Introducing Your NEW Colorado Judo League Board of Directors!

The time has come and I am so excited to introduce you to the 2020 Colorado Judo League Board of Directors!  

Elections

Outgoing

• President – Tracy Crawford
• Vice President – Marcos Batan
• Treasurer – Nikki Jones
• Secretary – Betty Jadambaa
• Delegate at Large – Grace Jividen Truesdale
• Delegate at Large – Tommy Thompson
• Delegate at Large – George Barisas

Incoming!

• President – Heidi Moore
• Vice President – Max Arizas
• Treasurer – Nikki Jones (re-elected for a second term!)
• Secretary – Betty Jadambaa (re-elected for a second term!)
• Delegate at Large – Martin Vorum
• Delegate at Large – Dennis Mercer

Committees (and if you would like to join committee, let Heidi know!):

Referee: Monty Mani / Marcos Batan / Alyssa Zawack

Coaching: Dennis Mercer / Warren Agena / Jean Luc Moreau / Tracy Crawford

Black Belt Promotion Board: Marcos Batan / Grace  Jividen Truesdale / Dennis Mercer / Keith Lewis / Tracy Crawford

Athlete Development (New!): Tracy Crawford / Heidi Moore / Nikki Jones / Kedge Zawack / Keith Lewis / Scott Moore

Kata (New!): George Barisas / Charles Gavin / Jayson Oldfather

The Great Colorado Judo League – In the past 4 years, we… 

1. Reinstated the Colorado Judo League Black Belt Promotion Board which has standardized the knowledge for our black belts in Colorado
2. Competed and won the novice division in Dragon Boat Racing!  Why this comes up #2 thought in my mind…
3. So many open workouts that traveled from club to club
4. I feel like I can walk into any of your dojos and be welcomed as one of your own.
5. Brought Keiko Fukuda’s Joshi Judo Camp to Colorado and will do so again the summer of 2021
6. Hosted the Youth Nationals in Colorado Springs, CO and shared our beautiful state with hundreds of coaches, athletes, and referees.
7. We have watched our favorite coaches Scott & Heidi Moore and Eddie Liddie on Ippon.tv as they coached countless international tournaments.
8. We watched frantically as Coloradan D’Artanyan Crocket and Californian Christella Garcia fought and won bronze in the 2016 Paralympics.  Colorado hosts two more 2020/now 2021 Paralympic hopefuls Ben Goodrich and Robert Tanaka. 
9. Thanks to Marcos and the entire Batan family, Max Ariza and the JWU crew, the Colorado State Tournament has become the tournament of the year not only in our state but our region!  This is also CJL’s biggest and most successful fund raiser of the year.
10. We were there when Northglenn Judo Club celebrated their 50^th Annual Judo Tournament.
11. When rules changed after the 2016 Olympics, Colorado A-level referee Edson Mallo was chosen to go Baku, Azerbaijan to learn and when he came back he shared the new rules with CO & WY coaches and referees.
12. Funded 2020 (2021) Olympic hopefuls with clinics and donations for Nick Delpopolo and Alaa El Idrissi.  Our judoka have been so generous.
13. Learned from and were amazed by Judo greats Marti Malloy, Jimmy Pedro, and Lkhamdegd Purevjargal.  Dakota never missed a single session of any clinic CJL hosted.
14. Held grueling tournament preparation judo camps that you were proud to survive and that made the tournament seem like an easy practice.  And if you attended every camp workout you were a true rock star like Julia Catalini, Garmaa Shinebauer, and I’ll include Jayson Oldfather even though he ran the camps, he also participated in all the exercises and randori.
15. Held annual Coaching Certification clinics where we shared valuable skills from each other and other Coach masterminds from outside Colorado.  Dennis Mercer, Warren Agena, and Jean Luc Moreau put on a coaching clinic that is by far the best that I’ve ever attended.
16. Became Social!  Facebook, Instagram, …and stuff
17. We have 3! IJF Level 2 Certified Instructors – Grace Jividen Truesdale, Jayson Oldfather, and Tracy Crawford
18. Have been profitable every year! (…until 2020)
19. Which brings me to provided funding to our dojos in this COVID-19 pandemic time of need
20. Moved into the decade and bought a Care System!  Thanks Marcos and Max!
21. Created a budding Junior Referee program and are starting to train the next generation.  Ian L. was our first.
22. Continue to bring in the New Year with DBT and Kan Geiko training
23. This wasn’t our doing, but it has been fantastic to benefit from and support the Senior and Veterans World Training Camps at the Olympic Training Center
24. We are one of the three most popular Zoom workouts during this pandemic (in my mind at least).  (We are trailing behind Jimmy Pedro and Nick Delpopolo)
25. Most importantly we have grown and supported each other as one big family.

It has been a fun 4 years and I am so excited to see what the future brings.  Congrats again to our new Board!

Love,  

Tracy

CJL Grants, Open Zoom Workout, Next Meeting, and more!

Dear Judo Lovers,

I am so proud of the CJL community.  We are living in an unprecedented time and everyone is being affected in different ways.   Saturday,  the CJL Executive Committee voted to give each active CJL club a grant of $1000 per club.  These funds are intended to help dojos pay rent or other dojo expenses, and to help dojo members who have lost their jobs or have been unable to work due to the COVID19 pandemic.  My fellow judoka, if you are struggling financially, or could use any sort of help, talk to your dojo leader.  If they don’t know, they can’t help.  We have a big community with even bigger hearts.

I also want to say thank you to Johnson & Wales University Mixed Martial Arts Club and the US Air Force Academy Judo Club for redistributing their grant funds to help dojos who still have to pay rent through all of this. 

Here are some other ways that dojos are helping and keeping the spirit of Judo alive:

1.   Front Range Judo has a new YouTube Channel and sending out challenges that will get more difficult as they go on. 

a.       https://www.frontrangejudo.com/challenge1

b.       https://www.frontrangejudo.com/challenge2

2.   Alyssa & Kedge Zawack are posting home workouts on their Facebook page.

3.   Nicolas Mbog is posting workouts on his Facebook page and YouTube.

4.   Fort Collins Judo is hosting their kids class via zoom two times a week to help keep students engaged. Marcos sends out videos of exercises they are going to do so they can practice for Wednesday and Friday.

5.   Some individuals are donating their stimulus checks, or anything they can spare, to their dojo so they can help others in need.

6.   Jessica Lockfeld has sewn and donated hundreds of masks and you can now buy them on her Facebook page.  I believe Edson Mallo’s wife, Liana, is doing the same.

7.   Nikki & Ryan Jones have hired judoka Ajax Tadehara to be their virtual personal trainer.  

8.   If you have any other ideas or shout outs, let me know!

CJL OPEN ZOOM WORKOUT!

We are hosting a CJL Open Workout on Thursday, April 16^th at 6:30pm via zoom.  I am using my sister’s zoom room so do not be surprised when you open up zoom and see South Dakota State University.  I would love to see your faces!  Marcos Batan is our first instructor and this honor will be traveling from instructor to instructor until the end of the quarantine and we can get back on the mat.

Topic: Colorado Judo League Open WorkOut

Time: Apr 16, 2020 06:30 PM Mountain Standard Time (US and Canada)

 Join Zoom Meeting

https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/95632532119

Meeting ID: 956 3253 2119

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,95632532119# US (San Jose)

+13462487799,,95632532119# US (Houston)

 MY LAST CJL MEETING AS PRESIDENT - APRIL 25th

Lastly, we are hosting our next CJL meeting via Zoom on Saturday, April 25^th at 11am.  I will send out the link closer to the meeting date.   We are hosting elections for CJL office so if you are interested in running for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, or Delegate-at-Large, please email me to put you on the ballot.  Also, if you have any agenda items, please email me those in advance as well.

Dreaming of the tatami but I’ll take seeing you on Zoom!

Tracy Crawford

CJL President for 11 more days

2020 Denver Judo Spring Tournament and CJL State Championships Postponed

To the Colorado Judo Community,
Due to concerns regarding COVID-19, we will be postponing the Denver Judo Spring Tournament until a later date.
If you have preregistered, your entry fee will be rolled forward until the event is reschedule. If you would prefer a refund, please contact Heidi Moore at judoheidi@comcast.net.
We apologize for the short notice.  Please stay home and stay healthy.
Heidi

Colorado Judo Given the current status of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and having in mind the health of the judo community in Colorado, the team responsible for the organization of the 2020 Colorado State Judo Championships decided to postpone the event to an undetermined date. The training camp that would follow the event will be postponed as well. The elections for the Colorado Judo League board of directors, planned for the day of the championships, will be moved to 4/19/2020 and held in a virtual environment. Further details on the elections will be published at a later date. Marcos Batan

2019 DBT Albert Tagawa (10/19) & Denver Judo (11/9) Fall Tournament Registrations Now Open

Fall Tournaments Are Now Open For Registration!

Click the links below for registration information, and please make sure your USA Judo memberships are up to date!

• Oct 19 - Denver Buddhist Temple Fall Albert Tagawa Tournament - Denver, CO
• Tournament Registration CLICK HERE
• Online registration and payment will close on 
• Tuesday, October 15th at 11pm.

• Nov 9 - Denver Judo Fall Tournament
• Tournament Registration CLICK HERE

Junior Cross-Dojo Joint Practices June 3-6

We are having a training camp/joint practice week for Junior competitors in preparation for the Junior Olympics at the end of June.  These practices are open to all juniors and the more the merrier.  

•    Monday, June 3 - Denver Judo - 5:30-7:00
•    Tuesday, June 4 - Northglenn Judo - 6:30-8:30
•    Wednesday, June 5 - Gracie Judo - 6:00-7:30
•    Thursday, June 6 - DBT Judo @ Denver Buddhist Temple - 6:45-8:15
  For the DBT Judo practice, please fill out the waiver ahead of time at
  https://www.dbtjudo.com/p/guest-waivers.html

2019 CJL State Championship Entry Now Open

ENTRY HERE

CJL Black Belt Promotions 3/17/2019

So proud of our new Colorado Judo black belts! 

• Godan - Marcos Batan (Fort Collins Judo)
• Godan - Matt Simmons (Air Force Academy)
• Sandan - Megan Post (Denver Judo)
• Shodan - Jedd Lebrilla (Air Force Academy)
• Shodan - Luis Briceno (Ft Collins Judo)
• Shodan - Robbie Hugo (Air Force Academy)
• Shodan - Manuel Leyva (Front Range Judo)
• Shodan - Matt Rogers (Gracie Judo)
• Shodan - Anthony Castillo (Denver Buddhist Temple)
• Shodan - Sophia Teissler (Denver Judo) 
• Ikkyu - Benjamin Cotto (Hyland Hills Judo)