Two-Time Olympic Medalist Jimmy Pedro Named 2010 Senior World Team Coach

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – USA Judo is pleased to announce that two-time Olympic medalist Jimmy Pedro (Methuen, Mass.) will be the head coach of the 32-athlete team that will compete at the Senior World Championships, Sept. 9-13 in Tokyo, Japan.

 

“I am honored to be chosen as the USA Judo World Team Coach again,” said Pedro who led his first Senior World Team in 2009.  “Five years ago, the Director of Athlete Performance, Ed Liddie, and I created the U23 Program to help groom the next generation of USA Judo champions.  Now, five years later, a majority of those young athletes are preparing to qualify for this year’s World Team, so I have a very good working relationship with all of them.”

 

Pedro most recently served as the head coach of the U.S. team that won 11 medals at the Pan American Championships in El Salvador earlier this month where he was joined by team manager Chris Skelley (Paterson, N.J.)  Skelley will return to this role at the Senior World Championships as well.

 

“Jimmy coached at the Pan Ams for the first time a few weeks ago and did an outstanding job working all of the team members,” said USA Judo Director of Athlete Performance Eddie Liddie (Colorado Springs, Colo.)  “Jimmy always brings a level of professionalism to every project we’ve worked on together and I’m looking forward to having him back as our World Team coach.”

 

The Senior World Championships will be one of the first major qualifying tournaments for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.  In a first, the International Judo Federation is allowing each nation to enter a maximum of two athletes per weight division, increasing both the size and difficulty of this prestigious event.

 

“We will have many young, hungry and talented athletes on our World Team who have been competing very well internationally,” Pedro said.  “We will need them all to be well prepared for this year's Worlds which I expect to be one of the toughest ever as countries will be able to send two athletes per category.  Ed and I have put together a schedule of international events and camps that we believe will challenge our athletes and make them better prepared for the Worlds.”

 

In his new role, Pedro will coach the team not just in Japan, but also in a series of training camps and World Tour events – all of which also allow athletes to earn points towards Olympic qualification.

 

The training schedule for the World Team is as follows:

 

May 22-23

Brazil Grand Slam (Rio de Janeiro)

 

May 24-27

Brazil Training Camp (Rio de Janeiro)

 

May 28-29

Sao Paulo World Cup

 

June 18-20

Venezuela World Cup (Isla de Margarita)

 

June 21-23

Venezuela Training Camp (Isla de Margarita)

 

June 25-27

El Salvador World Cup (San Salvador)

 

July / August TBD

Two to three weeks of European training

 

August 2-6

World Team Training Camp

Wakefield, Mass.

 

August 27-28

USA World Cup

Miami, Fla.

Tags: Eddie Liddie, Jimmy Pedro