On day one of the Senior European Judo Championships 2024, the EJU Kids Camp also commenced.
President of the European Judo Union, Dr TOTH Laszlo is a great believer in education and during this presidency we have seen the birth of many new projects, put in to motion by a strong team in the Education sector, and this week we see that educating children continues to be a huge focus. Thanking the Croatian Judo Federation and their President, Dr Sanda CORAK, he addressed the children on the tatami, introducing them to special guests including Cadet European and World Champion, Patricia TOMANKOVA.
I am honoured to welcome you here in the first of the EJU Kids Camps, I wish you a beautiful few days together with our experts and champions and I hope you will enjoy the European Championships. This adventure, this journey, will support you in your life and you’ll remember these days together.
Organiser, Matija Jug Dujakovic of Croatia has been pleasantly surprised by the number of teams coming a great distance to attend the camp and welcomed the great champions to the tatami; Nuno Delgado, Rustam Orujov and Karakas Hedvig.
We expected teams from surrounding countries to attend, like Slovenia, BIH and Serbia, but countries such as Faroe Islands, Great Britain, Moldova and Azerbaijan, we didn’t expect! It is a really big thing for us, we’ve been preparing for five months for this event; travel, hotels, food, transport, we were expecting big numbers, but not like this! Having them travel from all over is so great, I have 100 kids here from my club and all week they’ve been asking so many questions, they were so excited to be meeting other children from across Europe. It’s also good for them to learn about these countries, where they are, what other countries are like, how much they’ve travelled to come here and be with them. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them, I have been in judo for over 30 years and I’ve never had a camp like this.
Nuno Delgado, Olympic bronze medallist and EJU Judo for Children Commissioner lead the opening session,
As you know, this camp is a dream come true. We all think having youngsters inspired by champions, it is already a great success, today we have only half of the total, so it will be a great challenge but this is only the beginning because this is the opening the door for promotional events and European Championships.
Of the many teams in attendance from various countries, the Bishops Stortford Judo Club of Great Britain arrived with coach Nicole Nunn,
It’s been an amazing experience to bring some kids out here, some who haven’t been away from home before, picking up life skills, doing a sport they love while learning from Olympic athletes and European Champions, making it a really special time for them. They are really excited about attending the European Championships, seeing where their own journey could take them. On the bus this morning passing the arena, they were really excited to see all of the athletes walking in, it’ll be a great week for them.
Author: Thea Cowen