Fall. Go ahead, get friendly with the mat.

The first session for judo instructor Sayaka Matsumoto’s new students involves spending a lot of time on their backs.

Don’t panic, Matsumoto, 25, isn’t making an example of ill-behaved students by tossing them around like rag dolls. Instead this Olympian is teaching them one of the most important lessons in one of the world’s most popular sports.

“Learning how to fall is very important,” said Matsumoto outside her class, deep in the bowels of Burk Hall. “If you don’t know how to fall, you’re going to get hurt. Plain and simple.”

Several students are falling nicely now, some of them are even enjoying it. “I signed up for this with no martial arts background,” said Jon Hirsch, 21, an international business major. “Learning how to fall is like getting out of first gear when driving a clutch. It’s just the first step.”

An ironic fact for a sport with a name that translates to “gentle way.”

Matsumoto has trained under her father, SF State psychology professor Dr. David Matsumoto, since she was five.

She has never seemed to take the gentle way, especially when it comes to her road to the Olympics.

A seven-time national champion and fourth degree black belt, the Japan-born, Richmond-raised UC Berkeley grad seemed destined to compete for her country on the grandest stage, but was forced to wait almost a decade under some unusual circumstances.

For the Sydney Games in 2000, the team was selected on a point system rather than a qualifying tournament and Matsumoto missed out.

Fast forward to the 2004 Athens Games. The U.S. opts for a qualifying tournament, which Matsumoto wins.

The U.S. falls one slot short of qualifying for her 48-kilogram (105 pounds) weight class.

“I had to just keep going after it,” Matsumoto said. “That’s part of why I love judo. It’s fun to work hard and push limits, and I feel that judo has made me stronger physically and mentally.”

Her persistence paid off. Once again winning the trials, Matsumoto finally punched her Olympic ticket for a sport so few in her country know about.

“It’s a shame that judo isn’t so well known in the United States,” Matsumoto said. “It’s a huge sport internationally. There are people elsewhere who do this for a living, like professional athletes.”

Once again fate dealt Matsumoto the un-gentlest of ways, as her Olympic debut and first loss came against Ryoko Tani, a seven-time world champion and gold medalist in the last two Olympic games.

Women’s judo has only been an Olympic sport since 1992. The sport was first an Olympic event for men only, dating back to 1964 in Tokyo.

With a loss to Wu Shugen, Matsumoto found herself out of the competition.

Her dream of making it to the Olympics satisfied, Matsumoto enjoyed her stay in Beijing, and the perks of being an Olympian.

“I checked out the sites, spent a ton of money shopping,” Matsumoto said. “I think the best thing was the $13,000 worth of free stuff we [all Olympians] got from Nike and Ralph Lauren.”

Matsumoto doesn’t let her experience get to her head.

She stays grounded by teaching at Neighborhood School in Kensington.

Twice a week in the mornings she helps with pre-schools and during the day she assists with second grade after-school care.

Plus, she is an instructor at the East Bay Judo Institute. She’s as fierce an instructor as she is a competitor.

“She commands respect,” said Zach Wilson, 18, an English literature major enrolled in Matsumoto‘s beginner‘s class.

“Sometimes I goof around in classes, but she’s really good at keeping me in check.”

Matsumoto laments judo as being lumped into a grander, obscure pool of martial art.

“It’s not about ‘hiyaahs’ or breaking bricks,” she said. “We’re not savage animals. We bow. Students are expected to have respect for their sensei.”

For now, this is Matsumoto taking it easy.

“When training [for the Olympics], I got so tired of people telling me ‘do this, do that,” Matsumoto said. “I just need to enjoy some time being a normal person.”

To recap, taking it easy is teaching three grades of school throughout the day, teaching at the East Bay Judo Institute and grappling with students at SF State at night, which suits her students just fine.

“You’re always sweating afterward, guaranteed,” said Dan Jacobsen, 22, a business finance major in the beginners class.

“She’s at the pinnacle of the sport. She wants and expects you to push it the whole time.”

All you have to do is learn how to fall.