Last month, many of us received this announcement from USA Judo. “As you may have already heard, the International Judo Federation, due to the respect United States has earned in developing and promoting Judo has been awarded the hosting of one of the IJF World Cup which is an Olympic Qualifier for the 2012 London Olympic Games.” I nearly choked on my raspberry-filled doughnut when I read that. The only thing the IJF respects is how much money it can make off national Judo federations, and how many of their votes can be bought off though minor gifts like hosting one of a plethora of World Cup events.
Archive for the ‘Judo Politics’ Category
Growing Judo the USA Judo Way
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010What’s Up With The USJA?
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010AnnMaria De Mars and Jim Pedro, respectively the president and vice-president of the USJA, resigned a few weeks ago. Pedro did so during a conference call meeting of the USJA Board of Directors, and De Mars resigned the following day.
Emotions are running high. Some USJA members are threatening to pull out of the USJA and join USA Judo. Makes sense to me- NOT. If there was ever a dysfunctional, worthless group to join, it would have to be USA Judo. So guys, knock yourselves out and join USA Judo if you think it’s going to care more about your opinions and welfare.
I Hate Judo!
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Don’t freak out. I haven’t lost all my marbles yet. Rest assured that I don’t hate Judo. I still love it. On the other hand, two of my daughters have at one time or another told me that they hate Judo. Of course, there’s a story behind my daughters’ statements, which is well worth analyzing because I also hear “I hate Judo” from other judoplayers.
Rumblings in Las Vegas, Part II
Monday, February 1st, 2010Just when I thought we had seen the end to the political games being played by members of the USJA Board of Directors, reality quickly reared its ugly head again. In a last minute gambit to protect her presidency, AnnMaria DeMars nominated Jim Pedro as vice-president and forced him to accept being nominated in spite of declining three times to accept it! More surprisingly, and shamefully in my opinion, a majority of board members voted for Pedro rather than Gary Goltz, the former USJA COO. (more…)
An Attempt to Save Judo in San Diego
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009San Diego County used to have a vibrant Judo community in the 1970s when I first started my coaching career. We had over twenty-five active Judo clubs. Our members participated in monthly clinics, and tournaments, which would attract 250-300+ players. Little by little, our coaches, many of them active military personnel, were transferred out of the area or they retired or they died. Few had successors to keep the clubs going. Politics, pitting USJA and USJF supporters, and personal issues between the few remaining coaches further weakened our area. (more…)
Notes from the 2009 U.S. Open, Part 2
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009The U.S. Open is always a good tournament for me to go to because in addition to the Judo, there’s the Judo politics too. I had the opportunity during the 2009 U.S. Open to sit down and talk to a few of our political leaders. (more…)
