Team Judo USA

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains, NJ

On March 4^th, 2012 USA Judo picked a team to represent theUS in an international team tournament at the New York Athletic Club in NYC.  My friend Chris Skelley Team USA Judo Manager and I went to the event.  We had a great time and watched some great matches.

Team Judo USA

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains, NJ

Teams flew in fromGermany,CanadaandFrance.  There were some familiar face that have been to North Jersey Judo as clinicians.  Those two wereJason Morris2008 US Judo Olympic Coach and Nick Delpopolo who is ranked currently number 13 in the world heading into the Olympics.  Nick does have to fight off with Michael Eldred currently ranked number 22 for the spot on the US Judo Olympic Team.

Team Judo USA

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains, NJ

The US lost in the finals to Germany and it came down to the last match.  It was a great event to watch.  I will be in attendance next year to enjoy it again for sure and to connect with friends in the Judo community.  Enjoy the pictures.

Chris Skelly USA Judo Team Manager With Sensei Ramon Hernandez & Friends

www.northjerseyjudo.com

Back on March 18^th Team North Jersey Judo competed at the New Jersey Judo State Championship in Princeton, NJ.  The following members came back with a medal.

Ramon Hernandez Jr.        Gold

Mason Longo                    Gold

Billy Horn                         Silver

Jack Longo                       Silver

Christian Zampino             Bronze

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www.northjerseyjudo.com

Coach Greg Hernandez places 3^rd/wins Bronze Medal for Team North Jersey Judo in brown belt division at the 2012 US Judo Senior Nationals in DallasTexas.  Only draw back is folks running tournament didn’t do a good job up putting divisions together.  Coach Greg had 5 people in his division with a 3 way tie for third.  Crazy day but the job got done.  Congrats to Coach Greg.  Please make sure to congratulate him when you see him at the dojo.

Coach Greg Wins Bronze In Brown Belt Div @ 2012 US Judo Senior Naitonals

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 North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains, NJ has classes for kids, Teens & Adults.

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 Here are pictures & video of Team North Jersey Judo in their travels to compete in Pedro’s Challenge inBoston,MA.  Video says it all but I’ll put some details down in this post.  The fun really started Wednesday before tournament when I read application and saw I needed to cut 3 lbs off my son so he could fight 42 kg.  Nobody was happy about it but in the end I just cut out all the junk to get the job done.  I’m happy to tell you that Jr. is back to his usual diet!

Jr. Watches TV On His Way Up To Boston

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains,NJ

We traveled up Friday morning so Jr. could Coach Greg could register and weigh in and off to McDonalds we went.  From there we hung out with Fernando Franco & his family in their home inBoston.  We ate well and enjoyed the evening.  Saturday all 3 competed.  Coach Greg & Aaron take the bronze medal and Jr. went 1 for 2 that day.

Father & Son Before Matches Start

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains,NJ

Pedro’s Challenge is run by 4X Olympian & 2012 Olympic Head Coach Jimmy Pedro who was one of theUS’s top Judo players in his day.  He also runs the Zebra Tour which are tournaments that run up and down the east coast.  Next up for Team North Jersey Judo is the New Jersey Judo State Championship inPrinceton,NJ.  Will post more pictures and photos then.

Coach Aaron & Greg Get Ready

North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains,NJ

For more information onTeam North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains, NJ visit our main web site at www.northjerseyjudo.com.

A Premier Martial Arts School Pompton Plains, NJ

Saturday Feb 19, 2012 three members of Team North Jersey Judo Pompton Plains,NJ travel 2 ½ hours to Glenville,NY to compete in the JMJC Open.  Great event for kids to get in a lot of matches and get much needed work in.  Jason Morris provided a great tournament environment with plenty of matches for the kids.

All The Competitors

Team North Jersey Judo Prepares For Pedro’s Challenge Next Week in Boston, MA 

Ramon Hernandez Jr. had a total of 9 matches

Lauren Calderoni had a total of 8 matches

Kevin Hur had a total of 6 matches

Kevin Hur, Ramon Hernandez Jr. & Lauren Calderoni

Here is a video of Junior winning by a full point throw.

Jason Morris is a 4X Olympian, 2008 US Olympic Head Coach and coach to many of today’s champions.  He runs a very competitive training center in Up-State New York and is a frequent clinician to Team North Jersey Judo in Pompton Plains, NJ.

What’s up sports fans….Got an early start today and hit the dojo at 6:30am to get it mopped up and all ready for classes tonight.  All was quiet in Pompton Plains, NJ
at that hour.

Check this out.  98 year old woman earns her self a 10th degree black belt.  She the first woman to do it.  Get this, she is also the sole surviving
student of Jigaro Kano.

Here is the link to the article: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/vitality/98-year-old-woman-becomes-first-woman-ever-to-earn-judos-highest-degree-black-belt-2523297/

I think she’s awesome and I know you will think that she is awesome so share it on your face book.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XHdPh3CEfGM

What’s up Sports Fans?  No Breaks for Team North Jersey Judo.  Our members traveled away from Pompton Plains, NJ to Harrisburg, PA to compete at the Keystone Games.  Five competed and five came home with medals.  Coming home with hardware makes the trip easier.

Greg Hernandez               Gold

William Kui                       Gold

Brandon Kui                     Gold

Ramon Hernandez Jr.   Gold

Aaron Seymour               Bronze.

Video to come.

What’s up Judo Sports Fans?  The North Jersey Judo Spy Cam took a break after the USJF Jr. Nationals but was back on the scene when America’s own 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist and 2008 US Judo Olympic Head Coach Jason Morris came to town.  Jason came with international competitor Nick Kossor and showed Team North Jersey Judo and other Judokas from other clubs Osoto Gari, Tai-otoshi and Jason’s Sticky Leg techniques.

The clinic was great especially for those who haven’t experienced a clinic with Jason before.  The most important point I came away with was you must continue to work on core fundamentals of Judo throws before you can advance to fancy gripping or other tactics in your own Judo game.  Core Fundamentals has to come first.

In his competition days Jason was well know for his Uchimata but his Osoto Gari was the technique and driving force that opened everything up for him.  He holds a very traditional grips (lapel & sleeve) and doesn’t rely on any fancy gripping in order to pull off the throw.  I’m sure he’s got some fancy grips he hasn’t showed off yet.  He has mastered the pull in order to make his Osoto and all other Judo throws effective.  It’s a must see.

We had 26 Judokas from Team North Jersey Judo and other clubs come to enjoy the clinic.  It was fun and well worth it.  A big thanks to Jason & Nick for coming down.  Another big thanks to Jim Kinder who was on hand with his camera.

Talk to you guys soon.  Remember if you enjoy what you read and you are a regular on face book, please hit the f icon below and share it with your friends.

What’s up Judo Sports Fans?  Team North Jersey Judo is back in North Jersey and ready to celebrate the 4th Of July weekend!  We made some pit stops along they way through Ohio to purchase some items so we could have some fun on the 4th but going to keep that to my self.

USJF Jr. Nationals Championship final update:

 Brandon Kui won 2 matches and lost 2.  His first match went into over time and could have gone either way.  During on of his wins he scored a full point throw getting a should throw on a much taller player.  He competed very well and for the first time experienced a division which allowed choking.  He did a good job of applying a few during his 4 matches.

Will Kui lost his first match but won his next five matches to get him into the final gold medal match.  The final match went the full 3 mins and ended with Will’s opponent throwing Will for a full point throw with 4 seconds left in the match.  William showed great mat awareness, displayed intelligent decision making playing a conservative game when ahead in his matches and finally showed that he wasn’t out of the tournament after losing his first match.  In the face adversity William showed perseverance.  William can now add Jr. National Finalist & Jr. National Silver Medalist to an already full resume. 

I’m very proud of all three members of North Jersey Judo.  When you see them at the dojo please don’t forget to congratulate all of them.  If you guys like what you’ve read please hit the Face book icon below and share it with your friends.

Our friend Matt Koch also took 1st place in the IJF div.  He was very composed and knew what to do.  Congratulations to Matt Koch and everyone who has supported him in his efforts to be the champion he is today.  Way to go Matt!!

 See you all on the Judo mat!

What’s up sports fans.  First off I want to thank everyone for their well wishes today for Team North Jersey Judo.  I wasn’t able to reply back to everyone but thank you. 

Before the matches started the day started out with an opening ceremony using an honor guard for the flag salute.  I tapped but having trouble downloading it to youtube so I’ll do so when I get back home.

Long, tough but a good day over all.  Jr. had a total of 3 matches.  He won one and lost 2.  Physically he hung in there with all his matches especially the last one which was a lost.  Jr. fought of Sankakyu three times and the kids didn’t give up on it and it came through in the end.  All-in-all a good day and great learning experience for Jr.  We had a talk about what to improve on at the end of the day on the couch as I was beating him with my own shoe.  All in good fund.

Matt Koch did well winning all of his matches today.  As Mr. Kui said Matt is a man amongst boys.  Matt played 90 kg. (198 lbs.) in the Juvenile A div.  He will enter the IJF Div. tomorrow and will have seven other guys to worry about.  He should do well.

After today we went to the Toledo Zoo which was fun.  Saw a baby elephant. 

Here is the baby elephant.

OK…Will report more tomorrow when we get home from the Nationals.  As soon as the boys are done we will be hitting it back east hard and fast.  Maybe I’ll make a pit stop for some fireworks.