Kasutera 258 Posted June 13, 2015 I should have posted this earlier, but if anyone of you wanna check this out tomorrow, Saturday June 13th. here's the link! http://www.flowrestling.org/coverage/252318-US-Sumo-National-Championships 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johnofuji 232 Posted June 15, 2015 Ossu, How did you go? Any video and results yet ? It looks like a lot of the usual suspects got the medals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 15, 2015 (edited) Fortunately for me, they decided there were enough competitors for a "rookie" division for all classes this year, for people who have competed in two or fewer major sumo tournaments. In the rookie lightweight division consisting of three wrestlers, I placed first! In the actual lightweight division, the one that counted, I placed fourth out of seven, losing only to the two guys who ended up winning first and second, both also former champions, so for my first every showing at nationals, I'm pretty satisfied with myself :-) The 1st place medalists who are (as of now) going to the world championships are as such (this is all from memory, I don't think it's been officially published anywhere): Men's Lightweight: Trent Sabo Men's Middleweight: Kena Heffernan Men's Heavyweight (and Openweight): Roy Sims (newcomer who's a former football player and a BEAST) Women's Lightweight: Jenelle Hamilton Women's Middleweight: Helen Delpopolo (veteran who came out of semi-retirement in commemoration of the recent passing of prolific judo and sumo coach Yoshisada Yonezuka) Women's Heavyweight (and Openweight): Jasmine Jones I will post a link to the formal results once they get posted. Edited June 16, 2015 by Kasutera 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuroimori 1,634 Posted June 15, 2015 お疲れ様でした。 Well done and thanks for your "basho report"! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 16, 2015 お疲れ様でした。 Well done and thanks for your "basho report"! ありがとうございました！次のを目指して頑張ります！ Next big amateur tournament in the US is the U.S. Sumo Open in LA in August, which I thankfully don't have to fly out for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johnofuji 232 Posted June 16, 2015 Thanks Kasutera. Well done. Yes good idea to have a rookies division but it is fun to see what novices can do as they can sometimes be surprisingly tricky with all sorts of unorthodox moves and techniques. I once fought an MMA Pride fighter .I thought I would be right after he failed his first attempt to supplex the guy before me from the middle of the ring. It's usually no good unless its on the edge as a last ditch effort (utchari) . I had no idea that was his specialty. It was like being on the Matrix. Yes that was sad about Yonezuka. He always had hot "nieces" with him when I met him. I'll be looking forward to seeing the Open. It looks like a massive event for the spectators ...as it should be. I heard all about last year's one form the Kiwi's. Did they really hold it up for two hours because a girl broke her arm and wouldn't get up??? If she broke her back I could understand but you can still walk or get lifted out with broken arm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 17, 2015 Last year's U.S. Sumo Open? I don't remember anybody breaking their arm. There was a scary incident with somebody falling off the dohyo and then hitting their head on the ground and being quite slow to get up, but that's about the worst I remember. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 17, 2015 The official results and brackets have been posted! http://www.americansumo.org/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jakusotsu 6,396 Posted June 18, 2015 http://www.americansumo.org/Mens and Womens?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 18, 2015 http://www.americansumo.org/Mens and Womens?? Kinda been that way for a while! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 20,270 Posted June 18, 2015 http://www.americansumo.org/Mens and Womens??Time to reciprocate for Operation Vowel Storm with a few apostrophe care packages. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 18, 2015 http://www.americansumo.org/Mens and Womens??Time to reciprocate for Operation Vowel Storm with a few apostrophe care packages. Oh. That's what you were remarking on. Yeah, to be fair, the USSF website is shit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johnofuji 232 Posted June 19, 2015 Experience has taught me not to be too harsh about websites. I'm sure it must be easier these days but they are a real bitch to maintain unless you know what you are doing. These days it is so much easier to do things on a mobile and upload them straight to social media rather than frigging around with a website. I was glad to see a bit about the heros of the past in one of the USSF newsletters .Too often I have read comments from newbies in US Sumo thinking they were the first to ever American to win a bout or get a medal in something but they forget about the glorious past of US Sumo in the early days. I have the stats somewhere but there were a lot of medals at the first few world championships and then a big drought after Manny and the Hawaiians disappeared (mysteriously that was about the time the handouts from Japan stopped) and then a brief spark with Trent getting a medal and then I think the last was Kelly's daughter in the juniors. Speaking of Manny and Yonezuka- I found this old article about them on page 46 to 50. Over 20 years and they are still dreaming about sumo in the Olympics. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IT0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=me+sumo+stay+big&source=bl&ots=HSbgdRm1M4&sig=c7j8OWyd1hZZioCveQIrwVQh8_Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=InuDVf-nA5fW8gW-_oCQCg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q&f=true Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 19, 2015 Speaking of Manny and Yonezuka- I found this old article about them on page 46 to 50. Over 20 years and they are still dreaming about sumo in the Olympics. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IT0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=me+sumo+stay+big&source=bl&ots=HSbgdRm1M4&sig=c7j8OWyd1hZZioCveQIrwVQh8_Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=InuDVf-nA5fW8gW-_oCQCg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q&f=true Thanks for this! Yeah, it's funny how since sumo is such a niche thing in the US, certain people like to claim they've gotten in on the ground floor and build hype around themselves, making fan pages and whatnot, then they do a serious tournament like the Open and go up against one of the Mongolians and get knocked flat on their asses. My sister, however, is insisting on celebrating me as the first Cuban-American rookie lightweight sumo champion, which, if you get that specific, must probably be true. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 22, 2015 Managed to get a video of one of my winning matches: 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 23, 2015 One of the other competitors graciously recorded and uploaded another one of my winning matches. This one I'm a little prouder of how my form looks because I actually keep my head inside instead of leading with my shoulder like a dummy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jakusotsu 6,396 Posted June 23, 2015 This one I'm a little prouder of how my form looks because I actually keep my head inside instead of leading with my shoulder like a dummy.Speaking of dummy, has your opponent ever heard of tachiai? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kasutera 258 Posted June 23, 2015 One of the frustrating things about doing sumo in the US is that the competition is one of two levels: 1) The die-hards that have been doing it for years. 2) Novices who may have had a strong background in another grappling art but aren't attuned to the specifics of sumo. My opponent in the second video is an experienced folkstyle wrestler but doesn't train as often in sumo. I'm a little spoiled to have training from two former professionals who have been trying to drill tachi-ai into me. However, I don't have very many equally experienced/skilled partners to train with, so it's hard for me to progress as fast as I like to. Such is the life of a niche sport aficionado. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
