USJJF Coaches' Perspective
US JU-JITSU Team traveled to Uruguay. The USA Delegation was led by Mr. George E. Anderson, Advisor and Chairman of the Central Technical Committee, Lt. Col. Bruce R. Bethers, President of the United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (USJJF) traveled to the Official Ju-Jitsu World Championships held in the beautiful South American Country of Uruguay.
Making the travel arrangements was a task in itself, since we had team members Anthony Brewer from California, Jennifer Case and Chris Burdick from Topeka Kansas, Jill Matteson and Ben DeLeon, National Coach with Assistant Coach Edmund Fellmuth from Wisconsin, Chad White and Adam Pyles from Ohio, Noell Kanaga from Mass., Shumbey Calvin from Virginia, Christopher Gant from North Carolina, Jose Rodriguez and Steve Logue from Florida. We have to thank Mr. Anderson and Jack Pyles for putting this together and having it all come together so we could all meet in one location!
After the fifteen plus hour flight we were pretty tired and needed a good nights rest, the next day we were all up and ready to go anxious to compete and test our skills against the world. All the hard training that the team put in the months preceding this Tournament would hopefully pay off. Many of the team traveled to Wisconsin to train with Coach Fellmuth and myself at their expense. Today we turned our uniforms in so the officials could have USA placed on the back of our Uniforms. What a thrill this was for all the Team when they saw USA on back of their Gis, the pride they showed that night carried on for the rest of the tournament and our stay.
The day of the tournament arrived and we started out with a positive attitude and continued until the very end with all the team members cheering and encouraging each other, sharing their highs, and sharing their disappointments together as a team. The USA Team came out fighting starting with Chris Burdick our Light Weight and ending with Christopher Gant at Heavy Weight with our women fighters Jennifer Case and Jill Matteson, Duo Team members Jose Rodriguez, Steve Logue, Adam Pyles and Noell Kanaga. Although we did not win any medals this time, we never gave up our fighting spirit and with more experience US JU-JITSU will have a Team to watch out for Internationally.
Coaches from other Countries gave the US many compliments and extendedinvitations to compete in United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden...as we gain experience and better understand the rules of International competition and have more athletes, wanting to learn and compete.
US JU-JITSU's priority for competition is to build a stronger base of athletes from Regional and National Tournaments. Once again Special Thanks to Lt. Col. Bethers and Mr Anderson who have made US JU-JITSU possible and the opportunity for me to Coach this year's "Great Team" and see US JU-JITSU flourish in WORLD JU-JITSU.
- Ben DeLeon, US JU-JITSU National Coach for the 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
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