Castle Hill’s Budokan Judo Club, which has produced Olympians and Commonwealth Games medallists, honoured their excellent athletes, coaches, and volunteers at its recent 21st Awards Night.
Having been began by the highly-experienced judokas Rob and Kerrye Katz 25 years in the past with simply 10 members and two courses a week, the Budokan Judo Club now has more than 200 members and runs nine classes each week.
Budokan Judo Club Budokan Judo Club’s Crowning Glory
“When we took over the club in 1999, Kerrye and I tapped into all of the experiences that we had as athletes training at different clubs all around the globe after we have been competing,” Rob explained. “Our aim was to build a membership with a novel culture: one which focussed on a grass-roots entity as a community-based family-oriented judo club while additionally paving the way for top performance and international competitiveness.
“Our imaginative and prescient has at all times been to be recognised within the judo and basic communities because the premium judo coaching centre in Australia. Rather than focussing on outcomes, our teaching culture instills acknowledgement for participation in each facet of the sport, in taking on challenges and placing in one of the best efforts in all actions, classes that assist in all features of life.’
Olympians Nathan And Josh Katz Budokan Judo Club’s Crowning Glory Rob mentioned that they succeeded in constructing depth in every age group. Thanks to a robust mentoring ethic by senior athletes, this has resulted in vital performance achievements, he mentioned.
Rob said their biggest achievement in competitors is having constant representation year after yr at the World Championship degree throughout all three senior age groups: under-17, under-21, and senior.
“The pinnacle of achievement has been having two Olympic representatives in Athens, followed by our first two home-grown Olympic representatives in Rio 2016 after which again in Tokyo 2020,” Rob said. The membership have been additionally very proud to have won two bronze medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, adding to their growing worldwide profile.
“We have one athlete at present on track for qualification to Paris 2024 and are also pleased with our variety,” Rob stated. “We had two athletes successful a gold medal and silver medal on the Virtus Asia-Oceania Games, the first time that Budokan has been represented at a world multi-sport competition within the Oceania-Asia area for elite athletes with an mental impairment.
“Budokan Judo Club’s membership ranges from four to 81 years from recreation gamers, to fascinated mother and father to Olympians and every thing in between.”