In the case of Mary Decker, her sport, judo, has allowed her to go global. Decker, who started the sport while her family was living in England as missionaries, was hooked the first time she tried it.”
Emil and Thomas represented Suzuran Dojo in the 2011 Dallas Invitational “D” Level Judo Tournament, which took place on November 19, 2011 in Grapevine, Texas.
Emil competed in the lightweight class for 9-10 year old boys:
Emil’s first opponent was Fransisco Manzo. As usual, Emil was dealing with quite a few butterflies before the match began. Once the match started, the butterflies gave away with Emil on the attack throughout the match. The match ends with Emil throwing his opponent for Ippon.
Emil’s second opponent was Corbin Mallo from Northglenn Judo. Being great friends, the boys warmed up together before the tournament. The match between Corbin and Emil was by far the most advanced match of the division with Corbin walking away with the win on a pin after a back and forth battle.
Emil’s third match was against Jacob de la Garza. As always, Emil went on the attack early and often scoring a couple of Yukos before ending the match with another Ippon earning the silver medal.
Emil’s matches:
Thomas first match was against Caleb Wesley, a slightly lighter opponent who also competed in the Junior Olympics last summer but in the 60kg division. The match went back and forth when the competitors came down to their knees followed by Thomas lifting his opponent for a nice slam. Unfortunately, the throw didn’t count since the competitors were down on the mat already.
After some more grip fighting, Thomas ends the match with Osoto Gari for Ippon.
In his second match, Thomas faced Austin Cook for the OTC. In his previous match, Austin showcased several leg picks into lifting throws — Austin has clearly spent the time to learn how to use leg picks in a legal manner. Clearly the more experienced opponent, Austin used strong grips to control the match forcing Thomas on the defensive. Austin continued his attacks resulting that Thomas got two penalties for passivity earning Austin a Yuko. After the Yuko, Thomas went on the attack several times before Austin block a Osoto Gari attempt into a leg pick landing Thomas on his back for Ippon.
In his third match, Thomas faced Brando Laymeister, a very fast opponent who started out the match in a high pace. Still, Thomas was clearly the superior competitor, which showed throughout the match. After a minute or so, Thomas throws his opponents who’s able to spin to his stomach in the air. No point. Thomas went for a gator roll but couldn’t sink it in. Back to their feet, Thomas quickly got Laymeister back on the mat again. Another choke attempt but again, no dice. Thomas continues the attacks and it pays off with an Ippon 3 minutes into the match.
Thomas fourth match begins with a battle for grips against Balayan Aleksandr. Soon, Aleksandr goes for a sacrifice throw with Thomas spinning out using a handstands. Aleksandr quickly moved into an armbar forcing Thomas to tap out. With this, Thomas is done for the day earning fourth place. Great work.
Emil and Thomas are competing in the 2011 Dallas Invitational Judo Championships on Saturday November 19, 2011. Good luck boys!
Due to severe water damage at the dojo, all Suzuran practices are cancelled until further notice. This may take some time to get resolved so if you would like to continue training, we recommend Ju Shin Kan for juniors and the Olympic Training Center for seniors.
In the meantime, we’re trying to keep a positive spin on this, hoping someting good will come out of it. We will be working very hard on finding a new space in Woodland Park and will keep everyone updated.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Photographs by Nikki Laurell
The following Suzuran athletes competed at the 2011 Denver Classic Judo Championships on October 22, 2011:
First out of our competitors was Dalton Evans competing in Co-Ed Novice 7-8, 66 lbs. Dalton’s only opponent was Jada Llamido from Ju Shin Kan in Colorado Springs, who is knocking on the door to be an orange belt. Dalton gave his best in two matches but Jada turned out to be too much this day.
Videos:
A fever-ridden Emil was up next of the Suzuran athletes, who had been sick the week before the tournament. The Standard Boys 9-10, 66 lbs division had a good showing of boys that all came to fight.
Emil’s first opponent was Greogry Teal from Hyland Hills Judo. Emil gave the match a valiant effort but lost on point. Next for Emil was Aiden Markussen from the OTC, who beat Emil in the Boulder tournament two weeks before. Not so this day, Emil throws Aiden for a beautiful Ippon. In the third match, an exhausted Emil faced Austin Gough from Hyland Hills Judo. Emil clearly gave all he had to give but tapped out in overtime, clearly exhausted. That was it for the day; Emil simply could not fight Corbin Mallo from Northglenn due to pure exhaustion.
Videos:
This was the second judo tournament for Sharayah and the first tournament since she started to train with Suzuran. Sharayah competed in the Novice Women Lightweight division facing Angie Moran from Denver Judo in a best-of-three competition… Sharayah only needed two matches to take home the gold.
Videos:
Thomas was back in competition for the first time since the Junior Olympics in July. This time, Thomas competed in the Senior Men 161 lbs division rather than in the junior division. Thomas clearly showed that he’s ready to fight at a senior level walking away with the silver.
Ian returned to competition after a few years absence. All in all, Ian fought nine matches, both in the Senior Men 198 lbs division and in the open division. Ian won silver in the 198 lbs division.
