July a very busy month for Judo

When everybody was looking forward to go swimming and slow down the daily routine, or go on holiday, in the 100 years old buildings, ex services Sergeant’s Mess and Band Room, in Pembroke, every day Sunday included, heavily clad in cotton Judo Suits, Judoka young and old were busy studying their Go Kyu (Syllabus) and practicing their Kata. Others were going through hundreds of repetitions up and down the dojo (Hall), and others sitting down on the Tatami looking at PowerPoint presentations and taking notes.

In fact, the Malta Judo Federation had its National Grading, National Team Technical Training and National Coaching requalification courses.

Thanks to the assistance of the Maltese Olympic Committee, the Federation could invite one of the Life honorary members of the Federation, Maestro Monti, who together with the Federation’s technical people held a marathon of activities.

MJF Starts intensification in preparation for GSSE Cyprus 2009
Only a year away from the Games of the Small States of Europe, the national team, under the leadership of Maestro Monti, started going through a process of technical and endurance preparation. These events are being held daily in the Mornings at Pembroke and in the Federation Clubs in the evening, to give the club members an opportunity to train with the national team.

National Dan Grading,
On Sunday, 6 judoka “sat” for their Dan Grading. The four hour exam was based on the new MJF Syllabus. The Examination Board was:
Maestro Alfredo Monti 7th Dan, Envic Galea 6th Dan. Alex Bezzina 5th Dan, John Zammit 4th Dan
The successful Black Belts were:
Joe Muscat 3rd Dan, Joe Bonello 3rd Dan. Ivan Esposito 2nd Dan, Julien Mozzo 2nd Dan, Domnic Saywell 1st Dan, Rueben Micallef 1st Dan
National Coaching Seminars
34 coaches renewed or qualified for level 2 and level 1 in a week intensive course lasting from Monday to Saturday. This general revision was necessary in order to fulfil the ambitious regeneration plans of the federation in the upgrade of the Judo Clubs and in the qualification to the MOC Clubmark classification. The lectures and practical sessions, based on the Canadian Coaching Programme, were delivered by Course Leaders: Alfredo Monti, 7th Dan ex National Coach Italian Federation (Technical) Envic Galea 6th Dan Masters International Sports Management (Administration & Pedagogical) Alex Bezzina 5th Dan 4th Level EJU High Performance Coach, International Referee (Technical & Sports Science) John Zammit 4th Dan International Referee (Refereeing & Competition rules) and Ivan Esposito 2nd Dan Orthopaedic Surgeon & Sports Medicine (Medical)

These revision courses were also necessary as this month the European Judo Union has launched the 3rd level advanced coaching course and only those who have fulfilled this 2nd level will be able to participate.

Clubs more ambitious
Last October, during the Annual General Meeting, the Federation decided to empower the clubs in the preparation of members of the National Team, thus acquiring experience as personal coaches to members of the National Team and enabling the Federation to improve her International Competition performance and depend less on foreign professional coaches.
HQ inadequate, new facilities indispensable
Although recently the Federation and the Judo Academy, invested a lot of money in the refurbishing of the premises, these intensive activities were not easy to organise as the halls proved to be too small and many times the activities had to be alternated.
The Success of these activities and the new growing enthusiasm in the clubs encouraged the Federation to increase the attention to the building of the International Judo Centre, mainly as they are conscious that further delay only serves to make the building become more expensive, and that in all these years, the Sport of Judo is missing several International opportunities.
Judo – Sport Tourism more than 1,000 visitors in four star hotels
In less than a year, Maltese Judo organised two European Championships successfully, the Cadet European Championships and the Kata European Championship, The Cadet Championship resulted as the largest single sport activity for Malta with 700 visitors from 43 European Countries. This event streamed live on Internet had a staggering 300,000 hits. Most important is that both events received a lot of compliments for the organisation, with the International Judo Centre in operation; Malta and Maltese Judo would surely become a permanent centre of attraction and the visiting Judoka would only benefit in improving their level of Judo
Flag Bearer flies back to join the Maltese Olympic Contingent for Beijing
Marcon Bezzina, who last week was named by the President of the MOC Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco as the Maltese Flag Bearer, flies back from Bath to join the NOC contingent to Beijing, with Beijing, Maltese Judo would have qualified to attend to 6 Olympic Games, un interrupted since Seoul 1988
Good Luck Marcon you make us proud