Hello Everyone!
Halfway through our 2018 training year, Police Judo has hosted multiple clinics and workshops, traveled to training camps and local Inter-Club competitions with our program. Not to mention our Police Judo Juniors Liwen, Nikka, Keira and Tobin participating in a judo demo with the Police Judo Demo Team in the VPD Recruiting Event "Girls Can Fly" in Abbotsford led by Coach Zan as well as another Police Judo Demo with Nikkei Judo Club at the Japanese Matsuri event. Also, great to see some of the Police Judo Juniors have developed to the next level and tried their first judo match against higher belts.
Aidan Keyes, our 14 year-old Police Judo Junior has stepped up from BC events. He qualified for the 2018 BC Winter Games in Kamloops for -46kg/U16 division, as well as qualified for his first Nationals in May for both U16 & U18 with Team BC (along with 90 other judo athletes in Calgary). In February 2018 Aiden represented Zone 4 (Fraser Valley) with 15 judo athletes from Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster, White Rock, and Burnaby at the BC Winter Games. His team won the team competition for Bronze against all the other 8 zones from BC. During his first trip outside BC to Saskatchewan with Team BC, along with our Police Judo Junior coach Howie, Aidan won Bronze/U16 in his division and Tobin Jr. won his all matches for his participant medal for U12.
We are very proud of Launa Hinton, and congratulate her for receiving the Bronze medal in the U21/-52 division in the Judo Canada Nationals this year. Most recently she qualified and passed her first Dan black belt. Thanks to long time coach Chin-I, Mr. Suda from Abbotsford Judo, Brian and Sensei Russ from VPD Police Judo, Tak from SFU Police Judo, Mark, Rick, Al, from JIBC Police Judo, and everyone from Police Judo for helping her along this judo path. Launa has practiced judo since the age of 3 and she has been consistently training and practicing with a full schedule, including training and traveling with Team BC from West to East across Canada to the National training camp in Montreal. She has participated in local, Provincial, National, and US competitions consistently throughout the last 4 years. She achieved great results from hard work and goal setting, step by step. A black belt is just the beginning of learning. Good luck to her for the upcoming Senior season year. A black belt is achievable for every youth, if one sets it as a goal, no matter how long it takes!
Prior to the Nationals this year, both Aidan and Launa stepped up their training and flew out to Taiwan and Korea to enhance their training by visiting local judo clubs, high school judo teams, and ultimately the National Police University in Taiwan. In addition, they both worked out with and observed how the top Korean National Team trains. Thank you Mi Hee Choi of Police Judo for connecting us her Korean instructor, Cho Jun-Ho, who is an Olympic medalist as well as a coach for the Korean National team. He gave up time with his team to set up lessons and training with Aidan and Launa. Mi Hee's superb hospitality with the Police Judo Juniors (and seniors) meant everyone had a wonderful first-hand experience and rare training opportunity in Korea.
The Police Judo Junior classes this Summer:
May 22 to Aug 9 every Tuesday @6:30-7:30pm (Advanced/experienced) class &
Thursday @6:30-7:30pm (Recreational/beginners) class
SFU On-Line registration is open and you can also purchase your parking pass through On-Line registration. https://athleticsandrecreation.its.sfu.ca
Judogi can be purchased from local store with 10% off for Police Judo MIKADO https://mikadomartialarts.com/product-category/all-brands/
or On-Line Matsuru https://matsuru.ca/collections/judogi
Congratulations to Launa Hinton 17 years old, our first junior from the Police Judo Junior program, recently passing her black belt Shodan exam after starting her judo practice at age of 3 years old at the old VPD gym. Thank you for her Uke, Coach Howie for all the good breakfalls!!
Launa with Coach Howie at her recent Kata exam
Congrats to our junior student, Kelly, who starts her first year of academic studies in UBC. Well done and we are proud of them!!
We are getting ready for the third annual Tecate, Mexico charity/volunteer Police Judo 2018 visit from July 15-21, 2018 with 12 of our volunteers joining to run sport/judo camps & starting the build for a dedicated sport centre for the community of Tecate!
Special thanks to VPD tactical Training Centre force options training unit instructor Cst. John Irving & JIBC Police Judo instructor Sgt. Mark Steinkampf, and Coach Zan with the team of police judo for organizing all the fundraising work including the anonymous cash donations from LEJA members, force options instructors, and students attending the clinics. A special thanks to Vincent Zhao kindly donating the bundle of plain shirts for police judo toward the cause!
For our final fundraiser prior to departure, we are excited and looking forward to host our first Sunday meet for local clubs and their juniors for the mini interclub SFU Police Judo shiai event. All the registration fees and merchandise sales (together with the proceeds of the police judo edged weapon and women self-defense clinics) will go directly to the cause and will benefit the youth of Tecate. Please save the date, register and bring your family to enjoy the event!
Thank you!
Upcoming event for Juniors: July 8, 2018
SFU Police Judo InClub Sunday Meet!
- Have fun
- Meet judo friends
- Challenge yourself
- Give back
Click on the image to download PDF.
For students interested in learning about coaching and instructing basics, the NCCP coaching program run by Deb Ladler is recommended! This certification is mandatory for those interested in moving on to black belt, and is a preferred credential for those volunteers who are regularly assisting with coaching Juniors (If you are planning on being involved an Assistant Instructor for the Police Judo Junior program, the NCCP Dojo Assistant course through Judo BC is another recommended coaching course). Please contact Brian Shipper at brianshipper@yahoo.com for more information on NCCP with Deb Laidler.
