Kayla Harrison, PR, and Judo in the United States.

I checked my e-mail yesterday and received a press release about Kayla Harrison. If you don’t know who Kayla Harrison is, well, let me tell you she is the current World Champion and only the fourth World Champion from the United States (AnnMaria DeMars, Mike Swain, and Jimmy Pedro are the other three). I’ve never met her, but I’ve watched her (search for her on YouTube!) and I can’t wait for her to rock on through this year and next in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics.

That being said, apparently she secured a public relations manager to put out information about her. Some judo people might think this is a bad thing. Personally, I think it’s a great idea and more of our USA Judo athletes should! Look at someone like Michael Phelps a guy who won like 8 gold medals and got hordes of endorsements. Do you think he has someone to help build his image? Especially after the whole bong thing…

I really hope that the PR works out for her and for judo in the United States. I hope that any little bit that I can do helps her to get what she needs to get to the Olympics. I also hope that the PR helps judo grow in the United States, especially to reduce the confusion between judo, karate, tae kwon do, and all the other martial arts. (You notice I didn’t mention Brazilian or Gracie JiuJitsu – I think they have a good enough marketing scheme going for them!)