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!