| Member News
January 24, 2008
USA Judo Continues On Its Trail Blazing Program of Athlete Support
Eddie Liddie, USA Judo Director of Athlete Performance and a 1984 Olympic medalist, announced after the recently completed Board of Directors meeting on Jan. 19 that the USA Judo Board has approved a record budget of $791,600 in athlete support.
The 2008 high performance budget marks a substantial increase over previous years. Under the continuing support of the United States Olympic Committee and its guidelines, this year’s budget is largely performance based.
Among the programs in the 2008 budget are 15 high performance programs that were approved for a total of $676,600.
The USOC, through the guidance of Liddie, also will be offering an additional $66,000 in direct athlete support.
USOC Sports Partnership Director Jay Warwick attributed the increase in USOC support to the success of USA Judo athletes during the past year.
“Our decision was based largely on the significant improvement of competitive success of USA Judo athletes in 2007 over previous years,” Warwick said. “We feel that USA Judo has done a good job to ensure success at the Games in Beijing.”
As part of Operation Beijing, two athletes were selected to receive annual training stipends. Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) and Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) will each receive $40,000 in cash training stipends throughout the course of the year. Rousey and Reser both won the 2007 Pan American Games and Rousey earned the first World medal for a U.S. woman since 1995.
Rousey and Reser also are among four athletes selected by the USOC to receive additional incentives throughout the year. Reser and Rousey will receive $12,000 each while Pan Am Champion Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen) and Pan Am Games medalist Jeanette Rodriguez (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami) will receive $8,000 and $4,000 stipends, respectively.
Other athletes also will be eligible to receive stipends throughout the year as a total of $20,000 will be awarded for athletes who have a minimum of 27 international points. Athletes are eligible to receive between $250 and $2,000 per month through these monthly stipends, based on the number and level of international points held by an athlete.
An additional $200,000 has been earmarked for the six USA Judo National Training Sites. These funds will be direct financial support as agreed to between the Head Coach of each program and the USA Judo High Performance Director as part of each Training Site’s annual high performance plan.
The Training Sites had exceptional success in 2007 with athletes winning 12 medals at the Pan American Championships and Games. This year, 12 Training Site athletes are currently ranked #1 in the 14 Olympic weight divisions.
Fourteen of USA Judo’s top-ranked elite athletes also will be eligible to receive Elite Athlete Health Insurance with an estimated value of $24,000.
Athletes also will be eligible for podium incentives of up to $1,500 for a gold medal win at an A-Level event and as much as $1,000 for a gold medal won at key B-Level European Tournaments.
To encourage athletes to train and compete abroad in their preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, highly ranked players also will be eligible for training stipends through both the Elite Athlete Training Funds program which allocates $10,000 for training abroad as well as the Beijing Preparation Program in which $40,000 has been set aside for ranked athletes to participate in international training camps. Through the Beijing Preparation Program, international coaches and teams also will be brought to the United States to train with U.S. players.
Following the success of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games Training Partners program, $35,000 has been designated for training partners to attend the Beijing Games. This program will allow young future Olympic hopefuls to travel to Beijing to help prepare the Olympic Team for competition. Among the athletes who participated in this program in 2004 were Reser and Kirk Hoffmann (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), both of whom later went on to qualify for their first World Teams in 2005.
As part of USA Judo’s goal to groom young athletes for future success, this year’s budget for Junior High Performance has been set at $50,000. This program, led by Jim Hrbek, has helped create a steady pipeline of both junior and senior success. Fundswill help top junior players attend the Belgian Ladies Open, the Pan American Junior Championships in Buenos Aires, the South American Junior Championships in Uruguay and the Junior World Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After a successful 2007 trip, junior players also will be able to train and compete in Havana, Cuba in April.
In its third year, the USA Judo Elite U-23 Team, under the leadership of former World Champion Jimmy Pedro will receive $45,000 in athlete and coaching support.
Also to help prepare USA Judo’s up-and-coming players, $9,000 has been designated for regional training camps throughout the country. Any USA Judo club is encouraged to contact Liddie at eddie.liddie@usajudo.us to apply for funds if they are considering hosting a regional training camp.
USA Judo’s scholar-athletes will receive $25,000 during the next year in college scholarships through the Life Member Scholarship Fund.
USA Judo athletes attending universities throughout the country also are encouraged to contact the National Office for assistance in starting club teams on their campus to help develop the growth of the sport on the collegiate level.
Also in 2008, USA Judo is proud to announce that the military training program will be expanding with the goal of developing judo clubs on every military base in the nation through the assistance of program coordinator Rick Donnelson, head of the U.S. Military Team in Lansing, Kans.
In addition to the high performance programs, USA Judo is pleased to announce that more than $330,000 will be spent on developing high-quality junior and senior domestic and international events, including the Pan American Championships which will serve as the final qualifier for the Olympic Games, May 8-11 in Miami, as well as the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Judo, June 13-14 in Las Vegas, Nev.
A record amount of $35,000 also has been set for referee training, travel and education.
In its third year, the USA Judo Adopt an Athlete Program continues to bring in significant revenue with more than $50,000 in cash support donated to athletes in 2007 and even more expected in 2008.
“It’s obvious from the increase in high performance funding by both USA Judo and the USOC that USA Judo is well on our way to having a banner Olympic year. This is the result of the commitment that our athletes, coaches and leaders have made under the guidance of High Performance Director Eddie Liddie,” said USA Judo CEO Jose H. Rodriguez. “This follows closely with our vision of USA Judo winning medals in 2008 while preparing competitive teams for the 2010 Youth Olympics and 2012 Olympic Games.” |
