As I mentioned before, the tournaments have kicked into full gear. Before I write about the tournaments themselves, I must mention the full-day seminar held on February 21 in our gym. All age categories took part, training in two groups (U8, U10, U12) and (U14, U16, U18). In the morning we focused on standing techniques and in the afternoon on groundwork.
On the Saturday of the spring holidays, a tournament for the U10 and U12 categories took place in Sušice. We sent eleven competitors. Matěj Hajný from the beginners and Pepa Kapoun from the younger pupils did best, fighting their way to 2nd places. Matyáš Rais and Vojtěch Mareš also did well, finishing 3rd. We then set out for the town of Tábor, where competitors in the younger and older junior categories clashed. Our competitors' performances weren't bad, but we still couldn't match our opponents.
On Friday and Saturday, March 13–14, our littlest ones (the Tygříci) had a camp in our gym so that they too can start joining competitions. In March, the Czech Cup in Ostrava (an internationally attended tournament) and the Mariánské Lázně Grand Prix still await us. We're keeping our fingers crossed for everyone.
Radek Hančík, RuKa JUDO
