Sensei Sabin has been the number one ranked athlete nationally in the -100 kg IJF Juniors Division for the last two years consecutively. After taking gold at the 2022 USA Judo Junior Olympics which was held in San Jose, California on June 24th – 26th, 2022 he was offered a spot on the National Judo Team to represent Team USA in the IJF World Championships which was held in Guayaquil, Ecuador earlier this month. This wasn’t Sabin’s first appearance at the international level. In 2020 he represented Team USA at the Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico where he made the finals and placed 5th overall in the IJF Juniors Division.

With the World Championships being the pinnacle event internationally for the IJF Juniors it was expected that he would face some of the best Judo athletes in the world. Sabin’s opening match in the elimination round was against a very tough competitor from Poland. He gave a good fight, but unfortunately came up short in that match and was bumped from the advancement pool. A very hard defeat, but nonetheless a valuable bit of experience to carry with him into his next competitive pursuit.

Sabin has been recorded saying that he likes to keep his Judo fun. It’s not about winning or losing but facing the next challenge with heart and determination to see what can be accomplished. You will not hear him stating that he likes to lose matches, but he does accept the outcome and tries to learn what he can from each experience while showing mutual respect and gratitude to the opposing athletes. While already an accomplished Judo athlete we want to wish him the greatest of success in all that he pursues from this point forward.