Lori Pierce, a young woman from Colorado USA who, at the age of 19, won the Silver Medal for the US Paralympic Judo Team at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Lori continues to be a consummate and dedicated trainer with a positive, enthusiastic attitude, she was introduced to judo at 16 and took an immediate liking to it, finding a community of friends at the Dojo, or the judo gym. At 17, she won the World Games in Rome, Italy. In 2002, she met Coach Willy Cahill who helped her take her training to a new level. Cahill was a former U.S. Olympic Judo Coach from 1984 to 1992 and has been the U.S. Paralympic Judo Coach since 1999. He is also Co-Founder of the Blind Judo Foundation in San Mateo, California.
Lori will be relocating to San Francisco to continue her judo training. She plans to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing , but will also continue her educa-tion in the Bay Area.
Lori has agreed to work at the LightHouse's Enchanted Hills Camp this summer in connection with the Lighthouse Youth Program.
“We are excited and honored to have Ms. Pierce be a part of EHC. We strongly be-lieve her life experience will have a dramatic and positive impact on young campers' lives.
Condensation fogged the storefront window of Cahill's Judo Academy in San Bruno, and the air inside was warm and close as about 25 athletes practiced hip throws, foot sweeps and falling techniques on a long, narrow mat.
In the back of the room, renowned coach Willy Cahill instructed 20-year- old Lori Pierce while she was modifying a hip throw. She set up the throw several times, stopping at the last moment before actually throwing her workout partner, Mike Al-perin, a 200-pound green belt. At one point the 69- year-old Cahill stepped in and placed the palms of his thick hands on her face and gently adjusted the tilt of her head.
"There," he said. "Can you tell the difference?"
She nodded and resumed the starting position. Then, with amazing speed, she spun into her partner, lifting him off the ground, over her shoulder and onto the mat with a thud.
"Yes!" Cahill said to Pierce, who broke into a broad smile. "Again!"
Last summer, Pierce won a sliver medal in judo at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, and a couple of years before she took a gold medal at her first international competi-tion, the Blind Judo World Championships in Rome.
Pierce, who lives in Colorado, was in the Bay Area to practice basic judo skills at Ca-hill's and, more importantly, to demonstrate judo techniques on behalf of the newly formed Blind Judo Foundation, a San Mateo nonprofit.
"Our mission is to bring judo to the blind and visually impaired community to help them develop confidence and adaptive skills," said Ron Peck, who founded the or-ganization along with Cahill. "It's a great sport because along with leadership and character development, it offers balance and falling skills, which are critical to the blind and sight-impaired."
The foundation is the brainchild of Peck, executive director of the Neurological Dis-ease Foundation, and Cahill, a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame who over 42 years has coached more than 1,000 national and international medal winners. He also has coached several U.S. Olympic and Paralympic judo teams.
Peck, a former tae kwon do competitor, and Cahill worked together last year to raise money for travel and accommodations for the U.S. Paralympic team, which receives no government funding. Their fund raising was so successful that they thought: Why not form the foundation to promote judo to athletes and teach coaches the skills to work with blind and sight-impaired athletes? Cahill said the first time he coached a group of blind judoka several years ago, he explained a certain technique and then there was a long pause before the students said to him: "Coach, we didn't see a thing you did."
"I learned quickly that everything has to be hands-on and you have to focus in on everything you are trying to teach and understand it in a completely different way," said Cahill, who has developed a tactile coaching style that incorporates a lot of taps and nudges. "Blind-judo coaches have to develop a different sensibility."
During her visit, Pierce gave a demonstration to about 70 kids at the California School for the Blind in Fremont.
Along with Cahill and other specially trained coaches, Pierce worked out with the students and taught them some basic throws and falling techniques. "The kids were in awe of Lori," said Mary Alice Ross, one of the school's adaptive physical education teachers. "They were thrilled to work out with her, and they loved it when she slammed one of our students onto the mat. It was definitely a confidence-builder."
There's no better example of the confidence judo inspires than Pierce herself. During the Paralympics in Athens, she and another blind athlete stunned their coaches when they struck out on a self-guided tour of the bustling city, with its confusing grid and notoriously aggressive drivers. It was a tour many sighted visitors are reluctant to take without a qualified guide. Pierce, who speaks no Greek, said they had a great time.
"It was really fun wandering around the city, like we did," she said. "People were very friendly, and if they didn't speak English, they helped us find someone who did."
Pierce is the youngest of eight children and was always included in whatever sports her siblings were into. But she said judo is the one she gets the most from.
"I like trying new things," she said. "And judo has helped me develop the confidence to go for it."
The foundation was started last year, but there are already as many as eight judo coaches who have developed skills in coaching blind and sight- impaired students. In addition, Cahill's Judo Academy is equipped for blind and sight-impaired students. But Peck said that the foundation's most valuable resource is Cahill.
"We have Coach Cahill, who is really a superstar coach in the world of judo," Peck said. "This guy is an amazing guy. He has over 50 years of credentials and has trained Navy SEALs, Homeland Security agents, pilots, as well as Olympic and Para-lympic teams. He's really the best there is."
Peck said, "The foundation has good momentum, but what we need is board members. We're looking for people who are interested in the blind and visually impaired and who want to be actively involved." Ross said the students at California School for the Blind are eager to take judo classes if the details can be worked out. She said money would have to be found for staff time and weekly transportation to San Bruno. "We're working on finding funding, but we're not quite there yet," she said.
She hopes money can be found because the kids would clearly benefit from it as they do from other sports, such as in-line skating, kayaking and rock climbing.
"It's pretty amazing the things these kids do," she said. "It's also pretty amazing how much they are underestimated."
Source San Francisco Chronicle
John Geluardi
Friday, April 15, 2005
