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.
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.
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.
Camillus is the owner of a real estate brokerage
called Chan & Associates in Millbrae, California.
It's a small company with about ten people. He's been
buying, selling and developing real estate in the
San Francisco Bay Area for nearly twenty years now.
His interests and background are broad and diversified.
He holds a J.D. (in law), an M. Ed. (in education),
and a B.S. (in accounting). When he was a little younger,
he worked as a dish-washer, bus driver, school counselor,
part-time college instructor and an accounting manager
for a major state university. He even worked briefly
in a law firm. As he wasn't very good at developing
any of these careers, he decided to work for himself
and opened his own company. Nobody wanted to hire
him since then.
His interest in Judo began thirteen years ago. He
was thirty-nine of age then and he's been a total
geek since birth. A geek as he defines it is a person
who's somewhat interested in academics and who doesn't
show much interest in sports. He figured he's not
getting any younger and he needed to start exercising
his body a little so that it wouldn't deteriorate
faster than it might naturally. He found the "gentle
way." Well, it's gentle until you hit the ground.
But he liked it and stuck with it. One of his old
Senseis was more impressed by his persistence with
the sport than by his skills, but awarded him a black
belt nonetheless. Many years later he also received
a brown belt in Jujitsu. He tries to practice Judo
and/or Jujitsu at least once a week with people who
are seventy years old, but they don't come by too
easily in a dojo. So he usually gets beat up by some
fifteen-year old white belts.
His personal philosophy toward people is a simple
one: try to be nice to the those around you. In other
words: practice kindness. That's enough for him to
do. Come September, he will have two teenage boys
in high school. So he's active in the equivalent of
their school's PTA. Both boys take gymnastics. So
he joined the board of the booster club to help out.
His younger boy is in Judo. So Camillus tries to help
out there whenever he can -- he even helped teach
a kids class for about a year once. About a year ago,
he heard about the formation of the Blind Judo Foundation.
He volunteered for the board almost right away. He
hasn't done anything concrete for the foundation yet,
but he's ready and willing.
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.
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.
