California Judo Institute State Championship Results

Last Saturday, May 14th, was the (CJI) California Judo Institute State Championship in San Francisco.  Our club had five competitors.  Every one of them fought very hard and displayed some good techniques.

First on the mat were Brigitte and Alessia in the Juvenile B division, and Kendall in the Juvenile A division.

Brigitte was in a double elimination division.  Her division had many very strong competitors.  She won her first match with a choke.  Her second match she was pinned with an Osaekome, but came back in the third match winning with an Osaekome.  She ended by losing her final match, so Brigitte came in 3rd Place.

Alessia, in a three person pool, lost her first match by a waza ari (1/2 point).  She then went on to win her next match with an Ippon. Her opponent was probably more than 20+ lbs heavier.  She threw her with a Tai Otoshi and then went into osaekome, pinning her much larger opponent, coming in 2nd Place.

Kendall in her division won her first match first by throwing with Tani Otoshi and then with an Osoto Gari for Yuko.  Her second match she was ahead with a Waza ari against her opponent, but she ended up getting four shidos for not attacking enough, so she lost. Kendall clearly had much more technique than her opponents.  She came in 2nd Place.

Jonah was up next was in a double elimination pool with several boys, many of them almost a year older and bigger than him.  His first match he won with a beautiful Uchimata for an Ippon.  His second match he was countered and thrown for a loss.  His next match he used his Ashi waza first for a waza ari, and then for an Ippon.  Classic Ashi barai.  He then won his next match with a Uchimata into an Osaekome for Yuko.  He lost his final match which would have put him for the finals had he won.  He took 3nd Place.

Devon had only one competitor who was 135 lbs to his 90 lbs.  On his first match the bigger boy just pulled and pushed Devon around making Devon fall for a loss.  But the second match against him Devon attacked so much, and so well, he threw the bigger boy twice with a left Ogoshi, defeating him.  He lost steam I think in his third match, as he was thrown twice, both for waza ari.  He took 2nd Place.

Alessia competed in the IJF division later on in the afternoon.  She had two competitors in her division, both were college students, a Black Belt and an Ikkyu Brown Belt.  Alessia fought very hard and did well against the brown belt, but eventually got pinned for a loss.  She also got thrown by the shodan with Osotogari.  Alessia took 3rd Place.

Thanks to Senseis Micky and Chris for helping coach the students.

Sensei Henry