Dining with Judo Legends (and me, too)

If you miss it this time, well, you’ve missed it forever. A dinner party with a few of our U.S. Judo greats (and me, too), organized by our very own Hayward Nishioka (that guy above). If you like judo, history or just hanging out with really fascinating people, you should check this out.

Speakers include:

*AnnMaria Demars, America's oldest world judo champion

*Hal Sharp, 9th Dan, Author and video producer

*Gene Lebell, U.S. Grand Champion, Stuntman

*Ernie Smith National Referee, Promotion chairperson USJA 

*Tosh Seino U.S. National Champion, Armed Forces Grand Champion

They will be telling their stories and answering questions, and giving us insight into our rich National and local history from the 40’s, 50’s 60’s 70’s and 80’s.

It will be held on October 2, 2016, at the Luminarius restaurant.

Dinner donations are tax deductible- $50.00 per person. Payable to Nanka Judo.

Send for your tickets to:

Teshima and Company

2215 W. 190th Street

Torrance, Ca. 90504

(310) 323-1040


Seating is limited to 100 persons so get your tickets early for this suit and tie affair.

Here are the orders, um, I mean description, from Hayward:

As we go forward in our judo it is important to know where we came from, how we got there, and what it was like for our trail blazers who pounded out the road to success in those early Golden years.

         Each of our speakers will have approximately 20 minutes in which to tell their story. This will be followed by a half hour informal forum among the presenters, and concluded with questions and answers from the audience. All this will be preceded by a social half hour of just talking and visiting with old friends before dinner.

These are some people who have really fascinating stories to tell. Some of the topics will be:

1.   What was your training like back then; who were some of your opponents, instructors, and tough guys, how many days a week did you practice, was it just judo or other things; running, weights, ect.?

2.   What type of dojo did you practice in? Was it a dojo with canvas covered over hard packed sawdust, or in a small house or room with wrinkled canvas covered mats, or community center with teachers or students who spoke a different language and had different customs? Were the floors at least even?

3.   What obstacles were encountered, like injuries, lack of practice partners, places to practice, not enough support from family, friends? Unaccustomed Japanese customs both expressed and silent?

4.   Tell of a defining moment in your judo career? When did you say to yourself, “ I like judo, in fact, I love it?”

5.    Do you think it changes a person for the better and in what way?

6.   What are some differences in judo today from judo in the past?

7.   What advice do you have for todays judoka who may be seeking the excellence that you have found in your judo careers?

8.   Give some detailed technical insight as to how to improve performance in practice or in competition.

9.   Give an example of one of your toughest matches and what you learned from it.