Masters Athletes Have Opportunity to Earn National Rankings

USA Judo is pleased to announce that athletes ages 30 and older will have the opportunity to be ranked nationally by age and weight division by the new Masters National Rankings.   

"Over the years USA Judo has been receiving some great advice from many of our masters competitors on how to improve the masters participation in our nation. We have attempted to implement many of these recommendations. One of these was to create a Masters Sub-Committee that would further advice our staff on how to improve our masters program," said USA Judo CEO Jose H. Rodriguez (Colorado Springs, Colo.)  "It was out of this committee that the idea of starting a point system for masters competitors came from. We believe that this will be a great incentive for our masters athletes to continue competing at all levels." 

Athletes competing in the masters divisions at the USA Judo Masters Nationals, Masters U.S. Open Championships, National President's Cup Championships, World Veteran's Championships and the Pan American Masters Championships will be eligible to receive national ranking points.

To view the National Rankings, click here.  

The next opportunity to earn points will be at the Panamerican Masters Championships, Nov. 13-14 in Milford, Mass.  For more information on the event, click here. 

"I am excited to see us moving into awarding participation points to the masters. This has been long in coming but I am glad to see it finally in place.  I think we are making a lot of progress with our masters programs and look forward to seeing this part of our sport grow," said Leo White (Lilburn, Ga.), two-time Olympian and member of the USA Judo Board of Directors.

Tags: Jose Rodriguez, Leo White