ILLINOIS JUDO NEWSLETTER – IPPON!!!
May 2, 2007
President: Tim
Schultheis
VP: Chuck
Clark
Secretary: Mary Gail Ford
Treasurer: Frank Oliveri
Editor: Kei
Narimatsu
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Illinois Judo Newsletter – IPPON!! is the voice of Illinois Judo, sent whenever convenient to
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Contents:
Editorial – Can’t we all just get along?
Local News
USA JUDO NEWS
Volmer and Turner Win Bronze in Cuba
Louise
Mackey Passes Away in Oregon
Dan Smith
Receives USA Judo Medal of Honor at Senior Nationals
Wednesday is Athlete Funding Deadline for Tre-Torri
2007 International German Championships
JO’s Hotel
Reservations
Serving Our Country
Something to Think About
Upcoming Events
USA Judo Life Members
*****************************************************************************************
EDITORIAL – “Can‘t we all
just get along?”
With Coaches Certification
now a foci of controversy, there have been a few long and short critical
comments on the way USA Judo is “messing up” American Judo in the United
States. It was not long ago that referee certification was the focus of
attention. With each new issue, USJF and USJA feels like the adopted step child
of American Judo. In some ways, this may be true, in others, it is far from
reality. While I am not in the inner circle of USA Judo let alone the other two
National organizations, there might be some issues that folks are not aware of., but should be.
In a joint statement from
USJA and USJF, “mutual welfare and benefit for all” is central to the theme
that USA Judo is NOT practicing this basic tenet of Judo.
But let’s look at some of
the issues and then maybe we can make some value judgments about the state of
American Judo with all of its solidarity as well as its ugly warts.
At one time, there was
but one Judo organization in the US – the United States Judo Federation. For
reasons beyond the scope of this editorial, the United States Judo Association
was formed because some in Judo could not get along with leadership of the
USJF. It is ironic that while USJF and USJA could never get along – which is
why they split in the first place, they are now coming together to “solve this
Coach Certification” problem from the voracious and predatory jaws of USA
Judo.
But we must also
understand that when the IJF (International Judo Federation) and USOC (US
Olympic Committee) told American Judo to get their act together, United States
Judo, Inc (USA Judo) was begat of necessity to be the National Governing Body
for Judo in the United States. Every country has an NGB for their respective
sports in each country. There can never be more than one. Since 1980, for good
or bad, USA Judo is our representative to the world stage. Others have
tried to beat the system. Taekwando had at
least two competing organizations. They were able to get into the
Olympics in 1988 as a demonstrations sport. And that was the last time
they were in the Olympics.
Efforts to merge the
organizations over the years have been met with little to great resistance
within the other organizations. While USJA and USJF brought unique perspective
and legitimacy to various committees, each was bent on promoting their own
brand of Judo from rank requirements, grass roots development, coaching,
refereeing, insurance and club membership. USJA was great at self promotion and
developed some excellent international players. , USJF rested on their
reputation and continued to develop great players using traditional training
methods. USJA had an excellent junior rank promotion system, USJF had an
excellent senior rank promotion system. USJA promoted American Judo, USJF
promoted Kodokan Judo. USJA clubs grew by leaps and
bounds, USJF clubs grew mainly on the west coast.
With USA Judo’s entry
into the mix, further dilution of the leadership base was seen. USA Judo, in
the early years was seen as a direct affront to the current leadership of both
of the other organizations. So by the mid 80’s, we saw three National Junior
Championships, three different Referee Certifications (not sure there was even
a Coach Certification at that time), three different insurance liability
policies with no reciprocity for any. Efforts from each of the organizations to
garner membership for their organization ONLY was not only practiced, it was
mandatory for many judoka’s. This was hardly a time of mutual welfare and
benefit for all.
While this is a somewhat
abbreviated history of the three organizations, let’s not forget the lessons
that should be learned. Mutual Welfare, Maximum Efficiency may be best
served under but one master.
Three
Competing American Judo Organizations: Most folks from the international community cannot believe
that there are three competing organizations trying to run American Judo. They
pretty much laugh at us and say that is why American Judo is not as strong as
European Judo, or Asian Judo. There used to be two competing organizations in
Japan awhile back. As I saw it, it was quite contentious but settled
rather quickly with the College group acceding to the NGB of Japan. This
was a time of great angst and loss of competitive edge for Judo players coming
out of Japan. That is no longer the case.
Certifications: At one time, referee certification was
done by all three organizations. Now it is one and in my opinion, developing
some of the strongest referees in the PJU and the World – precisely, since
there is one organization overseeing the development of their referees. USJF
and USJA may have local and maybe regional referees who are started under their
aegis but once National Referee status is bestowed upon that individual, they
become part of the USA Judo Referee system. They can be members of the other
two organizations but their allegiance must be to USA Judo since they are the
ones who determine who travels where, who takes their next test. The PJU, the
IJF does not want to have to discuss referees with anyone other that the leadership of USA Judo.
Is this what is happening
with the Coach’s Certification. It is the loss of control by USJF and USJA over
their coach’s that undermines and worries them. I believe this is a justified
worry especially since it might be possible to develop some of the best coaches
in the world under the one umbrella of USA Judo. It has worked with the referees, I see no reason why it should not work for the
coaches. One philosophy, while not giving up a coaches
individualism, is the goal. One set of standard for responsibility, for its
Code of Ethics should assure any parent or athlete that they are going to be
taken care of under a certain standard of care, well-treated with respect and
understanding. While the vast majority of coaches are outstanding and people of
honor under all conditions, I can tell you that this is not a standard protocol
with our coaching staff now. And while no organization can assure perfect
standards and assurances parents want, I believe it is a step in the right
direction. Further, this can happen only if the coaching protocols come under
the guidance and leadership of one organization.
International
Travel: As you know many referees, coaches and athletes travel all around the
country and all around the world. When the issue of who pays for your trip
comes up, many/most are all self-funded, especially at the second and third
tier of players. “WHAT!” they say, “you mean you have to pay for
all of your air travel, hotel, food?” Yes! that is the reality. But consider this. Is
it better to divide up what little money pot there is into three competing
organizations or should there be a consolidation of efforts for the Mutual
Welfare and Benefit of the PLAYERS, not the leadership? I think a case
should be made for inefficiencies in the duplication of services.
Member
Support: Who should support
its members? Should a secondary member who pays $15, say, get the same benefits
as a primary member who pays $50 to the organization? I think not. However, USA
Judo has supported travel for players, referees and coaches who are secondary
members of the USA Judo, often at a rate higher than a USA Judo primary
member! Is this right? USA Judo should support their members who are
primary members, who give clinics and attend championships on behalf of USA
Judo, and who promote USA Judo. I think (tho I
could be wrong on this point), the other organizations monetarily support its
own primary membership first and rarely, if ever support their secondary
members.
So how do we think outside
the box? What will it take to truly understand and come together as
American Judo with Mutual Welfare and Maximum Efficiency as the relevant
considerations for a stronger program, regardless of affiliation?
- First, it will not be settled
for the immediate future. There continues to be much too much power
struggling as USA Judo, USJF and USJA via for your precious few dollars.
- Is there room for three organization? Perhaps but only if USJF and USJA can
take a developmental role in their respective organizations. If USJF and
USJA can require primary membership with USA Judo for all of their members
and secondary membership levels with them,
it is my belief that this program could work. They will have to cut back,
give up programs that are covered better by someone else,
they will have to go back to basics. Can the USJA teach the others how to
grow their clubs, marketing and sales or come up with a
universal teaching syllabi for children? Can USJF develop a referee
development program for teenagers, for beginner referees or dojo training
programs? Of course both groups could come together in a spirit of Mutual
Welfare and Benefit for ALL to develop feeder programs for USA Judo.
Wouldn’t that be novel?
- Is merging necessary? Perhaps
in an ideal world, it is. I believe it will come about in two
ways. Competing organizations will become irrelevant and will
dissolve by natural selection. Or one organization will “take over”
by an elected democratic process to become the new leadership of USA
Judo. By doing so, they will embrace the new paradigm of USA Judo,
remembering their roots but looking to the future under a unified
philosophy. I do realize that with out new
leadership format and Board of Directors, this might be more difficult,
but if you look at the leadership outside the independent directors, they
all came from one organization or another. This is what transference
of allegiances is all about and more importantly, it is a means to
understand and do what is best for Judo in America.
- Lastly, USA Judo must walk a
fine line in confronting these issues. On the one hand, they have a
job to do to strengthen Judo in America. They must also maximize the
potential each organization has to offer, bring them together in a spirit
of cooperation and develop programs that are meaningful and respectful for
everyone. Can USA Judo do better, absolutely.
Can the other organizations do better, an absolute necessity.
“Can’t we all just get
along” is an old clichéd mantra from the race riots of Watts. If we think
about it however, this is what it will take to strength Judo, thus
strengthening all of our organizations. It is up to us to voice opinions,
tell our leadership that we are tired of this constant bickering and to figure
it out. Do what is best for our athletes, coaches and referees, leave
egos at the door and just get along.
PS: My thoughts should
not come as any surprise to Dr Ron Tripp, President of USA Judo, Jim Webb, President of USJA or Neil Simon, President of USJF. I have
spoken to them on a couple of occasions asking bluntly, probably too bluntly,
why we continue to have three competing organizations. While I did not get the
sense that they had any immediate solutions, I believe these fine individuals
have what is best for Judo in their hearts and minds. For this I applaud each
and pray that they will indeed do what is best for AMERICAN JUDO
LOCAL NEWS
USA Judo News
Complete coverage of
these articles available at the USA Judo website. Click on the link http://www.usjudo.org/ and click on the What's New page to see all the recent news items. The
items listed below may or may not be linked already. To get further
information on any of these stories, it is better to go to the USA Judo
website.
Volmar and Turner Win Bronze in Cuba
(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Adler
Volmar (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National
Training Site at North Miami / 100kg) and Anthony Turner (Miami, Fla. /
USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami / +100kg) both won bronze
medals at the Jose Ramon Rodriguez International Tournament in Havana, Cuba on
Friday… more>
Louise Mackey Passes
Away in Oregon
Louise K. Mackey
(Beaverton, Ore.) passed away in her home
at the age of 72.
Louise began judo at the
age of 40 and competed frequently for more than 10 years. A lifetime
member of USA Judo, Louise first became involved in the sport through her
children, including Karen Mackey (Sioux City, Iowa) who is now the president
of Iowa Judo and a member of the USA Judo Nominating Committee.
Louise dedicated
countless hours to working at regional and national judo tournaments as well as
teaching local judo classes and serving as a past USA Judo board member.
In honor of Louise’s
contributions to the sport, she was promoted posthumously to a rank of
fourth-degree black belt by USA Judo.
“I’ve known Louise for
many years and know that we all will miss being with her at events,” said USA
Judo President Dr. Ron Tripp (Norman, Okla.)
Services were held at 11
a.m. on April 30 at Calvary Episcopal Church in Sioux City, Iowa.
A complete article on
Louise is available at http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/04/29/obituaries/local/077584d8e69efd27862572cc000a5ed6.txt.
Dan Smith Receives USA Judo Medal of Honor at Senior
Nationals
USA Judo presented Sergeant
First Class Dan Smith (Dickson, Tenn.) with one of the organization’s most
prestigious awards – the USA Judo Medal of Honor – on April 20 at the USA Judo
Senior National Championships in Miami, Fla… more>
Wednesday is Athlete
Funding Deadline for Tre-Torri
Athletes seeking B-Level
grant funding for the Tre-Torri International, a USA
Judo Senior B-Level Point Tournament being held June 1-2 in Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy, are reminded that the deadline to
submit funding requests is Wednesday May 2.
Athletes with at least
14 international points on the USA Judo Senior Elite National Roster dated
April 30 are eligible to apply. All athletes requesting funding must
compete in the Olympic weight division in which they reached a minimum of 14
international points. Please visit www.usjudo.org/athletefunding.asp
for more details.
2007 International
German Championships
The International German
Championships, an EJU and USA Judo B-Level Point Tournament, will be held
August 11-12 in Braunschweig, Germany. The tournament
will be followed by a training camp from August 13-17.
Competition will be held
in the women’s 48kg, 57kg, 63kg, +78kg and men’s 60kg, 73kg, 90kg and +100kg on
August 11. The women’s 52kg, 70kg, 78kg and men’s 66kg, 81kg and 100kg
will be held on August 12.
Approximate tournament
fees are as follows:
- 20 Euros entry fee
- 240 Euros (double) or 285 Euros (single) for room and
board (beginning with dinner on August 10 and concluding with breakfast on
August 12. Athletes choosing to stay outside tournament hotels will
be required to pay a 30 Euro fee to the organizers.
- Additional fees will be assessed for the training
camp.
To register, or for more
information, contact Dave Milliman at David.Milliman@usajudo.us.
Get Your 2007 Junior
Olympic Hotel Reservations In…
Athletes competing in
the 2007 USA Judo National Junior Olympic Championships, July 21-22 in San
Antonio, Texas, are reminded to reserve their rooms at the tournament host
hotel – Crowne Plaza Riverwalk,
111 Pecan Street East, San Antonio, TX 78205.
The Crowne Plaza Riverwalk
is a AAA four-diamond hotel with doors that open right
onto San Antonio's famous Riverwalk - the top tourist
attaction in Texas.
To reserve your room,
call 1.888.623.2800 and ask for the USA JUDO RATE. Reservations also can
be made online at www.crowneplaza.com\sariverwalk. On the Web Site, go to Group
Reservations and enter the following code: SS1
The room rate is $119
per night for up to 4 people. The block is available from July 19-22.
SERVING OUR COUNTRY
PVT Luke Jacobsen – Milwaukee,
WI
LTJG Donny Newsome, Gurnee,
IL
LT Nick Oldfield, Navy, Virginia – home
base
Mike Preditus,
IL
Dan Smith, Dickson,
TN
Please let me know other Judo families who have loved ones serving in our
military: rank, branch of service and where they are serving.
Thanks.
Something to Think About –
“Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana
UPCOMING EVENTS - 2006
Please note the following events on the horizon for
Illinois and the Midwest. Communication and download information can be gotten
directly through this email by attachments or by going to www.judofdl.com (Brett Wood Taylor Welcome Mat Judo). OR
www.judocalendar.com (Jim Carmer).
Either site is a wealth of information on Judo events. Both have more
events listed than I have, so visit their sites often. Thanks.
2007 dates
May 19 N-S Tournament
Glen Carbon, IL
Contact Quentin
Thompson
618-476-1976
H
qthom2@juno.com
Eiko
Shepherd
618-781-5157 Cell eikojudo@apci.net
May 19 IJI Board of directors
meeting Glen
Carbon, IL
Contact Tim Schultheis
847-
244-7847 tschulth@warpnet.net
May 20 ILLINOIS JUDO JUNIOR WORKOUT
O’Fallon, IL World
Martial Arts
School
Contact Eiko Shepherd
618-781-5157 Cell eikojudo@apci.net
Brett Wolf
773-230-6070 azumah4@yahoo.com
May 29-30 Am-Can
Challenge – Buffalo,
NY-
Referee EXAMINATION Site
Jun
9 Tohkon
Classic – Chicago
IL
Contact Doug Tono
773-784-7766 www.tohkon.com
Registration http://www.tohkon.com/jump.html?links
Jul
7-8 USJA Junior Nationals –
Indianapolis, IN
-
Referee CREDIT Site –
Jul
14-15 USJF Junior Nationals – Ypsilanti, MI
-
Referee CREDIT Site
Jul 21 – 22 Junior
Olympics – San Antonio, TX
-
Referee EVALUATION Site –
Jul
28-29 USA Judo Junior Open – Ft
Lauderdale, FL
-
Referee EVALUATION Site
Sep
2007 Ladder and Fall Classic –
-
Referee EVALUATION Site
Sep 29 “THE ROCK & ROLL
CAPITAL OF THE WORLD” JUDO TOURNAMENT
- Brunswick OH –
near Cleveland
Contact Joe
Schmidt
Shane Hudson
(330) 273-1573
440-781-3444
schmidtjudo@verizon.net shane-hudson@sbcglobal.net
Oct
20-21 USA Judo Senior Open
-
Referee EVALUATION Site
Nov. 2-4 3rd Annual "All Women's
Championship," Kalamazoo,
Michigan
Jr.
Sr. and Master competition (Kata, Shiai)
, Referee, Coaches, Kata Clinics
Contact Deborah L. Fergus at defrgs6@cs.com or 269 208 1068
Nov
2007
Continental Crown – Seattle, WA
-
Referee EXAMINATION Site
Nov
2007
Dallas Invitational – Dallas, TX
-
Referee EXAMINATION Site
.LIFE MEMBERSHIPS INFORMATION – USA
JUDO
For more information on Life
Membership in USA Judo, please contact USA Judo and click on “LIFE
MEMBERSHIP”
Nat’l Order Name
030
1 Henry
Okamura(deceased)
041
2 Kei Narimatsu
065
3 James
Colgan
122
4
Richard Fukuyama(deceased)
125
5
Joanne Barthold(deceased)
139
6
George Stanich
148
7 Mary
Gail Ford
161
8 Kevin
Narimatsu (CA)
162
9 Scott
Narimatsu (CA)
164
10 Byung Chul Cho
167
11 Yung Kim
177
12 Kyu Yoon
181
13 John Bek
189
14 Quentin Thompson
201
15 Michiyuki Sasa
216
16 George Weers
271
17 Susan McConnell
289
18 William Jaconetti
291
19 Jean S Narimatsu
292
20 Susan Narimatsu
324
21 Timothy Tremaine
342
22 Stephen Bergren
349
23 Timothy Canty
355
24 Tim Schultheis
358
25 Bradford Lee
(NV)
363
26 Frank Oliveri
364
27 Michael Ogata
(FL)
370
28 Jeanette J Narimatsu
371
29 Julie K Narimatsu
374
30 Joe Kajita (CA)
378
31 Eiko Shepherd
381
32 Bill Dunning(deceased)
382
33 Yasko Odagiri
383
34 Wren Odagiri
385
35 Cary Yamanaka
(MN)
387 36
Don Bordeau
There are currently only 36 Life
Members in Illinois. You can start a membership for $75 minimum start
payment and $25 per payment thereafter until completed. You can pay by
cash, check or credit card. For more information, please contact www.usjudo.org and select “LIFE
MEMBERSHIP” Let’s do our share in Illinois. Thanks.