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Murphy shows off his world
title to the fans. |
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Clinton Murphy crushes a pile
of concrete blocks. |
Breaking
away
By Ed Flink THE NEWS-TIMES
NEW
MILFORD – For fun, Clinton Murphy smashes concrete
blocks, wooden boards, baseball bats and coconuts.
Using
his bare hands, feet or elbows.
The 35-year-old New
Milford resident, a third degree Black Belt in the Kun Tao form of karate,
defended his Concrete Power Breaking title in the heavyweight division at the
US Open and International Sport Karate Association's World Martial Arts
Championships at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida last weekend. The event
will be televised on ESPN2.
Using his elbow, he
pulverized a stack of 14 concrete blocks, each of which were
two inches thick. Last year, he won by breaking 15.
Ouch!
Or
not?
"It doesn't hurt at
all if it breaks," Murphy said. "It only hurts when it doesn't break."
The world record is 16,
held by a pair of teammates from
Murphy, who is 6-foot-4 and
225 pounds, believes physical strength isn't the primary reason for success in
the sport.
"It's at least
60-40 mental," said Murphy, who takes several seconds to clear his mind
and concentrate before attacking whatever it is he's trying to break.
"It's a lot of just
going away from where you are, separating yourself from the audience and going
to a place where you can mentally be strong and transfer that through your
body."
Size and power are
overrated. The biggest, strongest guy doesn't automatically prevail.
"I think a lot of
it is speed and technique. Maybe the size and strength will give you some
confidence but it is all speed to break those 14, 15, 16 blocks," Murphy
said.
"I've seen guys
that outweigh me by 100 pounds only break six or eight blocks. This year the
lightweight guy won with 15 blocks; he broke (one) more than I did."
A former
"I just needed
something physical to do. A couple of friends were into it and I started
training in
Now he's an instructor
at
Whether it's a stranger
who recognizes him at an airport or a friend calling from a bar to say he's on
television, Murphy has gained a small measure of notoriety after last year's
event was replayed on ESPN2
"It's
amazing," he said. "You wouldn't think anyone would see it; they play
it at
Of course, his buddies
think he's wacky, traveling around the country to crumble concrete or crack
coconuts.
"They think you're
crazy," he said. "They think, 'What are you doing that for?'"
His
reasons?
"It's a great
mental release. The tournament is great. It's great to be with our team. And
it's kind of a weird sport. You're really not (competing directly) against the
other guy; you're against all the material. So most of the
guys who don't get an ego are running around helping each other, setting up,
cleaning up. And afterwards you're all together having dinner."
The sport has grown in
participation and popularity since Murphy got involved seven years ago.
"In '99 there were
two tournaments in the whole country," he recalled. "We've been to
Chicago,
Murphy, a lineman for
AT&T, has been fortunate from an injury standpoint. He sprained his foot
but has never broken any bones in his hands or elbows.
Participants must be
male adults with a Black Belt in karate. The competition is divided into two
divisions: heavyweight for breakers over 200 pounds and lightweight for those
under 200 pounds.
Like gymnastics, there
are four events (concrete breaking; power wood breaking; combat wood breaking
and creative breaking). The top all-around performer (or combined champion) is
crowned the ultimate breaker.
"My goal the past
two years has been to win the ultimate breaker," Murphy said. "I came
in third last year and far as I know from the numbers I came in second this
year."
His ultimate goal is to
capture the ultimate championship belt.
"I'm going to try
to train this year so I can win all four of them or a combo of all four of them
so I can win the ultimate breaker," he said.