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!
BJJ Convert Develops Stand Up Game and Earns Promotion
From Left to Right - Sensei Chey, Johan, Sensei Rodriguez
BJJ practitioners looking to develop their takedowns are a regular sight at the Des Moines Judo Academy. Most pass through, polishing a throw or two for competition before returning to their primary art, never making it past white belt. June 5th, 2025, Yauhen split from the pack for that trend by testing for, and being promoted to, “rokkyu” or “yellow belt.”
Yauhen first joined our dojo in November of 2024, and was more than a little scared of doing “randori,” a form of sparring, upright. Since then, Yauhen has developed his “ukemi,” the skill of falling or being thrown with minimal or no injury, enough to overcome his hesitation and can be seen regularly taking on other students at the dojo on thursday nights. His favorite stand up moves thus far are O-Goshi and Sumi-Gaeshi. Yauhen continues to train on BJJ at the No Coast school twice a week. When talking about the changes Judo has made in his overall grappling game, Yauhen explained that it caused him to appreciate gi fighting over no-gi, due to the increased technicality.
We look forward to more exciting developments from this man just beginning to make major headway in the Gentle Way, and anticipate watching his grappling style evolve as he becomes even more comfortable upright.
Far Travelling Pair Promoted Together
From Right to Left - Sensei Pohl, Ian Schaff, Jon Milliedge, Sensei Hilleshiem
Ian and Jon, regulars at Saturday open mats, have taken the next step on their journey into the Way of Gentleness, by being promoted to “gokyu” or orange belt. The duo normally spend several hours every Saturday developing their skills from approximately 9:30 AM until the open mat host is done the day or events demand they yield (usually around 12:40 PM), so they can work master what they learn training with each other during weekday. On May 3rd, 2025, they chose to forego training to instead demonstrate what they’ve learned in the pursuit of recognition of their hard won skills. Testing was overseen by Sensei Hilleshiem and Sensei Pohl, who determined the two passed muster, while a few stragglers looked on.
Ian, a student of jujitsu, bujinkan, and kali-silat in addition to Judo. As to be expected his “newaza” or “ground fighting” (the portion of combat that takes place after one or more of the combatants has fallen to the ground) is more developed than his “nage waza” or throwing techniques, he not only demonstrated competence with the required number of throws, but demonstrated an affinity for tai-otoshi, o-goshi, and uchi-mata. When not training, Ian enjoys tabletop roleplaying games, making mead, hunting, and spending time with his beloved dog.
Jon, a judoka with an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and wrestling background, who also cross trains in jujitsu and bujinkan, has a more robust standing game of the pair, despite Ian having a better flare for technical details. Jon also posses boundless positivity and enthusiasm, which makes long training sessions go by and the blink of an eye. While his foot sweeps won him gold and silver in the Governor’s Cup earlier this year, and even earned praise from Sensei Parkhill, Jon chose to instead show off his o-soto-gari, ippon seoi-nage, and tani-otoshi, all of which he’s been drilling endlessly since March. When off the mat, Jon spends most of his time with his family, being married and a father.
Kids Kick Butt at 2025 Governor’s Cup
Des Moines Judo kids with Sensei Hanssen
On March 15th of 2025, nearly an hour before the adult competition, Sensei Ryan Hanssen led a squad of five (5) young Judoka from our children’s judo program as they took to the mat for the honor of our dojo and personal glory. Jayce and Brayden Hanssen, Cillian Nizzi, Brogan Lindsey, and Aurora Wright all took to the mat in their respective divisions to demonstrate the skill and athleticism developed through long hours of training, and test their mettle against the best competitors they could find.
While each competitor’s matches were action packed and worthy of review, this author would only expound upon each competitor’s best performance for his loyal audience.
Brayden and Cillian each rapidly defeated the third competitor in their bracket and met one another in a heated match to determine who would take gold or have to settle for silver. Brayden tried his best to bring his opponent down with Hanssen family’s signature Koshi-Guruma, but Cillian presented a competent defense each time, hipping in and posturing up. On offense Cillian demonstrated a far more mobile style of judo, using circular motion to disbalance his opponent to create openings for Uchi-Mata and O-Soto-Gari. Unfortunately for Cillian, Brayden, being a seasoned competitor was able to meet and overcome this tactic through strategic us of grips and defensive posturing. After a reset by the referee, both combatants switched tactics, opting for a brief exchange of foot sweeps, with Cillian bringing Brayden to the ground for a non-scoring Tai-Otoshi. The two continued in this fashion for a short while longer before Cillian was finally able to catch Brayden off-guard with a will timed Uchi-Mata for victory by Ippon. The two fought well.
Aurora’s determination and aggression allowed her to take a bronze medal in her division, with her most exciting match being against Isabella from Sempai Judo Academy. Both girls came out guns blazing, charging one another to immediately grip up and throw a flurry of O-Soto-Gari at one another. While Aurora was the first to fall in her match, immediately escaping her opponent’s attempt at Kesa-Gatame, she was quick to follow up with an O-Soto-Otoshi, scoring a yuko, and to capitalize on her success by using Kesa-Gatame herself. The next bout yielded a solid Waza-Ari for Aurora off O-Soto-Gari, prompting her opponent’s team of coachs to prompt Isabella to make a drastic change in tactics. After another hard fought bout with no score, Aurora and Isabella clashed again, with Isabella disbalancing Aurora mid-attack, knocking them both over. In the mad scramble for position, Isabella was able to out scurry Aurora and secure a firm pin via Kesa-Gatame, which she maintained long enough for Ippon. While Aurora might not have won this match, which lasted over three minutes, she was in the lead when the final bout began, had maintained a lead for most of the match, and fought hard to the bitter end. Aurora should take pride in her accomplishment and in that it took her competitor benefitting from the combined experience of Sempai’s extended coaching staff to overcome her.
On his path to silver medal, Brogan faced off against Luca from Teikiatsu Judo, in a match lasting only fifteen (15) seconds. Luca assumed an aggressive and forward stance from the onset of the match, immediately charging to grip up with Brogan. Rather than meeting Luca’s charge directly, as many of our other junior competitor’s would have, Brogan embraced the teaching of “Seiryoku Zenyo” or “maximum efficiency",” shifting to the side and out of Luca’s path as he attempted O-Goshi. Luca stopped his forward charge in time to spin Brogan in almost a complete circle, which Brogan responded to by shifting neatly into Harai-Goshi followed by Kesa-Gatame on the ground. The pin was unnecessary, as the throw’s satisfying “thawp” told both the referee and the crowd Brogan has scored an Ippon.
Lastly, Jayce got to meet his rival, Asher Bruner, in the most recent in a long line of contests between the two. The most recent match was a furious affair, both upright and on the ground, ranging across the entirety of the tatami. The first bought ended with Jayce up a Waza-Ari from De-Ashi-Barai, with the follow up on the ground resulting in no further score. The second bout, in which both competitors were making textbook demonstrations of the down then up method of kuzushi, saw Asher tie the score using Uchi-Mata, with neither judoka able to score on the ground as follow up. After two bouts with the young judoka’s duel ranging to the edges of the mat and yielding no score, the rivals clashed a final time. Jayce managed to get his lapel hand around Asher’s neck and began to drag him into the Hanssen’s signature Koshi-Guruma. As the two spun with Jayce creeping his hips into position to reap his final score, Asher, familiar with the familial technique from prior encounters, shouldered into Jayce and threw out a leg, brining Jayce to the ground with Tani-Otoshi for Ippon. Jayce took home a well earned silver medal, and this author looks forward to seeing what Jayce brings to overcome his rival when next they meet.
Honor and glory to our young competitors! We all look forward to great things from you in the future!