Today, on the 28th of October, we celebrate World Judo Day, the birth date of Jigoro Kano. The past month has been dedicated to the founder whereby we have brought the community together through channels of education and entertainment, quizzes and fact finding.
Here in the EJU we felt it very important to bring about the goals of the founder back to the judo family.
World Judo Day is celebrated by the entire community and the IJF announced the theme this year to be, ‘solidarity’. As the International Judo Federation highlighted in their news, many around the world have faced hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet we seem to be more united than ever as we have been forced to realise what is truly important, humanity and our connection with one another.
Solidarity has proven to be a strength of ours in this sport, supporting each other, whether it be in local communities or pledging our support to those who have found themselves as refugees.
Today the community will join together and in the words of the IJF, ‘to think of solidarity by telling yourself that the hand you extend today may be the one you need tomorrow.’ Solidarity isn’t something you can do on your own.
Happy World Judo Day everyone!
Author: Thea Cowen