The Four Founders' Awards Nominating Essays for the 2023 Award Recipients

Benjamyn Rowe, recipient of the Professor John Cahill Award
Outstanding Tournament Competitor of the Year

When considering the Prof. John Cahill Award, I believe that Sensei Benjamyn Rowe exemplifies the virtues we look for in a competitor.

Sensei Ben is not only always eager to compete, but does so with a smile and an excellent sporting attitude. I have watched him in many competitions and win or lose, he always has an air of excitement and enthusiasm. A good example of this was at the Ohana event in July of 2022 where Ben competed in the Sport Jujitsu tournament. He at first thought that he had not done well in his division and was happy to have just competed. He was laughing and complementing everyone, then found out that he had scored enough points in his rounds against the other competitors that he had actually placed 2nd in his division. What impressed me was that he was just as happy when he thought he had not done well as he was when he discovered he had actually placed. A perfect example of a true competitor and good sportsmanship.

Sensei Ben is always working to be better as a competitor. Given the option he chooses to work on freestyle techniques. Just this last week when he attended a black belt class, give the option between massage and working on freestyle, he chose to work on his technique. Even after class was over, he could be heard in the dressing room discussing competition and asking for pointers. His enthusiasm is contagious.

Recently Ben also competed in the Kata Contest at Nemuri Kuma, but what was more impressive than the fact that he tied for 1st place was that he brought one of his young students to compete. He was there supporting her every step of the event. It was obvious to everyone that the young girl was very nervous and shy. It was her first competition. Sensei Ben was obviously an inspiration to her. This is why I think he is an excellent and worthy candidate for the Prof. Cahill award. He exemplifies an excellent sporting attitude and is an inspiration to those around him both young and old, new to competition and experienced competitors.

Prof. Don Cross, recipient of the Professor Bud Estes Award
Outstanding Contribution to the AJJF

I would like to nominate Professor Don Cross for the Professor Bud Estes Award for Outstanding Contribution to the AJJF.

Professor Cross has been doing AJJF Danzan Ryu since 1957 when, as a young boy of nine and a half, he visited Professor Ray Law’s Dojo in Oakland with a friend. He was mesmerized by the dojo itself, which was a converted supermarket filled with all sorts of climbing apparatus. Professor Law kept the children busy with activities to improve balance and coordination, and his wife Marie Law was motherly and encouraging. Little Donny was hooked! His parents couldn’t afford the dues of $5 a month, so Don did neighborhood weeding and started a paper route in order to pay for his training with the Laws. From that time on, he has never stopped practicing DZR—it’s been 66 years so far!

 In 1969, at the age of 16, Don was promoted to black belt by Professor Law, and later to nidan. He served the Law’s dojo as an assistant instructor, and went on to established his own dojo in Sacrament a mere week before Prof. Law passed away. Over the decades Sensei Cross has hosted contests and events, and advanced training classes. He earned a rank of yodan and the title of  professor, and has served on the Board of Professors ever since. He was honored as a member of the AJJF’s 50-Year Club in 2007.

With his Master’s Degree in Education and a California State Teaching Credential, Prof. Cross has been able to create classes and strategies for learning that have lead to more than twenty students achieving the rank of Shodan, many of whom have gone on to earn higher ranks or start their own dojos. Professor Cross has written pamphlets and booklets such as the AJJF Guide to Protocol, Etiquette and Ethics. He’s created a video series on the basic AJJF boards, still used today by many to improve their arts, as well as videos on Okazaki’s Restorative Massage, Kappo and Chi Gong.

Always ready to spearhead a project, currently Prof. Cross is the point person for the Council of Senior Instructors. He is also overseeing the design to revise the New School Head Welcome Guide for those who wish to establish an AJJF dojo.

In his seventh decade, Professor Cross still leads class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at his dojo in Eugene, Oregon. This is in addition to his Monday night Virtual Dojo, started during the pandemic, which was so successful that it continues today with students attending nationwide.

In 2022 Professor Cross was promoted to Kudan (9th degree). He now wears an all-red belt, representing a most remarkable lifetime of Danzan Ryu practice, and impressive lifetime of service to the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation—proving he is a most deserving candidate for the Professor Bud Estes Award for Outstanding Contribution to the AJJF!

Jeremy Schoener, recipient of the Professor Ray Law Award
Outstanding Contribution to the Youth of the AJJF

This sensei has been teaching kids’ classes for fourteen years. He started because his own daughter asked to learn jujitsu, and because as a kid, Sensei was bullied and doesn’t want any child to have to endure that. Today he acquires students through links to his website, word of mouth, and using a company that runs ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google with photos of juniors enjoying his classes.

Currently he has thirty children on the mat in his new dojo in Pennsylvania where he teaches juniors two afternoons a week, but is getting ready to expand to four days a week. Sensei’s highest ranking junior is a green belt, and the majority of their instruction is in Yawara, Nage, and Goshin. Of course they do warm ups, rolls and falls, and groundwork as well. His creative instruction includes Sumo, back-to-back wrestling, musical chairs to Taiko music, and a game called Lava Ball. Games are only at the end of class as a reward if the kids have done their workout well.

Sensei has held a regional event annually, and many of his students attend as well, receiving the benefit of instruction from sensei from such far away places as New York and California.

Sensei’s philosophy as an instructor is trying to understand and transmit the Esoteric Principles. His goals are for his juniors include them learning how to protect themselves and how to deal with bullying. Sensei teaches juniors because it puts him in a place of great joy and satisfaction of seeing kids learn and grow on the mat.

The dojo is Kutztown Martial Arts. Sensei Jeremy Schoener is a dedicated and creative instructor of juniors, and is therefore a most deserving candidate for the Professor Ray Law Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Youth of the AJJF.

Brian Sincomb, recipient of the Professor Dick Rickerts Award
Outstanding AJJF Sensei of the Year

I would like to nominate Sensei Brian Sincomb for the 2023 Professor Dick Rickerts Award for Outstanding AJJF Sensei of the Year.

As professor Okazaki stated in the Esoteric Principles of Judo, “…the primary objective of practicing Judo is perfection of character.” Without question, Sensei Brian Sincomb exemplifies this core principle and much more. As Yodan school head of Hawaiian Jujitsu Dojo in the Santa Clarita Valley, Sensei Sincomb is an active contributing Yudansha and a passionate teacher of the DZR system. Sensei Sincomb loves teaching jujitsu, yet it is his desire to help others through his unparalleled dedication to service that places him in the spirit of kokua as Professor Rickerts.

Outside of teaching 25+ DZR classes per month, (kids’ program, adults’ program and private instruction), Sensei Sincomb is a contributing member of CSI, in addition to holding the title of Southwest Regional Manager. In his many efforts to give back, outside the dojo, Sensei Sincomb will regularly volunteer his time teaching seminars to children. One example is his regular participation on Field Day at Sky Blue Mesa Elementary teaching seminars on anti-bullying, self-defense and social awareness. Additionally, Sensei Sincomb will host various seminars on the topic of healing arts. For example, in late 2021, Sensei Sincomb created, planned, implemented and successfully executed an abridged version of the Seifukujitsu Healing Arts Massage program, for which I am a proud graduate. And as recently as last December 2022, Sensei Sincomb hosted his very first Camp South event.

That said, it is Sensei Sincomb’s dedication to service that stands out above everything else. While conducting the massage course, Sensei Sincomb’s mother passed away; the woman that first introduced him to his passion for martial arts. The week after his mother’s passing from congestive heart failure, Sensei Sincomb immediately returned to teaching. When asked, “shouldn’t you take some time off for yourself-to give yourself some time to heal”? Sensei simply replied, “the dojo is my place of healing.”

On a personal note, In 2019, I was involved in an automobile accident that resulted in sustained injuries to my cervical spine, thus causing disruptive and painful nerve damage. Due to the accident, I had to withdraw from my training and was unable to return to class for months. It was at this time when Sensei Sincomb came to my rescue. Throughout 2019, Sensei Sincomb went far above and beyond to visit me at my home, spent hours working with me over the phone and even went so far as to create a curriculum that I was able to follow while going through physical therapy and getting my body back into shape. It was Sensei Sincomb that gave me the inspiration to continue with the DZR system; to stay focused and not give up.

From March 2020-2021, when resuming classes was an insurmountable task due to the pandemic, Sensei Sincomb remained dedicated to the arts by creating on-line classes for his adult students and kids’ program. Sensei Sincomb would focus on balance drills, cardio and flexibility drills, basic kata forms and much more.

For well over 20+ years and counting, Sensei Sincomb has dedicated himself to the study and perfection of the DZR system. His greatest service is to his students; a service I am personally grateful for. Sensei Sincomb is an extremely patient man; a mentor for all that will enter through his dojo and a trust-worthy advocate for your development.