Northglenn’s 40th annual tournament

The Northglenn Judo club held it’s 40th annual judo tournament on April 26th.  Kenny and Seiji came home for the event but Kenny couldn’t play because he was injured.  Seiji however fought in the 73 kg division because he didn’t want to cut weight, he wanted to eat a lot at home.  He won every match by ippon, including beating Bobby Yamashita in the finals.  He looks really good, he has grown and improved.

Back to Kenny… He is really hurt, he says it’s his shoulder but it could be a pinched nerve in his neck, it might be very serious.  We are all hoping it isn’t.  Two weeks ago in the nationals he lost in the finals to Nate Torra by a close decision and I was very disappointed until I found out he was hurt.  I knew he would win but he didn’t appear to have anything working for him during the match.  I was wondering what was wrong.  Well, we are trying to get him an MRI or something that can identify the problem.  The Olympic trials is in June and we hope he will be ready by then, if not, four years is a long time to wait for another opportunity.  Kenny only got a silver at the nationals but he has medaled in every nationals he has entered, it’s his third silver to go with his four bronze medals.  He won his first medal at 15, the youngest senior male ever to medal.

Kenny and Seiji’s older sister came home too for a wedding and to visit.  She just received her doctorate in Physical therapy and will begin her new career.  I told her I will call her “doc” from now on but I don’t think I really can, she’s been Kathy to me for too long.  She will be working in Georgia, quite a different place from Colorado where she grew up.

I took Hide Kawashima and Noburo Saito golfing last Friday.  Seiji made up our foursome.  I was so tired after that and then I worked registration for 8 hours and I came home and collapsed.  Saturday was the tournament and I came home intending to meet the guys after but I fell asleep, I must be getting old.  Today is Tuesday night and I am still tired and sore.  The things I do for Northglenn.

long time no see

I haven’t written in a while now because I had a hard drive crash and stupidly did not have a backup.  I hate to admit that I once was a programmer and system administrator with responsibilities for backups and security.

Kenny and Seiji’s Dad has found employment in Hawai, he is now a government employee and that is good news.  Their older sister Kathy is graduating with a doctorate in Physical Therapy next month and that is great news.  However Kenny and Seiji are not so happy out in sunny California.  They are homesick.  I think this has affected their judo and so there was not much to write about lately.  Kenny had a disappointing tournament in NYC this month and Seiji claims to be burnt-out.

The boys have a busy schedule coming up; Seiji is competing at the National Scholastic tournament this weekend and the Senior Nationals is April 9th.  Then they come home for the 40th annual Northglenn tournament on April 26th.  School probably ends in May sometime and I guess they will want to come home then for the summer.

I have been teaching judo at the Boulder Judo Training Center four days a week.  I’m teaching every level of students; 3 and 4 year olds, 6 to 12 year olds, intermediate teenagers, adult beginners and adult black belts.  I hadn’t taught the babies for a couple of months and they forgot me.  so last class they would not come on the mat, they hung on to their Mother’s legs and cried the whole time.  It was kind of funny, I guess.

Christmas

Kenny and Seiji visited home again just after Christmas and stayed until just after New years Day. They came over to eat the traditional Japanese New Years food and to hang out with family. Mostly we played world of warcraft online with other family members. Judo was mostly canceled for the holidays and I think it was a break they needed. They will resume a heavy practice schedule when they return to San Jose. We didn’t even talk much about Judo. Seiji spent a lot of time with his girlfriend so we saw more of Kenny because Kenny’s girlfriend lives out by San Jose. It was a pleasant and restful time, probably just what they needed and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Thanksgiving

The family got together for Thanksgiving.  My son Mas and his wife Yasuyo came for their annual visit and the boys also came home for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time playing with Mas’s Wii, everyone tried it out over the four days.  Seiji looked bigger, I noticed that he seems to be broader than when he left just a few months ago.  Kenny looks very healthy and they were both in great spirits, we all had a ball.  It was great, lots of laughter and good spirits.

Last Saturday Northglenn had a special practice because the boys and a couple of old friends were in town.  I went to watch because I had caught a cold and there was plenty of action on the mat.  Paul Truong brought his children to the practice.  Keep an eye on those two (George and Annie) because they are headed for big things in judo.

Redemption

I couldn’t write about last weeks US Open, Kenny had the worst tournament of his career and didn’t place. I was in shock. Kenny had beaten every medalist in this tournament multiple times and yet last week he lost to two athletes that didn’t even place. Heads were shaking. Seiji fought well against a Canadian Junior world team member but lost a close match. He was down by koka and threw his opponent for yuko in the final seconds but it was waived off by the referees. I was quite unhappy for them.

However yesterday Kenny came back strong and won the Rendez-Vous in Montreal. The US Open and the Rendez-Vous are the only ‘B’ level tournaments in North America so they are the most important tournaments. Kenny beat last week’s US Open champion by ippon and last weeks highest American player Taylor Takata by ippon in the finals. A very good week and perhaps his doubters from last week now have to rethink their evaluation of him. I noticed that USA Judo never really writes Kenny up, they always write up Taylor and others but my impression is that they do not take Kenny seriously. I wonder about USA Judo sometimes, they are supposed to develop our elite athletes but they have not done much for Kenny at all. In the last two years no US athlete has won either the US Open or the Rendez-Vous except Kenny and he won the Rendezvous twice. Interestingly Justin Flores took 2nd in both tournaments last year and Taylor Takata took 2nd in both this year. I wonder how USA Judo is supporting/funding/developing these athletes. I see no announcements.

Seiji is in Belgium this weekend for an international junior event but I have no word yet. I think if he can win two matches in his first big international tournament it will be a good experience.

I was at the Denver Buddhist Novice tournament on Saturday watching the youngsters compete and feeling a bit nostalgic. I had very few athletes to coach and I was missing the days when I had my nephews and the rest of our junior team were competing. I couldn’t get as involved yesterday, I was more like an interested spectator. But one young boy I teach entered his first tournament (a yellow belt) and I didn’t really think he would do so well so I gave him the Karate Kid speech, Miyagi tells Daniel something like “win, lose no matter. Make good fight”. He promptly goes out full of confidence and throws the first kid in 15 seconds for ippon and then beats his next opponent to win his small division. The look of joy on his face was quite enough reward for me. I came home tired and took a nap when I was woken by a call informing me that Kenny had won, it made my day. Am I biased? You bet I am.

October 29, 2007

A late flash, Seiji won six straight matches and lost in the finals (6-1) and won a silver medal in Belgium. He is attending a camp and won’t return to San Jose until Thursday. It’s great news and he is really doing well when he isn’t in the same division as his older brother.

Kenny had a one hour layover today in Denver so His Mother and I went out to see him. But he really wanted to see his cats more than us so his Mom brought them. He looks good and strong.

Seiji wins the EBJI Invitational

Seiji competed in the East Bay Invitational today and won his division. So far Seiji has won both tournaments he has entered in California. He also won the Golden State Open a point tournament (‘E’ level). I think he is doing very well.

Meanwhile Kenny competed in the Birmingham World Cup (England) an international ‘A’ level tournament and won his first match in one minute by ippon and then lost his second match in overtime. Both of his opponents were past winners/medalists in European tournaments. I think he did very well too, just a little more and he may be ready to medal in these tournaments.

Next month the boys go to the US Open and then Kenny goes to the Rendezvous. Kenny is the past champion at the Rendezvous. Right after the US Open Seiji goes to Belgium to compete in an international junior tournament that will be plenty tough.

In Hawaii their Dad Kenneth Sr. will stay with our Uncle Mel for a while. He is looking for employment and a new life in a land he loves.

Older sister Kathy is working on her internship in Houston on her way to becoming Dr. Hashimoto. We are all so proud of these kids. Kathy sees a lot of my youngest brother Richard, his wife Gerry and son Derick. It’s nice to have family to help out when you are new to an area.

Denver – Hell – Hawaii

It seems Colorado doesn’t want the Hashimoto family to leave.  First Kenny’s car wouldn’t leave Colorado twice and now his Dad had trouble leaving.  Ken left Denver and arrived at his first stop Phoenix fine.  When he got there his flight to Honolulu was overbooked so he couldn’t get on it.  So the nice people set him up with a flight to Maui.  When he got to Maui Hawaiian Airlines couldn’t seem to get him a flight to Honolulu for a while.  So he called our younger brother Danny and went to Danny’s house (This was our Dad’s house before he passed away).  He visited with Danny and our other brother Kevin for a couple of hours and returned to the airport for his flight.  Hawaiian airlines took two hours to get him on a flight but he finally arrived at Honolulu and went to my Aunt Betty’s house, he arrived at 10:45 PM Hawaiian time.  It only took him 19 hours to get there; the trip was scheduled for 9 hours.  However in Honolulu he couldn’t get his luggage because it was on his original flight and the guys couldn’t (for some strange Hawaiian reason) get it.  He has to go back tomorrow to try to get his luggage.  However, he has arrived and visited family today and for all the trouble he had he sounds fine.

Family Updates – Ken moves to Hawaii

Well the car from hell has been towed and stored in Kenny and Seiji’s Mom’s garage.  Kenny has some plans for it.  Kenny’s Dad has left for Hawaii and is flying there right now as I type.  He is relocating and is excited and a little sad about leaving Colorado after 25 years.  He will be starting over again so I wish him lots of luck.  We have a big family in Hawaii so that will help.

On Thursday September 20^th Kenny flies to Birmingham England to complete in the Birmingham World Open an ‘A’ level tournament.  Let’s hope he does well there.  Next month Kenny competes in the US Open and the Rendezvous both international ‘B’ level tournaments.  Kenny won the Rendezvous and took a bronze in the Open last year.  Seiji will be going to Belgium soon and will also compete in the US Open.  So the boys have full schedules and should be quite busy.

I am teaching a class at the Boulder Training Center now and I must say I’m enjoying it.  It’s been a while since I taught a class on a consistent basis.   I still belong to the Northglenn Judo Club and I am going to practice there tonight.  I heard from an old student recently, Buffie Chau is a freshman at BYU and a shodan.  It’s always good to hear from these kids and I can’t help wondering how they are doing now that they are out on their own.

Kenny wins the Fall Classic

Kenny was undefeated as he won the Fall Classic defeating National champion Taylor Takata twice.  I thought Kenny would win the 66kg division of this tournament, I have said I think he is the best we have in that division.  The #1 ranked player Justin Flores did not compete as he and most of the other world team members are preparing for the World Championships in two weeks.  Kenny sounded tired and perhaps he is with all this moving around and long distance driving.  Seiji on the other hand sounds fine, I guess Kenny as the older brother has to take care of business.

Seiji had a good day placing 4th in this division of 17 competitors.  Seiji went 4-2 losing to Jeremy Liggett for the bronze medal.  I think Seiji will come into his own in about a year when he matures a little.

The boys head back to California and school and for a couple of weeks they can just be college students and practice judo.  Soon Kenny will be off to England and Seiji will go to Belgium for tournaments.

More Car from Hell

Today my Brother walked to my house to borrow my car.  The car from hell no longer smokes, it no longer starts.  It ran OK for Kenny until he tried to leave Colorado but I guess it just doesn’t like Kenny’s Dad.  After a few days of walking to work and back (about three miles each way) he resigned from his job earlier than planned and is planning to leave for Hawaii sooner.  It’s just as well, he really didn’t like the job but he stuck it out this long (over a year) to prepare for his move.  I admire him, I quit that job in ten weeks, I couldn’t take it.

The boys are already in Florida for the Fall Classic judo tournament.  Several other of my old students are going to this tournament from my club.  Weigh in is tomorrow so the boys will not have much to eat tonight, and that can be tough.  I always get a little nervous and hyper for the boys before a tournament, adrenaline keeps me going, too bad it doesn’t make me lose weight.  I’ll post the results after the tournament.