Kodokan Judo of Cape Coral attended the Team Championship Judo Tournament in Delray this past weekend taking home the 2nd Place TEAM trophy and $300!  CONGRATULATIONS to ALL!!!

1st Place Victories: Erica Paccione, Christina Paccione, Mackenzie More in 2 divisions, Caleb Russo, Gencarlo Montane, Joseph Russo, and Rian Russo in 2 divisions.

2nd Place Victories: Joe More, Kaitlin Weigelt, Keegan Russo, Randey Gil, Gencarlo Montane, Solon Pinto, Alex Sacramento in 2 divisions, Edward Allquist*, Jesus Lynch*, Anthony Setzer*, Jordan Bernaquer, and Dylan More.

3rd Place Victories: Jack Tellin, Kyle Camara, Paul Keith*, and Jeff Myers*.

Participation: Marcos Johnson, Keegan Weigelt, Carlos Camara*, Corey Bernaquer, Mario DelMazour*, Taylor Newbury*, Markian Hromiak*, Scott Vansice, and Drew Weigelt.  *notes 1st time tournament experience.

Another successful day at Judo competition.  Kodokan Judo went to Lakeland, Florida with 22 students to compete in the Imperial Dragon's Judo Challenge coached by Sensei John Paccione.  Mixing seasoned and first-time competitors*, they walked away with 8 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze medals.  Each student gave it 100% and Kodokan Judo is proud to have such dedicated Judoka.

Taking Gold:  Ryan Burns, Mackenzie More, Christina Paccione, Sloan Pinto, Caleb Russo, Rian Russo and Erica Paccione took 1st in two divisions.

Taking Silver:  Randy Gil, Anthony Setzer*, Kaitlin Weigelt and Sebastian Yamamoto

Taking Bronze:  Joseph Russo, Mark Tamulionis and Keegan Weigelt

Participation:  Kyle Camara*, Marcos Johnson*, GenCarlo Montane, Joe More, Alex Sacramento, Keegan Russo*, Jack Tellin* and Drew Weigelt

On September  17, 2011 Sensei John Paccione,  the owner of Kodokan Judo of Cape Coral, came out of competitive retirement and entered the 45^th and final East Coast Championship Juyukai held at the Institute of Technology in Newark New Jersey.

This tournament is one of the highest level competitions held by the United States Judo Federation on the East Coast. Sensei John, who is 46 years old, was the oldest person in his division which consisted of 7 competitors including the Australian National Champion.

Sensei John threw his first opponent twice scoring a half point which is called a wazari.  His opponent followed up with a turning throw to which Sensei John countered and scored an ippon, which is a full point, to win the match.  Sensei John won his second match which set the stage for him to fight the Australian who was 6’6”.  Sensei  John lost to the Australian eventually taking the bronze to be designated the third place East Coast Champion in his division.

On August 27 over 50 Judoka came to Cape Coral's Kodokan Judo dojo to attend a competitive techniques clinic instructed by 3x Japan Champion, Shinjiro Sasaki.  Sasaki gave instruction on establishing grip and breaking away from a competitor's hold  He also gave instruction on different points of attack.  The students who attended the clinic were amazed at the "lighting-fast" ability of Sasaki when he executed throwing technique. 

Many of the Judoka who attended the clinic have witnessed Sasak's ability first hand.  Sasaki competes in tournament all over Florida and it's normally 5-10 seconds when he achieves victory.  In the last tournament, to much amazement, one of Sasaki's competitors made it into newaza (ground technique) where we were able to see another aspect of Sasaki's great ability on the ground where he choked his opponent out within seconds.

This is Kodokan Judo's continual effort of bringing the highest level of competitors and instructors to it's dojo.