CJA Membership question

Why does a tournament/event promoter need the CJA?.......................................
the threat of my event being shut down by the athletic commissioner is why.

If an organization is needed, is it possible to ditch the CJA and have another organization created? ..........................................................................................................That would be nice ,but you need the backing of the whole grappling community to do this ,and right now you cant get them to go to a referee clinic let alone a CJA meeting to make change,so it leaves a handful to dream of what could be.............................................................. both sides are at fault here, you have CJA people who dont want to take the time to learn BJJ (techniques , point system , refing ect)........ then you have frustrated BJJ people ( understandably so) who dont come to AGM meetings (as a CJA member you can do that),wanting to participate in the reffing situation ,then come on here and complain ..... I agree the way things are being done right now are poor ,but to complain when you dont put your time in to change in any way in not productive either........... the alternative is no grappling tournaments in Ontario........Not one I prefer. ...... Tony

do all BJJ players need to join Judo Ontario to participate in Judo Tournaments ?............................................how about BJJ players who want to enter a open wrestling tournament,do they need to be members of the O.A.W.A. ?..................................yes they do.weather it is the CJA or BJJ Ontario or the butt pumping organization of grapplers ,you have to pay to be a member.

Wrestling Ontario Fee $20-25 per year......................... Judo I believe is structured by belt rank the higher your rank the more you pay(I could be wrong)maybe that is belt testing

Thanks for the answers, I feel more enlightened.

I do not understand how things operate, and it is interesting.

Before people will volunteer their time they need to see the CJA make changes and implement them. Once people see they are sincere they will get more involved people including myself. I used to go to every tourney, comepete, ref etc... and I saw no change even after I got my membership. Unless the CJA sends out a newsletter most people wont know when the AGM is.

Could someone comment on how the insurance actually insures their asses from legal liability. While not really insuring the actual fighter.

Judo Ontario mails and emails newsletters, they have committed people on the board. CJA has ????????

you know Im for BJJ all the way wiley ,but sit on the other side of the fence for a second...........Before people will volunteer their time they need to see the CJA make changes and implement them. how do they know what to change in regards to grappling ? they know nothing about it .at one AGM I brought up the use of BJJ belts in gi tournaments instead of years of expierence and one members answer was "if it aint broke,why fix it" if we (the grapplers) don`t go to these meetings they assume nothing is wrong with grappling.I believe change can be made by numbers .and just to ask ,when you were a book carrying member who went to tournaments,how many AGM meetings did you go to voice the fact nobody was asking for your book at tournaments ,and why not? ...:)........Im just saying we can do something about.it the first step is to join and then out number them at the meetings,and voice what we would like to see change.

Never knew when the AGM's were due to their poorly organized Association. They probably dont even have a master list of members from the grappling community. They are never at tourneys with a booth with info regarding their meetings, they never distribute literature, they dont have an email/mailing list. They probably dont even take proper minutes at meetings so they can de distributed to members.

I must get 10 different emails a month from mailing list I am on. Fightplanet/HECFI/Ticketmaster/Association for Community Living/My work/Good Shepard/Mission Services of Hamilton.

They dont even have a FACEBOOK page to distribute information to its members.

As a paying member its an expectation that they would be organized and inform members of meetings. It's not our job as a member to look for dates/times of a meeting, they as a governing body need to inform their PAYING membership of items/meetings/rule changes/payment.

Maybe you should make a few suggestions such as a mailing list, email list, a Facebook page. Technology does all these things for free and its rather simple and all the necesssary info is distributed.

When they get their junk together they will get more input and more members.

It's got to be hard for you to defend them when the whole grappling community thinks they are junk.

Man you spend a lot of time organizing items, helping out, volunteering, communicating, liason with people, working your ass of. There is no doubt about that and everyone knows you do.

The problem is the CJA has never made an attempt to communicate or involve the graplling community.

Our money simply Insures they wont be liable for a tourney they endorse.

Done with the subject as most of the people I think would agree with my statements and stance on the issue.

Lets let this issue fade away like it did 4-5yrs ago and it'll resurface again next year and we can debate their changes and new communication then in 2009.

I agree with the news letters and more important email .kick boxing Canada (CASK) emails me all the time ,I cant argue they dont give info.

Facebook page, email list and mailing are so easy that a bunch of people tossing around a basketball could do it. (maybe even a dancing bear)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB9SRm2c_LA&feature=related

Better to light a match than curse the dark.

The CJA doesn't need BJJ. BJJ needs the CJA (Ontario law requires a sanctioning body and there is no other body even willing to entertain BJJ).

BJJ people are arrogant and entitled and don't want to eat bitter enough to either organize with each other (petty politics is more fun) or properly engage the CJA (easier to complain on message boards). The CJA think BJJ is just a burden the government stuck them with anyway, and so no one does anything.

And Facebook page? They're probably not even online yet. You're dealing with a 20th century feudal fiefdom. Know your foe.

Show up with 1000 paid BJJ members and start voting.

It's really surprising even the CJA thing has happened at all...

Unfortunatly the Directors will not accept a 1000 votes from just any organization BJJ, Karate, TKD or whatever other style is out there. I believe they limit the voting to 1 or 2 "Black Belts" per club. If the BJJ community want a greater voice then they will have to join in on the annual AGM. AS far as Newsletters etc, the stand with the CJA has always been, send it in & we'll try to get enough stuff together for a newsletter. I think they have an annual one on their website (to be honest I haven't checked recently).

Gentlemen, the CJA always welcomes comments and feedback. Anyone is welcome to e-mail the board of directors for feedback and comments on specific issues that any member may have. IMO complaining on the boards does nothing to solve matters.... however e-mailing them to the board members will at least get the matter looked at and put to our attention. Go to www.canadianjiujitsu.com/about.htm and call or e-mail us!! and all active members are welcome to attend the AGM! Only registered black belts can vote on issues but your voice and ears are welcome!

Hi Tony and Wiley,

Wow, I'd like to kick in on this one. Tony you have just brought up the real problem; we don't get to vote. Over the years I know you, Omar, myself have all worked with the CJA to get grappling tournaments going but with out the right to vote we don't control our own futures for the sport we love.

3 years ago the CJA promised they would come up with a standard to recognize Black Belts or non Black Belt club owners in the grappling community within 1 year. As of today, they still have not. The CJA has openly admitted to me the reason they won't recognize us is they know eventually they will lose control of the association.

Bottom line insuring Grappling tounaments does make their insurance higher but controling grappling in Ontario is still a cash windfall for them. The have a resposibility to service our commuities needs.

We will not see real change until we can vote. Until then it will be polite listening but no real change. It's hard to grow your community when the people in charge don't see themselves or you in the same sport.

Tony we need votes, we've done are time.

would it be possible to sort out the issues that need to be addressed, and then maybe get a petition going that could perhaps sway the other voting members?

just to show that while maybe its not always possible for people to make it out to the AGM, that people do care and would like their issues addressed.

everyone can sign along with what school they train at.

wouldn't hurt i don't think :S

I will say it again.

First the "grapplers" of Ontario need to make a distinction between the two different sports.

The first with the GI ON should be BJJ.
Heres an excellent website from an organization called the Internation Brazillian Jiu-jitsu Federation. http://www.ibjjf.org

Wether you love them or not, anyone who has ACTUALLY COMPETED in a CBJJ tournament will tell you there is no comparison to the organization from the tournaments here.
Oh wait, they actually have a Canadian branch too!
http://cbjjf.ca/

I have been to one of the Canadian BJJ events in Vancouver and I am going this weekend once again. Tim has his shit together and all we keep doing here in Ontario is complaining while he runs an awesome event.

Back to my original point, the other form of "Grappling" that exists in the world has a very informative website as well. http://www.fila-wrestling.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=103
"Grappling" is now a sport recognized by FILA who sends athletes to the Olympics.

Maybe, just maybe, if the Grappling Powers that be (School/Team Owners) got together to discuss this matter, we could begin the steps towards getting these sports recognized by the CJA.

Its not too impossible to do. Wrestling Ontario could run the NO-GI Grappling tournaments here. And maybe a new BJJ Ontario organization could run the Ontario BJJ events here.
If not, than whats the alternative? Because there is too many gray areas in what exists right now......but thats another topic.

:)

Well said Baleia

thank you sir
theres more where that came from