Special Needs Judo Europe News

Tuesday morning 06:30 was the day. My friend, coach Rene de Vlieger picked me up from home to get to the Sittard railroad station where my father was waiting for us. From there, we took the train to Schiphol Airport. After checking in, we had to go through customs, which is where the trouble began. The buzzer of the detection gate went off, and i had to take off my customised shoes, which is always a lot of work.
First, we went to Heathrow in London, England. There, we had to transfer to Narita Airport in Japan. On Heathrow Airport, i had to take my shoes off again. Looking for a chair again, otherwise i fall over because of my instability. After a delay of 45 minutes we took off for Japan. Strange thing is, we flew into the night, but it never got dark. I was so immersed in my computer game, i never realised it was morning already. After 12 hours of flight i arrived at the airport nauseous, but some fresh air fixed that soon.
At customs we had to fill out some forms on where we stayed and what we were going to do and of course take my shoes off again. This time i was assisted by a charming young lady. She even brought me slippers to wear while they were examining the shoes. Much more polite than our experience in England.

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Daniel Noorthoek visit Japan, nothing special you will think. For Daniel however it is, Daniel is disabled he is born with Cerebral Palsy but managed to be a master grade in Judo and horse riding. Daniel is quite unique and so far we know the first, Special Needs judoka who’ve been allowed to train in the Kodokan Dojo’s Read his rapport.

Kodokan:
After this we went to Tokyo central, and i fell asleep against a nice Japanese lady who was asleep herself. This is what the Japanese do in the tube: Sleep. After a couple of hours travel we arrived in Tokyo. It was a great sight, seeing the Kodokan building. In front of the building was the statue of Sensei Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo.

After checking in with reception we received our key to the Kodokan hotel room, a twin room with our own bathroom. Other rooms had a shower and toilet but we did not take that option because otherwise Rene would then be unable to help me if I would have trouble with my handicap.

After a couple of hours sleep we went to evening training that same night. This was not what we expected. Everyone was working for themselves, as it was not a lesson but a free training. This was not what we understood from he mail the Kodokan sent us before the trip. But after a while, a man from Equador came to me. His name was David Monteverde and he slept at the same department as we did, and i sparred with him for while. He was doing a world tour through some Asian countries. He explained to us the rules of the Kodokan. You are supposed to approach somebody and ask for a randori (Which is sparring) or practice (Doing some throws, or holds)

Sensei Daigo:
Rene watched Sensei Daigo teach a small group of higher dan judoka, most of them above the 6th dan. This is one of the three 10th dan judoka who were teached by Jigoro Kano himself. Rene fetched his camera and tried to take a photo of Sensei Daigo, but did not succeed because Sensei Daigo had to leave. After the training we went to have dinner with David and the American Samy Tadohera. Same tipped us on how to get a picture from Sensei Daigo: We had to ask Sensei Matsumoto, 8th dan, as he is Sensei Daigo's main assistant. Next time we saw him, Rene took a picture with Sensei Daigo.
After a couple of days of training in the Kodokan, i wanted to be teached in order to learn how to performbetter with my handicap. Rene and me went to Sensei Shimmijamo, he is one of the Kodokan's teachers. After explaining him what i wanted to do, he answered he had to think about it first. But the next day he already came with some ideas on how to change my judo. This worked so well that i could throw regular judoka, even one weighing 120 kilos.

We were also teached by Sensei Matsumuru, 9th dan, and his assistant. That day, TV recordings were being made for the Japan University Judoka. I had to practice with a young Japanese lady, which was actually very nice. We were tached in all sorts of ground techniques.

In our free hours we went to do some sightseeing of Tokyo. We went to the Budokan. This is the sports venue in the Eastern gardens of the Imperial Palace in which Anton Geesink became the Olympic champion in 1964. A beautiful, enormous building. At that moment, the Japanese Open Ballroomdancing was being held. At first, we could not get in but after some pushing from our side the lady director came to see us and she gave us two cards to get inside and take pictures.
It must have been an awesome experience, to become Olympic Champion as a non-Japanese.

Beer
The last night, a Japanese teacher invited us to have dinner and a beer with him. We do not drink beer, especially not Rene. But this he could not refuse, and the beer had a profound effect on him. A great closure of our Japan judo trip.

The 16 days whizzed by. On the way back home i bought an original Kodokan black belt. Still savouring the experience we landed on Heathrow. From there it was only a short flight back to Schiphol, where my father was waiting for us, and we took the train back home.

All in all this was a great experience, and very educatinal too!
Daniël Noorthoek