Castle Hill’s Budokan Judo Club, which has produced Olympians and Commonwealth Games medallists, honoured their excellent athletes, coaches, and volunteers at its current 21st Awards Night.
Having been started by the highly-experienced judokas Rob and Kerrye Katz 25 years ago with simply 10 members and two courses every week, the Budokan Judo Club now has greater than 200 members and runs 9 classes each 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 all over the world once we were competing,” Rob defined. “Our goal was to construct a membership with a unique tradition: one which focussed on a grass-roots entity as a community-based family-oriented judo club whereas additionally paving the way in which for prime efficiency and international competitiveness.
“Our imaginative and prescient has all the time been to be recognised in the judo and general communities as the premium judo training centre in Australia. Rather than focussing on results, our teaching tradition instills acknowledgement for participation in each facet of the sport, in taking on challenges and putting in the best efforts in all activities, lessons that help in all elements of life.’
Olympians Nathan And Josh Katz Budokan Judo Club’s Crowning GloryRob mentioned that they succeeded in building depth in each age group. Thanks to a robust mentoring ethic by senior athletes, this has resulted in important efficiency achievements, he said.
Rob said their greatest achievement in competitors is having consistent representation year after yr at the World Championship level throughout all three senior age groups: under-17, under-21, and senior.
“The pinnacle of accomplishment has been having two Olympic representatives in Athens, adopted by our first two home-grown Olympic representatives in Rio 2016 after which again in Tokyo 2020,” Rob stated. The membership had been also very proud to have won two bronze medals on the 2022 Commonwealth Games, adding to their rising international profile.
“We have one athlete at present on observe for qualification to Paris 2024 and are additionally happy with our variety,” Rob said. “We had two athletes successful a gold medal and silver medal at the Virtus Asia-Oceania Games, the first time that Budokan has been represented at a global multi-sport competitors in the Oceania-Asia region for elite athletes with an mental impairment.
“Budokan Judo Club’s membership ranges from four to 81 years from recreation gamers, to interested mother and father to Olympians and every little thing in between.”
