The Team took two Golds:  Corwin Learned 60kg, Allison Clifford 78kg, two Silver: Matt Dong 60kg, Sidhartha Raj 90kg, and three Bronze: Anthony Kwon 73kg, Colton Brown 90kg, and incoming freshman, Sophia Swain 70kg. Marco Cruz finished 5th 60kg.

Shintaro Nakano has been the Technical Advisor Coach for the San Jose State University Team for the past two years. Many of Nakano’s Tachi-waza, Newaza techniques and training were evident in the successful performance of the San Jose Judoka’s at these Nationals.

Notably, Matt Dong upset the top ranking Judoka in the 60kg division, Nick Kosser, by Ippon, with an Ouchi-Gari. It was called by many who witnessed the match, the “throw of the tournament”. Cal Kitaura who was a side judge during the match, said “it was definitely Nakano’s soft, but powerful style, Ouchi-Gari.”

There were also other Ashi waza, as well as transition Newaza Techniques winning other crucial matches, displayed by the Team during the two day Tournament.

The Team’s overall, much improved performance was attributed to and a reflection of Shintaro Nakano training.

The results was a great Birthday Gift for Head Coach, Yosh Uchida, who just turned 92 in April. Mr. Uchida was recently featured in a full page article in the New York Times.

He will also be featured in a documentary on ESPN on his life as a Judo Coach of San Jose State University. A camera crew has been following him around at the US Senior Nationals and in San Jose for a week.

The San Jose State University Judo Team also won its 46th National Collegiate Judo Championship Title this past March in San Jose, on the campus. The Team placed five of six Judoka, including four Gold Medals against runner up, West Point Military Academy who brought a Team of 40 Players. Led by Outstanding Judo Player of the Tournament, Colton Brown 90kg, other Gold medalists were Matt Dong 60kg, Marco Cruz 66kg, and Anthony Kwon 73kg. Hector Fajardo took a Silver Medal 66kg

USA Judo has also announced that Marti Malloy, 57kg, a graduate from San Jose State University will represent USA in London at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Marti has been competing to qualify for a spot on Team Judo USA for the past three years in her weight category. She is one of only five Judoka currently, who will be representing USA in Judo.

The recent results from the National Collegiate Judo Championships, the US Senior National Judo Championships, and the announcement of Olympian, Marti Malloy were tremendous achievements thus far, for San Jose State University Judo in 2012 .  

Shintaro Nakano has been conducting a Clinic Series of his Judo Style of Techniques and training these past six months for CENCO Yudanshakai Clubs.

Further information as a pdf.

2012 High School National Judo Championships

Friday-Saturday, May 25-26, 2012

Hosted by: 50 State Judo Association

Tournament Director: Ray Imada
e-mail: rayimada@gmail.com
Tel: 808-330-5413
Fax: 808-678-8835

For further information

The first day of practice was very hard. We had 20 rounds of randori and 12 rounds of newaza 3minutes each. There were about twice as many Japanese people as there were foreign people so you always had a partner. We had a good warm up and the Japanese people were very flexible they could do multiple flips across the mat. My teammates were great they were really funny.

The next day we had one practice in the morning we did more randori and newaza but not as much as the day before. The afternoon practice we had a technical clinic with Kosei Inoue. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Japan. He was very good.

On Saturday we had a lighter practice because the tournament was coming up. We had more randori in the morning and a technical clinic in the afternoon. It seems to me that the randori did a lot of good for me.

I learned a lot about the Japanese and how their technique is and their style of judo. I got some good throws in but most of the time I felt like a rag doll. The Japanese people were so nice and very polite. I liked them very much it was fun to practice with them. The day before the tournament we went to the smaller dojo and practiced. It was pretty cold in there.

We had to give them our judo gis because they were going to put the back patches on them. When I got my gi back the patch was super cool.

Then Monday was the tournament. Our team had seven players and we had to fight to get a spot on the team. The tournament went very efficient. Sadly we lost our first round and we out of the tournament. We stayed the whole time and watched the whole thing. Then we got our judo gis back on and went to bow out for the closing ceremony. It was not a surprise that the people who won were a Japanese team. I was very surprised because in California when I fight and my brother Chance fight at local tournament and bigger ones. We are usually the last to fight and get out of the tournament very late. In Japan were got out at 3 o’clock and there were more people there.

My favorite part of the Trip was the next day when we had practice matches. Those were really fun because you fought a lot of different teams and it didn’t matter if you won or not. It was for your own benefit. We didn’t have enough American girls to make a team so one Australian girl was with our team and a tiny Russian boy who didn’t want to fight with the big guys was on our team. He was very good; he won almost all the lightweight matches. The rest of us lost most of the time but it was really fun. We lost all of the matches except for two.

That night the coaches took the whole team and parents to the restaurant upstairs and it was all you can eat buffet. It was really funny because Cooper had at least 10 platefuls of crab legs. The second to last day we went back to Fukuoka to train with another dojo and do some more practice matches. Then after that we went to a big hotel and had lunch. The lunch was very good. Then we went to see a really cool temple where the god of knowledge was. Then we went shopping and my mother bought judo porcelain dolls. We went to this gigantic mall after we went to the temple and shopped there for a little while. We then went back to the global arena. The next day we went to the airport to leave.

On the whole experience I had an awesome time. I learned so much and got to meet so many new people. A learned a lot about Japanese style of judo and their culture. I loved my team and my coaches they really helped me learn a lot; Sensei Wee, Sensei Shepard, and Sensei Saito. At the time I was there I was cold and tired but now that I look back on it I realized that I had an amazing experience. If I could I would definitely go again. Maybe in my life I will try to go back to Japan and learn even more about judo. I’d like to thank you for the opportunity you gave me going to Japan. Thank you for supporting me I learned so much.

Thank you so much
Always,
Skye Bruce

Guy’s obituary

Funeral for Leigh Nakamoto
Friday, March 9, 2012 – open to everyone
Visitation: 5:30 p.m.
Service: 6:30 p.m.
Mililani Mortuary in Mililani

Burial will be the following day. The family has requested that the burial be a private affair – Family Only at the burial service.

Nakamoto Sensei’s obituary will appear in the Honolulu Star Advertiser on Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sensei Leigh lived his life on his own terms. He rode through life on an express train filled with family, friends, students, and people who were drawn to this big man with an even bigger heart. Leigh could sit and regale everyone with stories and anecdotes about life experiences and teach lessons at the same time.

Sensei Leigh’s accomplishments as one of the most successful Judokas in Hawaii Judo history still doesn’t measure up to his achievements and influence after his competitive time on the mat. He resurrected Leeward Judo Club into a Century Club before heading off to Kapolei to spread Judo further west. During his time as President of 50th State Judo, he and a dedicated band of Judo stalwarts gave Hawaii a High School Judo State Championship. His son Christian is one of the few High School Judokas with 4 State Championships. He headed up the corp of referees that serviced both the Association and the High School Judo competitions.

He was truly blessed to meet his wife Sharon and welcomed Darryl, Lori, Everett and Christian on board his express train through life. I’m sure we’ll hear some stories and moments from others here. Leigh enjoyed his Sundays at Grandma Sugihara’s as yet another wonderful moment at his banquet table of life. His hearty laugh lingered on longer than most of us because he sensed more than just the experience, he appreciated who he was experiencing it with and brought that out of those lucky enough to be around him.

When his health kept him out of the everyday operations of his beloved sport of Judo, he was still someone who Senseis and students came to for advice, leadership, and encouragement. With Sensei Leigh, no one walked away wanting and most walked away feeling relieved and blessed.

This final celebration with Sensei Leigh on his express train touches us because we will miss him. We are also reminded that he will always be in our happy moments, our thoughtful moments and our significant moments because whoever he was to you, he was and will always be the big guy with the even bigger heart.