Sensei John Paccione comes out of competitive retirement

On September  17, 2011 Sensei John Paccione,  the owner of Kodokan Judo of Cape Coral, came out of competitive retirement and entered the 45^th and final East Coast Championship Juyukai held at the Institute of Technology in Newark New Jersey.

This tournament is one of the highest level competitions held by the United States Judo Federation on the East Coast. Sensei John, who is 46 years old, was the oldest person in his division which consisted of 7 competitors including the Australian National Champion.

Sensei John threw his first opponent twice scoring a half point which is called a wazari.  His opponent followed up with a turning throw to which Sensei John countered and scored an ippon, which is a full point, to win the match.  Sensei John won his second match which set the stage for him to fight the Australian who was 6’6”.  Sensei  John lost to the Australian eventually taking the bronze to be designated the third place East Coast Champion in his division.