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About
Us
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The Blind Judo Foundation
Mission
2006
1. Promote the sport of Judo to the blind
and visually impaired community by identifying Head Instructors
and their Dojos interested in working with the blind &
visually impaired.
2. Provide professional development activities, information
and educational resources for Coaches on how to work with
visually impaired students.
3. Educate Foundations, Organizations, Societies, Federations
and Blind & Visually Impaired networks about the physical,
psychological, emotional and productive benefits of Judo.
4. Provide funding to deserving students for sustained
training and memberships to USA Judo and USABA including
introduction to the US Paralympic Judo Team
5. Promote public / private information and general education
on the benefits of Judo to the blind and visually impaired
community.
Educate legislators and other policymakers about the scientific
knowledge, developments and opportunities to the Blind &
Visually Impaired for public policy, societal benefits and
productive citizenry.
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Board Members
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Coach Willy Cahill
| Michael Bina | Ivan
Castro
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Michael
Glaser | Patrick McGill | Ronald
C. Peck |
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Coach Willy
Cahill
Coach Willy Cahill began his martial arts education
under his Father, Professor John Cahill, Sr. who founded
Cahill's Judo Academy in Daly City, California in
1948. Professor John Cahill was one of the most highly
respected instructors ever to come out of Professor
Okazaki's Kodenkan System of Jujitsu in Hawaii. One
of John Cahill's goals was to get one of his students
to the Olympics. However, in 1962 Professor Cahill
passed away at the very young age of 50. In 1963,
Willy Cahill built a new Dojo (Martial Arts Gym) in
San Bruno, California in his Father's honor. At the
new club, Coach Willy Cahill set new standards and
goals for himself and his students. Over the past
50 years of working with children, young adults, men
and women of all ages, Coach Cahill has produced over
1200 National and International Medal winners. In
1988 Willy was asked and accepted the position of
the US Olympic Judo Coach. In 1999 the Olympic Committee
asked that Willy to accept the position of US Paralympic
Judo Coach. At the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney,
the US Paralympic Judo Team won 2 Gold, 1 Silver and
1 Bronze Medal. At the 2004 Games in Athens under
the coaching leadership of Willy, the US Paralympic
Judo Team won 1 Silver and 2 Bronze Medals. It is
interesting to note that Gold has never been won by
the sighted US Olympic Judo Team since Judo was introduced
at the Olympic level in 1964. Seventy-five percent
of all medals won in Judo at the Olympic / Paralympic
level has been won under the coaching of Willy Cahill.
Willy is a 10th Degree Black Belt in Jujitsu and a
7th Degree in Judo. Coach Cahill has dedicated his
life in training individuals for the challenges of
life through the sport of Judo and Martial Arts. He
is known also for training US Army Green Berets, Navy
Seals, US Secret Service, Homeland Security and being
the Coach in Judo for Stanford University, SF State
University, US Coach of the Junior Pan American Championships;
US Coach Goodwill Games. He is also in the Black Belt
Hall of Fame, Black Belt Coaches Hall of Fame, Jujitsu
American Hall of Fame Instructor of the Year. Willy
is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Blind Judo Foundation.
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Michael Bina, EdD.
Bina is currently the Director of Programs and Services
at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown,
Massachusetts.
Prior to this he was
· Vice President of the Metrolina Association
for the Blind in Charlotte, North Carolina;
· President of the Hadley School for the Blind---an
international distance learning school which serves
10,000 students in all 50 states and in 100 other
countries;
· Superintendent of the Indiana School for
the Blind;
Before that he was
· Principal of the Texas School for the Blind;
· Director of Special Education in the local
schools in Janesville, Wisconsin; and
· Orientation and Mobility instructor and boys
and girls swimming, track and cross country coach
at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped.
He received his Masters from California State University
in Los Angeles and Doctorate from the University of
Northern Colorado.
Bina has served as
· The International AER President;
· The Council of Schools for the Blind President;
· A United States Army Special Forces Green
Beret Military Intelligence Officer; and, while in
college,
· A United States Forest Service "Smokejumper,"
who parachuted into forest fires in remote locations
in Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.
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CAPT. IVAN CASTRO
7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Executive Officer
Wounded In Action, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Capt. Ivan Castro sustained life-threatening injuries
while serving as a First Lieutenant with the 82nd
Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom,
September 2, 2006.
He received numerous injuries to include the loss
of his right eye and the permanent loss of vision
in his left eye when he was struck with shrapnel from
a mortar attack.
Two years after his injury, Castro's determination,
strength and motivation is displayed as he serves
as the executive officer for 7th Special Forces Group
(Airborne) Headquarters and Headquarters Company where
he utilizes his Spanish language skills to run the
Group's language lab.
Originally from Hoboken, N.J., he enlisted in the
U.S. Army in 1988. Castro's past assignments also
include the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell,
Ky.; 5th Corp, Darmstadt, Germany and the 3rd Ranger
Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga. After graduating from
Officer Candidate School, December 2, 2004, he earned
his commission as a Second Lieutenant.
His other military education includes the Infantry
Officer Basic Course, Special Forces Qualification
Course, Survival with Resistance to Interrogation
Course, Close Quarter Battle Course, Special Operation
Target Interdiction Course, Military Free Fall Course,
Ranger Course, Pathfinder Course, Air Assault Course,
Airborne Course, Jumpmaster Course, Drill Sergeant
Course, Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course,
Close Air Support Course, Long Range Surveillance
Leaders Course, Combat Lifesaver Course and Basic
Non-Commissioned Officer Course.
He has participated in Operation Desert Storm, Operation
Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and numerous
other overseas deployments.
Castro's awards and decorations include the Meritorious
Unit Commendation, Army Superior Unit Award, Purple
Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation
Medal (with four Oak Leaf Clusters), Joint Service
Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal (with one
Oak Leaf Cluster), Combat Infantry Badge with one
star, Expert Infantry Badge, Drill Sergeant Identification
Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge,
Pathfinder Badge, Military Freefall Parachutist Badge,
Colombian Jumpmaster Badge, Dutch Parachutist Badge,
German Parachutist Badge, Ranger and Special Forces
Tabs.
He continues to challenge himself while participating
in various races and sporting events. Castro has participated
in the Army 10-Miler, the Marine Corps Marathon, the
Boston Marathon and other sporting events.
Castro and his wife, Evelyn, currently reside in
Raeford, N.C. He also has a 15 year-old son, Ivan
Eduardo.
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Michael Glaser,
JD
Michael Glaser is a Partner in the Menlo Park office
of Perkins Coie and is a key member of the firm's
nationwide Emerging Companies practice group. With
his foundation in finance and securities, Glaser brings
a valuable quantitative perspective to transactional
negotiations. He has led clients in the enterprise
software, digital media, fixed and mobile communications,
semiconductor, and e-commerce sectors through more
than 200 venture capital financing transactions. In
addition, he has an active M&A practice and has
advised clients in complex mergers and strategic business
combinations ranging in size from several million
dollars to over $400 million dollars. Glaser graduated
from New York University School of Law, in 1997 and
worked at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati before
joining Perkins Coie.
Glaser is also the Secretary of the Foundation.
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Patrick McGill ( Venture Partner | Business Development
)
Patrick brings to Velocity Interactive Group a highly
successful track record in strategic business development,
and M&A with an extensive rolodex of global industry
connections. Most recently, Patrick was part of a
boutique consulting firm where he was retained by
NTT DoCoMo to advise them on their corporate investment
strategy.
Over the years, he has built an impressive track record
within the rapidly emerging mobile convergence space.
At Pixo, a mobile embedded software firm, he was instrumental
in closing strategic investments and contracts with
Conexant, Hikari Tsushin, Kyocera, Lycos, Nokia, and
Samsung. Prior to this, he was VP/General Manager
at Alcatel's wireless internet business unit responsible
for launching new CDMA handsets and the Internet Screenphone
project.
As Vice President, Corporate Development at VeriFone,
he reported directly to the Chairman and successfully
initiated the corporation's equity investment in WebTV,
negotiated major alliances with EDS, Netscape, Oracle
and Microsoft as well as playing an intimate role
in the acquisition of VeriFone by Hewlett Packard
for $1.2BN. Patrick had previously joined the company
through the successful merger of VeriFone with EIT
(Enterprise Integration Technologies) a seminal e-commerce
company, where he personally initiated and led the
transaction.
Originally from the U.K., Patrick's international
experience is broad with direct knowledge in business
dealings across a spectrum of European and Asian countries
and cultures. Patrick started his pre-high technology
career as a part of an operational "troubleshooting
team" for British Airways managing airports and
living in Africa, Bangladesh, Finland, India and the
Persian Gulf.
Velocity Interactive Group is a leading investment
firm that focuses on digital media and communications.
The firm brings a unique approach to investing by
bringing not just financial capital, but also human
capital to its investment companies. Velocity Interactive
Group has a global presence in Palo Alto, Los Angeles,
New York, India and China.
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Ronald C. Peck, MBA
Ron has a background in Healthcare, Medical Imaging
and Radiation Oncology. He has worked for Fortune
500 companies in Senior Management on three continents.
He returned to the US from living and working in Switzerland
to work with his son in a company called Fearless
Wealth. Ron wanted to make a difference with people,
specifically in the area of their financial independence.
While in Europe Ron came across a little known asset
that most seniors (people over the age of 65) owned
but few knew about. It was called Senior Life Settlements.
Ron realized the majority of seniors in America let
this asset lapse thus becoming useless and created
a company called FWLife to make a difference in senior
citizens life's. Ron is speaking and working with
seniors helping them realize hidden money; working
with nonprofits to create funding and giving meaning
to new life after 65. Ron has held various positions
as District Manager, Regional Manager, Vice President,
COO and Managing Director. He also established an
American medical software company in radiation oncology
treatment planning systems in Europe. His geographical
area of responsibility included all of Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. After returning to the US
and locating to California he was appointed a Trustee
in the Internet Broadcasting Association and became
the Senior Vice President for the Internet Broadcasting
Health Network. This lead to accepting a position
as Executive Director of the Neurological Disease
Foundation, a Nonprofit 501(c) (3) whose mission is
to eliminate various neurodegenerative diseases starting
with Alzheimer's. This position is currently held
today. Mr. Peck graduated from Columbia Pacific University
with a Bachelors Degree in Management and an MBA in
Marketing. He is also the Co-Founder of the Blind
Judo Foundation and CFO.
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Untitled Document
Untitled Document
Untitled Document
Untitled Document
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