OKURI'S MATT KEARNEY
Matthew Kearney may be small in stature, but he is one tough guy on the judo mat.
Matt competed in the 2009 Pan American Judo Championships in Brazil on Sunday, November 8th. It was his first time on an
USA Judo Team. It was his first time to compete out of the country. For some, just making the team is enough, but not for
Matthew Kearney. He is a tough guy, a judo player who knows how to win. He did just that on Sunday. He fought his heart
out and reached the medal stand to win the silver medal. The win will rank Matthew as the number #1 player for his age
and weight on the USA Judo ranking roster.
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First World Kata Championships, Malta
Terrie Norman and Jolie Feng had the privilege of being a part of the US Team at the first IJF World
Kata Championships. The tournament was held on the island of Malta on October 17-18, 2009. Twenty-five countries
were represented by eighty-two kata teams. Five standard Judo katas plus the Kata Show were competed. The level of
kata demonstration was very high and very consistent. Japan swept the gold medals, with Spain and Italy taking the
majority of the other medals. The US's best performance was a 5th place finish in the Goshin Jitsu Kata. Terrie
and Jolie finished a disappointing last in their preliminary group after struggling with the spacing throughout
their katame no kata demonstration. On the whole, the experience was a valuable one. International tournaments
are very different from domestic tournaments.
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