The President of the European Judo Union, Mr. Sergey Soloveychik expressed his thoughts of the 2016 Judo Festival: “The family is one of the main values of the humankind, and judo is a unique kind of sport that becomes a family activity and lets everyone to practice it. I am glad that at the Festival we have managed to gather judo practitioners of all ages: we have offered a Camp for U8 children who trained with their parents, a camp for U15 athletes, OTC training centre for high level judoka who are heading to the Olympic Games, competitions and training for veterans. I’m glad that participants of each activity had a possibility to ‘intersect’ and visit each other. The children had a chance to communicate with famous champions, medal winning veterans and judoka with disabilities. Specially, I believe in the project “Judo Family” when parents train with their children and we witness judo families inside the family of judo. It is especially important for parents – they learn how to better understand their kids, how to respect the sport practiced by children and they work together on the tatami.”
“I consider the third edition of the Festival to be a success. We will continue to develop the idea of judo being more than sport. I am especially happy that for the European Judo Union such warm family relationships and friendly atmosphere are particular. Our members spend lots of time together and feel united thanks to judo. I like the format of the festival. Even though the Organisation of such an event required lots of efforts and hard work from the EJU and Croatian Judo Federation, we plan to have it every year as a tradition. We will collect the feedback and try to make sure next year the event is even a bigger success with everyone feeling happy”, concluded the President of EJU, Mr. Soloveychik.
