April 5th April the first Australian Special Needs team competed in the judo4all competition and were very successful.

Dale Mackay and Corey Smith both created history by being the first Special Needs judokas gold medalist in their class.

While in the morning session they must except the bronze, they proved to be quick learners by concurring the gold in the afternoon session . They didn’t make the same mistake of being intimidate by the more competition experienced European players again. They played their own game which showed combination of strong but skilful judo.

They also learned to focus to their coaches and follow there instructions, in the final Corey Smith won his game by a simple pointer of the coaches by O-goshi. 

Corey and Dale improved their judo enormously by the training facilities and the high standard of training they received each day in the Dutch judo club Prisma Amsterdam. They were more than prepared to enter the competition, but still they were very imprested when we entered the competition venue.

Imaging  a crowed of over a thousand people charring and yelling  to the 550 competitors who fought over 8 tatami’s !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poules of 8 competitors in level 1 and 2  the best 4 finalist continuing to fight for the 1st place in a shimmering cross final. Absolutely blood-curding.

Striking was approach and the treatment of the judokas, that was based on dignity and respect. Nobody looked at the disability of the judokas and whether they were physical or intellectual disabled, the organization taken all the necessary preparation that was leading to equality of all judokas. 

What me hit the most was the way intellectual disabled judoka’s were lead to their competition area.

Every judoka received a  participant card which had all the necessary details for entering the competition area, which were marked with a number and colour that matched with the ones by the competition area.

Simple but very effective no mic was used except by the award ceremony, still everybody knows what to do and the whole event run like clockwork.

I’ve seen Main stream competitions that were not even close by what this organization achieved, I’ve seen Judokas compete from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Ukraine and Switzerland. I never seen such a event and learn so many things here. I spoke to a lot of coaches from other countries and they have skillful and good judokas even in level 5 you can see that in judo class they must have adapt judo to the experience of the judoka’s. this creates for more chances and possibilities in competition, I’m really impressed and glad to have the opportunity to stay in this country.

Stan Munday. 

After we were in the castle we drink something and went to bed.

We had breakfast at 07.30.

The day was good. I learned a lot about the throws and holding down techniques, I made new friends like Jim and Semmy and a lot of others. I also learned a little bit of Dutch.  Like slaap lekker its means good night and dank je well its means thank you.  I was surprised how big the wale was. The wale is a sport hal.

When we finished the clinics we went back to the castle and had lunch. After lunch we went to a place were they have windmills and we taste cheese and I liked the cheese very much. We went to a small house were they made spoons.

They have the liquid up to 300 C and put it into a pre spoon mall and they let it set and after 2 minutes they break it out and then take the sharp things of it.

Then we went back to the castle and had diner.

Now I am excited about tomorrow and I hope I will win

Corey

Australian judo team is preparing there trip to Europe

The first Australian Special Needs judo team  is preparing for an exiting adventure they are participating in the European Judo4all2008 event supported by the JFA.

For the two SN judokas Cory Smith and Dale Mckay it is even there first competition despite the fact they practicing judo over more than 15 years. Both men are recently graded to 4e Kyu after the JFA  changed there policy to include Special Needs judokas. Stan Munday said “It was only a matter of awareness that among the mainstream judokas, also special needs students practice judo. So far nobody made this an issue or discussion point of this matter. I really belief from this point on we are going to improve the structure for special needs judokas in Australia.

In the Netherlands the Judo Bond Nederland  have appointed a special-needs committee which been working the last five years according to the long-range-plan They wrote this after an investigation under all judo organizations in their country.

I think we must follow their way of working, it’s not necessary to invent another approach. Of course the Australian way would be different than the Dutch way because there is a total different starting position. We have to build-up the special needs judo from the base, the best way to do this is trough schools. We have to convince the government that judo helps people to improve there social skills.

By practicing judo children gain more self-respect, become able-bodied and learn how to deal with conflicts. It gives them an opportunity to integrate in society.

Going to the Netherlands is a great privilege this gives me the opportunity to learn and discuss special-needs judo from all angles. Mr. Ben van der Eng warned me that on our way back my  luggage shall have an overweight of at least 25 kg of paperwork. He promised me to review al of his work like he did to many others among special olympics.We are ready to go and booked our flights thanks to a lot of people who donate money for our goal.