During the weekend of St. Christian’s Day (May 21st till 24th 2009), the Danish Judo Federation organized the first European Judo Union Special Needs Event. The EJU officially includes special needs judo in their organization. Before this, the event was organized on club level for 10 years. The inclusion of Special Needs Judo in the EJU lifts this event to a national judo federation level, which turned out to be a progress in the participation of the competitors. The number of competitors was less than in 2008 (159 against 550 in 2008), but the number of countries increased with two “new” countries: Andorra and Switzerland, which were sent by their national judo federations. The event that was organized over 4 days, including competition, practice, education and socialization, was of a very high level.

The coaches learned and experienced new ways of teaching methods and training skills, while the judokas experienced different ways of training and new technique skills.

On the first day, all participants arrived in the afternoon. After installing themselves in the hotel or the dojo, and a good diner, the first training started under the guidance of Tycho van der Werff. In a high speed, he offered 5 or 6 techniques, from low to high and from easy to hard level. The judokas and coaches enjoyed his approach  and instructions which were brought with humor and based on fun. This typical Dutch teaching way was present the whole weekend due to the fact that the Dutch coaches were leading the most training sessions.

After the breakfast on Friday, the clinics were given in 3 session from 1 hour, over 3 tatamis. At the same time the qualification team checked if the judokas were correctly classified for the competition. After the classification round, a coach meeting was organized for approval of the classification registration. All judokas were weighed and classified in the correct groups for the competition the next day. In the afternoon most judo groups/teams went sightseeing in Copenhagen. This beautiful city must be seen once in a life time. The city has beautiful buildings and picturesque channels.

On Saturday, the competition was well organized by the Danish organization. Especially the electronic system was an eye-opener. The possibilities to increase the empowerment of the special needs judokas is clear. The organization had chosen to inform the judokas and coaches by a big wide screen, on which the names of the judokas were mentioned for each game. It was a pity that the organization haven’t thought of the possibility to increase the information by adding photos instead of names on the wide screen.  But still the competition run like clockwork, and in 2 ½ hours time, the finals were played, which were from an extremely high level. Because special needs judokas are always reaching to win on Ippon. The award ceremony was also a spectacle. The organization had chosen to do this with the support of a light show and with music. For each judoka there was a moment of fame and recognition. This was not the end of the event, but the tension was gone. Now it was time to relax with a gala dinner and a disco.

On Sunday the last training and closing of the event and the promise to see each other next year in Hungary, Andorra or England?

On behalf of the European Judo Union Special Needs Committee, I want to thank the Danish Judo Federation for the organization of the special needs event 2009.  Especially thanks to Martin Kirkhammer, Anton Toft, Rolf  Mortensen, Claus Hartmann Lund and all the others who made this event so successful. Well done!

Ben van der Eng

Coordinator Special Needs Judo European Judo Union

June 21 2008

The tournament for people with an intellectual disability, competing on elite level, took place in Bordeaux and was an success for the organization.

The competition had gathered 26 male and 3 female from Italia and France.  The athletes showed good sportsmanship both on and off the tatami and we had the possibility to see many nice ippons.

According to the adjustments that has been made to the IJF regulations, only kanstesu-waza was prohibited. It is to the credits of the organization that shime-waza was stopped in the matches with the inexperienced Italians judokas. There was only one referee at each tatami and that may be not many  for a competition at this level. But the referees did a good job and were consequent in there judgment. Later on Mr.Smedly, director INAS-FID Europe declared to have enjoined the competition, aldo he was not familiar with judo.

He admired the skills and the determinations to win from the athletes, yes this was all INAS-FID stands for. 

BvdE

In 2005 I met a remarkable woman from Uzbekistan she addressed me after an demonstration with my judokas and asked me if I was capable to come to her country. Well sent me an invitation I could always concerned it, so when Mrs. Gulnara Saidova mailed me, we ordered a ticked and away we were. It was an interesting experience from both sites 15 special needs kids discovered their first judo thrills while 8 till 10 coaches from all over Eurasia noticed there are other methods to teach the art of judo. While the National youth selection experienced that united sport is fun and disabled people are not pitiful.

We discovered that Uzbekistan is hot, the people proud of their country and culture and really can party.

June 18 2008

Ben van der Eng

Judo4all2008 was a big success, proximally 500 judokas from 14 countries  meet each other in the Netherlands at the city of Beverwijk near Amsterdam

Over four days they were participating in a special programme including judo clinics, sightseeing, competition, Disco party, education etc.

The name Judo4all is no longer an option because the European Judo Union which adopte this event, have decided to change the name in:

"Special Needs Judo Europe"

The next edition in 2009 will be an official EJU event  this is a big success for the founders of judo4all, they reach that goal by continuing to co-operate in the philosophy of the original thought.

I truly believe that they are modest people who in the first place are concerned for the well-being of their special needs students.

I'm very pleased with their support and proud to be their coordinator and spokesman through the EJU. Their expertise and knowledge in special needs judo has provided a big supporting network of special needs judo clubs in Europe, and they all work through their national judo federations.

They also have proven to understand what it means to transcend all boundaries of race, gender, religion, national origin, geography, and political philosophy, and offer judo- training and competition opportunities to all eligible persons with disability in accordance with uniform EJU standards.

Thank you all Ben van der Eng

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