We’re Refreshed, Participants Hail Seminar Ahead National Open Senior Judo Championship

IKPO IGBINOBA 

After two days of brainstorming sessions, participants at the refresher course for coaches, referees and elite athletes say they now have better understanding of judo than before.

Sponsor of the National Open Senior Judo Championship, Dr. Musa Oshodi insisted there must be a refresher course before the championship even though it would inflate the budget.

Oshodi, former vice president of the Nigeria Judo Federation, NJF and current chairman of the Oyo State Judo Association certainly knew what he wanted when he insisted on the course.

Participants in the course were unanimous in their verdict that the programme was the greatest thing to happened to them as practitioners.

Veteran coach and referee, Kundam Binsak of Plateau State who was one of the participants described the course as

“Powerful and explosive”

The retired Nigeria Air Force officer said the two-day course took him back to the basics.

“It is a long time I had an experience like the one I had during this refresher course.

We were taken back to the basics. 

And I salute the resource persons for the wonderful job they did just within two days”.

Binsak appealed to the judo authorities to organise such programmes on a regular basis.

According to him “Our judo will improve significantly if we have this type of programme regularly. 

“The federation should endeavour to make it a regular event, at least four times a year”

Coach Johnson Mba of Enugu State expressed the same euphoric excitement like Binsak.

He told judoblitzng.com “After the course, I can confidently say that I am a better coach. I can’t quantify what I gained in the refresher course in monetary terms.

” I really gained a lot from the basic lessons of safety which is the core of judo.

“The course was a wonderful experience for me. I just pray we have more like it”.

Ekiti State coach, Akinwale Morakinyo said the course for him was a great experience.

“I gained a lot from the course within just the two days that it lasted. We were really refreshed. There were some things we had forgotten that the course, that we remembered.

Akinwale was full of praise for the resource persons for appreciating the areas to address during the programme.

“I must thank the resource persons, coaches Edokpolor Ihaza, Bashir Musa and Dickson Egbowon for the great work they did”.

They took us back to the foundation of judo, the basics and many of us realised that we had forgotten some aspects”.

The Ekiti coach also appealed to the judo authorities to ensure such refresher course happens more frequently.

“If our judo must grow, we must have this type of course on a regular basis and the federation should endeavour to organise similar programmes on a regular basis”.

The weigh-in of judokas preparatory to the championship took place on Friday.

The championship proper begins on Saturday and ends on Sunday.