03/01/2024
Below 👇🏽 is a message from the USJA President David Brogan
This letter also has been sent out to members .
As I approach the end of my first three months of being privileged to serve as your president, I, along with your Board of Directors, have worked tirelessly on updating the policies of the USJA to best suit the needs of our membership. I wanted to take a moment to update you on some of our progress:
1) To make the USJA more affordable, we have created a $15 discount off the annual membership rate for families. This discount applies to every member of a family. A “family” is defined as two or more people, including a primary member, and the primary member’s spouse and dependent children. See: https://usja.net/about/faq/family for more information.
2) To make the USJA more transparent, we have created a webpage where you can find our corporate charter, bylaws, meeting minutes and all policy directives of the Board of Directors. You can view this website at https://www.usja.net/about/board/corporate.
3) To alleviate the factions that are negatively affecting Judo in the United States as a result of USA Judo terminating the American Judo Alliance Agreement, and to create a way that American judoka can train and compete together once again regardless of organizational alignment, we have created a new sanctioning scheme:
a. Grassroots Sanction: A grassroots sanction permits participation from members of the USJA and the USJF. The fee for a grassroots sanction is $40.
b. National Sanction: A national sanction permits participants regardless of affiliation, with or without a national governing body. The fee for a national sanction shall be $100.
The new sanctioning application can be found at https://usja.net/staff/forms/62/document/download?display=inline
4) In a further effort to alleviate organizational barriers preventing our members from participating in events hosted by other organizations, the USJA’s Participant Accident Only Insurance Coverage will now follow USJA members to events sanctioned by the USJF and USA Judo.
5) To make it easier for judoka from other organizations to be able to take advantage of a USJA membership and transfer their rank, in addition to recognizing all rank from USA Judo, the USJF, and all national governing bodies recognized by the IJF, the USJA will now offer all members of the USJA who have never received rank from the USJA, a once in a lifetime free rank validation application.
6) To improve our overly complicated promotion system, in consultation with the Promotion Board, we have worked tirelessly to revamp the USJA’s promotion requirements for all adult kyu ranks through sandan. A summary of the changes include:
a. Promotion points are eliminated.
b. There is a single required minimum time-in-grade.
c. There is a minimum required class attendance which is calculated by time-in-grade multiplied by two classes per week.
d. The technical portion of the examination is modernized, and redundancies are eliminated. More flexibility is afforded as to which techniques must be demonstrated, particularly in the newaza sections.
e. The technical portion of the examination will be pass/fail, with all required techniques requiring a passing grade. Failed techniques may be retested at the discretion of the examiner until passed.
f. Requires, once the Kata Committee has completed its development, the taking of an online instructional and the passing of an online multiple-choice exam on the nage no kata (unless already certified in nage no kata) as follows:
i. Sankyu Why Kata? Part 2: Nage no kata set 1
ii. Nikyu Nage no kata sets 2 and 3.
iii. Ikkyu Nage no kata sets 4 and 5.
g. Requires a passing demonstration of the gokyu for shodan, a passing demonstration of the shinmeisho no waza for nidan, and a passing demonstration of the habukareta waza for sandan.
h. Requires, once the Referee Committee has completed its development, the taking of an online instructional and the passing of an online multiple-choice exam to earn an Associate Referee Certification for nidan (higher referee certifications satisfy this requirement).
i. Requires, once the Coaching Education and Certification Committee has completed its development, the taking of an online instructional and the passing of an online multiple-choice exam to earn a Local Coaching Certification for sandan (higher coaching certifications satisfy this requirement).
To further provide for affordability, the new exam and application can be found for free at https://www.usja.net/staff/forms/169/document/download?display=inline
7) To empower our local coaches with student grade dan ranks, shodan through sandan promotions will be placed in the hands of the head coach of a club. No longer will coaches simply make recommendations to the Promotion Board – shodan, nidan and sandan shall be awarded by the club coach provided that the stated requirements are met. Once fully implemented, coaches will be able to promote their students through sandan through the USJA portal like how it is currently done for kyu ranks.
😎 To recognize our role as a grassroots organization charged with growing Judo in our local communities, we have asked the Promotion Board to update our high-dan requirements to ensure that exceptional local coaches are eligible for 7th and 8th dan promotions, even if they do not have national or international recognition.
Our work has just begun, and there is much more to do, but we are excited to share our progress with you. While change is often uncomfortable, it is necessary to grow, to improve, and to remain relevant in an ever-changing environment. We hope you find these changes beneficial to you in your local clubs.
Lastly, please do not forget that we are a volunteer-based organization. For us to thrive during what appears to be a concerted effort by USA Judo to eliminate the grassroots organizations, we need your help. We need you to recruit members. We need you to host tournaments. We need you to host clinics. We need you to show that we not only understand that the key to growing the United States into an international Judo powerhouse rest with our grassroots clubs, but we also need to show that we are willing to put in the work to make that happen.
Your Board stands here willing to put the work in. Please join us!
David Brogan, President
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