Judo clinic challenges participants to reach their limits

Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: 
Amarae Morgan, 12, (bottom) rolls Grace Lepper, 12, during a drill in a Project Gold judo clinic.
Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Amarae Morgan, 12, (bottom) rolls Grace Lepper, 12, during a drill in a Project Gold judo clinic.


Judo enthusiasts struck gold in Jefferson City this weekend.

Leadership of Project Gold is spending Saturday and today in the Capital City to host a judo camp.

Project Gold is a nonprofit that focuses on helping practitioners of judo improve. It is led by Travis Stevens, Steve Cohen and Jimmy Pedro.

All three men have experiencein the Olympics. Stevens and Pedro were Olympic medalists.

Stevens and Cohen were lead clinicians for Saturday's event, held at the Jefferson City Judo Club, 1301 Creek Trail Drive.

The camp is intended to teach athletes and coaches a systemic approach to training which will lead to the athletes winning more matches, according to the American Judo System website.

Cohen said the system is connecting the men's experience with people around the United States.

"We are bringing our years of experience -- our judo knowledge and our coaching knowledge -- to the country," he said. "And trying to build judo that way."

He said the website offers possibly the largest encyclopedia of judo techniques in the world.

"What we're doing is doing camps all over the country and bringing our knowledge. This is a competition session, so we're doing drills," he said.

Cohen added other sessions would not be as intense. They would be developmental (or recreational) sessions intended to teach people fundamental judo. Everyone could benefit from both sessions, but they were divided up so people with less ability, or who didn't want to go through the "grueling workout," could participate, he explained.

"We're trying to build judo up in the United States ... with a goal of finding a select group of athletes that we could train and put on an Olympic podium when it is in the United States," he continued.

Camps became much smaller during the COVID-19 pandemic. And people have been slow to return to the sport, Cohen said. There were a lot of judo clubs in schools before the pandemic. Few of those remain, he said.

And before the pandemic, it was not unusual for camps to host about 200 people. That rarely happens now, he said.

"Those things just died off. So we lost a lot of judo," he added. "We're building it back up now."

The calendar is beginning to fill back up.

About 50 people, some from as far away as Minnesota, are participating in the weekend camp in Jefferson City.

Cohen said the judo club's facilities are perfect for a little more than 50 people. Would he like to have more? Of course.

But having the room on the mats that is available at the local club this weekend is beneficial in that it allows dozens of participants to receive training at the same time.

He said a recent camp in Chicago had more people than could safely drill on the mats, so drills had to be conducted in rounds.

Josh Lehman, who operates the club, will be conducting several judo events this year, for which Cohen expects to return.

Pressure is building to develop a judo team for the next Summer Olympics to be held in the United States, he said. The next games to be hosted here will occur in Los Angeles in 2028.

"We're trying to reach out to judo all over the country -- wherever they want to learn -- in search of finding that group of people willing to make that commitment (to be an Olympian)," Cohen said. "The truth is, we need to find them soon."

To put together a team and train the team properly is going to take fundraising, he said, and Project Gold is looking to do that now.

Theodore Lehman, Josh's son, said he liked the constant repetition and diverse drilling associated with the weekend clinic.

"The diversity in every single drill. All of it had a purpose. All of it was helpful," he said. "And all of it challenged me."

It's more drilling than he normally does at the club.

"It's coming from people who have experience at the top level," he added. "So they know what to do -- what it takes to get to the top level. That reassures me that they know what we're doing."

He said he's reassured because the clinicians have assured participants what they're doing this weekend is going to help them in the future.

Tyler Clarke, 14, and Amarae Morgan, 12, who are close friends, said they both began learning judo for fun.

"My mom got me into tae kwon do before we moved," Tyler said. "I was looking for something else to do. Then I found him in judo."

The clinic was "definitely harder" than other judo events, Amarae said.

Tyler added the clinic pushed him to his limit.

Grace Lepper, 12, said she has been participating in judo for less than a year and she hopes the clinic will help her earn an orange belt faster.

"This (clinic) was definitely harder," Grace said. "Because it was drills on drills on drills."

  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Tearnie Harms, 12, rolls 14-year-old Tyler Clarke over in a drill during a judo clinic put on by Project Gold.
 
 
  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: U.S. Olympic Judo coach Steve Cohen explains how American Judo System is reaching out to communities to reignite interest in the sport. He said that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a large number of enthusiasts leaving the sport.
 
 
  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Fourteen-year-old Tyler Clarke (bottom) spins 12-yaer-old Amarae Morgan over during a drill Saturday morning.
 
 
  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Theodore Lehman (left) practices a judo maneuver during drills Saturday morning. Lehman said the drills were challenging and helpful to him.
 
 
  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Theodore Lehman (left) practices a judo maneuver during drills Saturday morning. Lehman said the drills were challenging and helpful to him.
 
 
  photo  Joe Gamm/News Tribune photo: Amarae Morgan, 12, (top) flips over Tyler Clarke, 14, during a judo drill Saturday morning.
 
 
  photo  US Olympic Judo Coach Steve Cohen works with a couple of students on their throwing technique at the JC Judo Club Saturday. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)
 
 
  photo    
  photo  US Olympic Judo Coach Steve Cohen works with a couple of students on their throwing technique at the JC Judo Club Saturday. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)
 
 
  photo  US Olympic Judo Coach Steve Cohen works with a couple of students on their throwing technique at the JC Judo Club Saturday. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)
 
 
  photo  Three-time US Olympian and 2016 Olympic Judo Silver Medalist Travis Stevens helps instruct a couple students Saturday at the JC Judo Club. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)