“ The Dream Team.”
This is the name we have given to The United States Men’s basketball team when they get together and compete under the team USA banner for the Olympics. This is a collection of superstar NBA players put together with the goal of winning a gold medal. However, I believe (not surprisingly) there is another “Dream Team,” The men and women of Team USA Judo.
We were fortunate enough a few weeks ago to host a clinic with Nick Delpopolo at Scranton MMA. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Nick, he is currently ranked number one in the United States at 73 kgs (161lbs) and 16th in the world. I have gotten to know Nick over my years in judo and he is a great guy who puts on a fantastic clinic and before we got started, He and I talked about the cost of trying to make and Olympic team. I have heard similar stories from my friends Rhadi Ferguson and Rick Hawn, themselves former Olympians, but each time I hear them, the numbers don’t get any less staggering.
Nick estimates that just this year alone he has spent over $2,000 in just baggage feels traveling around the world to fight in these qualifying tournaments, maxing out multiple credit cards, having to decide which bills he can and cannot pay depending on which event is coming up next. USA Judo has helped out with travel to a lot of the bigger events, but they still cannot pay for them all so Nick, who cannot have a job due to his training and competition schedule, gives clinics and private lessons around the country in order to raise funding for his Olympic aspirations
Other elite level Judo competitors do choose to work, taking jobs at places like Home depot which, up until 2009, had an Olympic sponsorship program. The downfall of this, obviously, is time. Working a nine to five job and make both technical and strength and conditioning training sessions is nearly impossible so one or the other has to suffer.
These are not choices that other countries competitors need to make. In other countries such as Japan, the mother country of judo, their athletes are funded to train full time, through sponsorships and other means, the really do not have to worry about missing workouts or paying bills, they can concentrate on nothing but achieving their goal. The same can be said for other sports within the United States. The basketball team are already multimillionaires who even though they have more riches than one can imagine, are taken care of by corporate sponsorship, the same can be said for the men’s Soccer team who have Major League Soccer (MLS) looking out for their interest , but who does that for USA Judo athletes, besides Judoka themselves? No one.
So while they may not have Swooshes on their uniforms, or commercials playing round the clock, it can be said that USA Judo is the truly “the dream team” because it is the dream of being a champion that fuels them, that keeps them going and sadly..Nothing else
Here is a link to Nick’s Website: PLEASE consider donating to help him continue his dream. Any amount helps http://nickdelpopolo.com/
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