STUART KAM, GODAN
HEAD INSTRUCTOR
A Brief History of Mr. Stuart Kam Stuart Kam started Judo under Seigoro Murakami in 1967 with his brothers, Stan and Steven. Stuart excelled in Judo as he devel oped a footstep (Deashi Barai) that quickly inverted most of his oppo nents. Stuart was very successful in local and national competitions winning many trophies during his competitive career. He was also the Team Captain on many of the dojo teams that won many team trophies.
As a teenager, Stuart also trained at the historic Seinan Dojo under Kuniyuki sensei. Seinan Judo Dojo dominated American Judo in the 1950’s and 1960’s winning many team trophies. Stuart was very fortunate to get to learn and experience Judo at such a prestigious program at the time. In the early 1970’s, through the connections of Murakami and Kuniyuki senseis, Stuart was able to travel abroad to Japan. He trained at many dojos in Japan and entered many tournaments. He won many very unique trophies in Japan. One of them is a mini samurai helmet.
In 1977, Stuart was awarded his Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt), and continued competing locally while establishing his career in the grocery industry. In 1989, Stuart returned to the dojo to assist Roy Murakami sensei at the dojo. At this time, San Fernando Judo had a very strong junior program with 17 junior national champions training daily. Stuart was a perfect fit with his powerful footsweeps, tai otoshi, uchimata and tani otoshi, he was able to be a great example for the juniors to follow. Stuart Kam has always been very physically fit. Always tone and always in great shape, which allowed Stuart to continue competing at the local, state and national levels all the way into his late 50’s.
Stuart has not retired from competition yet, but on top of all of his junior trophies, he has collected the following hardware to add to his collection: Gold Medal, 2013 Winter National Championships Gold Medal, 2014 USA Judo Masters National Championships Gold Medal, 2014 Winter National Championships Gold Medal, 2016 USJF Masters National Championships In 2017, Stuart Kam honorably accepted the responsibility of being the Head Sensei of San Fernando Valley Judo Club. The first non-Murakami to continue on the Seigoro Murakami Legacy that was started in 1921.
Stuart is building his own legacy with his nephew, Mike Toren, and grand niece, Lily and grand nephew, Ben, are all doing judo at San Fernando Judo Dojo. Mike is a 1st Degree Black belt and does a fantastic job assisting his Uncle with daily lesson plans.