07/10/96
Contact: Don Madden, 614/773-5282
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The winning U.S. team at the recent second annual Irish-American International Friendship Ju-Jitsu and Karate Competition in Dublin, Ireland, included two employees of Ohio University's Chillicothe regional campus.
The 26-member team was led by coach Don Madden, a world-renowned martial arts expert who has taught karate as an adjunct faculty member at the Chillicothe campus since 1968. Among the team members was Chillicothe campus Head Librarian Stanley Planton, who won gold medals in senior kata -- traditional karate forms exercises -- and senior fighting.
The competition was established by Madden in cooperation with Irish martial arts coaches to foster friendly competition between U.S. and Irish athletes. Madden also assembled and coached the U.S. team.
In this year's June 23 event, the U.S. team earned 56 of 87 gold medals awarded, as well as 27 silver and 19 bronze medals. The U.S. team, which included competitors from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Florida, also defeated the European champion Irish karate team in team fighting.
Madden runs the Ko Sutemi Karate Club in Chillicothe. More than 200 clubs across the United States teach the Ko Sutemi Seiei Kan fighting system created by Madden, who has been a long-time coach of U.S. teams in international competition. Madden also has written a two-volume ju-jitsu training manual in addition to teaching at national and international karate workshops and seminars.
Next year's competition, scheduled for September 1997, will be the First Irish Cup, and will include teams from Canada and all over Europe. "This is part of a process. We are trying to get ju-jitsu into the Olympics," Madden said.
Planton, 48, who joined Ohio University-Chillicothe in 1979, trains with Madden and was a member of Team USA-Karate at the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Madden was one of the U.S. coaches. Planton also was Madden's team manager when Madden coached the U.S. ju-jitsu team in the World Cup competition held in Bologna, Italy, in 1994.