Setting up for Spain

Through judo, Brad Daniels has had the opportunity to travel the country to participate in competitions.
He’s even had the chance to travel the world.
Daniels, owner and instructor at Judan Judo in Portland, has competed in tournaments in Turkey, Finland Japan and Brazil.
Soon he will be able to add Spain to the list of places judo has taken him.
Daniels will lead a contingent of 19 Americans as they travel to Malaga, Spain, on Tuesday to compete in the International Judo Federation World Veteran Judo Championships.
The three-day event, which begins Sept. 25, is for those ages 30-and-older. The tournament will be broken up into age groups of five-year increments, with competitors as old as 80 participating.
Not only will Daniels be fighting, he is also in charge of the United States team.
“I’m the chairman of the judo masters committee,” he said. “I just try to organize things and keep them informed. Most masters are like me, they’re club owners. They don’t need a lot of direction, they just need more information (to) let them know what’s going on.”
The biggest challenge for Daniels, 53, was organizing the team.
Fighters don’t have to qualify, they just have to register, so it was up to Daniels to find out who was going. The team representing the United States has one member younger than 35. The rest are 35 or older, including one in his late-70s.
Training for the tournament — which will have more than 1,400 competitors from 46 countries — has been no easy task for Daniels either.
At his age, he has had a hard time finding people at the same skill level, so he’s been forced to leave Jay County to find a good match up.
“I’ve gone over to Ball State to work out with the judo club there,” he said, adding he’s had to go to Anderson and Indianapolis as well. “It’s hard to find people that are as experienced as I am. I need to find people that will challenge me.
“If I don’t get challenged in practice, I’m not going to do very well.”
But placing and earning a medal is not his top priority. He has other expectations.
“If I can fight as good as I can fight, the placing isn’t as important,” he said. “It’s just doing my best. If I do my best, I think I have a good chance at placing.”
Malaga, a coastal town on the Alboran Sea, is the capital of the Province of Malaga and has a population of about 600,000.
Daniels plans to make the most of his first trip to Spain by staying a few extra days to visit some other areas of the country.
“I’m going to stay with a gentleman from Orlando,” he said, noting the camaraderie of traveling with such a close-knit group of those interested in judo is just one of many reasons he has stuck with the sport. “We’re going to go to Grenada when we’re there.”