Author: kataguruma

The Vernon Judo Club wrapped up the regular 2021/22 season on May 16 with a promotions/potluck gathering at Kin Beach.  From yellow to brown belt, we recognized 30 members for their commitment to the sport.

We will be starting regular classes up again in September.  If we can assemble ten or more 5-7 year olds, we would like to run a class specifically for that age group starting then.

Because we were able to run a 6-12 class this year, the club did finally return to our pre-covid membership numbers—and had competitors at a couple regional events.

In the coming season, we are looking forward to hosting an inter-provincial camp in Sep 30-Oct 2, 2022; the Vernon BC Winter Games judo venue March 23-26, 2023 (which was originally set for February this year but postponed); and our own BC Open event at the curling rink April 21-22, 2023.

Through the summer instructors will be meeting once a week for kata and to keep up our own skills. We have a couple dozen boxes left of the 5L Bella Vista Blend pure apple juice (which is a fundraiser for our Parents’ Association).  Contact the club for details, including eTransfer or pick-up arrangements.

We’re hosting a mini-tournament on Sunday November 14th, open to zone two clubs.

Registration and event details are up at Trackie.

The banner’s back up! The ’21-22 season for Canada’s longest continuously running Judo Club is about to begin. Classes start September 9th.

Hopefully everyone was able to keep active over the summer and got a chance to take in some Olympic and Paralympic judo.

Athletes born 2007-2009 could be eligible for the 2022 BC Winter Games to be held here in Vernon!

We have added another class time and we will be starting out low-impact to be in line with covid guidelines. Classes will continue to be Mondays and Thursdays (with make-up classes for some holiday Mondays on the Tuesday).
5:45-6:30 PM Juniors/beginners (5-7)
6:30-7:30 PM Junior/beginners/intermediate (8-12)
7:30-9:00 PM Senior (13+)
Kata continues on Wednesdays: 6:30-8:00 PM

Because we’re entirely a volunteer organization, our full-term rates are still low; contact us for more information including free trials and family discounts.

Kiyoshi and Aubrey managed to be at both the last major 2020 event (Edmonton International) and the first 2021 one (The High Performance Summer Training camp). Congratulations to Judo BC, The Island Judo Association hosts, and all the participants (from across Canada) on this excellent event. There were about 170 BC, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick and Yukon participants.

The Brentwood College facilities are great. It was truly a breath of fresh air to be back doing judo—figuratively and literally, as we had to travel from and through a lot of country that’s been hard hit by this year’s fire season.

More to be posted here but we had a number of promotions rounding off the 2020-21 season, including Trudy, Nadine, Thaddeus, and Kiyoshi to their ikkyu brown belts! More than a couple more, including Rob and Ronan, just need to complete their grading requirements once we’re back on the mats to receive their next belts.

Thanks to the work by the Province of BC, viaSport, Judo BC, and VJC instructors—the Vernon Judo Club is approved by Judo BC to Return to Play during the pandemic.

We will have registration September 10th (where online options will be sent out by email ahead of then), with classes starting September 14.

Under the new phase 3 protocols, there will be enhanced cleaning, distinct arrival and departure times, masks to and from the dojo, waivers/questionnaires, and temperature tests before going on the mats and into cohort groups.

We are back and planning those cohort groups now.  We are also looking forward to instructor Rick Pollon joining us (formerly head instructor at the Kamloops Judo Club) at the end of October.

Members from last year should be getting a call over the weekend for details—if you haven’t already.

Thanks to Judo BC, Judo Canada, the Province of BC, and the August 24th viaSport announcement, we have a plan for Back to Judo 2020. See the judobc.ca site for the latest details.

VJC registration is planned for September 10 (with online registration options available soon, or sooner)—and our first night of Judo September 14th.

We will be contacting returning members to help form the cohort groups. Contact vernonjudo@gmail.com to get on the list.

Hopefully everyone is keeping healthy, busy, and adjusting as well as can be expected in these difficult times. While spring break may have helped slow the virus spread, judo classes—including kata—continue to be suspended due to the ongoing crisis. Members will get an email as soon as we know we can restart.

There are some announcements:

1. The last of the apple juice was purchased on the weekend. Thanks to Dan from Steveston for picking up the remaining stock. Thanks goes out to all the sellers. Our top three for the contest that ended February first: The Bondts (Mnason, Nadine, Thaddeus, Isaiah, and Isabelle), Athrun Arav, and Jonah McMillan are due prizes; if not received already, we’ll see what way’s best to get them out at the next safe opportunity.
2. Judo BC does have an activities spreadsheet—email the club if you’d like more information.
3. Our April 24-26 DA/DI Course has been postponed.
4. Nationals have been moved from May to July.
5. The Parents’ Association AGM will be a virtual/call-in meeting April 29th; club members should have already received the meeting specifics by email.

To all Vernon Judo Club Members and Families,

As per discussions at classes last night, we have decided to cancel our April 3-4 tournament and—instead of doing the usual reduced class times during spring break—we have also cancelled classes for the two-week period from March 16-27. Those who have already registered for the tournament should be receiving refunds from the Trackie system shortly.

These are unprecedented times. We do hope that everyone stays safe and does their best to help reduce the transmission of this outbreak by keeping up to date and following health authority recommendations. The timing for spring break does seem to be good for our region and we are hopeful for some good news in the coming weeks.

The VJC kids at the BC Winter Games in Fort St. John did very well with a bronze medal showing in the team competition and Kiyoshi Comley added gold there to his first place showings earlier in the month in Kamloops Youth provincials (in both U16-50kg and U18-50). Judo BC streamed the entire BCWG event—with two days of competition still up—on Youtube. When Aubrey competed in judo in ’84 FSJ BCWG, he never expected he’d be back as an off-mat official with his son 36 years later.

We are sending six kids to the inter-club Okanagan Open in Kelowna: Athrun Arav, Chase and Koen Robinson, Finlay Ritson, Blaize Rommel, and Lane Magee.

There are just a couple months left in our regular season but we do have athletes, coaches/referees attending Pacific International, Edmonton International, Canmore Inter-Provincial camp, and Nationals mid May (in Edmonton again this year).

We are gearing up now for the BC Open tournament we host annually at the curling rink—with Kata this year 7PM April 3rd and the Shiai (individual competitions) starting 10AM April 4th. For a change, we expect to have at least couple teams in the Kata event. We will open with odori, courtesy of the chidorikai dancers, and a short composition on our new taiko drum.

We’re down to 20 boxes but the Vernon Judo Club Parents’ Association annual fundraiser is still underway: $15/box for 5 litres of locally-pressed juice (a blend of Bella-Visa-Grown Gala, Spartan, Aurora and Ambrosia—courtesy of Ringo En Orchards). This money supports our athletes by refunding registration fees for competitions, camps and clinics. A special thanks also goes to Tom Ouchi at Ringo En for donating the use of his trailer to get mats to events. There’s no competition without tatami!