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History of The Konjo School of Martial Arts and Team Sacramento Judo
The Sacramento-based Konjo School of Martial Arts was founded in 1979 by David Butler.
Patterned after the traditional martial art schools of ancient Japan, the Konjo School of Martial Arts (which means
"Place where one learns Perseverance") was envisioned to be a school dedicated to the traditional budo arts
of bujitsu which included karate, judo, and weapons. While the school was founded on the principles of
dedication, hard training, commitment, and technical excellence, it also blended in a strong culture of unity,
family, mutual support and encouragement. Mr. Butler's instructor was Robert Acoba from Hawaii so the Konjo
School of Martial Arts was conceived as a place where a person could find excellent training in a spirit of
"Ohana" or family. One of the signatures of the Konjo School of Martial Arts was, and continues to be, a
commitment to offer martial arts training to low income and high-risk youth.
The Konjo School of Martial Arts was started in a garage facility with 7 students. It quickly outgrew that
facility and moved to a larger location in a church building in South Sacramento where it stayed for several
years. At the church location the Konjo School of Martial Arts grew to over 70 students including a branch
school in Roseville, California. At that time the Konjo School of Martial Arts began its series of High Sierra
summer camps called "Konjo Challenge." These very popular camps brought together martial art students and
instructors from a variety of disciplines for 3 days of intense martial arts instruction and cross training.
It was at this time that Al Ikemoto joined the Konjo School of Martial Arts staff
and began a long and successful instructional partnership with Mr. Butler.
In 1989 the Konjo School of Martial Arts built a training facility called the Sacramento Martial Arts and
Sports Center. For two years the school operated from this site and began to add a competitive aspect to
the school to complement its traditional martial art training. This competition arm was called Team Sacramento
and began to garner success in state and regional karate and judo competitions.
In 1990 the Konjo School of Martial Arts moved to John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento. Team Sacramento continued its
success and began to attract elite athletes in the sports of wrestling and judo to train at its facility. Soon Team Sacramento
had over 30 athletes training and competing on a regular basis. The Konjo School of Martial Arts also added ju-jitsu to its
menu of arts by attracting well-known ju-jitsu instructors Jack Carter and Denise Gonzales.
In the mid 1990's both Team Sacramento and the Konjo School of Martial Arts were the largest martial art organizations in the Sacramento area
and produced over 200 local, state, regional, and national junior and senior champions.
Today at The Konjo School of Martial Arts we are led by Head Sensei Brent Goodall who started his martial
arts studies in 1990 with our school and had a successful competitive career before moving into the coaching field full time.
Our goal continues to be providing high quality martial arts training as well as opportunities for Olympic style competition through Team Sacramento.
A new Roseville location was opened in September of 2006. As of October of 2007, Team Sacramento has trainers and competitors
in Sacramento, Roseville, Hollister and Livermore.
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