From road sign curiosity to reality - Andrew Roden makes a bid for hometown gold in sumo at The World Games

Birmingham, Alabama - People often say, ‘I saw a sign,’ but very rarely do they actually mean it. In Andrew Roden’s case, the phrase is understood literally.

“I had wrestled my whole life,” said Roden. “I wrestled through middle school, high school, and college.”

”I went to Birmingham with a friend [in 2020], just to pick something up one day, and I see a sign at the Birmingham city limits that says ‘Home of The World Games,’“ recounted Roden.

“I didn’t know what The World Games were at the time,” he admitted, “so as we’re riding back up towards Huntsville, Alabama…I get on Google and start pulling up what sports there are, and I see that sumo is one of the sports. I didn’t know it was a thing outside of Japan, but as a former wrestler, it intrigued me.”

Intrigue soon turned into action, as Roden explained, “I decided to learn a little bit about the sport, so that I’d know what I was going to watch. I start Googling some things and watching some videos on YouTube…[and] I begin to realize that if I got back in shape and got to training, I’d be pretty good at this.”

The rest was a formality. He began training when local gyms opened up after closures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. By September 2020, he was ready to challenge himself against fellow practitioners.

“I went 10-0 and beat two national champions,” affirmed Roden. “I told everybody when I first started that training in May of 2020, that my goal was to win The World Games in 2022. Here we are, it kicks-off tomorrow.”

Roden’s participation is more than just a story about a spectacular discovery, it is also one of homegrown talent.

“I grew up in Carrollton, Georgia, but that’s only about an hour and half away from Birmingham. Just across the state line into Georgia,” he decried.

“I have hometown friends from where I grew up...friends from where I live in Alabama coming, so it means a lot to wrestle in front of a hometown crowd, especially at this level.”

Roden will be in action in men’s middleweight and openweight classes on July 9th and 10th respectively. He sees a lot of similarities between wrestling and sumo.

“It’s a lot of the same general principles. The hand fighting, the footwork, the head positioning. The general principle of wrestling is leverage, being lower than your opponent, attacking on the angles.”

However, he also sees an important difference between the two.

“In traditional wrestling, we get in a scramble, we get in a flurry or something. [If] I go for something and make a little bit of a mistake, you [can] capitalize it, and score a takedown. I’ve still got five minutes or whatever, where I can get an escape, come back after you, and score a takedown, and still win the match. I can wrestle my way back into it,” he explained.

“I quickly learned, ‘oh!’ you can’t make those kind of mistakes in sumo. You have to wrestle very smart.”

His original curiosity in sumo seems to be shared by a significant amount of locals, as sumo was one of the first sports to sell out tickets for the Games. Reacting to this news, Roden said, “I am a bit surprised it sold out, but…in other ways I’m not.”

“When I tell [someone] ‘I’m a sumo wrestler,’ once they get over the initial confusion of sumo, they’re like ‘wow! that’s really awesome! I didn’t know it was here in America!’

“Everybody wants to see it,” smiled Roden.

Reflecting on what sumo has to offer, he added, “I think it’s got a lot of potential to catch on in America, but even in Alabama as well.”

A home victory would surely help with odds of sumo gaining a foothold in Alabama and the greater United States. Roden, who’s studying psychology with a concentration in performance, believes he’s the man to deliver home glory.

“I’m ready to take the gold,” said the confident American.