The Shintaro Higashi Show - Las Vegas World Judo Championships Veterans

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

The Las Vegas World Judo Championships Veterans was an incredible display of skill, resilience, and the enduring love for judo. In this solo episode, Shintaro Higashi dives into his key takeaways from the event, from the unique dynamics across age divisions to standout performances by seasoned athletes. He discusses the challenges older competitors face, the surprising level of technique on display, and the inspiring stories of veterans who continue to elevate the sport. Shintaro also reflects on how veteran competitors could play a bigger role in the growth of USA Judo, sharing insights into the organizational and political challenges surrounding the sport. (00:00:00) Opening Highlights (00:00:37) Introduction and Overview (00:01:10) Key Takeaways by Age Division (00:05:20) Notable Performances and Inspiration (00:07:11) Addressing Organizational Challenges in USA Judo (00:10:30) Using Media to Promote Judo

Judo Association, USA Judo Veterans Association. It's a non-profit for older guys and they organize competitions and events specifically for guys who are above 30. And you know, I saw those guys and they were competing. I get to talk to them a little bit about their mission and he would float his hand and dive over and do like a split step Ochi

and then go slowly to the left side. I think he did a Tomonage too, man. I was like, wow, how he was able to like mix those three moves together, sort of in a systematic way, off gripping, off one-handed judo, had two-handed judo. Really blew me away. Guys, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show, Peter Yu. Today we're gonna talk a little bit

about the Veterans World Championships. It just happened in Vegas. The veteran worlds, 30 and above in five year increments, 30 to 34, 35 to 39, 40 to 45, et cetera, et cetera. So it used to be called the Masters Tournament, but they wanted to take that term, the Masters, and then use it on the IJF circuit,

so they used veterans, which kind of has a military connotation, but now you know when I say World Veterans Tournament Championships, we're talking about 30 and above. Let's start off with my main takeaways. 30 to 35, not as exciting as I thought, because the guys who are already doing it

at the top of their game at that age are still competing on the circuit. So a lot of guys kind of limped in, that was obviously the biggest division, tons of people are competing, but wasn't the most exciting. But it got better in the Masters II division, the male veterans II division, which is 35 to 40. Those guys aren't on the circuit anymore.

Majority of them. You get some killers in there. You got Vilkomirsky, Gobert, guys who were on the world circuit and producing, I'm talking like Grand Slam medals, World Championships medals, even Olympians sort of out there in this division competing and you see those guys destroying people in the 35 to 45 age range. So that was really really spectacular to see and you see some big mismatches because it's not like the IJF circuit

where you have to sort of be on the national team to compete. Anyone can sign up. So you see some big matchups and so you see some like spectacular throws, really tremendously amazing. Up until the M2, not as many injuries as you would have think. The biggest injuries, 45 to sort of 55. They have the physicality still, they're very strong, they're jacked up, but they're a little bit more susceptible

I think to injuries so that was sort of the age range that had the most. Way more than the 60 plus guys and I'm gonna get to the 60 plus guys later. Those guys are really tremendous. Blew me away. The 45 to 55 year olds though, I know guys who competed in that division who I still kind of work out with them. I'm like, wow, this guy's good. Destroying my average 20 something year olds

in my black belt in my gym. And those guys went out second, third round. So the level was really, really high. Obviously there's a difference between lightweights and heavyweights varying by age. And because lightweights usually have their most amount of success in their early 20s, heavyweights do it all the way up into the mid 30s and 40s, even on the IGF circuit.

So you kind of see as the age progresses, the judo changes between the light weights and the heavy weights. There were light weights in the 45 to 55 division that were fighting sort of like heavy weights. They're like upper body, locked up, year to year, which is something you really don't see at a younger age. But the biggest surprise for me was the 45 to 55 year old heavyweights.

It was the most spectacular thing to watch. And my theory is that you take a 20 year old heavyweight, super heavyweight, that guy's judo doesn't change from the time they're 20 all the way to 45. Their output is still the same because they're reliant on their weight, their gravitational pull, just like ripping stuff and throwing their body to the ground. So their output is still the same but defensively they're not capable of taking those osoroguayas to the side, the big Maka Komi's. So you saw some tremendously massive throws, boom, big throws up in the air, guys getting skied in that division.

So I really was surprised when the 50 something and super heavies came on, I was like, oh boy, it's gonna be really boring. It was awesome. And I was able to see some of the guys like Ray Marquez and Hector Negron, those guys were running the US Veterans Association, Judo Association, USA Judo Veterans Association.

It's a non-profit for older guys and they organize competitions and events specifically for guys who are above 30. And I saw those guys and they were competing. I get to talk to them a little bit about their mission and everything so that was also amazing moving on to the 60 plus not as many injuries which I was surprised and you saw a lot of super highly skilled older dudes you could tell these guys didn't

just start judo those guys have 20 30 years under their belt guys like Sandy North and Burt Mackey guys who you've seen at every local tournament coaching in nationals and presidents cup. And you know, these guys who are usually in the coach chair, I got to see them competing. And some of them had very good judo. Front back, side, Sode, Tomonage. I was like, wow, especially Sandy.

I was blown away by that. And even Gary Berliner, Ari Berliner's father, who was on that refereeing IJF tour for decades and decades, he hasn't competed in over 30 years and he came back and said, you know what, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna compete in this tournament with my son.

And he didn't need to third. And I was able to watch him do judo, which was really spectacular you know because you know he's a ref right I've seen him refereeing every tournament I've seen his kid coming up the circuit and here's this guy who should know tons of judo goes out there and demonstrates that he can still kick ass and I thought that was really cool, you know? And while I was there, I was able to talk to a lot of the IJF staff about upcoming rule changes and USA Judo staff with the current board

and all the political stuff that's kinda happening. A lot of issues there. But yeah, a lot of great takeaways from this event. But it really kind of made me happy that there are guys who are in that age group, above 30, above 40, above 50, these guys still loving Judo and doing it. And you see some of these guys in tremendous shape, and it really was an inspiration. And then I got a little sad, I'm not gonna lie, that those guys, these people, were being sort of underserved.

It would have been lovely to see the USA Judo veterans guys all have USA Judo gear. Something. Yes, it costs money. I get that USA Judo is a high performance national government body focused on Olympians and producing champions and all this stuff. But it would have been nice to kind of see, you know, them getting treated a little bit more than just, you know, oh yeah, these guys are doing it.

Because we need to grow USA Judo. And these are the guys that have the experience and know-how. They've worked for 25 years, 30 years. Maybe they're retired. Maybe they ran nonprofits. They have full-blown careers and they have the money and time. You know, their kids are in college now at this point.

So those are the guys that should be kind of stepping up and saying, hey, look at these young guys competing in the USA Judo circuit. Let me help those guys. I have tons of cash lying around, you know, I'm retired, I have disposable income, you know, I'm my 45, 50 years old. I'm ready to just kind of like chill. I'm getting ready for retirement. You know, those are the guys that need to be served, I think. And you know, really tapped into to kind of help grow USA Judo. And yes, I did the election thing with USA Judo and all the issues going on with it. A lot of stuff happening right now, you know, behind the scenes and the political side of things. And so many guys are reaching out to me, calling me, having a conversation with me, giving me their two cents,

and I just don't know enough to form my own opinion yet. It's very difficult to distinguish what is true, what isn't true. People sending me screenshots and documents and this and clips of videos. Truthfully, I don't have time to really deep down look into that stuff. I'm in Amsterdam right now on a seminar tour.

When I get home, I'm full throttle parenting, running my businesses, all this stuff. It's not something that I want to get too involved in, but because of the election series that I did on my podcast, all the information now is coming to me, but I have no solution. A lot of guys say, hey, what do you think about this stuff? And it's like, I can't even come up with my own ideas yet. So yeah, keep bringing on the information.

If you have ideas, I'm in the phase of just collecting information. Little by little, I will sort of form my own ideas how I can help USA Judo and the sport. And ultimately the whole goal for me, teaching Judo on an online platform, is to help Judo, period, right? So I've amassed this massive, massive reach.

If you look at the numbers between the podcast, the YouTube, the Instagram, all these different things combined, my media kit says I have close to 500,000 reach per month, which is really amazing. And thank you guys for listening and helping us do that, especially our sponsors. Let me get to that first. Drew, thank you.

Jason, Levan, Judo TV, Higashi brand. Thank you very much. So I want to use this platform for good. And right now I'm sort of taking on ideas right now to see how I can specifically help USA Judo or even Judo as a whole. So leave it in the comments. Please. I will read them. I won't respond it in the comments, please, I will read them. I won't respond to them, all of them, but I will read them.

And, you know, yeah, let's make Judo better together. All right, Veterans Worlds, really spectacular. Sandy North, who I think someone told me, 22 consecutive World Veterans Championships. Seven-time champion. Really good Judo. He's like 72 years old. You know, he had like one hand on and he would

float his hand and dive over and do like a split step ochi and then go sote to the left side. I think he did it to Managi too, man. I was like, wow, how... He was able to like mix those three moves together sort of in a systematic way off gripping off one-handed judo had two-handed judo really blew me away. So congratulations to those guys. Like I said USA Judo Veterans Association. It's a non-profit ran by Ray Marquez, Hector Negron. They're doing all these events now, specifically for you guys above 30.

Definitely check them out, and we will definitely get them on the show very soon. Sorry about this unusual setup, I'm in a hotel. I forgot my camera, so I'm recording this on an iPad. But thank you guys so much for tuning in every week for the podcast. And like I said, if you have any ideas, please leave it down below. God bless. Thanks for watching!