I would much rather go to a clinic with Rick Hawn, Ronda Rousey or Rhadi and Taraje than a Shufu tournament, any day.

I can go to a great BJJ event almost every month in the area. They charge more and they give more. Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for. Remember that the expense of competing is NOT the entry fee, it’s traveling, taking off work, getting a place to stay etc. I don’t care if the entry fee is 35 or 50 or 85 dollars. What matters is if I think there will be people in my division, that I will get more than one match, and that I will have a good time. Never have I fulfilled all these concerns at a Shufu event. If contestants sincerely cannot afford >$55 entry fees, there’s something wrong with the sport. Somehow other sports seem to be able to muster support for charitable events and programs all the time. If Judo is reduced to quibbling over $35-50 it may already be too late. The poverty mindset of many Judo instructors is part of why the sport is in decline in the USA.

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I have to agree with what you said. I actually had an incident at the same event where one of the officials manning the main table actually yelled at my wife because she simply wanted to inquire if my son had any more matches. I could hear this person yelling at my wife from across the gym. She left the tournament in tears. Needles to say I did speak to this individual he was very unprofessional in his demeanor in fact I observed him joking about the incident later.

I have been a supported of Judo for the last 12 years but this is not what I want my sons to get from Judo that it is Ok to be disrespectful to women or yell at anyone for that matter.

I have not hosted a tournament, but I am happy to. I have said that for years. What I have done is brought some of the best Judo players, instructors and coaches to my club with little to no support or turnout.
Ogasawara Sensei
Rick Hawn – US Olympian
Ronda Rousey – US Olympian & Bronze Medalist
Rhadi Ferguson – US Olympian, BJJ Black Belt
Jason Morris – US Olympian, Silver Medalist, Olympic Coach
Taraje Williams – US Olympian
Richard Trautman – German Olympian, Silver Medalist, Junior National German Coach
Toni Lettner – German National Champion, Coach
AnnMaria DeMars – First US World Champion, President of USJA
Neil Ohlenhkamp – Author of Judo Unleashed, Owner of http://www.judoinfo.com
Gary Goltz – President of USJA, Author and instructor at one of the largest judo clubs in the country
All of these people have conducted some sort of learning function at my club. Because it’s important that young and old judoka have an opportunity to meet and learn from others that have been successful. Not because that person may or may not be the best instructor in the world. These events are open to everyone and we promote them as such. Because it’s about the experience and that is what is missing from these tournaments.

I have brought members from my club to nearly every club in the area,
Charlottesville, both clubs
Washington Judo Club
Sport Judo Club
College Park
Budokai Judo Club and more because I want my students to be able to learn from other local instructors that I respect.
We attend Judo camps in the summer, anything we can to motivate, stimulate and encourage the growth of our Judo players young and old.
I’m sorry if people are offended by what I have to say and I’m sure that people will try to attack me personally and my credibility. But I will tell you that there are a heck of a lot of people that agree with me. Many many more agree than disagree. But everyone is welcome to their opinion and actions speak louder than words.

I appreciate and respect your comments and invite you to visit my club any time.

Chuck Wall
Wall 2 Wall Martial Arts

As for the referees, Shufu has a very strong tradition of developing outstanding referees. It has historically placed referees at the highest level and continues to produce national and international level referees. We have these referees contributing on these levels while still supporting the local events and mentoring the next generation of referees. I know that there is a refereeing clinic that is held every January in Beltsville, MD and the content is excellent. I attend every year and have great faith in Jimmy Takemori, Roy Englert, and Tad Nalls to continue to develop the quality of the refereeing. I will say that I have been to tournaments outside our area where judo coaches in jeans and a t-shirts were put on the mat as referees because they did not have enough referees to run the tournament. As for paying the referees, I am not against it. It is an on going debate and we can discuss the pros and cons in a different forum.

The Shufu events may not be as grand or well attended as the Liberty Bell or Junior Nationals but they do provide an excellent opportunity to get live match experience with refereeing, timing, and scoring that can not be duplicated in a randori session. I will say that William Inserra, Chris Grunberg, and Wesley Dantzler have all used the local tournaments as testing grounds for their judo skills. All have been invited to join the US Junior National Team on multiple occasions. By competing, retooling in the dojo, and competing again they have raised their level of competition. Local tournaments have been a part of the development of their judo. Many other great competitors have come out of the Washington/Baltimore Metropolitan Area and they have competed in the local tournaments.

I drove to New York City for a touted large tournament and paid 50.00 for my judoka to get one match. No best of 3 series, it was one match, winner take all. That’s a long way to go and a big price to pay for one match. For the Shufu Open, 25.00 could get you 2-5 matches, 2 divisions at 35.00 could get you 4-10 matches. In Hawaii some years back, I spoke to a fellow coach who told me they have tournaments every weekend for 15.00 a tournament. So we can’t run tournaments for 15.00 an entry, but 25.00 is a very cost effective way to make judo accessible, especially in these tough economic times.

I do understand that people have some ideas for improving the local judo tournaments. I welcome the opportunity to hear people’s opinions. I will give you my phone number right here, 301-537-5836, and my email, collegeparkjudo@aol.com. I welcome opportunity to hear your ideas and grow judo together.

Kurt Tamai

Re: referees – I competed in this tournament, as well, and 2 of my matches were ended prematurely. The first I somehow won by not being thrown with a sumi gaeshi. That’s all I had to do. There was no counter, no nothing… I was moving in to my pin, and I learned that I had just ipponed the other guy by watching him try to throw me. My Judo must have gotten really good, I guess. The next match was won when I tried to throw a guy and he touched my pants. So that’s bad enforcement of a bad rule. (One that continues the push of our Art towards irrelevance – http://blog.akarijudo.com/2011/05/judo-rules-case-study-of-how-to-neuter.html)

So what do you have in mind? And might it include using a rule set that allows such crazy, un-judo like techniques as Kata Guruma?

I stopped competing in Judo shortly after I moved to Richmond because I no longer felt that it was worth it: the closest events are always in VA Beach, DC or Maryland, and as such become almost a whole weekend event. Why would any reasonable person want to waste their entire Saturday for 2-3 poorly reffed matches, the outcome of which they have little control over? If you have no faith that your Ippon throw will be scored as such, or that the ref will recognize your pin or nearly applied submission, why go through all that? I suspect many of the participants at Judo tournements today in the Brown and down divisions are there for two reasons: because they feel pressured to do so or because they have something to prove. I can’t say I want to compete against either one all that much.

Professionalizing Judo is all right by me. As an art and sport it has every right to exist as much as Karate or BJJ, arts which have far fewer qualms with charging 2-3 times more and demanding contracts etc. If a guy like you can’t make a living teaching Judo, then Judo goes away. That’s about as simple as it gets. If the naysayers want to keep it amateur, they should shut their mouths and settle for amateurish outcomes. People who care about the quality of Judo in the USA should accept that your concerns and ideas are both quite legitimate.