Member News

November 1, 2006

Colorado Athletes Compete Against Dutch Junior Team

A top-level junior team from the Netherlands came to Colorado last week to train with and compete against some of the best young athletes in the United States.

Team FORCE West and the Olympic Training Center Junior Squad, both of Colorado, sponsored the Dutch team’s visit in conjunction with Grace Jividen (Denver, Colo.), 1992 Olympian and USA Judo Board member, and Dutch Brothers Flowers.  The team trained at the Boulder Judo Training Center and Denver Dojo during their stay in Colorado.

The week culminated in a friendly match between the Dutch Team and Team Colorado, coached by Buck Wessell (Boulder, Colo. / Team FORCE) and Noriko Narazaki (Boulder, Colo. / Boulder Judo Training Center).  Three lineups of athletes from various clubs throughout Colorado competed in a rotation against the 11-person team from the Netherlands coached by Keese Veen. 

The Dutch Team included Junior National Champion Koen Alberts, Mike Thijssing, Kevin Mak, Danny Thijssing, Sierd Brink, Linda Bakker, Joy Mongroelal, Richard Vanden Pow-Kraan, Vincent Spraakman, Pieter Buisman, and Luis Mash.

The first round consisted of 11 matches and an exciting win by Colorado with six victories to four losses and a draw.  Colorado athletes Max Wessell (Boulder, Colo. / Team FORCE), Zach Maes (Wheatridge, Colo. / Team FORCE), George Truong (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Jushinkan Judo Club), Sofia Mani (Westminster, Colo. / Northglenn Judo Club), Kenny Hashimoto (Thornton, Colo. / Northglenn Judo Club) and Sasha Cogswell (Westminster, Colo. / Hyland Hills Judo Club) all accumulated wins in this round. 

Seiji Hashimoto (Thornton, Colo. / Northglenn Judo Club) fought an exciting match against Joy Mongroelal that resulted in a tie. Ryan McGuire (Thornton, Colo./Northglenn Judo Club), Ian Stahlajak (Boulder, Colo./Team FORCE), Rob Milbrandt (Denver, Colo./Denver Dojo) and Gary Cherny (Boulder, Colo./Team FORCE) were defeated by their Dutch opponents.

Round two consisted of only ten matches where the Dutch held their own with final results being five wins to five losses.  Maes, Seiji Hashimoto, Kenny Hashimoto, Cherny and Mike Kannianen (Northglenn, Colo. / Northglenn Judo) all scored wins on the Colorado side. The Dutch had a strong showing with defeats against Wessell, Diederick Visser (Boulder, Colo. / Boulder Judo Training Center), Darya Cogswell (Westminster/Hyland Hills) Milbrandt and Maes who fought two matches in the second line up.

The final round consisted of only four matches and again resulted in a tie with two wins by Colorado athletes – Milbrandt and Lucas Mignonga (Golden, Colo. / Northglenn Judo Club) and two defeats over Connor Murtha (Boulder, Colo. / Boulder Judo Training Center) and Jordan Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Jushinkan Judo Club).

“This was a terrific week for Colorado athletes and exactly the type of activity that we hope to sponsor again,” said Coach Buck Wessell of Team FORCE and Boulder Judo.  “Our goal in sponsoring this event was to create opportunities like this that will contribute to improving Colorado athletes as a whole which will ultimately result in raising the level of judo in the state.”