Congratulations to our 2018 Oakland Judo Competition Team on a successful year! We’re very proud of Isaac, Kofi, Ronin, Evan, David, Luke and Tenoch. This was the first year that we kept statistics, and so we are able to give an MVP award. It was very very close between Evan and David, but in the end Evan took it.
We’re also very proud of all the people in our adult program that stepped up and represented the team: Melisa, Jorge, Junn, Patrick, and a few others – sorry if I forgot anyone!
Sensei Ivan represents Hanabi Judo and Sensei Chris represents UC Berkeley in judo competition, but we consider them part of the team too, and we’re very happy for all their success this year. Sensei Ivan repeated as National Champion and took 5th place at the Veteran’s World Championships in Cancun. Most inspiring has to be Sensei Chris, who qualified to represent the United States in international competitions (!!!) and traveled all over the world to compete in Africa, Peru, Dominican Republic, and more.
Following Sensei Ivan’s example, I also competed at the National Championships and managed to win my matches for a Master’s Division title.
The 2019 season begins next weekend in San Jose at the San Jose Buddhist tournament! Hopefully this time next year we’ll be able to give two awards, male and female. Typically adults compete less than kids, what with having jobs and all, but if enough adults compete for Oakland Judo, we’ll give awards for the adults as well.
Enjoy some of these pictures from the 2018 campaign:
