Member News

March 31, 2006

U.S. and Great Britain Training Camp for Visually Impaired Judo Players

The United States Association of Blind Athletes, in partnership with U.S. Paralympics, is pleased to play host to a judo training camp that will feature elite blind and visually impaired U.S. judo athletes, along with the Great Britain National Judo Team.  The camp will be held at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center, April 5-10, 2006.  Athletes will also compete in the Northglenn Judo Tournament, a USA Judo Senior E Level Tournament, held April 8 in Northglenn, Colo., located north of Denver.

“The training camp will allow our athletes to prepare for the upcoming Judo World Championships and is a unique opportunity for them to train and compete with the Great Britain team,” said Willy Cahill (San Bruno, Calif.), 2004 Paralympic Head Coach.  

The 2006 International Blind Sports Association Judo World Championships will be held in Brommat, France, June 29-July 3, 2006.  Selection of the U.S. World Team will take place following the camp.   

“The combined training camp and tournament will allow each team to share in the principals of Judo,” said USABA Head Coach Walter Dean (San Diego, Calif.)  “The two teams have traveled to numerous countries together in the past, but this is the first time the Great Britain team will be visiting the U.S. to train. We are hoping to continue to build relationships with other countries following the success of this camp, and at some point take the U.S. team to train in those countries as well.”

Among the athletes attending the camp is U.S. Paralympian Scott Moore (Englewood, Colo./81kg), who made history with his performance at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, as he became the first American ever to win a gold medal in judo in either Olympic or Paralympic competition.  He also won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games.  Moore is only the second blind athlete to receive a national ranking amongst sighted judo competitors and is currently the head coach at the Denver Judo Club in Denver, Colo. 

Also attending the camp are 2004 silver medalist Lori Pierce (Arvada, Colo./70kg), Sara Parson (Springdale, Ark./+78kg), Christina Thomas (Los Angeles, Calif./48kg), Andre Watson (Upper Darby, Pa./90kg), Robert Simpson (Ft. Worth, Texas/73kg), Myles Porter  (Toledo, Ohio/100kg), Johann Shockency (Andover, Minn./+100kg), Ron Hawthorne (Kansas City, Kan./60kg), Emmanuel Brannon (Seminole, Fla./66kg), Jordan Mouton (Houston, Texas/52kg) and Scott Jones (Little Rock, Ark./90kg). 

The coaches running the camp will include Cahill, Dean, Marc Vink (Riverton, N.J.), Jentry Kendall (Arvada, Colo.) and Paul Latimer (Upper Darby, Pa.)  Great Britain will bring six athletes from their National Judo Team.

The British Blind Judo Team also will train with Dean in San Diego, Calif. from April 11-17 at six dojos in southern California, including North Island Naval Station, San Shi Dojo in Vista, Chula Vista Youth Center in Chula Vista, La Costa Judo in La Costa, Guerreros Dojo in La Puente, Calif. and Mojica Judo in Baldwin Park, Calif.

For more information regarding judo for the blind and visually impaired, contact Head Coach Walter Dean at (760) 612-6435 or e-mail WalterPDean@sbcglobal.net or USABA Executive Director Mark Lucas at (719) 630-0422 or mlucas@usaba.org.