Press Release
The Borderland Judo Club recently hosted the first judo tournament in the Fort Frances area in decades.
Competitors from as far west as Portage La Prairie, Man., and as far east as Marathon, showed up at the local Shiai to compete for a custom-made medal.
Early in the season, when our club first was asked to host a competition, local brown belt Gord Witherspoon offered his talents—and those of his high school students—to create and manufacture custom medals for the competition.
The medals are like none other (truly original), and the competitors all commented on their unique design, workmanship, and professional quality.
Hosting a tournament is an incredible amount of work that all has to come together in unison for the one-day event.
The Borderland Judo Club is fortunate to have very skilled parents and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this event such a success.
This competition was comprised of 100 percent volunteers, with many of them never having attended a judo competition, and yet they managed to run a very professional, seamless event.
I received many compliments on the well-run, professional tournament. And I anticipate this will be an annual event now.
We had roughly 70 fighters attend, and with the success of this competition, we will grow to be one of the larger ones in the region.
We had interest from the U.S. and a coach from a team from near Duluth attended to check out the competition.
At the end of the day, he was impressed with the quality of judo, officiating, and the incredible venue.
I’m sure the success of this competition will spread rapidly, and I predict more fighters and teams from the U.S. will be here next year.
The Borderland Judo Club was able to work with Dennis Morrisseau and the tournament was held at the Couchiching multi-use building.
It was the perfect facility, with ample floor space for the large mat area while the upper-deck viewing area was perfect for a bird’s-eye view of the fast-paced judo below.
The Borderland Judo Club also was given the honour of having a trophy donated from the estate of the recently-deceased Hiroshi Mitani of Dryden.
Mitani is known nationwide for his contributions to judo—and especially as being known as the father of judo in this region.
He was a pioneer of judo in this area, and every judo club in this region can be traced back to his teachings and lifelong commitment to judo.
The award was a trophy Mitani won at a competition in 1952 and now has been established as an annual award to a judoka who attends the Borderland Judo Competition and displays excellence in judo.
This year’s recipient was Luke Heatherington, a very skilled black belt from the Kenora Judo Club.
Our local judo students, many who were completing in a tournament for the first time, proved their hard work has paid off.
Here are the local medal results from their respective divisions:
Gold—Grace Petsnick (two), Brayden Clink (two), Jaden Woolsey, Mia Woolsey, Bennet MacDonald, Jarred Galusha, Emma Toriseva, Ryan Ball, and Joaquin Woolsey;
Silver—Jaden Woolsey, Mia Woolsey, Bennet MacDonald, Morgan Good-Thurber, Tessa Labbe, Emmett McCrory, Lorenzo Wigood, Oasis Millette-Tucker, Ellie Petsnick, Jarred Ball, Alex Galusha, and Gord Witherspoon;
Bronze—Morgan Good-Thurber, Liam Dent, Kane Perrault, Ryan MacDonald, Shelby Hunt, and Gage Dyke;
Participation—Willem Kirk and Alex Berg
All of these students fought hard and definitely earned their spots on the podium.
As we grow and learn more about judo, we will continue to have great success at competitions and move forward to higher-level competitions as our judo experience grows with each competition.
Photos of this competition can be viewed on the Borderland Judo Facebook page.
