The following club members were recognized at the club’s annual awards ceremony May 14.

Name Judo Rank

Jordan Audette Yellow I

Gage Egdorf White I

Charles Fairbanks Yellow II

Cooper Gossard White II

Linnaea Gossard White II

Kaleisha Hart Orange II

Logan Hart Orange I

Walter Haybeck Orange I

Blaine Hayes Orange II

John Holland Orange I

Kianna Holland Orange II

Tannan Holland Orange II

Peyton Lawton Orange II

Rollin Madden Yellow I

Jacob McConnell Green I

Nicholas McConnell Green I

Sarah McConnell Orange I

Jordan Merrill Orange II

Kylie Ness Yellow I

Giovanni Rigutto Yellow II

Luca Rigutto Yellow II

Peyton Williams Yellow I

Senior Members

Michael Audette White

Brain Burns Gokyu — Green

Alex Coxwell Yonkyu — Blue

Bob Ermold

Nikyu — 2nd degree Brown

Clayton Holland

Nikyu — 2nd degree Brown

Jacob Lautaret White

Paul McConnell

Nikyu — 2nd degree Brown

Robert Merrill Yonkyu — Blue

Maryann Rogers

Nikyu — 2nd degree Brown

Sensei Kati Gibler

Nidan — 2nd degree Black Belt

Sensei Bob Brink

Shichidan — 7th degree Red and White Belt

Sterling Judo Club is a registered US Judo Federation club. The club was started in Sterling in 2012. Promotions in judo rank are based on practice, learning judo techniques (including throws, holds, and for the older students, chokes and arm bars), technique and competition terminology, history, and class etiquette, including respect for one another and for the teachers. Improving one’s self discipline is an important goal of this program.

This junior judo color belt system, although some programs may prefer some variance, depending on the sensei’s preference: White Belt I and II; Yellow Belt I and II; Orange Belt I and II; Green Belt I and II; Blue Belt I and II; Purple Belt I and II.

This is the senior judo color belt system: White Belt; Green Belt; Blue Belt; Brown Belt I — Sankyu; Brown Belt II — Nikyu; Brown Belt III — Ikkyu; Black Belt 1st Degree-5th Degree (shodan-godan); Red-White Belt 6th-8th Degree (rokudan-hachidan); Red Belt 9th and 10th Degree (kudan-judan).

The photo shows most of our current active members as each one received their most recent judo promotion certificate during a celebration and awards dinner May 24. New belts are awarded as earned, but each new rank certificate is presented at the conclusion of the program’s current training season (Sept. 2014-May 2015).

The club hopes to recruit new junior and senior members to join with the returning students when practice resumes at Sterling Elementary School in mid September. The club’s director of self-defense, Sensei Kati Gibler, is making plans to offer her fourth self-defense class in late September. More information, when it becomes available, will be available on the club’s web site on Facebook or by contacting any current member or Sensei Bob Brink at 242-9330 or email to obobo1a@gmail.com.