YORKTON - Not too often does a broad interest in sports intersect with my covering the long-running Yorkton Film Festival, but this year the two crossed paths.
Among the nominees of the recently completed festival – the 77th edition making it North America’s longest running film festival – was the short documentary Goodridge: The Price of Glory.
I was not familiar with Gary Goodridge but I was intrigued by the film.
For those in the same boat as I, Gary Henry Goodridge, nicknamed "Big Daddy", is a Trinidadian-Canadian former heavyweight kickboxer and mixed martial artist.
“Goodridge is a pioneer of Mixed Martial Arts,” details kcproductions.video. “One of the earliest fighters, in what at the time, was seen as more spectacle than sport. Famously making his MMA debut at UFC 8, Goodridge won in a fashion so spectacular, that the clip is often used to demonstrate how savage mixed martial arts can be. MMA and Kickboxing afforded Gary opportunities to travel the world and compete everywhere from The United States, to Brazil, Japan, and The Netherlands. Competing in 80+ fights in front of sold out crowds to thousands of fans cheering him on in the ring. A truly glorious life – right? What Gary didn’t realize was the toll the sport was taking on his body. Fighting in what Gary himself considers past his prime, Gary ended his career on a seven fight losing streak. A streak that very well may have cost him his long-term cognition.”
And that is what the film focuses on, where the sport has left Goodridge as he nears 60 “struggling with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: a disease only known as “punch drunk” when Gary started in the sport. Gary knew nothing of CTE and its effects when he began in 1996, but today he’s paying for the career that afforded him glory. The sport that made him feel like a gladiator.
“Gary’s story stands to serve as somewhat of a cautionary, but also as a character study of someone dealing with a certain cognitive dissonance. Despite the sport giving him a degenerative brain disease, he looks back on his career fondly. When walking through the gym he can’t help but give the heavy bag a few jabs and smile. He continues to help where he can in the martial arts community and is promoting MMA in Africa via his promotion the AFC.”
The film is only 24-minutes but powerful throughout as Goodridge tells a story of pride in his career even as it robs him of parts of his mind.
It is easy to see why filmmaker Kevin Courtney chose to make the film.
The subject of concussions turned out to be one of personal interest to Courtney.
“I played football for eight years,” he said, adding he also kick boxed for five, so “concussions have always been of interest to me.”
Initially, Courtney had thoughts of a series of episodes exploring athletes across a range of sports facing concussion-caused issues, but noted he “ended up not doing the series.”
But, in researching the never-undertaken series Courtney did come across Goodridge’s story – one of the first to be diagnosed with CTE, a disease that can only be confirmed with a brain biopsy after death.
Last year Courtney said he found himself looking for subject for a short documentary and Goodridge’s story percolated to the top of the list recognizing there was some urgency to tell his story while the ex-fighter could still participate.
While there was some worry Goodridge might not want to have his story on film, Courtney said he was actually rather eager to tell his story as a self-professed traumatic brain injury advocate.
“Gary was nothing but an open book for us,” said Courtney.
As a viewer of the film, one thing was missing – more of the story – but having covered the film festival for years I am also aware getting film done in Canada is always challenging.
“I think for a lot of filmmakers the biggest hurdle is funding,” said Courtney, adding he would have loved to expand the story.
For example Goodridge talks about the struggles fellow fighter Don Fry is now facing – in particular with anger. Courtney said he would have loved to be able to talk to Fry.
“But this was super, super indie,” he said of the film shot in two days with lots of friends helping for free and others chipping in at reduced rate.
In the end though they have a film which might lead to more.
“It’s a little bit of a proof of concept,” he said, adding it could lead to more films in a somewhat similar vein.
More importantly, short as it may be, the film asks an important question.
“How do you move forward in MMA knowing this can be the result?” asked Courtney, adding it is a question all athletes in many sports – football, rugby, hockey and others need to at least ask themselves.
He knows of what he speaks.
“I had a pretty bad concussion in Grade 12 (playing football),” he said, adding he lied about how he felt to play. It was later he learned – especially in youth – a second hit to the head for those already suffering from concussion can cause death.
“I had no idea that was even a thing,” he said.
