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Judo Ontario Newsletter

FEBRUARY 2016

Elite Invitational 2016 by Aartje Sheffield

Judo Ontario athletes showed up Inside in force for the 2016 Elite Invitational, held in on Elite Invitational Photos and standings………….2 January 9-10, 2016.

Overall, Judo Ontario judokas Athlete Profile: Kelita managed to bring home an Zupancic A Q&A for the Pan Am Games outstanding eight gold medals, six Champion……………………………3 silver medals and seven bronze 2015 in Photos medals! Of special note was that A look back on the year in the U18 Most Outstanding Male Bradley Langlois (ON), David Ancor, judo……………………………………4 Patrick Cantin and Alex Marineau, award was given to Ajax shown left to right at the Elite Christmas Judo Camp at Budokan’s Keagan Young. In the Invitational medal presentation. Toronto Pan Am Sports Over 18 division, the Most Centre Outstanding Female award was An overview………………………..5 presented to former Cadet World Christmas Camp at 58 Champion, also from Ajax Congratulations to all athletes, Never too old for camp!……6-7

Budokan, Jessica Klimkait who coaches, and parents. We look won her final match against Upcoming Events forward to even stronger results in Tournaments, training and athlete Ecaterina Guica grading………………………………..8 2017. with a spectacular ippon in less than one minute. See results on next page.

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Under 18 Silver

Gold Bradley LANGLOIS, ON/Ajax Budokan Candice DRISCOLL, ON/Ajax Budokan -73kg -44kg Natalie RYGIELSKI, ON/Ajax Budokan Bronze -57kg Mohab EL NAHAS, ON/JCCC -90kg Christian DAMETTO, ON/JCCC -46kg Dilyaver SHEYKHISLYAMOV, ON/Sports Keagan YOUNG, ON/Ajax Budokan Club Challenge 100kg -50kg Benjamin KENDRICK, ON/Takahashi Jessica Klimkait after throwing for ippon -73kg Fourth in the finals. Photo: Aartje Sheffield.

Silver Lea SHEFFIELD, ON/Sheffield -48kg Gregory SIMANOVICH, ON/Taifu -46kg Fifth Aidos SAPENOV, ON/Challenge Judo

Club -50kg Natalie RYGIELSKI, ON/Ajax Budokan - Sava ANTIC, ON/Taifu -73kg 57kg Luka KHATELISHVILI, ON/Taifu -81kg Kira FUSCH, ON/Kawasaki -63kg Fabien PAQUETTE, ON/Takahashi Allayah COPELAND, ON/Ajax Budokan -90kg -70kg

Bronze Danil NEYOLOV, ON/Taifu -81kg Kyrylo SOZIN, ON/Taifu -100kg Madeleine WIEDMER, ON/Gaku Bu Kan Jeff ALLEN, ON/Huntsville +100kg -52kg Erik VANDERSANDEN, ON/Upper Seventh -46kg Donte DE JESUS, ON/Upper Canada - Briana MCCRAKEN, ON/Upper Canada 50kg -57kg Kyle SAULNIER, ON/Kawasaki -90kg Ossama MAHMOUD, ON/Kaizen -60kg Keagan Young (in white) mid-throw. Alexander CARRILLOS, ON/Asahi Nikita RUDAKOV, ON/Taifu -66kg Photo: Aartje Sheffield. +90kg Benjamin KENDRICK, ON/Takahashi - 73kg Fourth

Daniel MAMAN, ON/Taifu -81kg Ryan CLARK, ON/Huntsville -90kg

Seventh

Jerome JEYAKUMAR, ON/Scarborough Make sure you or your child is registered with Judo Ontario before hitting Dojo -66kg the mats! It’s easy, visit https://www.judoontario.ca/website_registration/important_documents Over 18

Gold

Jessica KLIMKAIT, ON/Ajax Budokan - 57kg Yassin YOUSSEF, ON/JCCC -60kg Shady EL NAHAS, ON/JCCC -100kg

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J.O.: What exercise do you J.O.: What is your dread the most? Athlete Profile: favourite pre- competition meal? K.Z.: Anything Kelita Zupancic that is wasting my time. Being K.Z.: I rarely ever Kelita Zupancic, from Whitby, Ontario, is a compete in Canada so productive and 2012 Olympian and a 2015 Pan Am Games it depends on what training smart is gold medallist. Kelita is 25 years old and country I am in. key at this point trains in Montreal with Nicholas Gill. She in my career. hosts engaging seminars and clinics where J.O.: Do you have any all judoka — particularly the younger ones J.O.: What was — enjoy her friendly demeanor. superstitions? the last picture you took on your We asked her some serious and not so K.Z.: I know I am phone? serious questions! always as prepared as I can be so I pray. I pray a K.Z.: A picture of J.O.: How did you get started in your sport? lot haha. my roommates, my brother K.Z.: My dad is a fifth degree black belt so J.O.: What is your favourite “cheat” meal? Anton and his massive Bernese Mountain I grew up watching him do judo. I was Dog/Saint Bernard mix, Chewy, spooning excited and begged him to start. By age on my bed LOL. five, I was on the mats. My mom says I K.Z.: A rack of lamb and fries! get my talent from my father, but my J.O.: Who would play you in the movie of drive from her. J.O.: Do you have any hidden talents? your life? J.O.: Who has had the biggest impact on K.Z.: Is shopping a talent? LOL. K.Z.: Kate Hudson. I think she is hilarious your career in sport and why? and I love her movies. People also tend to J.O.: What was the last book you read? tell me that I look like her. K.Z.: Hands down, my parents and brothers. I’ve known this was my path for K.Z.: Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan J.O.: What is one of your favourite judo as long as I can remember and I’ve never Millman. My trainer Cory Kennedy lent it throws and why? strayed from it. It’s my family's support to me. and unwavering belief in me that has K.Z.: Harai Goshi, it works! What else can gotten me to the top. They are my heart J.O.: What is your favourite competition I say :) and soul and the reason why I have made city? it. K.Z.: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil because that is J.O.: What would you say to a young where I will be winning my Olympic person who was thinking of trying judo but gold medal this summer! was a bit nervous about it?

K.Z.: Trying anything new for the first Favourite competition city? J.O.: What is your most embarrassing time gives anyone nerves. It takes you out moment in sport? of your comfort zone. Being a great Rio de Janeiro because that is where I athlete is about being comfortable and will be winning my Olympic Gold medal K.Z.: Competing on the world stage uncomfortable. It is a very normal feeling signs you up for quite a bit of this summer! humiliation. and just the beginning!

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2015 JUDO MEMORIES IN PICTURES

Photos clockwise from top left

Canada’s Priscilla Gagne with Brazil’s Andreia Canteiro in women’s 52 kg at Parapan Am

judo tournament Campers waiting for dinner at Camp

Budokan Kelita Zupancic

is golden at Pan Am Games

Camp Budokan bonfire Trophy time at Budokan

monthly Donald Ferland, Karl Doherty, Bill Doherty and Frank Vossen at the 4 presentation of Bill Doherty’s

IJF referee certification.

Christmas Judo Camp at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre by Aartje Sheffield

A Christmas Training Camp was held at the world class Toronto Pan Am Sport Centre (TPASC) from December 27-30, 2015. Over 60 Judo Ontario athletes participated in this amazing training opportunity. Judo Ontario was lucky to have special guest and Brazilian Olympian, Rinaldo Caggiano there to lead many of the sessions along with Judo Ontario Coaches, Pedro Guedes, Laurie Wiltshire and Steven Sheffield. Additionally, Judo Ontario was pleased to be joined by Judo Canada High Performance Director/ National Head Coach Nicolas Gill as well. Overall the camp was a great success!

It was tough but I learned things that I am using now! --Matthew, age 9

The calibre was awesome. -- Brent

Christmas camp gets under way. It was what I expected but with more fun! –Keagan, age 14

Great training! The Brazil sensei Looking forward taught us it’s ok to to next year’s lose during randori camp! and to take a break --Sean, age 17 fall because we can always get back up! Christmas Judo Camp group picture. – Keyano, age 16

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of training new recruits) the sensei’s job is to lead and to teach; he’s the leader Christmas Training Camp at 58! A rewarding who is there to pass on what he himself learned to the next generation. experience echoes familiar values from the past. One look at this guy and you by Mike Kennedy immediately know that he fills the bill. A This article has been abridged from the original which appeared in Brazilian, Rinaldo Caggiano, who now e-VERITAS the electronic Royal Military College Newsletter. To read Mike’s resides in New Brunswick, he is a article in its entirety visit: http://everitas.rmcclub.ca/?p=146365 fourth-degree black belt who has fought successfully in numerous world- “Keep your spirits up, and never give up.” --Drill Sergeant class competitions including the Olympics. Major Fournier First we start with the warm-ups, What the hell is a guy like me, a man who turned 58 this past November, and someone who was never athletically which must be talented even in the best of times, doing practicing a some of the most martial art like judo? At a time when most guys my age …as much as I struggled with fiendishly creative are spending the holiday season with a warm cup of the demands of the training exercises ever coffee, reading the paper or watching TV, what am I doing camp itself, once it was all devised by man. over, I came away with a in the middle of every morning of the last four days, Perhaps not tremendous feeling of drenched in sweat and gasping for breath? surprisingly, at my accomplishment. age, I’m not able Day One of our training started out on December 27th, to do as much as bright and early at 9:00 a.m. The students and instructors my younger colleagues. Where they do ten squats, I might assembled in the main gymnasium of the Pan Am Centre maybe do six. In exercises that require us to race from one in Scarborough. Looking around the room, I am end of the tatami to the other, I invariably bring up the surrounded by a sea of young people, the vast majority of rear. But so what? Somebody inevitably has to come last. whom must be a good four decades younger than I am. As And at least I am out here, participating, and thus far, a blue belt, I am one of the lowest-ranking students in staying alive, and holding up not badly at all. attendance. A number of my fellow participants are elite Then we get down to the real business. Osoto-gari. O- athletes, some of whom compete in goshi. Tai-otoshi. Deashi-barai. Tomoe-nage. Uchi-mata. Ouchi-gari. Harai-goshi, Ippon-seoi-nage. Tsuri-goshi. judo at the national and international levels. The sensei Kosoto-gake. The list goes on and on. calls us to It was a good thing that the surface of the mat on which attention. Much we were training was soft and easy to fall upon, because like a Regimental over the past four days, I became very well acquainted Sergeant Major (a with it. senior non- commissioned Today, judo is an internationally standardized martial art officer who is that is practiced by an estimated 20 million people around directly in charge the world…[b]ut to me, perhaps the most important defining characteristic of the art is reflected in the core values that it stands for. Unlike the brutal and gratuitous Black belt, Roy Thistle, and the violence that is propagated by exploitive activities like author, Mike Kennedy, at camp. UFC, judo is an activity that’s grounded in a shared sense 6 of respect and honour among the participants. Safety and me. When I began this journey fifteen years ago, I never strict adherence to the tenets of fair play and good expected to get to where I am today. Along the way, I’ve sportsmanship are of paramount importance. As our met some remarkable people who today I count as being Sensei for the training camp emphasized to us at the among my closest friends, and there’s no doubt that my outset, “In judo, you never hurt your partner. Never.” practice of judo has added a tremendous amount of value to my life. I myself started in judo comparatively late in life; I was 42, and originally, I started mainly for the benefit of my son, Perhaps I have also come to more fully appreciate the who was six at the time. We stumbled upon a small wisdom of something Sergeant Major Fournier once said recreational club located in our neighbourhood, began to me: practicing with them one night a week, and eventually spent nine years training together. When my son hit the “Never forget that what you were taught as a cadet has teenage years, he developed other interests which he helped you in many other things in your life, even if you decided to pursue. I continued plodding along, slowly did not realize it at the time.” climbing my way up the ranks. Today, fifteen years later There’s a lot more I could tell you, but I will leave it at that. and something that I never expected, the black belt is now Sure, the past few days have been tough – really tough – actually within sight. but we all know something about tough days, and how to So, you might ask, what did I learn from the past four get though them. Yes, I’m hurting right now, but it’s days? I have to admit that there have been times I have nothing that a good shot of whisky won’t cure. The cuts woken up in the morning asking myself, how much longer and bruises will heal, and the pain will go away. But the before this hell is all over with? But as much as I struggled memories will endure, and the sense of pride and with the demands of the training camp itself, once it was satisfaction will remain with me for the rest of my life. all over, I came away with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment – it was like finishing the recruit obstacle race all over again. As I look back now, I’m really glad that I took the plunge, and decided to participate. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Another lesson that I took away from the training camp is that, for some people at least, age is only a number, and Mike Kennedy is a 58-year-old judoka. He has been one that is largely meaningless. One of the highlights of training since 2000 at RACA Judo Club in the last four days was having the opportunity to encounter Scarborough under the guidance of Bill Ennis, one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. As a Carleton De Ryck, and Graham Harding. young immigrant to Canada, he began studying judo in More recently, he has also done additional training Hamilton in 1960. Today, 55 years later, at the age of 82, at the Scarborough Dojo under Jonathan Judah and he holds a 5th degree black belt, and continues to instruct his colleagues. Mike has a military background and on a regular basis. In the last competition in which he attended Royal Military College of Canada where he completed recruit training and was accepted as participated, he won the World Master’s Championship. a member of the Cadet Wing in October 1976. He He was 77 years of age at the time. currently works in Toronto as a Management Consultant. And finally, maybe I learned some things about myself. I have never been athletically talented, and this was a Just as this newsletter was being wrapped up, Mike limitation that I struggled mightily with during my brief received his brown belt – congratulations Mike! time at the [Royal Military] College. I started in judo late in life; I’m never going to rise to high rank, or win any competitions, and I know that. But it doesn’t matter to 7

March 19 – March 20, 2016, Assistant Instructor Course, Takahashi Dojo, 5 Melrose Place, Ottawa. Contact: Judo Ontario 416-447-5836. Upcoming Events Sunday, March 20, 2016, Budokan Monthly Shiai

(Registration 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m., Shiai starts 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 6, 2016, Ontario Youth International sharp), Ajax Budokan Judo Club, 75 Centennial Drive, Judo Tournament, Father Leo Austin Catholic Secondary School, 1020 Dryden Blvd., Whitby. Contact: Judo Ajax. Contact: 905-665-4524. Ontario 416-447-5836. Sunday, March 27, 2016, Ontario Team Training, 9:00 Saturday, February 13, 2016, Ontario Open Mat Training, a.m. U14 /U16 - 10:30 a.m. U18+, Tora Judo Club, 1295 4:00 p.m., Ajax Budokan Judo Club, 75 Centennial Drive, Williams Parkway, Brampton. Contact: Ajax. Contact: Judo Ontario 416-447-5836. [email protected].

Sunday, February 14, 2016, Budokan Monthly Shiai (Registration 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m., Shiai starts 10:00 a.m. Saturday, April 2, 2016, Peel Judo Championships, Father sharp) Contact: 905-665-4524. Bressani Catholic High School, 250 Ansley Grove Rd., Woodbridge. Contact: [email protected]. Saturday, February 20, 2016, All Women Training, 11:00 a.m., Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, 875 Morningside Feb 6th Tora Sunday Tournament postponed with a date Ave. Contact: Judo Ontario 416-447-5836. To Be Determined. Contact: [email protected].

Sunday, February 21, 2016, Judo Ontario Yudansha Grading, Ajax Budokan Judo Club, 75 Centennial Drive, Camp Budokan at Oshawa’s Camp Samac early Ajax. Contact: Judo Ontario 416-447-5836. registration to begin soon – ask Karl at 905-665-4524.

st Events are always being registered so check the Judo Saturday, February 27, 2016, Borderland Judo 1 Annual Ontario website on the Event sidebar at Shiai, 10:40 a.m., Fort Frances High School, 440 McIrvine https://www.judoontario.ca/events/upcoming Road, Fort Frances, Ontario. Contact: [email protected].

Sunday, February 28, 2016, Ontario Team Training,

9:00 a.m. U14 /U16 - 10:30 a.m. U18+, Tora Judo Club, ABOUT THE JUDO ONTARIO

1295 Williams Parkway, Brampton. NEWSLETTER Contact: [email protected]. This newsletter was created to build

Saturday, March 12, 2016, Ontario Open Mat Training, community and communication in the judo community. We welcome photos, 4:00 p.m., Ajax Budokan Judo Club, 75 Centennial Drive, stories and ideas from all our members Ajax. Contact: Judo Ontario 416-447-5836. across Ontario. Send them to Val!

Val McIntyre, Editor [email protected]

Aartje Sheffield, President, Judo Ontario [email protected]

Contributors: Aartje Sheffield & Mike Kennedy

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