“Judo is an Olympic sport where the goal is to throw or submit your opponent, who is also trying to throw you”, Nina explains.
Both Nina and Heidi have a long track record with the team. Heidi joined 5 years ago when moving to Sydney, while Nina started at the club’s Kids Classes 16 years ago.
As the UNSW Judo team is naturally also for UNSW students, Isabelle joined 2 years ago after receiving an email about a beginner’s course from Arc @ UNSW. Sarah signed up about 7 months ago too; both agreeing that they wanted to stay fit and have fun while balancing their university assessments.
No matter the varying length of time they have spent with the club or their personal reasons for joining, they all agree that the time they set aside to train and compete is invaluable.
They say it forces them to be mindful when practicing as they must think about their every move; that it gives them confidence when they progress and gain new belts; and that it is great to be a part of a club with like-minded individuals.
The four judo athletes recently traveled together to the UniSport Nationals Division 1 at Gold Coast to represent UNSW at the Judo Women’s competition. Despite it being their first time competing at Nationals, they brought home the gold.
“It is great to have the facilities on campus where we can host beginner to senior courses at various times during the week. This means that members can move between levels and progress quickly. There are also a lot of opportunities to compete and hence become a better competitor”, team captain Heidi state.
In further explaining their success at Nationals, Isabelle adds:
“Because we were almost there for a week, it was great to have the Arc Sport team looking after us by organising registrations, getting us access passes, managing schedules and providing physios for recovery. This took a lot of pressure off us that we could use to focus on the competition”.
The four of them enjoyed their week at the Gold Coast but are happy to be back in Sydney and finishing their exams for the semester. On an everyday basis Sarah, who’s the newest addition to the team, thinks Judo is a great way to break up her studies and take some time for herself:
“I practice Judo regularly to keep fit during a hectic week of competing tasks. I would recommend it to other university students to de-stress, and to anyone else who is motivated by a competitive sport”.
Interested in Judo? Have a look here.
