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2025 major events 

1.   4 – 6 Apr 25               Melbourne International Open – Victoria
2.   27-28 Apr 25              NSW State Training Camp
3.   3-4 May 25                 Mandurah Cadet & Junior Oceania Cup (WA)
4.   3 May – 7 Jun incl.     No Budokan Saturday Competition classes for Juniors or Seniors
5.   4 May 25                    Central Coast Open
6.   5 – 8 Jun 25              National Championships - Gold Coast Sport & Leisure Centre, Carrara
7.   9 – 10 Jun25             National Championships Training Camp, Carrara
8.   14 Jun 25                  Budokan Saturday Competition classes re-commence
9.   29 Jun 25                  Budokan hosted NSW Mons and U/11s competition
10.   26 Oct 25                  Budokan hosted NSW Mons, U/11s, U/13s competition

Clarissa Vumbaca and Max Zollinger with Nathan Katz coaching 

• Junior (U/21) European Cup Malaga Spain 1-2March 

• Clarissa. Clarissa fought well putting her Polish opponent under pressure with aggressive gripping and various attacks. Poland used drop attacks when under pressure and they went into Golden score time with Clarissa 2 shidos ahead. Unfortunately, Clarissa was caught with Sumi-Gaeshi 40 seconds later. 

• Max. In the first minute we thought that there should have been a score to Max with Kouchi-Gake off his Uchi-Mata against his Israeli opponent (who had already beaten Spain) but one was not given. We assumed they ruled it Ne-Waza. He was 2 Shidos to 1 down with 2 minutes to go and despite some solid attacking was given a harsh third Shido for passivity which would have been disappointing for Max.

• The camp was very beneficial with tons of partners for randori, and Nathan, who was one of the two National Junior Coaches on this trip, reported that they both trained very well.

Junior (U/21) European Cup Portimao Portugal 8-9March  

• Max. In his first match Max fought the Kazakh (who had beaten Portugal). Unfortunately, a quick combination of Uchi-Mata to Kata-Guruma from KAZ ended the match early for Max and that’s how Judo is sometimes. The levels are high overseas and one mistake can be the end. 

• Clarissa. Clarissa fought against Canada in a solid match. Well into the match, the Canadian eventually countered one of Clarissa’s Uchi-Mata attacks. The Canadian won through to the semi-final putting Clarissa back in Repechage against Italy. In this match Clarissa fought very well dominating most of the exchanges. Near full-time one short pause in pressure from Clarissa was enough to allow ITA to score.

• The camp in Portugal was also very beneficial for both our athletes.

  Crosby Peake with Kerrye Katz coaching 

• Porec Millenium Team Cadet (U/18) European Cup Croatia 15-16March.  

• With over 90 athletes in Crosby’s division, Crosby faced an Austrian first match. Croz attacked well but mid-point in the contest, AUT caught him with a soft Tomoe-Nage for Yuko. Despite some good attacks with Uchi-Mata, Tomoe, a solid arm-bar attempt, and forcing a Shido on AUT, this is how the match ended.  Croz enjoyed the camp which followed this competition. Kerrye went on to Bad Blankenburg to coach the Cadet Girls’ team in a competition and camp there, and Ivica took the boys team to Bremen with assistance from Joe.

• Bremen (Germany) Cadet Masters 22-23March. 

• In another massive division, Crosby faced up to a Belgian opponent. Getting caught early with drop Seoi-Nage for Waza-Ari, he fought hard all the way from there with good Ashi-Waza, transition and various forward attacks.  A huge Ura-Nage counter followed by Ippon from a Seoi to Kouchi-Makikomi combination gave him his first European Cup win. In the next match against Brazil, he had to defend many Tomoe-Nage attacks and some strong Ne-Waza but did some good attacks and Ne-Waza of his own, Unfortunately he conceded 2 Waza-Aris from the Tomoe attacks. 

• Croz had the opportunity to also fight in Junior Men in Bremen, also against Brazil. This match was also close with Croz attacking with Uchi-Matas and BRA with Tomoes for which he conceded 2 Shidos. In the second half of the match Croz’s Kouchi was countered with Deashi for Yuko. Putting more pressure on BRA resulted in Croz getting caught with an arm-bar submission and this is how the match ended.

 Our guys showed some real competitiveness in these competitions – more hard training with intensity and consistency and of course more international matches, will continue to improve their performances. Great work guys. 

• Cadet & Junior Panamerican Oceania Championships, Lima, Peru – 18-19April.
• Congratulations and wishing a great competition to Clarissa Vumbaca who will compete in the Junior Women’s U/52kg divisions and Crosby Peake who will compete Cadets and Junior Men U/60kg divisions in 2 week’s time at the Panamerican Oceania Championships. We wish you both a great competition and camp. Congratulations also to Bianca Tandean, Max Zollinger, Nicholas Platonov, and Nikola Dobric who were selected to this event but elected not to participate. All the best also to Kerrye who will be one of the two National Coaches for these events.