*courtesty of United States Pan American Team

From USA Daily (Official Newsletter of 2011 U.S. Pan American Team):

Highlighted by Kenny Hashimoto’s (Thornton, Colo.) silver medal at
66kg, the U.S. judo team won three medals on Friday (Oct. 28) at the
Pan American Games…

Hashimoto competed in the men’s 66kg division, where he won his
first-round match against Chile by ippon with uchi mata, then came
out the victor in his second match against Ecuador by ippon with a
counter throw. Two shidos to one shido gave Hashimoto a semifinals
victory against Venezuela, before he faced Brazil in the finals, where
he dropped the match by ippon to earn the silver medal.

“I definitely didn’t do as well as I would have liked to. I didn’t have set
expectations coming into the tournament. I just planned to come out
to do my best and see where that got me,” said Hashimoto.

Congratulations Kenny!

We all know Sayaka as a sweet, supportive, and caring member of the IC community (a phenomenal athlete nonetheless), however, there is another side that we rarely get to see. I wouldn’t want to cross her in a dark alley! Check out her highlight video:

While we are on the topic of Judo, I want to remind everyone that both Annie and Kenny continue to climb the ranks on their quest to the 2012 Olympic Games. But they won’t go too far without our support. Please contribute whatever you can to their travel fund as these great athletes need our help (see Nicki, Sara, or JD for details).

Best,
Steven

As of April, Annie is currently #22 on the World Ranking List (without doubles).

The world ranking is what will qualify her for the Olympics. For women, only the top 14 athletes in each division, all from different countries, will be chosen to compete in the London Games.

(“without doubles” – means only 1 athlete from each country is allowed per division. There are repeat countries ahead of her so without those repeats, she’s #22. With doubles, she #37.)

Annie needs our help to make it!  Her summer tour will include Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil; Miami, Isla Margarita, and San Salvador.  Travel costs are at an all time high and unlike most European, Asian, and South American athletes that are subsidized by their countries, our athletes have to find their own way or they can’t compete.

Please donate any amount you can to help our hometown champion! Thank you for your support.

Annie and Kenny in Japan for the World Championships

Details are available in our office or you can email us directly at info@icechamber.com for more information. 

Annie has also been updating her life and progress on her blog to share with you all: http://mushi1221.wordpress.com/.

Sincerely,
Steven, Maya, and Jess
p.s. below is a letter from her teammate, coach, and fellow IC’er, Sayaka, explaining the importance of your support.

_____________________________________________________

I am writing to you on behalf of the my close friend and teammate, Annie Shiraishi. As most of you already know, Annie is currently training and traveling extensively to make the 2012 London Olympic Team. She most recently competed in her first World Championships in Tokyo, Japan where she went 1-1.  For the rest of 2010, Annie’s competition schedule is rigorous: she is scheduled to go to Great Britain, Holland, Japan, Dubai and Korea. As a former competitive athlete in the sport of judo, I know firsthand how exhausting it is both physically and mentally to be traveling all over the world. In addition, it is extremely costly to be traveling to all these worldwide destinations.

IC, Annie needs your help. The training and traveling costs that she and her family will incur in the latter part of this year and next year will probably reach close to $50,000. Without the generous support of individuals such as yourself, Annie may not have the opportunity to attend competitions which may be crucial to her making the 2012 Olympic Team. 

Please help support Annie by contributing to her sponsorship fund!! Your contributions will go directly to Annie and help support her endeavors of becoming an Olympian in the sport of judo.

Thanks so much in advance for your support!

Sayaka Matsumoto
2008 Olympian
IC 7am Bootcamper

Kenny Hashimoto is another IC athlete en-route to the 2012 Olympic Games.  If work ethic has anything to do with success, then Kenny is the epitome of “successful.”  After sustaining a career ending injury just before the 2008 Olympic trials, Kenny has recently climbed back to make the 2010 USA Judo World Team.

Next week, he and Annie will fly to Japan to fight in the World Championships.  Let’s wish them good luck and a safe journey!

Congrats to our Judo athletes Annie, Kenny, and Michael for amazing results at the U.S. Open in Miami this past Sunday. After some disappointments at the World Cup on Friday, Annie and Kenny both came back to take Bronze medals, beating Irelend, Peru, Venezula,  and Canada.  Meanwhile Michael had one of his best performances to date, winning Bronze at the World Cup and Silver at the U.S. Open.

Earlier today,  Annie took Gold at North Central American Championships, a qualifier for the 2011 Pan American Games!

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Thank you Sayaka!

Eduardo sporting his IC apparel on the podium

Congratulations to Eduardo for winning the Silver Medal in the Black Belt Division at the 2010 Pan American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Irvine, CA today!

As part of Team USA, Mike and Annie always fight amongst the best in the world

Meanwhile Annie and Michael were down in El Salvador fighting in the 2010 Pan American Judo Championships.   Annie writes: “Mike and I didn’t have a good year this year at Pan Ams. Mike went 0-2 yesterday and I went 0-1 (I didn’t get pulled through to fight in the repechage).  However, I got the chance to redeem myself in the team competition going 3-0 helping win against Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Argentina.  I had to fight up a division (-52kg) because the team event only had certain weight classes and mine (-48kg) wasn’t picked. So I fought up and was able to redeem myself…”

We are extremely proud of all of our athletes. Win or lose, you guys represent the IC to the fullest.  Keep up the great work!

Thank you to our friends from the East Bay Judo Institute and our IC Family for another spectacular event!  Wow!

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Mark your calendars now.

Learn how to throw your loved ones around like teddy bears!  2008 U.S. Olympian, Sayaka Matsumoto of Team 0700, along with her students from the East Bay Judo Institute will be conducting a free demonstration and mini-throwdown at the IC next Saturday, January 23rd at 11am.

Reserve your spot today.  Space is limited.