Castle Hill’s Budokan Judo Club, which has produced Olympians and Commonwealth Games medallists, honoured their outstanding athletes, coaches, and volunteers at its latest twenty first Awards Night.
Having been started by the highly-experienced judokas Rob and Kerrye Katz 25 years in the past with simply 10 members and two lessons every week, the Budokan Judo Club now has more than 200 members and runs nine classes every week.
Budokan Judo Club Budokan Judo Club’s Crowning Glory
“When we took over the membership in 1999, Kerrye and I tapped into all the experiences that we had as athletes training at totally different clubs all around the globe once we had been competing,” Rob explained. “Our goal was to construct a membership with a singular culture: one which focussed on a grass-roots entity as a community-based family-oriented judo membership while additionally paving the way in which for high efficiency and worldwide competitiveness.
“Our imaginative and prescient has always been to be recognised within the judo and basic communities as the premium judo training centre in Australia. Rather than focussing on results, our coaching tradition instills acknowledgement for participation in each side of the sport, in taking over challenges and placing in the best efforts in all activities, lessons that help 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 each age group. Thanks to a strong mentoring ethic by senior athletes, this has resulted in vital performance achievements, he said.
Rob stated their largest achievement in competitors is having constant representation yr after year on the World Championship level across 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 and then once more in Tokyo 2020,” Rob said. The club had been additionally very proud to have won two bronze medals on the 2022 Commonwealth Games, including to their rising international profile.
“We have one athlete currently on track for qualification to Paris 2024 and are also pleased with our range,” Rob stated. “We had two athletes profitable a gold medal and silver medal at the Virtus Asia-Oceania Games, the first time that Budokan has been represented at a world multi-sport competitors in the Oceania-Asia area for elite athletes with an intellectual impairment.
“Budokan Judo Club’s membership ranges from 4 to eighty one years from recreation gamers, to fascinated parents to Olympians and every thing in between.”