The General Secretary of the Portuguese Judo Federation, Jose Manuel Costa Oliveira, opened the Social Inclusion Seminar, introducing the present people and addressing the importance of judo. Judo is more than a sport, much more than sport.
“I would like other people to tell me that judo is much more than sport and that anyone can do judo, no matter if they are handicapped or not.
In this inclusion project we include special Olympic judo, blind and deaf judo, and adapted judo for other handicapped judo. In the early days we felt responsible for these people. We started to accept people, we are taught to deal with them and we are proud that nowadays we accept any handicap and we accept everyone at competitions.”
“Judo is not just for fun, although it is. But the aim of this project is to work with universities, hospitals, institutes, rehabilitation. Therapists compare our training method with specific levels of therapy. It is about all areas that interact with us.”
“Judo is also a service to the people. Bénédicte Rouby, Education Director of the EJU helped us with the project. It’s also a social project in judo. Not only mental and physical but also it fits into social side. Reasons enough for having this congress.”
Watch the photos here: