Yuukan Judo Club

This year saw an amazing 14 members compete at the National Championships with Riley Nolan, Marcus Singapu, Jack Bridle, Raedon Smith, Amelie Gautier, Eva Gautier, Jonathon Smith, Bodin Smith, Camille Gautier, Christabella Smith, Paris De Casanove, Penny Stein, Tony Magnussan and Roger Major winning an array of gold, silver and bronze medals.

We had Zaq Smith, Jennifer Stein, Kaidin Dodd, Katie Weston, Jack Rejc, Zac Ryan and Alicia Congram all train on the mat. We also had many visitors over the year with Major John Whipp, Beau De Casanove, Blake Nolan and Michael Haughey all coming back to train on the mat, allowing our members to experience judo with others who have competed at elite level.

Along with our Christmas Party came the presentation of The Most Improved, The Encouragement Award and the Perpetual Judo Spirit Award. These awards are a great achievement for our members and they are extremely deserving of these awards. 

The Most Improved trophy donated by Ashley Schofield was awarded to Bodin Smith who has improved in his judo and his attitude, and he is growing into a wonderful young man.

He has competed in several competitions and has tried his best at them all, with gold medal success at the 2016 Kodokan Nationals. 

The Encouragement trophy winner was Raedon Smith, who has shown his dedication through competitions and on the mat. Sometimes our members go to competitions and may not always win, or they come to training and will sit quietly or help out members. It doesn't go unnoticed and this year the winner tried his best at both. Well done Raedon, we wish you all the best and hope that you continue to flourish next year.

The Judo Spirit award, which the club has had since starting in 2009, went to Riley Nolan. He has been on and off the mat with Yuukan Judo Club through injury since starting with us as a young boy.

Riley has always been a person in the club who continues to help our juniors as well as our seniors. He was awarded the assistant coach last year and has stepped up into that role and continues to share with our members his experiences through judo.

This year saw him take out the 2016 Australian Kodokan Judo Championships with a Gold medal as well as the best throw of the day. We thank him for coming into class early and helping out with the juniors every week. Well done Riley, you are truly deserving of the Yuukan Judo Spirit award.

Your name will continue as recognition to a long list of award winners who have achieved great things in judo with not only Yuukan, but Australian, Oceanic, international, national, state, regional and club rewards.

2009 Luke Nolan, 2010 Hayley Jackson, 2011 Blake Nolan, 2012 Michael Haughey, 2013 Amelie Gautier, 2014 Eva Gautier, 2015 Rylan Taylor and now 2016 Riley Nolan.