2014 San Jose Buddhist Sensei Memorial Tournament

The 66th San Jose Buddhist Sensei Memorial tournament was held on Sunday, Feb 9, 2014 where over 700 contestants from all over the country. Many were there to earn points for their National Judo Ranking. Also present were some of the best Senior competitors who travel all over the world to compete.

DeLeon Judo Club had 10 competitors in the Junior and Senior divisions. This was one of the most successful tournaments our Club had entered in a long time. Everyone of our competitors came home with a medal. 5 First Place, 3 Second Place and 2 Third Place. A special thanks to the Johnson family for bringing 6 of the 10 competitors. Our Judo Club has a major presence at the tournament.

Makani was the first competitor. He won his first 3 matches, 2 with an Ippon and won the other match with 3 Yukos. Only to lose his last match by a Yuko. He came in 2nd Place.

Syaza won all her matches with Ippon. All beautifully executed throws and mat work combination. She came in 1st Place.

Chayton and Thomas, brothers, were not in the same pool for one of the first times ever.

Chayton won all 4 of his matches and was undefeated. His first match he won by Yuko; all the others were won by Ippon. He took 1st Place.

Thomas also won all of his matches, all by Ippon. He won his first two matches in less than 2 seconds with beautiful executed throws. He came in 1st Place.

Vincenzo Bigattini fought very hard in his division, an advanced pool. He went 3-1; winning his first and his last two matches. The only opponent he lost to was defeated 2 times by the same boys Vincenzo had defeated. Vincenzo came in 1st Place by points.

Tik Johnson competed in the Senior division and fought against Brown Belts. They were tough matches, she fought hard against more experienced judoka and came home with 3rd Place.

Zach’s first match was lost only by a shido (penalty). The match went for the full time and he fought well against a good opponent. He went on to win both of the next matches by an Ippon coming in 2nd Place.

Aiyana is a great competitor and fights very well. She had couple of tough matches. She came home with a 3rd Place medal.

Colton won his first match by Ippon, where normally he needs a match to get “warmed up”. He won all of his other matches except one with an Ippon. He won his 3rd match by a Shido, a very close match. Colton went 4-0 to take 1st Place.

Alessia lost her first match to a competitor who we all know has been Judo for over 4 years. Alessia came back determined to win. She did; winning her next two matches by Ippon. Both matches were won by throwing her opponent and into osae komi. She took 2nd Place.