Amidst the 76th EJU Ordinary Congress in Budapest, the fourth and final edition of the EJU Get Together took place in Venray. Nearly 200 judoka from 18 countries gathered to compete, while representatives from other nations attended as observers.
Among the visitors was judo powerhouse, France. National Technical Advisor and National Para Judo Coordinator of France Judo, Mr Julian PARROT, explained the purpose of their presence;
We want to organise the Get Together Event in France in 2025. The first step towards that was the seminar we held in May. Now we are here to see it all in action and to understand what needs to be done to deliver. We have our checklist of criteria and we are looking at how to fulfil it all. Divisioning plays an important role in the planning and we are here to observe how it works.
Also, given the nature of the event we need to ensure suitable hotel, transportation etc, so we are here to soak it all in. Another benefit of being here is that we are able to speak to other nations who have done this before and gain from their own experiences. Time wise we are looking to host around next year October however we still need to finalise with EJU and set an exact date. As per the locations, currently, we have two cities in mind: Asnières-sur-Seine and Mayenne. In Asnières-sur-Seine, the idea to host it in the sports hall which named after Teddy, called Arena Teddy Riner.
Finally, Judo is for all people, we need to continue to work towards providing that in action, to validate the abilities of a handicap person.
Sanna Nolsoe DJURHUUS arrived in the Venray all the way from the Faroe Islands to observe;
Back home in the Faroe Islands we have individuals whom I believe would really benefit from his program. We have never attended a tournament like this and also in our clubs all sessions are integrated, mixed sessions, so we don’t have anything specific for adapted players. I am here to observe, to learn and understand if this is something our players would enjoy and be able to partake, and so far it’s all positive, so we will try to attend the next event with a team from the Faroe Islands.
Spanish VI coach, Marina FERNANDEZ was on the list of visitors too;
We are so happy to be here, it is an emotional tournament and I love it. We decided to come here becuase I have a visual impaired team but I don’t have intellectually impaired team or even a structure to support them. So, we wanted to know how it works in Europe and with other countries that are already actively running these projects. I am really impressed, there are so many people want to do this type of events so our next goal is to come together to work towards finding the financial support to bring our teams along from next year.
The EJU Get Together event, along with the overall development of adapted judo, has made significant progress over the past year, laying the foundation for what promises to become a monumental movement for both judo and society.
Author: Szandra Szogedi