Recently, we have been travelling down to help Tracey, who is pregnant, with her Judo classes. Tracey has done an awesome job building a strong local club and it is always a pleasure training there. It takes me back to 1982; when I started Judo, and there were small local clubs all over Auckland.
Every suburb had a small local club and Pukekawa is a great demonstration that starting and running small clubs is viable.
Tracey has built an awesome group of committed kids and families, and helping her out is a real pleasure. And; for old Judoka teaching and helping teach is really satisfying.
As you get older randori and competition become harder and if you want to stay involved teaching is really satisfying. Passing on your knowledge and seeing kids get better at Judo is a really good feeling.
So if you are an aging competitive player maybe have a think about coaching it might be more satisfying than refereeing, kata or masters competition,