So, if you are the son of a sensei who is a Japanese immigrant, and have been receiving direct instruction from him since you were 3, and have had the opportunity to train in Japan, possibly while you were attending high school or college or maybe with a police dojo for a year or two, then this is not an advantage? Or there are others who are not maybe sensei's sons, but they are still in that community, placed in the dojo by their parents at an early age, exposed to all that good instruction early and often and furthermore understanding it because they speak the language - this is not also an advantage? Don't get me wrong - these team members are definitely Americans or Canadians and I'm proud to have them representing their countries. But don't fool yourself - there's a reason why the Japanese names keep cropping up.