The European Judo Hopes Tournament kicked off today in Bytom, Poland for the U13 and U15 future stars! As seen in previous editions, it has been an incredible opportunity for families and clubs to come together from the far corners of Europe, building connections and confidence.
Alongside NAKAMURA Misato (JPN), the Kodokan Expert who was also present in Sarajevo, we were proud to welcome Olympic Champion and European Hero, Tina TRSTENJAK of Slovenia. Both delivered two seminars on the 24th of May, giving athletes in some cases, a once in a life time opportunity to train with a legend, and learn from experts.
President of the Polish Judo Association, Krzysztof WILKOMIRSKI, has now overseen numerous events in the Polish calendar since taking the reigns,
This is the sixth tournament in this year, organised by the Polish Judo Association, and this is for the youngest players. It is really nice for us to watch them and see how they enjoy the event. It is important to me, I hope it keeps more kids in judo, because many athletes train in judo and then leave to other sports, I hope that by organising these events it gives them some motivation to keep going. Perhaps today we will even have a future Olympian, everyone starts somewhere, and it would be a pleasure to know that we have been a part of their journey.
So many of the young athletes watch the players and stars live on JudoTV or on YouTube, and it is already a great motivation for them, to have something to aspire to, but here you can speak to and touch these World and Olympic champions, it’s nice even for me! I really hope it will instil something deeper for these young athletes. I know some will train these techniques with their coaches over and over in the club, but to do it with a legend is a different feeling, and it will create a special memory and gives a different power. It could be a typical technique but it has a very special factor. We will see tomorrow in the competition how they use the session and the techniques they learned today and how they are better for it.
Every time we host an event in Poland we try to be better than the last time, we are still a new team and need time to be perfect in all areas but we will get there.
Author: Thea Cowen