior to the U.S. Nationals, Sims went to Los Angeles to spar with world champion Byamba Ulambayar.
“In those two days, I probably had 50 matches with Byamba,” Sims said. “I learned a lot from him, and it was great preparation for nationals.”
Indeed, no one at nationals had the pedigree of Ulambayar, giving the already confident Sims an advantage over the competition. Sims won all of his matches in under 10 seconds—most sumo matches finish in the 5- to 10-second range.
Sims took a confident yet humble mindset into his matches.
“I tend to always underestimate myself to keep sharp,” he said. “Having fear is better than overconfidence.”
Sims trains with Tony Castro two to three times a week, and credits the accomplished power lifter for helping him stay strong. Sims has come a long way in a short amount of time, giving him optimism for the future.
“I look at some of these guys from Russia, Mongolia and Japan, and these guys are skilled and humungous,” said Sims, who is no shrinking violet himself at 6-foot-5 and 350 pounds. “They’ve been doing this for a long time, so the more years I put into this, the better I’ll be.”
Sims has been grateful for the support he’s received; Villalon CPR and Wynn Construction have come on as sponsors. Sims said the only thing that was better than winning his matches at U.S. Nationals was watching his children compete. His daughter, Emma, 7, won a bronze medal while his 4-year-old son, Roy III, earned a participatory medal (places are not given for his age group).
“I really believe in the sport and its potential here in the U.S.,” Sims said. “There are amazing athletes in this country, but a lot of them don’t think about this sport,” Sims said. “But as it grows in popularity, I think we’ll see more athletes not only coming out for the sport, but dominating it to be honest.”
