Kata

Kata Committee

The mission of the Kata Committee is to enhance the performance and competitiveness of US kata players and kata judges on the national and international level. 

The Kata Committee is the ruling body for kata in USA Judo.  The committee is responsible for establishing the US Kata Standards and Judging Criteria (in alignment with the IJF), establishing guidelines for the selection of US kata players to international level events, for training and certifying national level judges, for promoting the advancement of national judges to the PJC and the IJF, for cooperating with the PJC to enhance kata competition and judging in the Pan-American region, and for organizing and running the kata tournament at the Senior Nationals.   The kata committee meets as a body at least once annually and works year round to achieve these goals.

The USA Judo Kata Committee will foster the development of kata on both the elite and the grassroots levels in cooperation with the USJF and USJA in the spirit of “mutual benefit and welfare” and “maximum efficiency, minimum effort.”

USA Judo Kata Committee Members

Diane Jackson (Chair)

Eiko Shepherd (Vice-Chair)

Lisa Capriotti (Secretary / Athlete Rep)

Carla Martin 

Claudia Smith

Theo Schwalm

Barbara Houston-Shimizu

Dr. Kuniko Takeuchi