Travis Stevens Winning The 2008 USA Olympic Team Trials, Las Vegas, Nevada
Travis Stevens earned quick wins in the 81kg division by ippon against Danny Satinsky and Andrew Hung.
In the final, Stevens fought Aaron Cohen for the first time this year. Although Stevens won four of their five matches in 2007, the crowd expected a close match and both players had nearly a hundred supporters in the stands.
“I’m from Tacoma and then I trained in San Jose and now I’m on the East Coast so I have a big group of people cheering for me,” Stevens said.
The match was scoreless and went into overtime when Cohen threw Stevens for a koka' While Cohen celebrated on the mat, the referee jury convened and overturned the call, resuming the match for both players.
Stevens came back several attacks later, throwing Cohen with a pickup for ippon.
“It means a lot too because that would’ve been a lot of pressure to come back and beat him two more times,” Stevens said. “I was just happy [after the throw for ippon] because I knew it was official.”
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King 5 News Report
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Allen Schauffler reports Olympics 2008: Travis Stevens
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The News Tribune Article
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Travis Stevens with a throw @ the Pan Am Games
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Travis with his Pan Am Games Gold Medal
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Three National Champions from Lakewood Judo Team
Posted by Ben Sclair · August 6, 2009
Ippon Judo Dojo at the Lakewood Family YMCA took a team of eight competitors to the USA Judo National Junior Olympic Championships in Orlando, Fla., last weekend, and brought home seven medals.
Gold medals were awarded to first-time National competitor Tatiana Borrero-Parker, 7, now four-time National Champion Isaac Harai, 9, along with Davon Johnson, 12. Silver medals were awarded to Jasmine Borrero-Parker, 9, Lahna Harai, 7, and Kiaya Van Scoyoc, 13. Patrick Mendiola, 13, took home a bronze medal.
The victory was especially sweet for Davon Johnson, whose previous three attempts at a National title resulted in fourth place finishes.
“He wanted this bad,” says coach Jason Harai. “Davon was hungry for that gold medal. He never stopped working hard all these years, and I could really see that desire and dedication during our Junior Olympic Training Camp and all the extra practices our National Team had. He went all-out, all the time.”
Ippon Judo Dojo offers coed classes for students 6 to adult. We encourage families to join and participate in judo together. All ages are welcome to join judo just for fun or to get in better shape and to learn.
Seattle Times
LOCAL BOY WINS GOLD AT JUDO JR. US OPEN
July 28-29, 2007
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Young judo players from fourteen countries participated in the USA Judo Jr. U.S. Open Judo Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Among them was Isaac Harai, 7, of Ippon Judo Dojo in Lakewood, WA. Isaac’s last match, against the fighter from Barbados, was his closest, but he managed to protect his lead, winning the gold medal.
Several of Isaac’s teammates also medaled. Mychayla Villani (9) and Anthony Haskins (18) took silver, and Christian Villani (10) took bronze.
Other medalists from the Northwest include Eric Soler (12) of Emerald City Judo in Redmond and Austin Hronek (14) of Obukan Dojo in Portland, who both placed third.
Seattle Times
LOCAL JUDO TEAM STANDS OUT AT JUNIOR OLYMPICS
July 21-22, 2007,
San Antonio, Texas
As the 2007 USA Judo National Junior Olympic Championships got underway, the team from Ippon Judo Dojo, of Lakewood Washington, broke into cheers at the announcement that their alumni, Travis Stevens of Tacoma, competing on the same day at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had just won the gold medal. Inspired by this news, the team of nine from Ippon Judo Dojo, Stevens’s home town dojo, then went on to win an amazing five Junior Olympic gold medals and three silvers.
On day one, fourteen-year-old Joshua Villani, who beat the previous year’s quadruple crown winner and took the gold (Boys Juvenile A, 53 kg), was recognized as that day’s Outstanding Judoka (the equivalent of an MVP) by USA Judo. The highlight of day two was seventeen-year-old Jared Sterling’s win over Aaron Kunihiro, a two-time Senior National Champion, in the Boys IJF Junior 60 kg division. Sterling’s spectacular leg picks earned him the Best Technique award for the day by USA Judo.
Other gold medal winners were seven-year-old Isaac Harai (Boys Bantam 3, 23 kg), ten-year-old Christian Villani (Boys Intermediate 2, 34 kg), and seven-year-old Jasmine Parker-Borrero (Girls Bantam 2, 30 kg). Taking the silver were nine-year-old Mychayla Villani (Girls Intermediate 1, 30 kg), eleven-year-old Kiaya Van Scoyoc (Girls Intermediate 2, 60 kg), and eighteen-year-old Anthony Haskins (Boys IJF Junior, +100 kg), who is also this year’s USA Judo Collegiate National Champion.
Ippon Judo Dojo’s head coach, Jason Harai says, “I expected our team to do well, but this weekend’s performance was like a dream. These kids all worked hard, and it’s nice to see that paying off.”
Jared Sterling, Joshua Villani, Christian Villani, Mychayla Villani, and Isaac Harai aren’t done yet. They will represent the United States in the USA Judo Junior U.S. Open, in Fort Lauderdale, FL this weekend, July 28-29. Coach Harai says, “I look forward to seeing what these kids can do on the international level.”
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