The course was organised close to Johannesburg and featured South African Judo Federation representatives Gert Gouws, Thomas Dunken and Dirk Crafford who were among an enthusiastic set of participants.
South Africa is one of the leading National Federation’s among the English-speaking areas of the African Judo Union, the sport’s continental body, and has been running a very successful refugee project which has been driven by IJF Academy graduate (Coach Level 2) Roberto Orlando.
Dutch legend Huizinga, who made a one-off return to the competition tatami to win the Veteran World Championships in 2015, was joined by Kodokan Judo Institute expert Mikihiro Mukai, former world champion Daniel Lascau and IJF Academy Director Envic Galea.
Huizinga and Mukai – who has heavily influential in the early years of Olympic champion Baker Mashu and Open weight world champion Asahina Sarah when they trained under him as children - ventured into the centre of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, to see one of the course sessions and the former treated the group to an experience that no other sport could replicate.
Huizinga, a five-time European champion, did randori with all participants one after the other, an experience that will be treasured by theRefugee Judo Clubstudents while Mukai led the class through traditional Japanese class for children which is one of his duties at the Kodokan.
The Netherlands legend said: "This project is led by Italian Roberto Orlando, who himself has finished the Level 1 and Level 2 course of the IJF Academy a few years ago. Sensei Mukai and I led a training session for the refugees. At the end I did randori with all of them. It was playing with the small ones and fighting with the older ones. Two of them gave me quite a fight before I scored ippon. It was a great atmosphere, everybody happy. A lot of pictures were taken.
"I have been to South Africa before and the hospitality is always great. After training we had a few 'braai' (barbecue) at the riverside."
The South African course received a visit and endorsement from Ms. Jabu Malindi who is responsible for the South African Olympic Committee Solidarity Project.
Huizinga added: "The participants of the IJF Academy course are very eager for judo knowledge. Obviously, they live quite remote in the world, with a long distance to the renowned judo countries, so for them it is not so common to have people with a lot of judo knowledge around them. The overall level of the participants was quite good and the practical week helped them very much in the deeper understanding of all the judo principles."
The IJF Academy Directors and experts had a long discussion with South African Judo Federation President, Professor Temba Hlasho on how the IJF Academy graduates could be involved in the further development of judo in South Africa.
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