We have a few photos from the tournament in our PhotoLog section.
Ryan Wilson won two matches by ippon today - yeah, Ryan!!! Mika Licudine also won two matches by ippon today - at only 5 years old and under 30 pounds, she is about the size of a lot of Thanksgiving dinners and won two matches with pins. Her matwork looked awesome. Big brother Gabriel Licudine placed third and never gave up. Gina Levine fought four matches and was in a three-way tie. They pulled numbers out of a hat to decide the places so she got third but we were VERY proud of her. Julia DeMars got kicked into the 9-10 year old division for the umpteenth time. She fought very hard. It is tough being moved up, which is probably why when she DOES get to fight 8-year-olds she usually wins.
I was VERY proud of all of our judoka at the tournament today. It takes COURAGE to get out there and fight and all of them showed it. Every one of them gets better every time they fight. What an absolutely great bunch of kids.
June 9, Justin Flores returns to
Venice along with the girl who put the home in
home girl - Ronda Rousey, for a clinic from 7:15
- 9:15 pm.
June 16, same time, same place, Justin returns to teach the matwork that made him a repeat national, U.S. Open and Rendezvous champion.
This is a special issue on Women's Judo and the cover includes photos of female players of all ages including - guess who - our own Gina Levine throwing for ippon in the the San Shi tournament held in San Diego last month with her signature ippon seoi nage, which you have seen her toss many people with many times during Venice practices. She is also mentioned in the Women of Judo article in the magazine. Way to go, Gina.
Gina Levine at San Shi Tournament, April 8, 2006
Most improved judoka – Alyssa Gustillo – silver medalist at the junior nationals while only an orange belt! Also, promoted to green belt in December, 2005.
I-man award for most wins by ippon throw – Yusaf Syed (For those unfamiliar with judo – an ippon is an ‘instant win’, similar to a knock-out in boxing. It ends the match.)
I-woman award – Jennifer Aceret
Parent’s Choice Award – Gabriel Licudine for his never-give-up attitude
Sensei’s Choice Award – Gina Levine, for never, ever, even once failing to try and for the fact that she once could not do even one push-up and now can hang with the toughest of them.
Pee Wee Male – Joshua Dorman, who proves that good things really do come in small packages
Pee Wee Female – Katherine Elias – for having the best o uchi gari and never, never having stage fright in demonstrations
Determination – Edward Jeon – Watch out world, Edward is coming.
Sportsmanship – Kalleen Kelly – Who can smile and fight at the same time. We thought only Clint Eastwood could do that, but we were wrong.
Also, Ronda Rousey received a special award for making the 2005 World team, winning the U.S. Open, Panamerican Championships, Rendezvous and Ontario Open.
Congratulations to Trent Nishiyama for being promoted to black belt. There are now two Sensei Nishiyamas at Venice Dojo.
We would also like to give a special thank you to Catalina Kelleghan, Annemarie Kelleghan, Ali Uemura and Kyle Uemura for helping with the youngest classes as Assistant Instructors. Not many teenagers would give up their spare time to help young children progress in sports, and have the patience to teach them individually. These Venice Dojo assistant instructors are greatly appreciated by all.
Congratulations to Sensei AnnMaria Rousey De Mars for her election as Vice-president of the United States Judo Association.