Two Bay Area Judo Icons to be Honored by USA Judo, Inc.

Coach Willy Cahill Of Foster City Of Chaill’s Judo Academy In San Bruno And Coach Yosh Uchida Of San Jose State Judo Of San Jose will be honored at the sport's Night-of-Champions with a Lifetime Achievement Award

The Semi-Formal Awards Dinner hosted by USA Judo will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City, California, on Friday, July 19, 2013 and is open to the public.

Mr. Uchida was the first person to coach the US Olympic Judo Team at the first Olympic Games for Judo in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan.  San Jose State University is considered the top Judo School in the country and has been named as a US Olympic Training Center for Judo.

Other Olympic competitors that came out of San Jose State include Mike Swain, the 1987 World Judo Champion and Bronze Medalist in1988. Most recently Marti Malloy, Bronze Medalist winner at the 2012 London Games is also a product of San Jose State.  Other Olympians include Bob Berland, Silver Medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Games along with Kevin Asano, a Silver Medalist in 1988.

Mr. Cahill was an Assistant Coach at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and also at the 1988 Games in Seoul, Korea. He also coached the 2000 Paralympic (not to be confused with Special Olympics) Judo Team in Sydney, Australia bringing home two Gold Medals for the first time in US Judo Olympic or Paralympic history. The result was recognized as the number 1 Team in the world.

Cahill went on to Coach the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. His Paralympic Judo Team is composed of blind and visually impaired athletes with history making with the first female allowed to compete in US history as a member of the US Paralympic Judo Team.  Cahill has created over 1200 national and international champions in the sport of Judo.

About The Blind Judo Foundation: The Blind Judo Foundation was created in 2003 to further promote, introduce and train blind and visually impaired children, young adults, including blind and visually impaired military men and women returning from the war zones.  Cahill is the CEO & Co-Founder of the Foundation. Information is available at roncpeck@blindjudofoundation.org.