The East Bay Judo Institute is proud to announce this year’s recipients of The East Bay Judo Institute Alumni Scholarship, Henry Warmerdam and Maxime St. Jean. Henry is a two-time recipient of the Alumni Scholarship and a dedicated contributor to the dojo. In addition to training with the competition class, he assists with the beginning […]

Many thanks to current and former EBJI members who made generous donations to help the victims of the recent North Bay fires. Your help and support are greatly appreciated!

Henry Warmderman is the first recipient of the EBJI Alumni Scholarship! Founded by former EBJI member Dedra Worley, the scholarship will be issued in the form of a $1000 tuition waiver for one year. In the words of Dedra: “Over the years I have received many requests from my Alma Mater to support new projects, […]

November 19, 2016 EBJI was honored and humbled to visit the Steveston Judo Club in Vancouver this weekend. The dojo was founded in 1953 after WWII and is run completely on a volunteer basis. We were blown away by the beauty of the dojo itself and amazed by the Japanese Calligraphy featured above us in the […]

Thanks to our good friend, 3-Time Olympic Champion, Tadahiro Nomura for coming back to visit our dojo. Nomura Sensei was recently back in the Bay Area filming an episode of “Another Sky” for Japanese TV. The show highlights celebrities and pivotal moments during their life. After Nomura Sensei won his second Olympic Gold Medal in […]

Congratulations to EBJI Instructor Themis Lonis who won three medals at the World Police and Fire Games in Fairfax, Virginia! Themis won gold medals in the submission grappling and freestyle wrestling competitions and also took a bronze medal in the 50+ 81kg division in judo. He competing an exhausting 4 days in a row! Themis teaches […]

Written by 2008 Olympian, 7x Senior National Champion, and EBJI Senior Instructor Sayaka Torra When I started judo at the young age of 5, I really didn’t have a say in the matter. One day my father (Former Olympic Team Leader and Coach David Matsumoto) told me I was going to start and I complied. The […]

By Sayaka Torra, 2008 Olympian, EBJI Senior Instructor Emotions are a part of everyday life; it doesn’t matter who you are or your profession. It’s how you control and regulate these emotions that determine your success in any given situation. I know first-hand that being an Olympic Athlete is an extremely emotional experience. I’ve faced […]

Thank you Tom for this heartfelt testimonial! We hope you and your family will be back soon! For more testimonials about EBJI, please visit this page! ** We had the opportunity to visit East Bay Judo Institute this last week while in California. We were on the way to San Jose and thought we would stop by […]

Eight EBJI Members (accompanied by Ken Kokka Sensei and Sayaka Torra Sensei) travelled to Honolulu, Hawaii over the 4th of July weekend this summer to participate in the USJF/USJA Junior, Youth and Team National Championships. This top junior event gathered over 1,000 competitors from around the nation to participate in a two day tournament. The […]