USSF sumo wrestlers donated our time to help out the Ronald McDonald House in Charlottesville, Virginia.  We were the headlining entertainment for their spring fundraiser. 

In the morning, Kelly Gneiting, Manny Yarbrough, Trent Sabo, Rene Marte, Troy Collins, James Perry, Casey Burns, Doug Cochran, Carl Pappalardo, James Brewster Thompson, Packy Bannevans, Leonard Thomas, and I put on an interactive demonstration for the children.

In the evening, we held a “tournament” during their fundraising dinner.  

We even got to meet Ronald McDonald.

We had a good time, helped raise thousands of dollars, and got to demonstrate sumo to a new audience.  It was a great event.

We did another appearance and demonstration for the Grand Sumo Tournament in Los Angeles.  This time it was at Santa Anita Park for the Tokyo City Cup.  Not enough kids came up to try sumo with us, so I had to wrestle a horse.

The United States Sumo Federation was invited to participate in this year’s Los Angeles Fit Expo.  We had a booth set up among other health and fitness companies, educating the public about sumo in the United States.  In addition to the booth, we performed a demonstration on the main expo stage.  I was joined onstage by Troy Collins, Trent Sabo, Jovann Rushing, Doug Cochran, and little sumo champ Shannon Cochran.

After the expo, we got to watch Phil Heath win the 19th Annual IFBB Iron Man Pro Bodybuilding Championships.

It’s possible that the USSF will produce a sumo tournament at next year’s LA Fit Expo.