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Beane had 9 people in his division and went 2-2 for the day to win his first Junior National medal. In his first match, Beane pinned his opponent for ippon within the first minute to advance to the semi-finals where he threw his opponent with a huge ogoshi for ippon (full point). In the finals, Beane was thrown for 2 wazari scores and was forced to drop down to compete for silver and bronze. In his final match, Beane was thrown for ippon but won a bronze medal because he had made it to the finals earlier. Beane shows great promise for the future- having only been doing judo off and on for 3 years, his first Junior National debut was impressive, given that most of his competitors have been doing judo their whole life.

Also representing EBJI were Brandon Izzo and Jackson Kim. Izzo competed in the Juvenile B 60kg division and Kim competed in the Intermediate B 34kg division. Both Izzo and Kim showed great spirit and sportsmanship. Although they didn’t come home with a medal, they gave it their all.

All boys showed vast improvement from last year’s junior nationals and show much promise for the future.

Annie Shiraishi represented East Bay Judo Institute in the women’s 48 kilogram category at the first annual El Salvador World Cup this past weekend in San Salvador.

In her first match, Shiraishi fought Bianca Ockedahl of Canada, whom she has met on many previous occasions. Most recently, Shiraishi had fought Ockedahl at the Venezuela World Cup the previous weekend, where she lost by a yuko (minor point) score. This weekend, Shiraishi came out aggressive, looking to take control of the match. Around a minute into the match, she threw Ockedahl for a wazari (half point) with a left o-guruma (hip throw). Shiraishi continued to control the match and threw Ockedahl for a yuko (minor point) with drop-seoinage with a minute left in the match. The win put her in the semi-finals against Paula Paretto, 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist.

In the semi-finals against Paretto the match was even with no score on either side until Shiraishi got thrown for yuko with a drop sode tsuri komi goshi in the last minute and half of the match. Shiraishi was then forced to chase Paretto for the win and was thrown for 2 more scores and was able to make up the deficit. She dropped down to the repecharge where she fought for bronze.

In her bronze medal match, Shiraishi competed against Evelin Rodriguez of Guatemala. Shiraishi pinned Rogriguez for the win and her first world cup medal. This moves her up to the 57th place on the World Ranking List and also gives her an “A” level classification.

Shiraishi now turns her attention to various training camps in the upcoming 2 months to prepare her for the World Cup in Miami as well as the World Championships to be held in Tokyo, Japan in September.

Representing EBJI were Jared Beane, Brandon Izzo and Jackson Kim. All of them will also be representing EBJI at the USJF/USJA Junior Nationals on July 2-3 in Irvine, CA.

Jared competed in the IJF-Junior 81kg category. He went 1-2 for the day, winning a bronze medal. He writes about his experience at the tournament:

“Going to the judo state championship tournament at CCSF for me came across as a really good experience. I was given the chance to practice what I’ve learned so far in judo, and the chance to spend time with family and friends. Despite the fact that I lost most of my matches, the mental and physical demand served as a challenge. The helpful advice my judo instructors gave to me after every match really helped me focus on how improve my technique and my endurance for future competitions. The state tournament gave me the opportunity to meet new people, use what I’ve learned so far against competitors, and to focus on improving my judo.”

Brandon Izzo competed in the Juvenile B 60kg division. After going 3-2 for the day, Brandon took 4th place in a 12 man pool. He writes about his experience:

“On May 30, I fought at the 2010 California State Judo Championships.  I competed in the Male Juvenile B, 60 kg division and there were 12 people in my pool. This was my first tournament since I sustained an AC separation, a shoulder injury on my left shoulder back in April. I was nervous because I had only a month of practice to prepare for this tournament. I had 3 wins and 2 losses.

My first opponent, Bryce Oishi, a black belt, who is ranked nationally, dominated the match and won by Ippon.  In my second match, I countered my opponent and won by Ippon.  In my third match, I threw my opponent with an Ouchigari for Ippon.  Although I was nervous during my first matches, I quickly regained confidence after winning two matches in a row.  I was determined to win because I was pumped up.  My fourth opponent was tough and he almost caught me on several occasions with a drop knee Seionage.  There was a moment when he was trying to throw me, I saw an opening and went for a deep choke.  I heard both Sayaka Sensei and Ken Sensei utter out loud for me to keep going. My opponent tapped to forfeit and the shouting turned into cheering.  In my fifth match, I had to fight against a good friend of mine, Ryan Hisaka.  He threw me with an Uchimata; I was then eliminated.

Despite the fact that I didn’t place, I gained invaluable experience by fighting higher ranked opponents. I had fun in this tournament but it’s time to hit the training again to correct what I did wrong.  With the help of the Senseis and dedicated hard work, I am looking forward to winning in the Junior Nationals.”

Jackson Kim also competed in the Intermediate B 34kg division. Although he lost both his matches, Jackson showed great fighting spirit and sportsmanship.

All 3 boys now turn their attention to the junior nationals, which will be held in a few short weeks.

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Representing EBJI were Molly O’Rourke and Ann Shiraishi, both former Senior National Champions (Molly in 2003 and Ann in 2008). Both Molly and Ann walked away with Silver Medals. In addition, Ann solidified her spot on the 2010 World Championships Team, which will be competing in Tokyo, Japan from September 9-12, 2010.

Molly competed in the women’s 78+kg category. Below is her account of her experience.

“Senior Nationals, 2010 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina marked my big return to competition. It was a nice feeling going into a national competition with no pressure to win and being excited about competing. The location was incredible; I was able to hang out at the beach every day that I was there, slathered up in sunscreen because I would have turned into a lobster had I not.

The competition wasn’t as nice as the beach, but I still enjoyed myself and took second place. Had there not been a wrong call by the referee I would have taken first, but you can’t win them all.

In my weight class, +78 kilos, there were five competitors including me, meaning I fought everyone for a total of four matches.

Being in the unlimited category is a new experience for me, and the girls are not as easy to throw or move around. I was able to win my first match with a pin; those first matches always are the hardest.

My second match was just a challenging as my first, except for the first half I was on the loosing side. My opponent came out very aggressive and it took me two to three minutes to figure out what I was doing.  I was able to keep up with her pace and started doing some judo of my own, which lead me to tie the score in the last seven seconds sending us to golden score. I was able to maintain the intensity while my opponent started to get tired, and I threw her for a yuko to win the match.

My third match I came out and was dominating my opponent for the entire match until I did a leg grab in continuation with a throw. The referee and judges determined that was a straight leg grab and gave me honsokumake, direct disqualification. I was disappointed in losing the match, but after the referee jury saw the video they said it was a wrong call but could do nothing to rectify the mistake.

My fourth and final match I was able to win by ippon with an ouchi gari. With three wins and one loss, I ended up with the silver medal.

Overall I had a lot of fun in Myrtle Beach, the competition was fun, the beach was awesome and I found out how I stand nationally after not competing for two years”.

Annie compted in the women’s 48kg category. Below is her account of her experience.

“We arrived in Myrtle Beach the Friday morning before the competition, after a long, red-eye flight. After taking a short break, we went on a run to get my weight down. Surprisingly, I lost more weight than I had anticipated and was able to eat a decent amount after working out.I spend the rest of the evening just resting and relaxing.

The next day was the first day of competition. It started with the heavyweights and Molly fought. Nationals was also a great day for Molly.  I was excited to watch Molly compete for her first Nationals in  two years when she decided to stop competing.  Molly looked great! She represented EBJI well by winning the silver medal.

The next day after weighing in and eating a good breakfast, I was ready to compete. I only had 6 girls in my division and because I was seeded number 1 going into the tournament, I got a bye to the semi-finals.

My first match was against a girl I usually compete against from San Jose. I felt pretty decent and was able to win the match, putting me into the finals against Katelyn Bouyssou, whom I’ve fought on multiple occasions. I went back up to my room after lunch to rest and prepare for the finals.

I went into the finals being prepared to win, but was caught off guard when I was thrown in the first exchange of the match for wazari. I couldn’t really get anything going and ended up getting pinned about halfway through the match. I was disappointed with my performance, but view it as another learning experience to help my judo progress for the better.

Although I wasn’t totally satisfied with my performance or results, I came away from the tournament with a silver medal and a spot on the 2010 World Team.

Now, I have to prepare for a long summer of competitions and training leading up to the World Championships in September”.

Sensei Molly O’Rourke led a group of about 20 dojo members, family and friends to scale Wildcat Peak in Tilden Park in celebration of Earth Day on April 25.

The group of explorers enjoyed discovering turtles and other reptiles, birds and wildflowers during the hike and learned to appreciate the danger of poison oak, which was all too abundant. Reaching the peak was a challenging and sweaty task as temperatures reached a toasty 80 degrees.

The hikers were rewarded with a variety of treats at the top, including trail mix, fruit and salami slices.

Devoted judo students Taka and Tomo showed off their lighter side by creating the unforgettable sight of edible jewelry (or wearable food), turning salami slices into bracelets. As an added plus, the jewelry left their hands and wrists shiny and moisturized.

After giggles, photos and admiration of the view from the peak, the group trundled down the hill with a new appreciation for the importance of packing enough water on nature hikes.

The Bay Isle Judo Tournament was held on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at Alameda High School.

Seven members of EBJI competed and represented our dojo at the event.

Romeo Lok, 8, went 1-3 and finished fourth out of five. After losing his first match, he went out in his second match, fought pretty hard and won by osoto gaeshi. Although he lost his third and fourth match, Romeo has shown improvement and seems to enjoy competing.

Nathan Canadas, 11, went 2-2 and finished fourth out of seven. He won his first match with a sasae tsuri komi ashi followed by kesagatame, and his second with osoto gari for ippon. He lost his third match by ippon, by drop knee seoinage, and his fourth by ippon, via kosoto gari. He fought very hard and ended up losing to the top two players in his pool. Nathan showed good effort and will hopefully attend more tournaments in the future.

Dillon Izzo, 13, went 0-3 and had to withdraw from his last match. Although he lost, Dillon fought hard his first match and went to golden score, where he got thrown for ippon.  Dillon lost his second to a considerably bigger opponent, who caught him with an osoto gari for ippon from a high right grip. He lost his third match but fought hard – after being thrown with ouchi gaeshi and getting pinned, he managed to escape, but he couldn’t get the score back, and he tweaked his ribs in the escape.

Ociane Canadas, 13, went 0-2 and finished third out of three, although she fought hard. She lost her first match by ippon, by left side uchi mata, and her second match by ippon seoinage. Ociane, who is pretty agile, needs more tournament experience to improve her competition judo.

Bob Cunliffe, who works out in the T/Th Adult class, went 1-2 and finished second out of two. He lost the first match by non-combativity, won the second with a yuko via a footsweep, and lost the third match by non-combativity. To Bob’s credit, he fought hard and well against a much younger opponent.

Jared Beane went 4-0 and took first in his division.  He won his first match by ne-waza, and the rest by tachi waza – all ippons.

John Bennett went 3-1 and won first. He won his first match with shime waza, his second by ippon with osotogari. He lost his third via shimewaza, after dominating the match throughout.  They met again, to break a three-way tie, and John tossed him for ippon with a nice seoinage off the grip.

You can watch some of Dillon and Jared’s matches by clicking here

Going into my first Pan American Championships, I did not quite know what to expect. For the past six years, I’ve heard stories from Sayaka about tournaments in Central/South America and her horror stories about the scales, the venue, the mats, etc.  Therefore, I went into this trip expecting the worse; to my pleasant surprise, it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated.

The team arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador in the evening and was immediately greeted by the very warm and very humid weather. We were then escorted (lights and sirens) to the hotel, which felt like a resort! Supposedly, San Salvador is not a safe place to be so to ensure our safety, we were escorted everywhere.

The tournament was held on April 9-10. I competed in the women’s 48 kilogram category on Saturday, April 10. My first round match was against my long time nemesis from Canada (Bianca Ockedahl). After the first 5 minutes with no score, the match went into overtime, where the first person to score wins the match. Halfway through the match I was caught for a score and lost the match. After my first round loss, I had to wait for Bianca to pull me though so I could have a chance to compete into the repecharge.  She fought Mexico (the same girl I beat in Panama for 3rd only a few weeks ago) and wasn’t able to come away with a win.  With that loss, I was eliminated from the tournament.

Having such a short day I was ready to compete in the team tournament the next day to redeem myself.  The team tournament had 7 women’s teams and 8 mens teams competing from the various countries the competed the previous days.  There were only 5 weight categories competing (-52kg, -63kg, -70kg, -78kg, Open).  First round, the womens team fought Cuba (one of the top women’s team in the world).  I did not fight this round because our -52kg girl wanted to get her hands on the Cuban who just recently placed 2nd in Beijing at -48kg.  We did not win the round but was pulled through to fight in the repecharge.

Second round, we fought Guatemala.  The Guatemalan -48kg girl fought, so I was able to fight someone in my actual weight category.  I pinned her about halfway through the match.  Third round we fought Puerto Rico, where I had a walkover.  Fourth round (fighting for 3rd place), we fought Argentina.  The girl I fought choked out our -52kg the previous day fairly early in the match.  I was very nervous, but once the match started, I was standing toe-to-toe with her.  I fought hard for the grips and ended up winning by yuko.

(Funny story:: About the last minute or so of this match, I was ahead by a yuko and all I had to do was grip to win the match (and obviously not get thrown).  The previous weeks leading up to the tournament, at practice during randori I’ve been put in situations where I’m trailing and had to score or was ahead and just had to protect my lead.  When I was ahead and had to protect my lead, Sensei would yell, “Match the intensity of the grips. Match the intensity of the grips!” So, with about a minute left in the match and ahead, all I had to do was protect my lead. The only thing I could hear was Sensei yelling in my ear, “Match the intensity! Match the intensity of the grips!” Needless to say, I matched the intensity and won).

After the tournaments were finished (the regular tournament and the team tournament) we went out on a team dinner to a fancy restaurant (again, kindly escorted by Police).  It was located on a hill that overlooked the entire city. We could see the tournament venue and the hotel.  It was beautiful! The dinner portions were a little on the small side so afterwards we were escorted to Wendy’s.  Yes, Wendy’s!!

My first Pan American Championships did not end the way I wanted. Nonetheless, it was a great experience that will prepare me for my next tournament experience.

Members of East Bay Judo Institute competed at the Cupertino Tournament this past weekend.

Romeo Lok, Takashi Matsumoto, Jackson Kim, Satoshi Matsumoto, Masashi Matsumoto, Dillon Izzo, Brandon Izzo, John Bennett and Ann Shiraishi represented the dojo by competing in their respective divisions.

A new face to the frequent EBJI competition team, Romeo Lok, 8, competed in his first tournament here in Cupertino. Romeo showed great potential and effort during all 4 of his matches.

Takashi Matsumoto also competed, taking second place in his division. Takashi competed against 2 other opponents, going 1-1 to win Silver.

Masashi Matsumoto, Satoshi Matsumoto and Jackson Kim also represented the dojo, showing good attitude and fighting spirit, as they won a few matches in their respective age and weight divisions.

Dillon Izzo competed in the intermediate division, facing some tough opponents. Although some of them were bigger in size, Dillon held his own and has shown improvement in recent months.

Brandon Izzo also competed in the intermediate division. After winning a few matches, Brandon was forced to compete in a fight off for second and third place. During one of his matches, he hurt his shoulder and had to withdraw from competition.

John Bennett and Ann Shiraishi both competed in the black belt division.

This was the second time John had competed in the black belt division. He showed potential for the future, holding his own in most of his matches and winning one by ippon by uchimata-sukashi.

Ann competed in the women’s lightweight division where she won both matches fairly easily. Ann, who is ranked #1 in her weight class in the nation, took home the gold medal along with a training incentive monetary prize given out by the Cupertino Judo Club.

All members of EBJI showed great spirit and represented our dojo well!