Big Judo Visits University Judo

A nice photo of a group of kids and instructors from Big Judo and University together with their instructors,

We did not get as big a turnout as we would have liked but it was a good fun day. We warmed up did lots of randori then had a batsugan (lie up competition).  The kids enjoyed themselves and fought really well.

And we finished with a BBQ for the kids,  Awesome.

Then our adults fought with the University 'crew'. It was a great day with plenty of action and our guys acquitted themselves well. After that a few of us went for a beer and a curry in Sandringham.  Lovely.

Big Judo loves Sandringham. A great Judo club, nice bars and fantastic food! Perfect. 

Big Judo Starts Term Four

Big Judo is back in action for Term Four.  Nice photo of the Kids Beginners Class in town.  Always good to see you Black Belts like Jordan and Henry with old Black Belts like Donald and Ben on the mat together with kids.  

Big Judo Big Gun Does It Again - Our First National Champion

Kyle on the podium. 

A big weekend for Big Judo. Our big gun Kyle Leggot. He is 190cm tall and weighed in at 132 kg's. On Saturday he won the Super Heavyweight Category at the New Zealand Nationals.  

We are all elated!  Well done Kyle! 

Showing the Big Judo colours

We are a new club just starting out. We have had a few successes here and there but Kyle is our first national champion. Thanks for your hard work and commitment Kyle.

And a quick shout out to the other big boys that trained with Kyle. Thanks. Team Big

Big Judo Bodyguard

When you need a bodyguard go looking for a big Judo player!

Kim Kardashian and her bodyguard Pascal Duvier have been all over the news lately.

Duvier is an interesting guy.  At 190cm and about 133kgs he's a pretty big guy. A big guy that's been doing Judo for 35 years.

I often say that one of the great things about Judo is that opens up opportunities for interesting life experiences. Judo people being doormen and bodyguards isn't unusual.  After all Judo works and is widely recognized as a past-time that builds strong confident people.  And I bet Duvier has a pretty interesting life!

But the really interesting thing is Duvier has a mathematics degree from Heideburg University.  He might be big and certainly ain't the kind of guy to mess with but I bet you weren't expecting him to be educated as well.

Maybe I'm not lying when I tell the the kids that only smart people are successful at Judo!

Masahiko Kimura - Judo Techniques

We haven't posted a Judo video for a little while but saw this on Youtube the other day and couldn't help ourselves.

Big Judo on Tour Plus An Old Friend

A great picture of our man Tony in Fiji. Tony had a great time in Fiji and said the locals looked after him really well.  Big thanks from Big Judo to our Fijian friends for looking after our man.

Reciprocity is a key part of Judo. My experience has been that anywhere in the world you go you will find Judo and the local Judoka will host you well.

Looking after fellow travelers is important. Getting good at Judo means always training with new people. If all Judoka look after each other it makes us all better,

 It's a part of being in the 'Judo club'.

With about 40 million Judo players around the world its a big club.

Finally, some of the University 'prodigal sons' will remember Casino on the left of the photo.  A good Judo player and friend of our crew. He disappeared to the South Island years ago. But he's now up in Fiji. Great to see him again.  Keep in touch mate.

Big Judo Big Boys Howick Success

Big Judo adults did well at Howick. Jordan and Henry showed why they are Black Belts.  Noah, Johan and Jacob fought very well beating higher graded players,  Awesome to see the 'Big' boys having a tussle. Winning is just icing on the cake!

Big Judo Howick Fun Day

A good day on Sunday at the Howick Fun Day.  We had lots of kids and adults fighting. Some key highlights were:

          

• Big Judo took a huge team 33 fighters

• Big Judo had seven girls fighting, this is wonderful because it is very difficult attracting girls and keeping them in Judo. A  group of girls fighting in a reasonably sized 'Girls'  division was neat.  

• At Big Judo a key value we promote is bravery.  A number of our older kids have gone up ages grades recently and have improved in leaps and bounds because they have; been brave. They have learned from their loses and are now starting to win in their age categories - Well done.

•  We had lots of brand new fighters on the mat. It is fantastic for us coaches to see our people getting out there are giving it a go.  Not everyone wins a medal but everyone learns from testing themselves.

•  Finally it was neat seeing our adults well represented. We had some newbies on the mat who did extremely well and Jordan and Henry both had a good time. It was nice to see them on the mat enjoying themselves and doing good Judo.

It was a really good weekend. Thanks heaps those who came we really appreciate the effort you made!

Big Days for Big Judo at the Auckland International Open

We had a big couple of days at the Auckland International Open.  This is New Zealand's biggest competition with:

• Three competition mats in operation all day for two days;
• 360 entries; from
• 11 countries.

It was a weekend for Judo about as good as you will get in New Zealand.

Big Judo took nine competitors to the competition. Eight kids and one adult. Our adult Kyle Leggot demolished the Senior Men's + 100 kg Category, two of our kids won their divisions and everybody wo went learnt a lot about Judo.   

But I was also really happy that we had lots of volunteers helping out (about a dozen people) .  At Big Judo we are proud to be a leader in the Judo community, One of the ways we do this is by being willing and able to 'step up' and support events.

Good work and Thanks Heaps

Big Judo Term Three Starts Now!

Judo starts up again tomorrow. All of our normal classes are taking place even though we have the Auckland International Open this weekend. 

Over the holiday’s the instructors and senior members discussed a number of matters and we are aiming to the achieve the following actions this term:

 Support the Auckland International Open (30-31 July) – We have 8 kids and 1 adult fighting in this competition. It is New Zealand’s biggest competition so it will be great to watch. If you can provide a couple of hour on either day just turn up and we will find work for you!

More mats for Pukekohe – By moving our mats around we can free up another ten mats for Pukekohe.  This will give Pukekohe a mat area the same size as town. Great for growing the seniors out there!

Another night in town – We have enough instructors available and committed in the city that we can now look at another night during the week providing the church has the times available

 Take a big team to the Howick competition (14 August) – This competition is ‘entry level’ and there are ‘white belt’ categories. It is well run and a perfect opportunity for kids and adults to try out competition Judo.

Grow our senior numbers  – The team at Puke have done really well.  We have a regular group of seniors out there now and have kept that class going. We also need to make sure we don’t lose momentum in the city.  So keep telling your mates!

We are looking forward to the term and hope that everybody keeps on supporting us! Thanks heaps 

Big Friend of Big Judo

This week we have had a visit from Mike 'Bondy' Bond. Mike is a 69 year old 6th Dan who was one of Ben and Nelly's instructors for many years.  He is a great guy, good and Judo and very welcome visitor.

Nice to see you Mike.

Big Judo Looking for Top Guns

After the sucess of Pia our German guest instructor we thought we might see if we can find some more Judo tourists interested in working with us here in New Zealand.

We can't offer much we aren't a huge club and your competitive Judo won't get better but we can offer great coaching opportunities with kids and adults in a supportive and friendly environment.

We also have an active social calender and being part of the Big Judo team will provide you with a great range of contacts in New Zealand.

So if you are a:

• Judo Black Belt;
• Have at least reasonable English;  
• Are OK for us to do some background checks;
• Like coaching Judo; and 
• Are keen to visit New Zealand.  

Drop me an email on ben@benstallworthy.com

What Makes Me Happy

Lots of kids on the mat doing Judo.

Three black belts teaching the kids with the young ones taking the lead.

A couple of grey haired 4th / 5th Dan Black Belts waiting for the Senior Class but who have come along early because its great to see kids doing Judo.

Awesome.

Big Plans for Big Judo Term Two 2016

Well term Term Two has started with bang.

• We have heaps of kids on the mat at Pukekohe with new kids coming through in the beginners class and we are even getting regular numbers with our Friday night adult's class! Big ups to Kyle and the boys from Pukekohe - Well done. Also to Tony for making the trip to Pukekohe to support the new class.  
• We had 22 big kids on the mat in Sandringham on Saturday - We have jsut moved a crop of beginners in the class
• We had 21 adults on the mat on Saturday and were missing lots of regulars. The social atmosphere and emphasis of safe training appears to be working. We haven't had any serious injuries yet (touch wood) and the team are having a great time.  

We have big plans this term:

• We are building up a team of fighters for the Auckland International Open 
• We are introducing teh next step in our curriculum development
• We will be running a grading later in the term

Thanks heaps supporters and friends

Goodbye Pia - Come Back Someday

Our fantastic German instructor Pia has gone back to Germany and we are all very sad to see her go. Pia was a very good addition to our pool of instructors and good fun. She was part of the team a became a friend for many of us and we will all miss her.

For any of you out there thinking of coming to NZ and doing Judo we are always keen to host a guest so please don't be shy in contacting us!

Big Judo Adults Keep Growing

A photo of last week's Tuesday night class.  It appears that our philosophy of 'social' adult Judo is working well.

With our adults we are running classes focussed on newbies and non-competitive players.  We do heaps of ground work and controlled stand up (i.e. instructors making sure that the students work within their actual limits not what the student thinks is their limit). 

Taking this approach we have minimised injuries and are all enjoying our Judo.

Big Judo Pukekohe

The team is back on the mat at Pukekohe and looking forward to the competition next weekend.  We have had to put in a new class for beginners to keep up with demand for kids Judo classes.

Big Judo Back

Big Judo is back in action. Pukekohe kids were out in force on Tuesday night. Tracey and Geoff are back and raring to go. It was awesome hanging out with the kids. 

In town we had our first class on Tuesday nice sized kids class and really happy that Pia is around till April yay. Nelly also turned up and is keen to do some coaching this year.