U.S. judo athlete looks to the future thanks to Guild and Team USA Learning Network

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Judo and education are two important pursuits in Kell Berliner’s family.

The two are intertwined, both requiring daily dedication.

At any given time Berliner, a U.S. judo athlete, or judoka, can likely be found either training for upcoming matches and the U.S. Olympic trials or studying for his Purdue Global MBA, thanks to the Guild and Team USA Learning Network.

The call of judo

Both his mom and dad competed in judo at the national and international levels — that’s how they met. They continued honing their skills at the dojo while Berliner watched from the sidelines as a toddler. 

When he was 15, he accompanied his dad on a once-in-a-lifetime judo trip. His dad — a referee at this point — was asked to officiate judo competitions at a global sporting event in Israel.

The experience opened his eyes, renewing his commitment to judo.

Shortly after returning, a judo club formed near their Georgia home. It was recreational, but Berliner began practicing with the club and participating in summer camps. When he went to college, he began fencing to stay active, as there was no judo club in town.

Berliner knew if he wanted to compete on the national and international circuits, he would have to practice with the best clubs, learning the best training methods and techniques. With his family supporting his dreams, he moved to Albany, New York, to train with U.S. Olympian and silver medalist Jason Morris.

“I said to my parents, ‘I want to do this. I want to focus on judo.’ I moved up here a month after I finished college,” he said.

That move has paid dividends for his judo career.

“A year and a half later, I won nationals for the first time, won senior nationals for the first time. Then I made my first world team that year,” he said. “Jason got me into a mode where I got to have a real senior career.”

One highlight involved Berliner and his father competing in an international judo competition together with his wife, Nicole Stout-Berliner, who is also a U.S. judo athlete, and his mom serving as their coaches.

“I talked my dad — he hasn’t competed in almost 40 years — into going because this was the first year I was eligible to compete at this age level,” Berliner said. “He had eight people in the 70-75 age class, and he won two matches and lost to the guy that won and ended up pulling a bronze.”

Pursuing dreams and new opportunities

In April 2024, Purdue Global was named the preferred online university and degree provider of the Guild and Team USA Learning Network, which allows eligible Team USA members an opportunity to earn a degree.

Education is important in the Berliner family. His mom has a PhD and taught at the college level. His dad is a physician with a family medicine practice near Atlanta.

Berliner himself was a double major in mathematics and English literature. Now he is working on his MBA through Purdue Global’s School of Business and Information Technology. His goal is to go to medical school, with his Purdue Global MBA setting the stage for life after judo.

“My thought process is that a medical degree combined with an MBA should position me to get into an upper-level position in a health care company, which can be quite lucrative. That’s my ambition. That’s my plan,” he said.

Following seven years of competing at the international level, Berliner has the goal of qualifying as a member of Team USA for the LA28 Olympic Games.

“I qualified for the world championships in 2024 and was No. 1 in the U.S. for most of that year. Going into an Olympic Games cycle, qualifying is quite difficult. You have to be ranked in the top 30 in the world. There are no guaranteed slots for any country except the host country. But this next one is LA,” he said.

Stout-Berliner is also pursuing a degree through the Guild and Team USA Learning Network, working on her MBA from Purdue Global.

“We’re both taking the same class this semester, and we’re going to next semester as well. But this semester, we’re taking different sections, so we have two different professors,” Berliner said.

Berliner fits his homework and classes between training in the morning, working as a data analyst during the day and more practices in the evenings.

“I get home around 9 or a little after most nights. The section of the Purdue Global class I picked starts at 9 p.m.,” he said. “On the nights where I have seminar, I get home around 8:50 p.m., grab a quick snack and get onto the seminar.”

His educational comeback involves taking classes for the first time in almost 10 years. He and his wife talk about their classes and bounce homework ideas off each other.

With Nicole having a similar schedule for work, classes and practice, it makes the journey easier.

“The price of ambition is you have to work hard,” he said. “I don’t mind it. I love my life, and I love doing it with Nicole.”

About Purdue Global

Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults who have life experience and often some college credits. It offers flexible paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, military service and previous college credits, no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and backed by Purdue University. For more information, visit https://www.purdueglobal.edu.