Borderland Judo held its first Annual “Borderland Judo Winter Classic” tournament on Saturday, January 17, and it was a great success.
It started off with a referees clinic Friday night and then the competition took place on Saturday. Judo clubs attending were from Thunder Bay, Kenora, Dryden, and Fort Frances. The Borderland Judo Club currently has 39 registered members of which 25 competed in the tournament.
There were 90+ matches throughout the day starting with the U10 mixed division and finishing with the Seniors division.
“Our team’s performance was awesome, both on and off the mats,” Dojo Instructor Gord Witherspoon shared.
“Our parents put in a lot of hard work to help make this tournament a success and I can’t thank them enough. We’re already making plans for next years event.”
Witherspoon shared that all of the judo clubs across the region are friendly with each other and often work together well, keeping competition on the mat where it belongs.
“All of the judo clubs in NWO operate on the principle that we’re all one big club,” he said.
“Competitors from the different clubs can be fighting each other one minute and hanging out the next. It’s not uncommon to see the coaches helping and working with judokas not even from their own club. It’s a system that works well because NWO has produced some amazing judokas as a result.”
