The Shintaro Higashi Show - Judo Politics and USA Judo’s Future - Ramon Hernandez

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

In this episode, Shintaro sits down with long-time judo competitor and coach, Ramon Hernandez, to discuss the evolving landscape of USA Judo. They dive into Judo politics, including the removal of Joe Ragan from the board, USA Judo elections, and the financial challenges facing the sport in the United States. Ramon shares his thoughts on the need for better support for athletes, the role of marketing in growing the sport, and the importance of bringing outside sponsorships to judo. This conversation provides an insightful look into the political and economic aspects of USA Judo and what’s needed to elevate the sport in the coming years. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:25) Ramon's Take on USA Judo Elections (00:05:04) USA Judo’s Acquisition of America Judo System (00:08:17) Removal of Joe Ragan from USA Judo Board (00:14:13) Importance of Athlete Support (00:19:13) Marketing Issues in Judo and Club Management

The one thing that we don't have that we should have is a magazine. We don't have a magazine where we can push the next Neil Adams of the United States, Shintaro Higashi, with what you've been doing with your podcast, with being on the tour as now as a commentator, color commentator. We don't have that. I was going to say, bringing money, $10 million with Curious Day. How do we do that? We have to look for uh

sponsorships you know outside money and you know what i think that is the number one thing that's come you know from every interview that i've done so far of the candidates and the people on the back end we got to bring in outside money you know and uh everyone says it how many people have a plan people have promised i'm gonna bring in this millions of dollars into this thing. No one really has done it. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu. This is sort of the election series. We have Ramon Hernandez on.

He's been a longtime judo competitor, judo coach, running tournaments now. That's your main gig right now, right? It's along with running my uh judo uh dojo yeah uh running the garden state judo classic and the north american judo championships is a is a uh uh you know big deal for us here in north jersey and i'm actually trying to put together a team championship with sorrow my chief referee for uh december 15th so i'll i'll talk to you a little bit about that later on you know or at another time. And the reason why I have you on is because you're very involved with judo politics, which

is kind of happening right now in our backyard with USA Judo, with Joe Reagan being removed from the board and the election coming up. Today's the last day to register for vote, September 27th. I'm sure this video will be out way after that, but there's a voting period. And then we've been interviewing sort of candidates little by little but you got some strong feelings about this let's hear it what can i tell you other than you know i don't think that we're paying attention to the uh end user which is us you know the the the competitor the uh the coach you know and i'll add the parents in there you know because you got to kind of cater you know to all of, you know, and I'll add the parents in there, you know, because you got to kind of cater, you know, to all of us, you know.

And so, you know, we definitely have a voice by voting, you know, but I just don't think that they're doing a lot of listening. And just by watching what's going on, what just happened in the board, you know, with kicking Joe out, you you know i can't tell you uh what what uh what a black guy that is to us what how they're looking at us you know uh you know from the igf uh just like it's like oh well here's the u.s typical look what do you think the igf is aware of this oh i think they're paying attention with without a doubt without a doubt. Without a doubt, they're looking.

What makes you say that? Because look at our last CEO is Jose Rodriguez. He works for the IJF right now. I'll bet you he's very in tune to what's going on. Pan American Judo. Yeah, he's PJC, right? Yeah. Yeah. So he's paying attention.

I mean, he's been through it being part of USA Judo because he was the CEO of USA Judo for a very long time. Yeah. And now he's not, so he's kind of aware of how the board functions and such. Yeah. So they're watching us, huh? No, they're... Listen, I would bet my house on it. So you think

Jose Rodriguez watching this and now he's reporting to the higher-ups? Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't he? I mean know i go on the ijf trips now and then i get to see you know vlad and igor and some of the really the high executives of ijf and those guys are you know hey we want usa judo to grow we don't understand why this market is completely untapped you know i don't know what's going on over there this is part of the reason why you're here to give an american voice to the commentating as well because english from uk is a little bit different it sounds different you know what i mean so they're like

hey la 2028 is coming up we really want to make a push for it like we don't want this thing to bomb you know so in every way shape or form the attention really is on usa judo huge opportunity for us very exciting times to be on the forefront of this. Who would you vote for? Who's your favorite candidate? Right now, in terms of let's say I'm not eligible to vote for athlete director, but my

two choices are the guys that are going to the grind right now, which is Nicole Stout and Ari Berliner. As coach director, I would vote for ari miller great so why those guys uh ari miller you know he he he's at all the national events all right he's uh he's in number number two he's an ear to talk to i mean i talk to when i had something going on whether with my tournament or whatever,

you know, coach certifications, things like that, I always call Ari or Pat, and Ari's just somebody I can relate to, I can talk to. He owns a club. He's in the trenches like we are as recreational coaches.

So Ari's running against Jimmy Pedro? Yes. Yes. Yes. You know, and so that'll segue for me to talk about, like, identifying, you know, what we really are in the U.S. as coaches. And 90% of them are part-time coaches, Shintaro, with jobs. You know, some guys are just doing it, you know, for the passion of of teaching judo and

yeah and you know we did you know agree to uh pay american judo now it'll be a million dollars in to put up a very healthy and robust platform for our coaches but at the end of the day we we could have plunked that money down into helping our athletes and listen i think the intention are you talking about the hundred are you talking about the million dollar acquisition for american judo system by jimmy pedro by usa judo is that what you're talking about i'm talking about the platform that they built for usa judo for us american judo system american judo system you know yeah and so listen let me ask a question so is that something that was built for usa judo system you know yeah and so listen let me ask a question so is that something that was built for usa judo or were they already doing it and then usa judo came and bought it no i think it

was built for usa judo i think they sold it to to usa judo and uh you know at the end of the day we have to pay attention to the results and the results is that only 12% of our membership is using that. And now how could that, you know, a million dollars, 250,000 a year for four years could have helped, you know, our first and second tier athletes here in the U S because at the end of the day, when you think about the history of USA Judo, USJI, it was made, right? It was the entity was formed to help our Olympic movement. That was our, you know, our mission. Right.

And so by doing this, by let's say investing, it had good intentions. I agree that it had excellent intentions. But now we know the result had good intentions. I agree that it had excellent intentions, but now we know the result of those intentions. Why do we want to further invest in that? I would prefer to invest in our athletes, developing our athletes. How could $250 back in your day when you were crisscrossing the planet, how that have helped you know you as an athlete you know in terms of i mean a lot of g's good amount of money you send a bunch of athletes to overseas pay for a world team trip whatever it is you know yeah so we're bringing them together

you know for for for for camps you know but uh i just don't think that we're, a lot of decisions are being made without like polling, you know, the end user, which is, which is you and me, you know, as coaches, athletes, even, I hate to say, but even parents, you know, I mean, cause you know, parents are flipping the bill, you know, I'm not talking about parents, you know, bantams or, you know, intermediates or, or, or juveniles. I'm talking about, you know, cadets, IGF junior, right. Those are, that's, that's the pipeline, you know, for our future. And, you know, it's, uh, uh, we're, we're, we're not paying attention to it. Actually. Uh, what I'll,

I'll talk about one guy, Joe, uh, Reagan, he put in a, uh, a good nickel into helping, uh, uh, that sector and, sector, and we just kicked him out. You know? Yeah. We gave him a boot in the ass, and I think it had nothing to do with helping Gino. It just had to do it all with politics. So do you know who voted against him? Who voted to kick him out?

Not entirely. Not entirely. I just feel we did a disservice to ourselves we did a you know the the the rest of the the world but he's running again so joe reagan was removed from the board because of a potential conflict in the bylaws right if you're running for was it at large you know he was an independent he was in so if you're an independent you can't be an athlete or a coach and they figured oh he is but you know this is the thing like you limp into a veterans tournament or something like that now all of a sudden you're considered an athlete now he's disqualified that seems like a technicality maybe the bylaws need to change who knows you know but so they did the i guess right thing by the bylaws and then now he's out but you know you're saying he did so much I guess, right thing by the bylaws.

And then now he's out. But, you know, you're saying he did so much we should have just looked all the way. Or is that what you're saying? I'm just saying that they look for any technicality to get this guy, to get him out. I just feel it was operating on bad intentions. And I wouldn't have treated Joe that way. You know? They voted him to be president.

Yeah, yeah, but they voted him to be president a year before, and now they're – I mean, we look like the J.A. right now. You know, it's just – it's not a great look. It's not a great look. The IGF is looking, and they're, you know, the U.S. is up to its usual antics. I hate that. But he's running again against Jason Morris for Group B director. Group B is where, like, each state organization gets a vote.

But it's not 50-something states. It's just it's like 27 or something like this where what how many do you remember how many votes i think new york state judo gets new jersey judo gets a vote but like some smaller states are kind of like banded together right yep so jason morris or joe reagan before i answer that question i'm going to tell you that Both of them have my confidence And both of them will do the right thing Down the road I think one of them will take a step back And let the other person

Run You think so? It's my feeling in my bones You know Which would be a better person to run? I think both bring Intangible uh uh intangibles to the to the position i mean jason obviously four-time olympian 2008 olympic coach does that matter being a four-time olympian to be running uh you know on the board does that actually matter so the answer is yes considering our mission is to help get athletes to that level.

No doubt. But I also think Joe's experience as a high-powered business executive, that's the guy companies chomp at the bit to bring in to put together billion-dollar acquisitions. Joe, in that regard, he's a baller. He's experienced. acquisitions joe in that regard he's a baller you know he's he's experienced you know and so but business acquisitions multi-billion dollar acquisitions versus being sitting on the usa judo board a little bit of a different job description different there has to be a little political thing happening where you kind of have people on your side in order to really make a big change and you know the person who kind of can influence majority of the board those are the guys you know

it's like uh right isn't that so based on that who do you think both of them have my uh my uh my confidence to to do it and and i think you know i mean listen for judo and i had to pick jason but i i believe both can can do job. Both can navigate the politics. Unless we continue to resort to this cancel out. Let's find something on this guy so we can get him off the bar. And if that's going to happen, we're never going to get anywhere. So Nicole Stout and Ari Berliner is the two athlete representatives that you would like to vote for correct they are in the grind right now they they are traveling around uh uh and yeah yeah and those are two people that uh you know uh they've had experience being on the board

yeah but what about like marty and uh angelica they've already done it they stepped out of it now they're sort of can focus i mean if you're an athlete you're traveling you're thinking about What about like Marty and Angelica? They've already done it. They stepped out of it. Now they're sort of can focus. I mean, if you're an athlete, you're traveling, you're thinking about making a team. Yeah. I don't know how much time they would have to be sort of sitting on these board meetings, this and that. And then, you know, I don't know. What do you think? It really depends on their level of commitment.

You know, I mean, are these guys just being put in to sway the vote in a certain way, or are they in it for the betterment of the movement? Yeah, it's true. Because if you look at Jason, and then Nicole and Ari both train under Jason, so that's a nice little chunk of it, right? And there's these factions that are kind of popping up that you kind of have to look at. Who's backing who? Who's. Right? Who's backing who? Who's backing who?

Who's backing who? There's like the political juicy stuff, you know, in the back, right? Who's the guy who's making all the, right? You know? Yeah, yeah. At the end of the day. Who's voting the influence? All right.

So let's just say you're on the board and you have majority, like you control seven of them. Let's just say theoretically. Yeah. Okay? You're on the board. You're the president. You got six dudes or girls that are like, whatever you vote we got it you know yeah and then you're able to introduce new business to the meeting what would be the thing that you would do

to make usj judo better figure out a way to support athletes uh financially uh you know so so we we can get somewhere you know mean, what's it say? It was all bringing money, $10 million with Cure This Thing. How do we do that? We have to look for sponsorships. Outside money. And you know what? I think that is the number one thing that's come from every interview

that I've done so far of the candidates and the people in the back end. We've got to bring in outside money. And everyone says it. How many people have a plan? People have promised, I'm going to bring in this millions of dollars into this thing. No one really has done it. No one. Not one person

that's said that they're going to do it hasn't really done it. Not that I see it. I'm obviously invisible. I haven't paid attention to this in a long time. From what I hear so far. You need to hire somebody that's going to to bring it in and you know what you know has that happened you know in the last let's say uh two ceos no you know we haven't had that and and we need it but it's the

job of the ceo to do that though right it is a job that's that's i think they hire that person off of that uh decision that the board makes is about the ceo whether the ceo is capable of bringing money into the sport correct because they're ultimately in charge of the budget as well correct correct all right so it really does come down to the ceo what is this guy doing to raise money is my next question uh that part you know, I don't know. I can tell you that I have access to Keith, meaning that if I need to talk to him, you know, for let's say tournament reasons, you know, being that I run, you know,

two big tournaments here in the Tri-State area, I can talk to him. Like, he's been, in that regard, Keith has been a good partner. We put together a program here in Jersey, you know, to help get more people onto USA Judo. We got a grant for for ten thousand dollars. And we've been what would have we directed that towards getting new people on their memberships for USA Judo? So we're probably like just under 2,000 in of doing that. And that's something that procedural-wise, I worked with Keith. So I know that with regards to that, he's accessible to us.

But in terms of raising money, in terms of you know helping our athletes that's that's the goal uh yeah 100 it's it's it's to it's to produce better results and so the last two olympics you know um you know unfortunately hey i give a lot of credit to those athletes, but are we failing them at this point by not producing the results that we need in terms of sponsorships to help these guys? And so the one guy that actually donated money, not taken money, donated money to USA Judah to help athletes, we just kicked him out. Did I hear Joe Reagan gave $100,000? That's the same number I heard. You know,

go figure. Who else on the executive board is doing that? Nobody. The one source that we just had, we just sent them packing. We gave them a boot in the end. Yeah, I mean, that kind of weighs pretty big.

Whether or not he's a true businessman or whether somebody's an Olympian, I don't think that matters so much sitting on the board. But that's putting your money where your mouth is. Anyone can say, oh, I'm going to try to raise money. I know all these guys. I'm connected with the business world, et cetera, et cetera. But someone to come to the table and say, hey, man, I this here's a hundred grand out of my own pocket i think that speaks volumes man that's that's really that's uh that's putting your money where your mouth is you know

we did ourselves a disservice there uh unfortunately and and i'm talking well he's running again you know i don't know what his criticisms are uh from the opposition i know jimmy pedro endorsed jason and i've been you know so i really don't know yeah and you know people say oh what has he done i don't know and you know but i'm gonna get him on here he said he wants to do it so i can't wait to kind of have him on get his side of things uh speaking of money i want to thank the sponsors of this show drew jason and lev and LaVon. Thank you very much. JudoTV.com, Discount Coach Intaro. Higashibrand.com, also a sponsor. That's my thing.

And if you're listening and if you have tons of money, right, maybe we could talk about getting, you know, USA Judo to raise some funds. And then I could say, hey, man, look, I've done more of this sport than you guys. Put me on the board maybe next year, you know? I actually, speaking of higashi brand i just bought my uh winter hat oh thank you i did see that thank you man thank you for the support i love that that thank you thank you but yeah man so all right so raise funds is sort of that's just really it man that's what it really comes down to you know i mean what kind of outreach have we had in terms of reaching out to corporations you know uh there's no outreach there's no outreach and you know what let me tell

you something i have a dojo in new york city on the upper west side 200 members right i have a dojo kind of martial arts, and Chelsea, 150 members. So we got 350 people doing judo between the two schools. You know how many members are USA Judo members or USJF members? I'm scared. Probably 10%. Not even, dude. Yeah. Because these guys don't compete.

And I have secondary insurance and stuff like that. And it's like, all right, what's the point of the, you know what I mean? And then when they sign up, hey, I'm here to do judo. Okay, great. Here's the registration fee. Here's the cost for the gi. Here's the point of the, you know what I mean? And then when they sign up, hey, I'm here to do judo. Okay, great. Here's the registration fee. Here's the cost for the gi. Here's the membership fee. That's already up to 500 bucks.

And now you got to buy a USA judo membership and fill out this long ass form. It's just another sticking point for us to run a business. So it's just too much of a nuisance for me to chase after these guys to do a USA judo membership. So I just don't bother because there's my immediate benefit of like signing them up immediately. All right, fine. Registration is waves.

We'll give you a free key, you know, do this judo thing. And then eventually when they want to compete, all right, now you need a USA judo membership because you have to have a membership to compete. Yeah.

Like if they can't just walk in with no membership, right. When you compete with you. Yeah. So that's when, okay. All right. I'll register.

Very small percentage. Yeah. Some tournament directors are going to this private insurance right and that's just an another thing that again all the three organizations are just losing a grip on uh on on on that aspect of it in terms of sanctioning a tournament right now usa judo is the uh the king on the hill with regards to yeah providing everything you know providing an easy process for for i'll give them that you know providing an easy process for sanctioning and providing an easy process for promotion promoting you know you know promoting from belt to belt you know uh um you know usjf usj can't touch them uh in in that regard you know um but uh you know the the the part where obviously they need uh help is to identify what is the need of the end user and then for coaches it's about you know being helpful and creating the fandom that's needed in the sport

so we can grow the sport number one and number two two is helping to grow the base of judo. You know, like, you know, judo's not out there like Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, you know. That's a huge problem. And so the one thing, like, let's say a lot of these clubs are not run like yours, like a dojo and like a business, right, with a person that has that entrepreneurial spirit. Joe and like a business, right. With a person that has that entrepreneurial spirit, you know, it's run by part-timers that run it out of a rec center that run it out of a YMCA that run it out of a, you know, out of a, a, a, a, a PAL, you know? And so, you know, they, they probably make their own investment in mats and, and they're teaching maybe twice a week, you know? And so,

you know, how's, you know, that person, uh, supposed to get ahead and build like a, unless he quits his job and builds a school like, like, like you or I do, it's not a lot of people are willing to do that. So it's identifying the fact that we are not that, we're not that, you know, and for the ones that want to be that, uh, they need some kind of guidance when it comes to social media advertising. That's like one thing. Tom McGuire up at Goodtree MMA, he's a freaking wizard when it comes to building a program, getting boots on the ground, feet on the mats. Yeah, man.

Yeah, you got to do the outreach you got to put out there like what they're offering like it's kind of a marketing issue too and you know when their budget is strapped and they don't have a marketing budget it's very difficult you know if someone called me was like hey man there's a streamlined way to get all your members usa judo memberships just you know maybe even like a reduced membership like for the clubs or something if you could just provide x number something something you know because i could probably be strong-armed a little bit into like all right getting more majority like maybe it's like a yellow belt minimum or something like that who knows you know what i mean yeah yeah it's this whole thing like uh yeah we got to do better you know

we got to be better i mean sometimes i'm these conversations. I don't know what that even looks like. You know, like in regards to like creating the fandom, the attention that you don't need. You know, the one thing that we don't have that we should have is a magazine. We don't have a magazine where we can, you know, push the next Neil Adams of the United States, Shintaro Higashi, you know, with what you've been doing with your podcast, with being on the tour as now as a commentator, color commentator. We don't have that. We don't have a magazine that's highlighting our athletes. We don't have

a magazine that's highlighting a coach's corner. We don't have a magazine that's highlighting our tournaments. They need a marketing division. They really do. They need money coming in. And you know what? It really is like this,

this peanut budget, you know, just a shoestring budget. You know, it's like they need to hire a marketing person. They need to hire, you know, like I was,

went to like a benefit, you know, Gilda's club or something like that for like, I can't remember. It's like AIDS patients, family members or support, whatever it is. And the person that invited me to that thing,

they're her only job is writing grants. Yeah. Like asking for grants. Grant writing. That's it. That's her only job. So you just touched on the subject. Okay. Do you know that I'm looking into that right now when it comes to events?

You can find a grant writer to help you find a grant and write the grant, write, you know, your, your, your response to the grant to be able to get to get the money to host an event in a bigger facility. Because think about like, let's say the U S open, what a marvel that tournament has turned out to be Jerry Navarro and his crew. They did an excellent job in creating uh the u.s open and so my point is that what does it take to rent that uh facility out the the convention center fort lauderdale 80 to 90 000 and that's just for the space doesn't include the security doesn't

include the internet the internet my god it'll it'll it'll it'll kick you it'll kick you in the head once you find out what you got to pay for internet. Really? How much is it? It could run you $15,000, $20,000 for a weekend. Yeah, yeah. And so even USA Judo, when they're running their events, it's common knowledge that we're breaking even with our events. you know, we're breaking even with our events.

So the Youth Nationals, Presidents' Cup, the Senior Nationals, and the Junior Olympics, those are big events. But because of the cost of running these events, they are in a break-even situation, or sometimes we do dip into the red. And I think that's pretty much out there. board the board knows that yeah the board knows that and and you know i mean could could we could we take you know a couple of chapters you know from jerry navarro to kind of you know uh make that a better situation you know uh i'm not sure you know um yeah it's it's it's not that part of holding events man it's not a easy business and you do need help of a grant writer and um you know it's uh it's uh you know yeah you need like

an advocate like a salesperson or a grant writer or fundraiser or something you know i knew a guy you know he's like well principal of the school just hired someone just to get on the phone and make fundraising calls and then do fundraising events for the school because it's a private school. It's like every alumni, everything, everybody, hey, do you remember me or this school? You were an alumni. Would you like to

give $1,000 on the mail, email, everything. Just getting bombarded with stuff. It's like, all right, fine. I'll give you $500. I'll go to the benefit dinner. And now all of a sudden, you know, the school, this one guy that you're paying a salary of $50,000, $100,000, whatever it is, that guy's raising, you know, $800,000 for the private school. They have hired positions like that.

That's what USA Judo needs to do. And then it always comes back to, we don't have the money. Okay. So what's the CEO doing? The CEO should be bringing that money in. If you promise $4 million and if there's $4 million there, you could hire those positions. Yeah, yeah.

That's just my opinion. Yeah. No, and, you know, listen, I wonder what other NGBs are doing, you know, to solidify that. I don't think we are. I don't know that. I don't think we have somebody on staff That can do that

And Listen we're falling behind We have the Olympics coming up in 2028 And we're We haven't even been talking about the So supposedly I'm talking to the members of the board Now they haven't even had a conversation about it yet Because there's just so much internal conflict

Not only that but Also I don't think that they that they can because whatever the criteria is this criteria is going to be handed down by the by the usopc you know so uh although listen uh uh i've i've been to most of these tournaments you know even the ones that are abroad you know and uh you know everybody coaches are asking you know uh what the ones that are abroad, you know, and, you know, everybody, coaches are asking, you know, what's going to be the criteria, what's going to be the criteria. And I don't think it's been communicated to the membership that they have to wait on that until they get the green light. But, you know, the communication is what's lacking.

And the reason why it's lacking is because you're right. There is turmoil at the very top, and if we can't fix what's going on at the top, this is going to continue. Yeah, yeah. True. Well, man, thank you very much. I don't want to take too much more of your time. Do you want to plug something? Your tournament, your school, what do you want to plug, man, thank you very much. I don't want to take too much more of your time. Do you want to plug something? Your tournament, your school?

What do you want to plug, man? I want to plug the podcast. And I don't do this to everybody. This is because you're my friend, and we're New York, New Jersey guys. We're in the local circuit. I want to plug the Shintaro Higashi podcast. Everybody's paying attention to you when you're abroad. everybody's paying attention to you when you're abroad.

We're looking for that person that's going to fill that role to be the Neil Adams of the United States. I think you're it. Thanks, bro. I think you're it, man. Everybody's

super happy that you've taken this on. Just keep doing what you're doing. It's December 15th. Sorrow and I are trying to throw a team championship. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to have Shintaro there to commentate. That would be really fun. Yeah.

Right? Hope you're in town. If you're not doing any seminars. If I'm in town, yeah, for sure. Yeah. But, you know, I appreciate you listening to one end user, right? And, you know, I just hope that we, you know, this election is a big election. It's important.

And, you know, what you don't want it to turn into is a January 6th situation. Yeah. I heard the podcast with Chris Brown. He was going to stay really vanilla on it, but I'll go ahead and tell you that sometimes people have to

do right by the situation and know that they're not going to win and to back off what it is that they're trying to gain and take a back seat. And I'm talking to everybody on the board right now. Yeah.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.