Menomonee Judo Club / Wolf Judo

Belated congratulations to Jude Moore, who continued his extremely successful year by taking a bronze medal last month at the U.S Open in Fort Lauderdale. Jude has fought his way onto the podium in all five tournaments that he’s competed in this year. He currently is ranked number one in the country in his age / weight category. Way to go, Jude!

What a year it’s been! Wolf Judo put a nice bow on an extremely successful Judo season with a stellar performance at the USA Judo Junior Olympic Championships over the weekend in Spokane. Our eight athletes fought their hearts out and made everyone at the club proud!
The team included:
David W - Silver Medal, Bronze Medal
Jude M - Gold Medal (elite)
Gabriel D - Gold Medal
Jason W - Four matches
Poppy M - Gold Medal, 4th place
John L - Silver Medal, Bronze Medal
Axel S - Ten matches
Eric M - 4th place
All in all a very successful weekend, with tons of valuable lessons learned. Congratulations to everyone who competed!

More unforgettable memories from our path to #500

Congratulations to Dylan Y as his Gold Medal in the Brown Belt Division at the Summer Slam in New Jersey over the weekend, is the club’s 500th National / International medal. Nearly 70
players have contributed to this impressive accomplishment. The journey to 500 has been filled with so many special moments. Next stop 1,000! Congrats Wolf / Menomonee Judo!

While we are proud of the accomplishments that our members achieve on the mat, they are secondary to the pride we have for what they accomplish in the community. Three club members recently graduated and we want to send our congratulations.

Elwyn Geisert graduated from Benedictine University Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science

Austin Lawrence graduated from the University of New Mexico Law School with honors, earning his J.D.. Austin also received the Clarence Darrow Award for the student others would want to represent them if they needed an attorney

Nicky Kurtz graduated from the University of Miami Law School earning his J.D.

Congratulations, gentlemen - we are extremely proud of your accomplishments!

Great having Max Antoniou, one of the best and most accomplished players we’ve ever had at the club, back on the mat yesterday! Max is currently living and working in Connecticut, but Wolf Judo is always home. Not only did Max do rounds of randori, he also demonstrated and taught his highly effective Ouchi Gari to the crew. It was a productive and fun day for all!

What a day! Our team spent Saturday competing at the Indiana Open Judo Championships in Portland, IN. 24 of our players fought like warriors from the very beginning to the last match of the tournament. The tournament included over 330 athletes and 46 top clubs from around the region. At the end of the day Wolf Judo players earned

16 Gold Medals
8 Silver Medals
12 Bronze Medals

and with 116 total points, the overall team Championship!!

We are so proud of everyone who competed, as well as their families, for making the commitment to attend.

Historic day for our club that none of us will soon forget.
Way to go Wolf Judo!!!

We had an extremely successful tournament last Sunday, April 19th at the Cohen Brothers Classic in Vernon Hills. Our group of young and in most cases, inexperienced athletes, fought their hearts out! 11 of our 22 players were competing in their first or second ever tournament. In spite of that lack of experience and taking into account that our main goal was to have the kids get comfortable with the idea of competing, our group won and won and kept winning! 14 players won at least two matches, a truly encouraging sign for the club. Overall a very worthwhile, productive and successful day. Congratulations to everyone who competed! We’re extremely proud of you!
Cohen Brothers Classic
Sunday, April 19th, 2026
Vernon Hills, IL
Results:
Gold Medals:
David W
Jude M
Iris F
Johnny M
Vasara E
Silver Medals:
Poppy M
Jovie G-R
John L
David W
Rafi F
Neleis E
Caleb A
Umang B
Grant K
Jason W
Zackary G-R
Bronze Medals:
Johnny M
Milly G
Stas Z
Oliver E
Oliver H
Luc M
Henry E
Emile F

Fantastic practice last night with more than 25 players on the mat for the advanced class, many of whom are highly decorated. Great preparation for our group competing at the Cohen Brothers Tournament tomorrow in Vernon Hills. Wonderful having Joe DeFrino, multiple time national medalist and home grown black belt, back at the club. Fun night for everyone!

Last Thursday we held our first in-club tournament of 2026. 40 young athletes, all ages 12 and under, showed off what we’ve been working on at the dojo over the last few months. These events are a great learning tool for the players to gain necessary and valuable experience. Everyone competed hard and showed great promise. Thank you to those who supported the event and congratulations to our young players!