A family (judo) affair and a fifth of good news

The latest bit of good news has to do with the students from Gompers Middle School - where The Perfect Jennifer did her student teaching and recruited her younger sister to teach judo four years ago.

First, my awesome sister, Dr. Joy Harris, donated a crash pad and mats to Gompers  in her name for my mom's 80th birthday present. Jose Gonzales, the teacher who has donated his time after school for FOUR YEARS also came down to school to let me in so I could drop it off. I pick up mats on Wednesday.

Second, when Ronda heard I was taking a group of judo players, she mistakenly thought I was taking the kids from Gompers. I was not. Four (at least) players from the West Coast Judo Training Center are coming. It would cost around $2,000 more to take four kids plus a teacher. Mr. Gonzales agreed to go as a chaperone, but since they just had their third baby, not too many extra dollars around for plane trips. So, she donated the shirt off her back - literally - her shirt from the PanAm games - for auction. She also donated her hoodie from The Ultimate Fighter.

Third, my niece, Jessica Bueler (who runs Armbar Nation over at rondarousey.net ) had 15 black  Rowdy wear shirts, so she and Ronda agreed that those could be auctioned off on the site to raise money as well. 

Fourth, Ronda had previously autographed a bunch of white Ronda Rousey shirts, to raise money to help injured boxer Frida Wahlberg. Any money left over from the items sold to raise money for the Gompers Middle School students will also be donated to Frida Wahlberg.

Fifth, other people we have only met virtually, like Ritchie Greaser, or not at all, have donated everything from trading cards to Expendables posters to Invicta Fight posters.

So .... next time you hear something negative about judo players or mixed martial artists, think of people volunteering to teach in urban schools, raising money for kids from those schools to travel to tournaments, donating money to help injured competitors.

There are a lot of good people out there doing good things and I'm very fortunate to have many of them in my very own family.
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Random Note: If you ever see anything that was supposedly Ronda's being sold or auctioned off and the proceeds don't go to charity, it's fake.

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