Robert Tichelaar's European trip

During my trip to Europe in January / February 2007 I had the opportunity to referee at several championships in England and The Netherlands.

I thought I'd share some of my impressions with you....

2007 British Open Judo Championships

The 2007 British Open were held at the K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley, United Kingdom, half an hour out of central London, on the 27^th and 28^th of January 2007.

As you can see from the photo, these B-Level championships were held on 3 mat areas with competitors coming from all over the world. Especially the USA and Canada were well represented at this event.

Western Australia's own Charles Kobelke competed in the -100 kg division on Sunday. Result was one win and two losses. Unfortunately insufficient for a medal position. Big hand to Charles for stepping on the mat.

Dutch National Qualification Event -17 yrs

This event was held near Rotterdam in the Netherlands on the 4^th of February. Some 310 competitors under 17 yrs made their way to this event.

As you can see, the mats look different. This is because of the new edge rules that the Dutch Judo Association has implemented some months ago.

Six mats of 7 * 7 meters with 3 meters safety area provided barely enough room for these youngsters.

The new edge rules, with some minor interpretation changes, delivered some excellent judo.

First impression of the new rules.... GREAT for Judo.
(Getting up at 5 am for a 2 hrs journey was a real killer though)
 

Hoogland International Judo Championships

Yes, one day after Rotterdam, there was another major event. It was organised by a local Judo club in a village called Hoogland where I happened to have lived for 5 years prior to coming to Australia. Naturally I could not miss this.

Some 750 competitors from 10 different countries stepped onto the 10 mat areas.

Yes, you read that correctly, that is 10 mats !!

Excellent Judo, relaxed refereeing in a great atmosphere, especially when several European and World Champions stepped onto the mat and all eyes were on them. Better stay alert as referee and not do anything (too) wrong.

After all this hard work (?), I had a few days to recuperate from all the excitement from the previous two Judo-filled weekends.

I got to spend some quality time with my family and friends, got to enjoy the beautiful Dutch scenery, and was even treated to some snow.

What else to do? The answer is simple....

Attend several Judo training session during the week in various clubs and......

There is always the Dutch National Championships for the men and women under 17 yrs on Saturday.

Dutch National Championships men &women -17 yrs

Unfortunately I was not able to referee at this talent-filled event. All the future players for the coming years were battling it out on 5 mats in Nijmegen. Tensions rose high, titles needed to be defended, and most players demonstrated their excellent judo skills.

As a former Dutch National-A referee, I would have liked to have refereed at this event, but I must admit that attending as a spectator was a worth-while experience. It has been years since I spend a whole day as a spectator and just watch the Judo happen without always having to have an instant opinion about this or that.

An exercise that should be regularly attempted by referees. There is lots to be learned from your fellow members of the audience. The mums and dads, sisters and brothers, girlfriends and boyfriends, grandma and grandpas, ALL have an opinion, with no apparent connection with the ruling of the referees on the mat.

Go figure. It doesn't matter what your ruling is, the audience always knows better.

OK, enough Judo fun already. It's time to go home. The plane leaves on Sunday evening. Back in Perth on Tuesday morning at some awfully early time.

And then.... of course... back to teaching Judo at Judo Ryu WA (Fremantle PCYC) that same afternoon.

Better get some sleep. Bye for now.