James Behrendt began studying judo in 1954, when he was a marine stationed in Opama, Japan. He studied under Maseo Ichinoe, John Osako and Mas Tamura. His love of competition led to his winning the Iowa State Championships, then the regional finals of the Pan Am Games. Behrendt has been teaching judo in San Diego, California. Matt Hlinak, M.A., J.D. is an academic coordinator and lecturer for the School of Continuing Studies at Northwestern University. He holds a J.D. from the University of Illinois. In addition, he has more than a dozen year martial experience, including, wrestling, jujutsu, and taekwondo. He recently won the NGA Midwest Submission Grappling Championships. Joseph R. Svinth, M.A. received a master's degree in history from the Univerisity of Washington in 1983. After researching the history of combative sports in the Japanese and Korean communities of the Pacific Northwest before 1950, he eventually published a book on the subject. James Webb, M.A., was educated at West Point, graduating in 1976. He has since received master's degrees in engineering and business. He has studied judo and jujutsu since 1966, for the past twenty years under Vince Tamura. The former national judo champion holds sixth-degree rankings in both judo and jujutsu, a second-degree rank in karate, and is currently the treasurer of the U.S. Judo Association. Geoffrey Wingard, M.Ed. is a secondary-school teacher and a former college instructor and police officer. He holds an M.A. in Asian history and an M.Ed. in social studies education from the University of Maine. He is also a Maine Criminal Justice Academy graduate. Mr. Wingard began his martial arts training in Moo Duk Kwan taekwondo in 1984. Since 1994 he has trained in Shotokan karate. He holds dan ranks in Moo Duk Kwan taekwondo and Shotokan karate and teaches Shotokan in Orono, Maine.