Enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Wellington with our friends at the Wellington Judo Academy (WJA). We have a long friendship, I trained regularly with WJA for a number of years when I lived in Wellington and Palmerston North. A friendship that remains strong.
We did two solid training sessions, with lots of randori and plenty of technical discussion. It was great learning new ideas from the younger Black Belts like Hugo and Sparkles, bookended with a few good meals together.
Most importantly we got to spend time together reconnecting old friendships. Cameron and I have known each other for 25 odd years, and it is fantastic to see that his students now know more than I do! It was tremendous to look at the clubs history wall, and remember people like Pat, Rick and Daniel.
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Cameron in front of the history wall. |
We also got to catch up with a couple of other old friends Kelvin Bradford, a renowned Judoka who is still coaching competition players and and old friend.
And older Big Judo members will remember KB, one of our alumni who is now training in Wellington.
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KB on the left. |
Kelvin Bradford (right) like Rick and Pat he is one of the 1950-60s generation that went and lived in Japan, then brought their skills and knowledge to NZ. People like Kelvin taught generations of NZ Judoka and made us all better. It was nice to see him again and say - Thanks.
In conclusion, it was a fantastic weekend. The Judo was fun and it was great to reconnect with a wonderful and hospitable group of fellow Judoka. Thanks heaps we really appreciated tour kindness and hospitality. It will certainly be reciprocated next time you visit Auckland.