The Shintaro Higashi Show - Why You Should Vote In the USA Judo Election - Chris Round

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

​​USA Judo's board elections are fast approaching, and they could significantly shape the future of American Judo. In this episode, Shintaro sits down with Chris Round to discuss why this election is the most crucial in recent memory, particularly with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics on the horizon. Chris explains the importance of voting, how the board impacts everything from athlete selection to organizational strategy, and why your vote truly counts in this "small town" election. Shintaro and Chris further discuss the roles of different board positions, the impact on athlete and coach representation, and the challenges and opportunities facing USA Judo. Whether you’re a competitor, coach, or passionate fan, this episode highlights how you can influence the direction of judo in the U.S. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:05) Importance of the Upcoming Election (00:03:28) Understanding USA Judo’s Board Structure (00:10:39) Key Issues: Olympic Qualification (00:12:24) Candidate Platforms and How to Learn More (00:16:05) Voting Eligibility (00:19:09) Candidates in the Upcoming Election (00:22:47) Engaging with USA Judo’s Board

By 12 people. It's just 12 people that's going to say, get rid of them, keep them. If we get rid of them, let's hire this guy or that guy. Yes. But US Judo now, they decide, the board decided, the all-powerful board, they're very powerful now, right? They've decided you can do it. So now you can. So if I want the senior nationals, second round, my guy's fighting, I could yell the whole time?

Yep. Wow. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Shantara higashi show with peter you today we have a very special guest we have chris round here why are we here chris that's always a great question um we are here because usa judo is having its board of board directors elections and i'm here to get people to sign up up to vote and get involved. This is the most important election that we will have had in recent memory. As everyone knows, the Los Angeles Olympic Games are coming up in 2028. And this is the board that will be responsible for a lot of the key planning, a lot of the key decisions, things ranging from,

you know, how athletes might be selected to the direction of USA Judo. So I want to try to make sure that I am, for reference, I'm a member of the governance and elections committee. So what I'm trying to do is I help to oversee the election. I want to maximize turnout for everybody. Awesome. Awesome. So let's start with this. Okay, there's a lot of complaints online about US Judo. Judo this, U.S. Judo that. People are complaining nonstop.

I've gotten the emails like, hey, vote for this board of directors, the athlete representatives. And I was like, I've always ignored it because I never thought it mattered. Oh, it's just a mistake. This really does matter. Like, here's the thing. We're awesome in American Judo about complaining about things. We're really good at it. We really are. I'm one of those people. I complain all the time. I don't really do much. And you know what? I don't know how to make any sort of changes within the organization that's going to impact me or the people who are doing Judo. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't even know how it works. I mean, I do now because,

you know, we had many conversations. I've looked into it. But why don't you tell us how it works and why it matters? Sure. So to begin with the board director's elections, this isn't like, you know, we have a presidential election going on. So that's obviously a massive, massive things with millions and millions of people. USA's, you know, isn't nearly that big. In fact, some of these director positions, the number of people who can even vote is relatively small. Some of these director positions, the number of people who can even vote is relatively small. So actually, it's more like voting like a small town election where really every vote does count because there might only be in some categories a few hundred votes if that. That's it? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Wow. I ran for athlete director a couple of years ago. I think the winner had 140 total votes. What right let me all right so how many positions are we talking about here for voting ceo is a hired position yes not like an elected position yes so that's we're not even talking about that right yes but ultimately the board decides who the ceo is therefore it kind of matters. Exactly. People, how many people are on the board? Alright, so there's 12 people on the board. 12. Yeah, okay. Um, half of them are up for election this time. And then the other half will be up in two years. So the four year term, yeah, for

your term. And so 12 people make it this let's just say, for instance, right? Here's one, Keith Bryant, CEO right now, his contract is up this year. I believe so, or it's coming up. It's coming up, okay? That means the board decides whether he stays or USAJ will get a new CEO. Yes, and they would also be the ones to select a new one too. By 12 people. It's just 12 people that's

going to say get rid of them keep them if we get rid of them let's hire this guy or that guy yes yeah interesting so it's pretty big then oh it's big and you know they're also the folks who they ensure that the organizations they keep an eye and make sure the organization's running well there's groups like the financial audit committee that they have a role in selecting the members for. When you look at all the different committees and volunteer committees that help run USA Judo, they select most of the people that are on them. They ensure that there's athlete representation on them.

So it's really important who has these roles. That's part of why these elections can get really intense, but it's also why it's really important who has these roles. That's part of why these elections can get really intense, but it's also why it's so important that everyone gets out and registers to vote for them. Now, the thing to remember is it's not just we're voting on, it's not something where like, hey, we're voting on five different random directors. Actually, the way our board is set up, there are different types of directors to ensure that different sections of USA Judo that need to be represented are.

So this time around, we have six spots up, as I mentioned. Two of them are for the athlete directors. So these are people who had been on the US elite senior roster or have been on a world or Olympic team or Pan Am team at some point. So their job is to represent and really advocate for the athletes. So theoretically, if I was on the roster, which I was, I could run for these positions, not for this term, but like the next term. Yep, and actually you could run for UBU. Not going for you, Chris.

That was my reminder to get on this call. No, sorry about that. So, for example, you're eligible because you were on the world team in 2011. And I believe you were on a Pan Am team as well. No Pan Am team. 2011 and 2010, yeah. Yep. For the world, yeah.

Yeah, so you're eligible. Or someone like Lauren Meese, who was on the Olympic team in 2000, would be eligible. For the athlete's representation. Yes. But I could also be eligible for other director spots. Yes. So there's the coach board member who represents the coaches and it's meant to advocate for the coaches and work with them that that

right now is that's you know really important because it helps you're the other person that will interface with you if you're a coach at senior nationals at Junior Olympics yeah who will give you an okay here's what the here's what the board decided. There are key discussions that happen all the time. In fact, your day-to-day coaching, like, hey, what was the discussion by the board around, are coaches allowed to coach during the mate for different divisions?

Oh, so that's something that they've actually voted on? Yep, there was a decision by the board i think it was last year the year before when that rule came down about coaching during the hajime that unless it's for an international selection so unless it's for you know to make the world team or junior world team that they would allow coaching during the hajime okay all right So this is a coaching issue. So, for instance, the coach director brings this up and presents it to the board, and then the board is like, yes, no, maybe.

And then everyone takes a vote, and that's how the decisions are made? That's how many of the big decisions are made. Interesting. For the guys who are listening right now, right now on the international circuit, you can't coach while the athletes are fighting. Only when it's like, all right, you got to bounce. Mate, stop. Then the coach is like, hey, blah, blah, blah.

And then you coach only in between. It's kind of like tennis, right? When the person's serving and rallying, you can't say anything or do anything. Yeah. And to be clear, I misspoke. I meant to say coaching during the Hajime. You're not allowed right now to coach during the Hajime. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Internationally. Internationally. coaching during the hajime you're not allowed right now coach during the hajime yeah yeah yeah internationally internationally but us judo now they decide the board decided the all-powerful board they're very powerful now right they've decided you can do it so now you can and like so if i want the senior nationals second round my guy's fighting i could yell the whole time yep wow now in the event senior nationals they became remember back in the day if you won senior nationals you could challenge for a world team slot um now if that comes back let's say they use that as a selection event that would go away you would have to follow the ijf coaching rules but interesting so that's that's an issue i was coaching at junior olympics um and i was coaching justin mata and if just and during justin's matches i could only coach during the hajime That's an issue. I was coaching at Junior Olympics, and I was coaching Justin Mata. And during Justin's matches, I could only coach during the Hajime

because it was a selection event for Junior Worlds. Interesting. Interesting. I did not know that. Yeah, so this is an example of a kind of really important decision the board has to make. So we have athletes' representation, coaches' representation. What are the other ones?

There's the group member director. So, you know, as you know, there's like New York State Judo, there's New Jersey Judo, Virginia Judo. There is someone who will represent all the different state orgs. That is voted on by the state orgs themselves. So that's a little harder election to get involved in. That's going to be more focused on, hey, if I'm involved, say, Wisconsin judo, that's an election I'll pay attention to because Wisconsin judo gets a vote. Indiana judo gets a vote.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. So you have 12 seats. You don't have 12 votes? No. What I mean is the vote. So each of these directors, their target population, who they are supposed to be representing, they get to vote for them. So the athlete director,

and I'll explain voter eligibility in a second, but like the athlete director, you had to have been on the US roster, been on a world team or some kind of, you had to have competed on the IGF tour or been on the league roster to vote to vote um to vote for that role just if to vote for coach i've got to be a registered coach um if so for the group member director um that's each state organization gets a vote for the group member director oh oh okay so for instance like new york state le Leo Lopes is the president. He gets to vote. Yep. Or representative.

Like if Leo Lopes couldn't do it, he could have. Got it. Okay. So what's the next one? The next one is the at-large director. And this is the biggest one. This is when anyone over the age of 18 who is a member of USA Judo and good standing can vote for this. Wow.

How many slots are there for at-large? There are, I think, two at-large directors I have to double check But right now we have one that's up And We're only voting for one at-large director And then And those are all the categories you can vote on

There is an independent director Who gets selected as well, but that's selected by my committee So Okay, so how many athlete slots are there? Four, right? There are four total, two are up this time by my committee. So. Okay. So how many athletes slots are there? Four, right? There are four total.

Two are up this time and one slot has to be given to a Paralympian. Oh, that's interesting. Yep. So if there's three already selected

and there is no Paralympian, that fourth person is just automatically going to be a Paralympian? Yeah, it has to be a Paralympian. Interesting. Interesting. So likelympic qualification criteria coming up for the next quad of 2028 the u.s judo decides because every division is already qualified they can sit around and be like okay we're just gonna have a national roster whoever's the highest on that roster gets to go to the olympics and that's what they did for the sydney olympics well really so they could just decide that they could they as long as it stays

within the guidelines and the law set by the usopc they can do whatever they want interesting so how do we lobby these people who are candidates into getting them to do sort of what we want or what are their stances even how do we know so that's a great question um first first and foremost you know most of these board meetings are open to the public anyone can show up and just to observe there are meeting minutes on the website that you can see like what discussions have been going on you can get a sense of what where people stand on different topics you can also reach yeah you know most people are gonna look through that you know that's a 99% of people are not gonna tap into a board meeting thing and uh I'm almost gonna guarantee that so is there a sort of a platform where like oh

hey Nicole stout for instance ah the whole thing this whole thing started because I saw Nicole st's video on instagram and facebook and she was like we got to get rid of keith bryan we got to do this and that and that and then i was like you know she makes some good points and then i was like who is this woman yeah i've known her for that she competes yeah but like what position is she in to be able to kind of say all this stuff and she's like and then you explained to me like this woman is on the board of directors and i was like all right i i didn't know they did anything you know yeah then you explained to me, like, this woman is on the board of directors. And I was like, all right. I didn't know they did anything, you know.

And then you explained this to me. Like, how can we see more of this stuff? Like, this person believes in that. That person believes in that. You know, Kamala Harris believes in climate change. So we're going to talk about that after this, by the way, Chris. Yay. So here's the good thing. So my committee, we're putting up a website and

we're going to be, you know, you and I are recording this on the 12th. We're going to be releasing the list of candidates on the, we're supposed to be releasing the list of candidates on the 14th. And we will be releasing a site that will have everyone's platform statements. Their elevator pitch is for why you should vote for them. And breaking that down, saying, hey, you know, my name is such and such, this is why you should elect me, this is

what my vision is. So it'll be a one-stop shop, watch and keep an eye out in your email for that. And that will have, you know, whether it's, you know, Nicole Stout has been public about her running but yes as she has mentioned but there's other folks who are running who you'll get to learn more about them and the thing is too once you

know who they are these are all USAG does a small community you can walk tiny yes I yeah you can walk up to the second people who are on the board now I mean you could walk up to a cold brown at a tournament you can walk up to the second people who are on the board now. I mean, you could walk up to Colton Brown at a tournament. You can walk up to Marty Malloy and make your voice heard. Yeah. I could text Colton right now and be like, hey, Colton, what is your stance on this or that? I could do that. I could call him right now.

You know, and one o'clock he'll pick up and be like, hey, what's up? And I'll be like, hey, what is your stance on this or that? And then he'll let me know. Right. That's pretty cool how close it is. And even Nicole Stout, I was able to just find her on Instagram, her a dm i was like hey can i have you on my podcast she's like yes and then i'm like wow i could just have a conversation with her and then you know you went over nicole and colton and then you know the you guys have views that are aligned that's two votes

out of 12 already yeah so that's the thing that's a kind of cool thing about usa judo elections is and look let's be clear shintaro i'm a nerd um we know this yes we know we know this um so i i find this stuff really fun but one of the cool things about american judo is like look we can all sit here complain online it's very easy to yeah look anyone can sit down um grab a bag of chips and write a long screen on facebook but and i like reading those i'll sit back read them and it's like almost cathartic it's like wow these people are going at it you know i don't like interject or anything like this but i'm definitely like tuned in to some of the complaints and it's the same complaints over and over again

you know keith bryan isn't doing this or that or whatever it is so this we could really actually make a change. Yeah. Look, writing Facebook screeds isn't voting. Writing Facebook screeds is not advocating and lobbying for your position or even just finding what people are doing. There's activities that American Judo is up to that a lot of people may not even realize. Like the Play LA um where they're

working on you know getting as many kids as possible to try judo in the la area ahead of the la olympics um or you know other partnerships you know one of the issues that has come up is for example and um you have things like the american judo system the usa judo members can access whether or not we keep that is a question the board has to answer. So if you like it, tell your board members. Talk to the people who are running. See what their stance is on it. If you don't like it, same thing.

I personally like it because my coach puts it together, and it's a great reference point for my students. But ultimately, you actually can have your voice heard and you can make your case to these folks it's not that hard so i after our conversation the other day you were like you know you could just register to vote because you know so like i could so voter criteria i could vote under the coaching thing but I can't vote across many different representations. You have to pick one. Everyone can vote for at-large, and then you pick one category. Wait, so I can vote for at-large and?

One other category. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, because you and I both qualify. So you and I are in the same boat. We qualify for athlete, coach, and at-large. coach and at large so you and i can when it comes to voting for athlete or coach you and i each have to pick a category that we're going to be all right i'm voting as a chris around the athlete or i'm voting as chris around the coach but you get more bang for your buck in the athlete section because you get two votes because you pick two people um no you pick one person and, Oh, wait, but I thought you said two people's terms

are ending. Yeah. So whoever gets the top two votes. Oh, okay. Okay. Interesting. All right. So I'm going to do athlete and then at large and I, it was so easy.

I went to USA judo.org. Right. And then I clicked on the thing and then I just put in my name and then they asked me for what category, what year I competed on, like what, you know, the, where I was on the thing and then i just put in my name and then they asked me for what category what year i competed on like what you know the where i was on the roster or something and then boom i get an email saying hey we'll let you know when the candidates are whatever it is and then when was the voting day um the voting date is october 7th to the 10th and actually i will correct something yes you get to vote for each candidate so you can pick two different people okay yeah so i could vote for so you get to vote for two different people. Okay. Yeah. So I could vote for.

So you get to vote for two different people and whoever has the most votes at the end. Okay. So let's say you were never on the roster. Yep. And you're just an average guy with a USA judo membership. What can you vote for? You can vote for at large. That's the only one.

Only one. Okay. So at large, who is, is there anyone that's up for election for at large? There are a bunch of people running for at large. Any names that we would know? So candidate list. We sent out our candidate list approvals very recently. Okay.

So let's go ahead i um so there's a list of people running and then when the names come out we could even interview all these people like hey what do you think about this what do you think about that and then kind of like publicly know their position yeah and i mean obviously whether they truly believe it or not who knows right but like that's kind of amazing how you know if you know for the athlete representatives that's one-fourth of the vote yeah you know you know so so here's who's running right now and this list people are in their final stages of confirming whether or not, 100% whether or not they're running.

One slot open for At Large, did you say? Yep, one slot's open for At Large. Okay, let's hear the name. Okay, so At Large, it's Matthew Parker from Colorado. Hector Lanz, those of you familiar with the G.O. Today program, he's behind that. Jerry Seifert. Eric Sanchez, and Grace Gividan. I know Eric Sanchez and Grace Gividan because they were both competitors back in the day.

Why didn't they go for the athlete representation? Just because they figured this would be a better way in? That's a question for them. That's a good question for them. Do we know any of their stances on anything? That's a good question for them. Do we know any of their stances on anything? That's a good question for them. Interesting. Interesting.

Okay. So that's your name of candidates for at-large. What about athletic side, the athletes representatives? So it's Nicole Stout, Ari Boehner, Angelica Delgado, Marty Malloy, and Melissa Myers. So there's five people. For two slots. For two slots. And then the other two who are already in are Colton and I forget his name, the Paralympian. I'd have to, I'll have to take a look. But Colton and the Paralympian will be coming up

in two years. Also, she hasn't confirmed yet, but Hannah Martin is technically on the list right now, but I'm waiting to see if she confirms. Okay, cool. Yeah, she kind of made her rounds, though, with the seminars, too, right? I think she did a seminar at your gym? Yeah, she was awesome.

Yeah, she is great, man. I've known her for a long time, too. Wow, okay. So what is the best way for everyone? So everyone has to go to USAJudo and register to vote right away, no matter what, right then and there. Easy to do. And then once you register, you have to figure out which of these candidates

are aligned with what you're thinking the direction of USA Judo should be. Yeah. And by the way, I'll give you the other candidates. For right now running for coach director is Ari Miller who's the who's the incumbent director and running against him is Jimmy Pedro Jimmy's on in already Jimmy's running for the coach director position right now it's Ari Miller out of USA stars in Virginia right now it's Ari Miller yes I don't know why I thought it was Jimmy for some reason and then the group member director I'm gonna wait to say anything

just because there there's a couple people in that group who've been nominated multiple categories and they have to choose got it so the biggest biggest decision that USA judo is facing right now is what the Olympic criteria is gonna be yeah and I'm sure they're talking about it already right mm-hmm and then the second one is whether we keep Keith Bryant or not a CEO those are the two biggest decisions and the there's a third and that's what is the growth strategy for American judo what is the role USA judo is going to have in building judo and taking advantage of the LA Olympics and that's tied to the

other two but that is those are the three big ones and there are there are other decisions there are things that the board will work on and do that a lot of us won't realize they did. But they even have a role in selecting the Olympic coach. They can have a say and say, hey, we want this person or this person. Yeah. So do you ever lobby these people, like talk to them and be like, hey, man, this is what I think, this is what I thought? Because I know you had an idea about Olympic qualification qualification what it should be for the next quad and you laid out multiple options that you've seen in the past what you think works and what you think doesn't yes and i saw that email i appreciate you sent it to me and

i was like wow chris round is really thinking deeply about this stuff and he laid it out on a silver platter for these people to take a look at and literally pick and choose for the option yep so you've sent this to all the board members and you know what interesting I'll tell you right now then I sent that I want to say right before senior nationals yeah I might be off in the Bay was anyways it's right before senior nationals and at that senior nationals I had members of we're walking up to me and talk to me about and people saying hey you know I like some of the ideas or you know hey thanks for the input you know because the board directors contact information is listed

on USA judo's website you can just email them at any time bombard them yeah you quote strategy first go to shantara's youtube and live share and subscribe there we go and then buy all my dvds yeah and then go to high noon judo and like and like the instagram page yeah there you go in that order um yes man interesting okay so you know where all the board members stand on the olympic criteria if you had conversations with them because you probably asked them which option do you like um i did most of them were a little cagey i'll be real with you because there's they still it the focus was on paris um yeah you know they they had to focus on making sure things are in line for paris and now they're they're in the phase now where this is

working on olympic criteria so there was actually, there was effectively an open meeting Monday night where they talked and they said, the criteria is going to be released in the next few months. Because they have to, it's a requirement. Yeah, for sure. But I got, you know, I got a sense of some of the key questions, you know,

hey, who's interested in having a trials? Who's the key questions, you know, Hey, who's interested in having a trials who's interested in doing, you know, So will there be in your humble opinion, should there be a trials for the Olympics? Actually? Yeah. So I'll state my opinion. I have no issue stating my opinions. Yes, there absolutely should. And there should be for three reasons. First and foremost, if we want to put, you know, people are talking about the idea of, we want to make sure we just put the best team forward.

We need to put the best team forward, absolutely. And one of the best ways we can do that is ensuring people get a lot of matches in between now and 2028. And we can use a trials criteria to build something around to get people to fight as many matches as possible. to get people to fight as many matches as possible. So you want to discourage, let's just say, for instance, something like if you've ever made a world team before, you could limp into the trials, and then guys like me just show up out of the woodworks and be like, hey, I'm here for the trials.

You want to discourage that. Oh, so here's the funny thing. I actually don't, and I'll explain why. This might just be me being a little chaotic. We need a selection process that produces a great team. We need a selection process that helps to generate interest and money into USA Judo. And we need a selection process that can produce some really good stories. So actually, I explicitly wrote and said, hey, if you're on a U.S. Olympic team or world team, you're in if you want it.

You have to give a want it. You have to give a heads up. You have to enter back into the testing pool. You have to let USAGO know within a certain bit and pass physical examination because we're not letting somebody walk out on the mat on a wheelchair. But like, but yeah, hypothetically, under

what I wrote, Shintaro, I look forward to seeing you at the 28 trials. That would be really cool. Okay, so now you have this amazing idea that I'm already bought into, obviously, because then it kind of gives me a glimmer of hope. Right? Now you've spoken to a lot of the

representation about this stuff. Were they favorable about it at all? You know, there was a lot of interest, and basically what I at the time heard was, we have to engage with this. We found there was a lot of interest, and basically what I at the time heard was, we have to engage with this. We found there are a lot of interesting ideas here, and we're going to be engaging with it more post-Paris.

So I have not... They were pretty vague. They were doing the right thing about it. They were kind of playing a little bit of politician. So you don't really know where they stand on your opinion on this stuff. Not yet, but there will be ultimately the folks who, they are going to have to on your opinion on this stuff. Not yet, but there will be ultimately the folks who, they are going to have to

make decisions in the next few months, and whoever is elected is going to play a role, even if they don't end up being part of the group that selects the qualification process, they're part of the group that has to make sure that stuff actually gets followed through on. So there's a committee to decide this also.

There's a group of folks inside and ultimately the board has final say, as I understand it, the board. Okay. So, but the board members are also on these committees to decide. I would think the athletes would be in that committee, right? Yeah. So athlete representation is required by law on all committees in USA Judo, whether we're talking, so I'm an athlete representative for my committee for nomination and governance.

There's athlete representatives required for ethics, for even the referee commission has a requirement. And actually, so here's another thing, if you're an athlete and you want to be involved with American Judo, these are volunteer positions and you can let your board members know, hey, I'm interested in being involved. How can I be, and ask, how can I get involved?

Do you need, do you need somebody, did some, these committee roles, some of them can be, you know, some of these committees can be really busy and somebody isn't on, doesn't have the energy to work on it for a long period, so they'll step away and then a spot will open up. Some of them are you know changed every so often um i was part of a group of folks that was put on this committee about two

years ago um so but athlete representation is required by law because we are ultimately we're an organization that is trying to put athletes in the olympics um so that's just to make sure that the athletes get a say interesting man interesting so i think the biggest impact is really i mean if you're listening to this podcast the likelihood you haven't been on the roster might be not that high so at large is really for the majority of the list yes it's really important yeah because i thought it would be much easier for me to get the athlete representatives on the podcast because i know all of them but it's probably benefits majority of the listeners to bring on the candidates that are going to be running for that large position yes

interesting yeah because all you have to do is be and make sure you register to vote get your registration done but you just have to be 18 and or older and a member of USAJUDO Incorporated. So when they have the board meetings, that's when they talk openly about, all right, who should be CEO, this and that? Yeah, they can call for executive session, which is when they do close the doors. And there's reasons you might do that. Maybe you're dealing with a sensitive issue. And then what will be recorded are the outputs. So Olympics, Keith Bryant, CEO. I've been trying to get him on the phone i you know i gotta tell you man he has

not been getting back to me dude he said in one email yes i'll talk to you tomorrow never got back to me i even strong-armed myself uh onto you and hey, can you connect me in a group text? And thank you for that, Chris. And then I sent the message in that chat. And you know what? He has not responded. So you know what I mean? Like he is like 0 for 7 in my attempt at reaching out and connecting with him. And I met him before.

I had conversations with him before. I think he kind of has a feeling like, oh, maybe he wants to get this election thing or whatever it is. I don't know. I hope he doesn't think I'm trying to ambush has a feeling like, oh, maybe he wants to get this election thing or whatever it is. I don't know. I hope he doesn't think I'm trying to ambush him or anything like that. I just genuinely just want to have a conversation where I kind of have an impact for the people who are watching, listening, involved with American Judo. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I'd encourage you to not just with USA Judo, but I'd look at some of the leadership of USJF or USJA. All three of these orgs, look, we have long conversations about the status of national judo orgs.

But actually, if you dive in with each one right now, they're all doing different and interesting things. They are. And, you know, I've been at a lot of these meetings before. You know, and I've volunteered volunteered and went and i'm on the promotional committee in the hudson judo region new york state also i'm like a promotion vice chair or something of this nature you know where i like look over the application so i'll talk to you when i need my go-down yeah that's exactly right but you're not new york you're not new york you're not hudson but yes but it's uh it's pretty amazing how organized they, it seems the structure is in

place, you know? And I think it's just, uh, I don't know. What is it? You know, can we, you know, what's next for USA Judo? You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, I think there's really, you, you look at it and, you know, you and I have had conversations offline about this and you had a, you know, you had, I'll refer people back to your episode you had with Jimmy recently about the economics around judo. People have, as long as I've been in judo, people have been predicting the demise of American judo. And the fact of the matter is that there's a lot of upsides going on right now. There's a lot of positive waves that we can ride to build the sport in the United States.

We're seeing models like Judo Today. It's working schools in Florida where they're setting up people with full-time jobs teaching Judo. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, you have. You see, there's a marketing issue too because I am so in Judo. This is all I do, right?

But I don't even know about any of these programs. i guess maybe because i don't go to the meetings you know yeah but still i mean there's definitely a marketing issue where if i can't hear about it you know the average judo population is definitely not hearing about it you know yeah and you know you look at some of the people who've been really successful in marketing and American Judo. You have, I mean, kind of the OG of marketing in American Judo is Radhi. But you got Radhi, you've got Yu, Justin Floor works with everybody, but he's done phenomenal. And one thing I'll recommend to folks is, look, putting in the effort on doing good advertising, doing good marketing, it pays. It does. It will help your club. It'll help your club grow. I remember I got a hard time from some old timer when I first

started. Um, cause he's like, yeah, just, you can exist off word of mouth. Those days are over. Um, you've got to have good ad marketing. And you know what? One of the things I think, and I'm really hoping, and this is kind of a thing I'll I'm gonna step away from my role for a second as as a member of the nomination Governments Committee to say okay me as Chris round my opinion I think helping clubs and dojos on the marketing and recognizing that so many of the people that run dojos are doing it as a part-time job or as a volunteer yeah the more we can hand people that's pre-baked and help them get things running and

basically handing hey you started a dojo here's the advertising kit um i think we'll have a lot better luck you know what and i i 1000 agree with you because my only thing that i've been spewing i have a couple things that I always like spewing, right? And one of my one main talking point when I'm going to any of these meetings with the executives and the organization is your number one priority should be doubling every gym's membership. Because now all of a sudden, you double the membership, you double the money. Competitions and tournament entries also double

because there's only a small ratio of people from every club that compete maybe 10 20 whatever it is right so if you double the membership across every gym in the country majority of your problems will be solved you know and you that's that's sort of my thing and then how do we do that and like you just said advertising kit media kits you know resources for gym owners to be able to run their businesses a little bit better you know oh yeah and i think jimmy pedro did a little bit that in the american judo system etc etc but like there's a marketing issue most people don't know it exists i mean one thing i'm doing with my non-profit um and we've talked about my non-profit before i'm in the middle of creating some products that are meant to be off the shelf teaching kits

like hey i need a 16- week curriculum for a basic student. Here, here's the videos, here's the theoretical knowledge you should have as a background as an instructor to kind of QA, QC. And here's the list of techniques and here's how you set it up. Because one of the things that, one of the reasons why I put in all the effort I do to make sure I have, you can look up in my curriculum what day something

is taught. And that's done both for legal protection reasons. So God forbid I'm ever in court and people say, hey, this person was doing this technique, they got hurt. I can go, hey, I've taught this technique X number of times and there hasn't been an issue. So to just simply being organized and making sure all the topics that have to be covered are covered. And here's the thing that I learned in the last two years of, you know, running my program. Oh my God, that level of effort is insane. So you've got to, you know, the development of solid off the shelf materials, I think would help a lot of folks, particularly on the ad side.

Because, I mean, writing ad copy is an art form. So, you know, that's something that would be really helpful. I just got, my nonprofit just got the Google Ads grant, and I'm still trying to get a strong understanding of how to use that and really harness it. Yeah. Wow. Amazing stuff, Chris. Thank you very much. Vote for Chris Brown.

No, you're not running. I'm joking. But definitely reach out. Comment on the video down below about what your opinions are. People will read it. People will use this sort of as a criteria for voting. What did you think of the Trump-Harris debate? Oh, God. You always try to pin me on these things. Yeah. Thanks. I drank a fair amount of whiskey. It was definitely interesting to watch. Not for good reasons, but it was definitely interesting. All righty. Let me see how well I can dodge this question.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny. But yeah, everyone listening, go out there, vote. I have to say thank you to Jason, LeVon, and Joe for sponsoring this podcast. Judo TV, Higashi Brand also. Please go check that out.

If you go to judotv.com, use discount code CHENTORO. I will be commentating at the Tokyo Grand Slam slam which is oh that's awesome really really gonna be amazing so you know uh yeah definitely check it out the best place to watch judo uh you watch judo tv of course it's awesome oh yeah it's great great do you watch the live stream or do you just watch oh i mostly so i mostly try to grab the live stream if I'm awake because some of these are early. But I always have, because I'm coaching semi-professionally, there are certain matchups I look for and certain divisions I watch for.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. That's the amazing thing about Juno TV. You watch a guy blow through the division, and you can go back and watch their matches from match number one, match number two, first, second round matches. But you don't have to sift through and then find another thing. You could just literally click on the bracket and be like, oh, first match, second match.

And then you don't have to even sit through the whole match because they'll tell you where a score was had. This guy slammed this person three minutes and 47 seconds. You click on it. It takes you to that spot. Bang, action. So you could watch your own highlight reel curated for the athlete of your selection literally in under

three minutes, which is like the coolest thing on the spot. And do it on your computer or on your phone? On your computer, on your phone. I never use it on my phone, but there's an app now. You like the app? Yeah, I do. I've used that as a reference. Nice. So go do that. Go register to vote for USA

Judo representation. And then hopefully Keith Bryant gets back to me and then we have a conversation you know and then maybe even nicole nicole's in and then you know you send me a list and you know maybe we try to get everybody on you know and then we kind of i'll ask them the questions that matter sounds great shintaro thank you very much chris and And everyone, thank you for listening. Any closing remarks? Shintaro, thanks, as always, for having me on. And folks, I hope to see a big turnout for this year's election.

All the best. Thank you. you