Continuing USJA Election Coverage: Ronda Rousey, Part 2

Having narrowly averted the Ninja attacks, we now continue with more USJA Election coverage, endorsements of candidates by Olympic bronze medalist, world silver medalist, junior world gold medalist and (full disclosure here), my daughter, Ronda Rousey. This brings the percentage of my daughter endorsements to 75%.

In case you are too impatient to watch the video or have a slow download connection and gave up, here are Ronda's endorsements.

Dr. Jim Lally
Jim Pedro, Sr.
Paul Nogaki
Neil Ohlenkamp
Gary Goltz

(She supports me, too, but I did not ask her about that on the video. Take my word for it. Or maybe she can write a blog on it, as you can see her excitement about the election is palpable. Or maybe that was excitement about Zelda - or Michigan. It's hard to tell.)

In all seriousness, I think Ronda's reasons for supporting the candidates she does are very well thought out. There are other people who I personally would support, including Roy Hash, Bill Montgomery, Joan Love, Marc Cohen and Lowell Slaven. However, this was Ronda's list of the people she felt she knew the best and on whom she could contribute some inside information.

USJA Election Endorsements by Another Rousey

Here we have the first part of the interview of Ronda Rousey as she gives her endorsements for the USJA Board of Directors, starting with Dr. Jim Lally. This endorsement is interrupted by Jennifer. A long intermission ensued involving discussions of possible Ninja attacks, specialized knee-attacking Ninja teams and more. Since this was not particularly pertinent, it has been deleted.

Two conclusions are that:
A) You should vote for Dr. Jim Lally.
B) The Daily Show should definitely keep Jon Stewart as a host and not replace him with Ronda or me.

More USJA Election Coverage: Endorsements by Rousey (not that one)

In a surprising development, my daughter endorsed ME as USJA President. This was not Ronda, who was not in the house at the time. Later, we will have her endorsements.


The first endorsement is from Jennifer Rousey,whose endorsement is valid because:

1. She is one of two older sisters of Ronda Rousey, so she has actually watched judo.
2. She is a graduate student at USC, meaning she must be smart.
3. She is very good-looking (come on, that is why we have celebrities endorse candidates - like do you really believe that George Clooney or Gwyneth Paltrow knows jack about fiscal policy? So why do you care who they want for president? Because they're good-looking, duh! )
4. She actually met Jim Pedro, Sr. and thought his mustache was cool. Plus, she likes that he treats her little sister well.

The second endorsement comes from a judo player in cape, Definitely Not Julia. From Utah Judo, which is somewhere close to Japan, I believe.

=== > Also a shout-out to Erin Butts for winning the Junior U.S. Open. Erin, you are definitely bad-@$$ for a midget.

For those of you who have asked - the ballots for the USJA Election will be mailed to clubs soon as well as a link to download the form posted on the USJA website. I will post the link here when it becomes available, which should happen within the week.

Sneakerdoodle Zebra Judo USJA Election Coverage

Tonight we begin our coverage of the USJA Election with an endorsement for the USJA Board of Paul Nogaki by someone, Definitely Not Julia.

As noted in this endorsement, Paul is "like a math person". Actually, Paul has two masters degrees, including one in finance from the University of Southern California.

Paul is vice-president of a software company and head instructor of the Temecula Valley Judo Club in Temecula, California, known by some as slightly east of nowhere. As Paul says,
"It doesn't get any more grass roots than this."



In addition to the unknown person in a kimono, Paul is endorsed by yours truly (AnnMaria De Mars, current USJA President). He has been the mini-camp coordinator as part of the USJA Development committee. He organized the coach certification at the USJA/USJF Winter Nationals. He was also director of the fabulous camp after the USJA Junior Nationals this year, also co-sponsored by the Judo Forum and attended by Neil Ohlenkamp, Mr. Judo Forum himself. Neil is also running for the USJA Board, by the way, and will be another great addition.

Another person endorsing Mr. Nogaki is Lowell Slaven, the current USJA Treasurer. Lowell IS running for re-election to the board but he is very comfortable having Paul assume the duties as treasurer. As Lowell noted, Paul has a terrific background in finance and accounting and,
"We need to not let egos get in the way of having the best person in a job."

Lowell himself is very interested in working with the USJA over the next few years to develop jiu-jitsu and to bring judo into more jiu-jitsu clubs.

You can read more about several others running for the USJA Board on the website I set up in my spare time, of which I have none, The New USJA. I will be adding more to it over the next couple of days.

On an unrelated note -
I am reading Gene LeBell's autobiography, "The Godfather of Grappling".

It is a great book. I have met Gene many, many times. He is such a nice, modest person, I never would have known he had done half of the things in this book. Of course I knew about the stunt work, TV work and movie roles because I have seen him on TV and in the movies, but as for the rest of it - unbelievable.

It reminds me yet again how many fabulous people we have walking around in our midst in the judo community who never draw attention to themselves and are sometimes overlooked in the babble of those self-proclaimed judo greats calling "Look at me! Promote me! Make me a seventh-degree black belt! Let me be first in the buffet line!"

It's a great book to remind you of the varied, full lives one of our judo greats lived. Well, he is still living. As I am sure Gene would be the first to tell you, he is not dead yet!

A True Story: Black Belt Duels in Salt River Flats

This is a true story. Identifying information has been changed to protect the people who don't give a $#@ .

I was at the AAU Nationals and Joe Blow from Salt River Flats, Utah (not his real name or city), told me this story.

"I have been teaching in Salt River Flats for 30 years. I always take out an ad in the local media. Last year, some guy from random Asian country number six moved in and took out an ad in the same place listing himself as a seventh-degree black belt. I went to visit his club and the guy is in his thirties. He's no more a seventh-degree black belt than my cat. So, just for fun, I decide to put in my ad, 'Joe Blow, seventh-degree black belt.'

One day, I get a call from the company and they say,
"Joe, this man, Fred Nosiness, called us and said, 'I know Joe Blow and he's no seventh-degree black belt.' What would you say to him?"

I said, "Well, I'd tell him to go %^*< himself."

The man from the company asked, "What do you recommend I tell him?"

I said, "I recommend you tell him to go #$%& himself."

But, he said, "No, our company has to have accurate information. Do you have a certificate that says you are a seventh-degree black belt?"

I told him, "Sure, I do."

So, I went to my typewriter (Joe is not a big computer guy) and I typed up a certificate that said,

"I, Joe Blow, am a seventh-degree black belt."

Then, I typed my name, Joe Blow, and signed it, Joe Blow. "

I asked,
"What did they say?"

He said,
"They said, 'Fine. Thank you very much.' And, the next year, the guy from random Asian country number 6 listed himself in his ad as an eighth-degree black belt. So, I personally have been responsible for rank inflation in Salt River Flats, Utah."

"Um, that's great, Joe. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I am very proud of that."

Then, he asked,
"Do you recognize me?"

I said,
"Sure, I do, you're Joe from Salt River Flats, Utah."
"Do you mind if I put in my ad next year, 'Recognized by the USJA President?"

I told him,
"Sure, Joe, knock yourself out."

I wonder what I am going to be responsible for.

AAU Grand Nationals: A is for Awesome

It was a great time at the AAU Grand Nationals. First of all, before I went, I got to see my family, including my cousin Mike's wedding, an unreasonable number of aunts, uncles and cousins of the first, second and twice-removed variety. One of the coolest was my niece, Wendy, who had her hair in a very GI Jane type of shaved-head style. I thought it was just the latest strange fashion until the reception when it came out that she had auctioned off shaving her head for $2,000 donated to a charity for children with cancer. She teaches English at a high school, the students ponied up two grand and hence Wendy has a shaved head.

If you all think I am going to shave my head for money donated for USJA Development, you can all forget it.

The tournament was great. I really like the way the AAU rules run. There were almost no penalties but a lot of instruction. For example, in one match the referee says to the player "You grabbed inside his sleeve", as she demonstrated the grip, "don't do that again."

If players weren't attacking enough, the referee would say, "Action, action".

If after instruction the player still persisted then he or she would get a verbal warning, and after the second warning a chui (two shidos). There was not a lot of concern over what people were wearing. No one measured gis. I did not see any illegal gis in terms of being too short according to the rules. Some looked too long to me. Some people wore a blue pair of pants and white top or vice versa. No one cared. It was judo, not a fashion show. Ronda would have felt right at home.

The judo was very good and there was a lot of it. There were about 200 players,mostly adults. There was a good number of female competitors, including 1996 Olympian Corinna Broz West. She not only competed but she had a table selling her artwork. Talk about multi-talented.

The AAU is a growing organization and I had the opportunity to talk with Steve Scott and Norm Miller at length about how we could cooperate. One decision, supported by our coaching chair, Jim Pedro, Sr. , is that AAU could offer our coaching curriculum if they would like and,assuming it is the same curriculum and approved instructors, we would have a reciprocal agreement like we do with USJF. AAU clinics could also be submitted for approval for continuing education. This would make more educational opportunities available to our coaches and players in the Midwest.

The day after the tournament, we did have a coaches clinic with coaches from Texas, Kansas and all over Missouri. Again, I was extremely impressed with the quality of judo done by all of the coaches. Incredibly, Steve Scott who started Welcome Mat Judo Club has now fathered THIRTEEN Welcome Mat judo clubs around the area. THIRTEEN of his students are now running their own programs. Everyone should be studying him and seeing what he is doing.



My sister (that's her above giving me the lecture) insisted that I must sit by a bonfire and not work all evening. She believes that bonding with nature and doing nothing will benefit me in some way I obviously failed to comprehend.

It was nice to see everyone and I am sorry Julia missed the bonfire and the fireflies but I am sure she had a great time with her grandmother and cousins.

Judo tip - more a suggestion - if you live in an area with a lot of black belts, I think once every few months the instructors should schedule a 'no students' workout and get together. There should be 90 minutes of people just showing each other drills or new techniques that they have been thinking about. This should be followed by 90 minutes of beer-drinking and swapping lies about how good and good-looking we all used to be.

Hot Time in Arkansas

Haven't updated this blog lately as I have been
A. Doing clinics in Arkansas and
B. Writing a paper for a software conference.

Both being done now, I am tired and fortunately, I received this article for Growing Judo from Ed Thibideau today so I am posting it here as it says nicer things about me than I would say about myself.

Coach Certification and Judo Clinics Held In Arkansas
July 11 & 12, 2009
Ed Thibedeau, Chief Instructor Arkansas Goshinkan, USJA Regional Coordinator

On Saturday, July 11th we were afforded the opportunity to have Dr. AnnMaria DeMars in Little Rock, AR to conduct a coach certification clinic. Arkansas Goshinkan was host for both clinics. We had 11 participants, representing four judo clubs from around Arkansas. Six people were certified or recertified as coaches. In addition to the coach certifications, two people were recommended for approval as coach certification course instructors.
The clinic was well rounded in the material covered; ethics, age appropriate instruction techniques, coaching girls and women, newaza combinations, transitions from nage waza to newaza, ….


On Sunday AnnMaria had a late flight out of Little Rock so she agreed to do an afternoon clinic for the kids. Good thing she had a red & white belt on, otherwise we would have lost here in the horde of little ones. She tried to convince the kids she was a grandma, but it didn’t look like they bought into it after doing one on one judo with her.



[Read the July issue of Growing Judo for the whole article.]


Also, for those of you interested in the USJA election (and how could you NOT be? Oh, well, don't answer that) here is the website showing some of our candidates. I hope they ALL win. There are ten people here and there are eleven seats on the board, so it is possible. Check back regularly for more information (and another candidate or two).