Another Awesome Catch Up - Noah Wallis is Back in Town

It was awesome to see Noah again, after years overseas and competing at the World Champs he came out and visited the team in Pukekohe and Pukekawa.  He trained with the kids, shared his experiences and demonstrated some technique. 

Most importantly he was there!  An international player taking the time to do randori and let them know that  once he was just like them, a kid doing Judo. 

Noah is now travelling and doing Judo with the best Judoka in the world, but his visit is a reminder for our young Judoka that every journey starts with a step. 

My favorite photo is this one.  Noah helping to put the mats away.  Demonstrating his humility and willingness to help, even with the boring bits.  A really good example for our young Judoka. 

It was awesome! Thanks Noah. 

 

Catching up with Old Friends

I spent last week in Australia and took the opportunity to catch up with Morgan Endicott-Davies and the crew at Zenbu Dojo is Sydney.  It was great fun and I really enjoyed catching up with Morgan.

The team at Zenbu remember Noah and Jacob who they hosted previously. We did Judo together and shared some great memories.  Thanks heaps for the hospitality. 

 

Saturday Morning the Highlight of my Week!

Saturday morning Judo is really good fun at the moment.  We have a good range of skill levels and some fantastic 13-16 year old's willing and able to train hard and learn good Judo. It makes for a really enjoyable session for Nellie, Todd and I because teaching keen, motivated and capable students is great fun.  

 

Another Great Saturday Morning at Big Judo Pukekohe

We trained hard today and had a good turnout. We had visitor, Souki an Indian national level competitive player.  It was nice watching him throw our Cadets around.  

It is really good when a good competitive Judoka visits because it gives the team a great training opportunity. We rally appreciated it and hope that we see him again. Even so we have a great crop of young Judoka learning and getting better at Judo.  It was a good day. 

Awesome Training in the City on Saturday

A nice big training session at Big Judo City. Puni School where the Pukekohe team trains was a polling station for the election so we filled up a car and drove into town and trained with the city crew. 

The training was great fun with plenty of randori and we did a little bit of technical coaching.

A great way to spend a Saturday!

 

Not just the City either a Picture of Last Night's Pukekawa Class

Big Judo's three dojos are back together and numbers are growing.  We slowed down a bit during COVID but now our numbers and training are gaining momentum.  In September we have team going down to the Secondary Schools, our first competition in ages. So hoping for some success.

 

Big Judo Back in the City!

After a brief break, Big Judo is back up and running in the city and trained together on Tuesday.  It was fantastic to see our Big Judo crew back together again.  

Nellie visited and it was awesome for her to see how people that she had taught as kids were growing up; and to catch up again with old friends.  

New Zealand Technical Director Zane Lightfoot also visited and taught some technique; and had a roll with the team.  It was bloody good night and everybody enjoyed it. 

Expect to see more from the City Team, their new dojo is nice and alongside Tony and Scott, Nellie and I will be training there regularly.  

Its fantastic to see the team on the mat and enjoying themselves! 

Zane Lightfoot demonstrating Judo techniques. Zane is the National Technical Director.