Four New Yellow Belts Following First Fundamentals Class Promotion
From Left to Right - Rachel Salisbury, Kellen Zander, Joseph Lily, Joseph Swedenhjelm, Sensei Chaye Thompson
Judo is brutal to the ego particularly of those who begin as adults, for several reasons. Earlier this year the Des Moines Judo Academy added its fundamentals class in an effort to make taking up the study of judo easier for those who only began to study the art later in life. Focused primarily on the needs of newer judoka, while offering more advanced students an opportunity to refine their technique or learn moves to which they had not previously been exposed, this project, helmed by Sensei Chaye Thompson, has steadily grown from one or two students on a single evening to numerous students spread across two sessions per week. On November 5th, 2025, the programs experienced further success when its inaugural group of white belt attendees were promoted to rokkyu, receiving their yellow belts, just in time for the Iowa State Championship.
The group promoted consist of Joseph Swedenhjelm, Joseph Lily, Kellen Zanders, and Rachel Salisbury.
Joseph Swedenhjelm (“Joe Swede” or “Swede” for short) a married father and former wrestler, is rapidly adapting his wrestling training to the gentle way, often grasping variations on moves he’s familiar with from his prior training after only a short demonstration. While Swede excels at O-Goshi, he has cultivated an enviable Ko-Uchi-Gari to O-Soto-Gari renraku-waza or combination that has won him a lot of success in randori. Since his promotion, Swede has made his debut in competition at the Iowa State Championship, and has been, when time allows, working on a tournament legal version of Kata-Guruma or “Fireman’s Carry.” Swede is a quiet man with subtle expressions, more likely to make his feelings known through the flash of a smile or fleeting expression than via words. However, once you learn to read him, a deep and broad sense of humor is quickly revealed.
By contrast Joseph Lily (“Joe Lily” or just “Lily”) comes from no grappling background, with his first venture into martial arts appearing to be judo. Despite this, Lily is often paired with Swede for drills and training due to their similar size. Lily is the more vocal of the quiet duo, with a dry sense of humor. Lily, who has an interest in becoming a police officer like several member of the Des Moines Judo Academy, expresses little interest in competition, instead being focused on personal growth. Lily has a penchant for Seoi-Nage, commonly called a “shoulder throw.”
Kellen Zanders studies bjj and karate in addition to Judo, as well as dance. The active man typically attends only one class a week, and has made substantial strides in doing so. Judo training has improved Kellen’s performance in all his physical studies by giving him a better understanding of the interactions between his own body and that of his opponent. This has translated to better rolls while at bjj and more effective practice at karate. Typically seen smiling with short interruptions for burst of laughter, prior to promotion Kellen’s initial preferred technique was Seoi-Nage. Since his promotion, Kellen has recently discovered that has some natural talent at O-Goshi, which this writer feels may develop into a general preference for koshi-waza.
Rachel Salisbury rounds out the initial promotion group. This is Rachel’s second round on the mat, having initially engaged in training for approximately two months around a year ago. Rachel’s initial interest in Judo was piqued when she observed a tournament in December of 2023. Since returning to the mat earlier this year, Rachel finally participated in competition herself in Minnesota, taking bronze and igniting a passion for competition. In addition to fundamentals class, Rachel frequently attends 5:30 PM judo classes on Monday and Wednesday, Thursday class, Friday and Saturday open mats, and open mat at our sister-school Grinnell BJJ. As a result of this serious grind mentality, Rachel has developed a significant amount of skill in a limited time, but is also typically less than fully recovered at any point in time. Rachel is adept at drop Morote-Seoi-Nage, or drop “two handed shoulder throw”, Sasae-Tsurikomi-Ashi, and De-Ashi-Barai (Advanced foot sweep). She also demonstrates a skill at ude garami (kimura version to BJJ people) from guard when on the ground.
Congratulations to all the newly minted yellow belts, and may their futures have much success!
