News
August 2026 Newsletter
Published Fri 28 Aug 2026
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hi to all Budokanis and welcome to our new members – we hope that you are enjoying your Judo experience at Budokan.
Welcome to the August newsletter – what a great month – a huge achievement with Josh Katz winning Silver at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and a buzz to watch him compete live at the SEC Stadium in Glasgow with Nathan sitting in the National Coach’s chair. Great results also from our Cadets and Juniors in the Cadet and Junior Asian Cups in Hong Kong and Macau.
I have reported on these competitions briefly in the first part of the newsletter because they are very significant to the club in terms of our high-performance goals and we take great pride in the efforts and achievements of our international athletes.
Having said that, because we have many important things to cover in this newsletter regarding our larger strategic projects, in this newsletter I have added an annex at the end covering a detailed breakdown of matches rather than flood the front end of the newsletter with this detail.
There is a lot of important information in this newsletter including feedback from the club survey and our child-safe initiatives. Lots to read - enjoy!!
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE
As mentioned above, the following is a brief summary of the results.The Annex at the end of this newsletter covers detail of all matches.
Commonwealth Games, Glasgow Scotland – 31st July - Josh Katz – Silver Medal
Wins against Rwanda and Botswana, both by strangle; win against England by Yuko. Loss by Waza-Ari against India for a well-earned Silver medal. Although the final was disappointing for Josh, this was a solid performance and it was great to see him live in Glasgow; also adding to our pride was seeing Nathan in the National Coach’s chair for Josh.
Lima (Peru) Grand Prix – 14th August – Josh Katz
Loss to #2 seed from USA with Waza-Ari from Seoi-Nage . The margins are so small at this level - again Josh demonstrated that he can hold his own with the world’s best - he will be back soon for more – pushing forward. Always proud of his effort, the example he sets, and his drive.
Hong Kong Cadet Asian Cup - 18 July26
Abbey Cook- Win against Vietnam. Loss against Russia. Win against Australia for Bronze
Lochlan Cook -Wins against the Saudi and Korea. Win against Australia. Loss against Mongolia for Silver
Kento Asano - Loss against Korea.
Hong Kong Junior Asian Cup – 19Jul26
Abbey Cook – wins against two Mongolian athletes to take Gold.
Bianca Tandean – loss to Mongolia. Wins against Korea and Australia to take Bronze.
Lochlan Cook - wins against Mongolia and Korea. Lost to Vietnam. Win against Korea for Bronze.
Nikola Dobric – win against Russia. Loss to Kazakh. Win against Vietnam. Loss against NZ for 5th
Aaron Xu – loss to Russia.
Grant Gu – win against Macau. Loss against Korea.
Macau Cadet Asian Cup - 25 July26
Abbey – win against Belarus. Win against Saudi to take Gold
Lochlan – wins against Hong Kong and Australia. Loss to Australia and Uzbek for 5th
Kento - wins against Belarus and USA and Australia. Loss against Belarus for Silver
Macau Junior Asian Cup - 26 July26
Grant – Loss to USA
Lochlan – loss to Mongolia
Aaron – loss to Korea
Nikola – loss to Mongolia
Abbey - loss to Korea. Wins against Hong Kong and Mongolia for Bronze
Bianca – wins against Korea and Australia. Win against Korea for Gold
Summary
7 athletes competed in 18 divisions winning 9 medals:
3 x Gold, 2 x Silver, 4 x Bronze, 2 x 5th. Congratulations guys, well done!
Abbey2 x Gold (HK Jnrs, MAC Cad), 2 x Bronze (HK Cad, MAC Jnr)
Bianca Gold (MAC Jnr), Bronze (HK Jnr)
LochlanSilver (HK Cad), Bronze (HK Jnr), 5th (MAC Cad), U/P (MAC Jnr)
KentoSilver (MAC Cad), U/P (HKG Cad)
Nikola 5th (HK Jnr), U/P (MAC Jnr)
Aaron, GrantU/P (HK Jnr, MAC Jnr)
CLUB MAJOR PROJECTS
The club committee met on 24th August to discuss 3 key projects. It is important to us that we keep you up to date on their progress especially where it may impact you. Each of these initiatives is designed to improve the experience of our members and their parents at the club.
1. Club Member Management Tool.This tool will replace current processes for managing club membership including on-boarding new memberships, club trial training periods, agreement of risk waivers, payment of training fees, training session attendance and so on. Thanks to club Treasurer Peter Jennings and Vice-President Kate Peake for their huge efforts in undertaking a thorough researching activity evaluating the options and producing a comprehensive report with recommendations. A couple of issues still to be resolved with GymDesk and a few club business rules to be defined prior to implementation.We intend to put together a comprehensive transition plan prior to the roll-out of the new system which is planned for early 2027.
2. Club Survey.Thanks to Committee Member and Survey Project Manager Zsuzsanna Holley on a great effort in producing the survey and evaluating the inputs. Thanks also to all those club members and parents who responded – this is valuable feedback and we are planning actions to address comments provided, again with the intent to improve your experience with the club and better understand aspects of our programs. A summary of issues for the club’s follow-up are:
· Perception of coaching inconsistencies – better communication to athletes and parents regarding coach composition for each class group so that there is a better understanding of the planning and program coordination between coaches and the monitoring of athlete progression. There is a designated Head Coach or 2 coaches, for each class or program; however, senior support coaches step in to run the class whenever the Head Coach is unavailable. Programs are coordinated between coaches and classes are structured and progression is consistent. Concerns should be addressed with the Head Coach of each program or with Rob or Kerrye, the club’s head coaches.
· Communication – use of whatsapp chat group in Mons, use of Gymdesk email groups when implemented, continue with monthly newsletter. Future surveys will also use club iPad and paper handouts
· Facilities – we are continually attempting to improve club facilities with a current grant for heating and improved lighting pending, but other improvements are difficult due to Council ownership and the significant costs. Concerns should be addressed to Committee members.
· More Classes – The club plan is for an additional Junior Beginner / Fundamental class to be implemented on Tuesdays 5.00 – 6.00pm (to mirror the Thursday 5.00 – 6.00pm class) in 2027 and ideally an additional Mons class in 2028 but both of these goals are dependent on the availability of suitable coaching resources.
· Child Safety – a priority for the club; we are actively progressing the project on risk management and currently communicate progress and changes to policies through athlete and parent education primarily in the monthly newsletter.
· Social – e.g. movie night. A volunteer coordinator to run events would be great
· Kata – interest indicated. Although the club does not run dedicated Kata lessons, we do prepare senior athletes for higher gradings where Kata is a requirement. However, there is a dedicated program on Kata run by Judo NSW on Saturday mornings at the NSW Judo Centre, The Armory Silverwater. The club contact for this program is Dale, or if interested, please talk to any club coach.
· Competition Preparation – this aspect of Judo is well covered for competition Juniors and Seniors. Specific education and instruction in competition preparation and format will be coordinated with the Fundamental Junior and Senior class coaches.
· Grading Progression – Club coaches currently monitor grading dates for individuals and hand out grading sheets to allow athletes who train consistently and have progressed technically to prepare for their next grading. The Judo Australia Grading policy guidelines includes the minimum criteria for progressing through each grade. The JA website link is at https://www.ausjudo.com.au/gradings/ and the specific document is at https://www.ausjudo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/JA-GRADING-POLICY-March-2023.corrs030924.pdf and also attached to the email accompanying this newsletter. Please note that the document provides guidelines of minimum requirements. Budokan coaches generally set a higher standard of requirement for our athletes. Any concerns should be addresses with head coaches of each class group.
· Merchandise – to bring in new designed stock, we must remove long-held inventory. The club will hold a 50% sale on all merchandise during classes on 14th to 17th September – this will be a great opportunity to pick up club merch really cheaply. We will also look at more attractive options for future club merchandise to minimise inventory held by the club.
· Volunteering – there was positive feedback in the survey regarding a willingness to help the club. We would love a parent to come forward to help us to identify and coordinate volunteers for running social events like movie nights, fundraising and merchandise sales etc. We can help if you’re unsure of what do or how to proceed, but parent assistance in this area would be very helpful to the committee. Please see any of the committee members at the club or Rob or Kerrye if interested.
3. Club Sustainability Project.We are still progressing the corporate sponsorship project and any revenue provided through this initiative is being allocated toward elite athlete support. However, the club has prioritised a requirement to ensure that we retain our amazing pool of head coaches (those directly responsible for each class / program). Without these coaches, we would not be able to provide the unique and extraordinarily high level of coaching support to our members.Budokan is a high‑performance, community‑based Judo club which thrives on its deliberately shaped culture. Our culture blends excellence, inclusion, and character development, so that every member, from beginner to elite athlete, grows both on and off the mat. We believe that in this respect, we are a unique club and to ensure its sustainability and longevity, we need to invest in our coaches.Many club members will not be aware that Budokan is not a business, but a not-for-profit community club run by volunteers, all of us. The club pays a meagre honorarium to head coaches of each of our classes /programs and support coaches and to ensure we sustain our current coaching pool and also incentivise our best young athletes to take on coaching roles in the club, we will be reviewing ways to increase honorariums to our coaches. This will be achieved firstly through increasing our revenue via a training fee review, noting that Budokan charges between one-third to one-half of the fees charged by other clubs. Secondly, we will look at ways of reducing expenditure; for example, training fees and financial support to our elite seniors and Juniors competing at Nationals. Changes will transition over a couple of years and we will provide advice as we progress this activity so that there are no big surprises.
CHILD-SAFE CULTURE – UPDATES
The club takes child safety extremely seriously. It is both our genuine commitment and our formal obligation to foster a culture that prioritises the safety and wellbeing of all children, ensuring that at Budokan, they can learn and practise Judo in a secure, supportive, and comfortable environment. There are no compromises in this area, and we rely on your cooperation to help us build and maintain the culture our young athletes deserve.
To demonstrate our commitment to child safety, the Budokan website homepage features a child‑safe logo below which has a link (called “Read More”) directly to our policies.
We have also placed a Child‑Safe folder at the club, hanging from the trophy cabinet. It contains all relevant policies and a contact list so you know exactly who to approach if you have any concerns or suggestions.
Our aim in each Newsletter is to reinforce this message, provide clear reminders and clarifications of important existing club rules and policies, and communicate any new requirements as they arise. Some of these are listed below:
· Mat‑related concerns — If your children raise any concerns about issues on the mat, please bring these directly to the Head Coach of that class at the time. Addressing matters promptly helps avoid complications and ensures they can be resolved quickly and effectively. Parents must not approach other children, nor the parents of other children, regarding these concerns under any circumstances.
· Junior athlete concerns — We now have four Junior Child-Safe Representatives available to support junior athletes. Any junior athlete may speak with one of these representatives if they feel more comfortable doing so rather than approaching a coach. Our Junior Representatives are: Abbey Cook, Milica Dobric, Alice Lee, and Leon Park.
· Member Protection and Information (MPIO) / Child-Safe / Risk Management Contacts:
MPIO - Kenny Park
Assistant MPIO - Jarrod Cook
Club President - Rob Katz
Junior Child Safe Representatives – As above
· Requirements for Budokan Programs:
Budokan’s classes/programs are structured by age and in some cases by skill level and competition readiness. This is done deliberately to provide the most effective learning and training experience and considers safety and participant numbers. There are occasional exceptions to this and the head coach of each program considers a number of factors whenever exceptions are made. A summary of programs follows:
Dinos (Pre-school): currently 4 or 5yo (Wednesday 5.15-6.00pm)
Mons (School-aged): Turning 5, 6, 7, or 8yo in 2026 (Wednesday 6.00-7.15pm)
Junior Fundamental/Advanced: Turning 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14yo in 2026; Belt level is usually Yellow minimum (Tuesday 6.00-7.30pm).
Note: When the Tuesday 5.00-6.00pm Junior Beginner/Fundamental class eventually commences, the 6.00-7.30pm class will become a Junior Advanced class.
Junior Beginner/Fundamental: Turning 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14yo in 2026; Belt level is white, white-yellow, white-yellow-black tip, yellow, yellow-black tip, yellow-orange (Thursday 5.00-6.00pm)
Junior Advanced: Turning 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14yo in 2026 (Thursday 6.00-7.30pm)
Belt level is usually Yellow-orange minimum and competition orientated athletes
Senior Fundamentals and Recreation: Seniors turning 15, 16, 17 in 2026 (Cadets), 18, 19, 20 (Junior M/W), or 21yo and older (Senior M/W) in 2026 – for beginners and recreation (non-competition) senior players (Monday 8.00-9.30pm and Wednesday 7.15-8.45pm)
Senior Competition: Seniors turning 15, 16, 17 in 2026 (Cadets), 18, 19, 20 (Junior M/W), or 21yo and older (Senior M/W) in 2026 – for senior players who currently compete, have competed or intend to compete at State Open level or higher (Tuesday and Thursday 7.30-9.00pm)
Junior Technique: For higher-level Junior Advanced athletes currently or intending to compete at Nationals (Saturday 2.30-3.30pm)
Senior Technique: For higher-level Senior Competition athletes currently or intending to compete at Nationals (Friday 4.30-6pm)
The above points will be incorporated in the club’s Child-Safe / Risk Management policies and procedures.
A reminder of a couple of club policies:
· Car Parking. Of concern is that from time to time we are still seeing a few cars either parking in front of the building or stopping right in front of the building allowing parents to drop off or pick up their children. Please do not do this as it is a safety risk. Juniors should be accompanied into the building and picked up from the building and cars should not stop out the front of the club building.
· Photos / Video. Photos and filming of athletes may be taken by club committee members or coaches from time to time and these images may be used by Budokan in social media and in club promotions. If you object to your child being included in this media, please advise a club coach, committee member or one of our MPIO representatives. Please do not take photos or video of classes unless approved by the class coach at the time.
Thanks to all the parents who are complying with our safety requirements regarding parking, child pick-up and drop-off, accompanying children to the bathrooms etc. This is very much appreciated.
THIS IS YOUR CLUB AND THESE ARE YOUR CHILDREN – LET’S KEEP THE CLUB A SAFE PLACE FOR EVERYONE.
AWARD FINALIST – JOSH KATZ
Congratulations to Josh Katz on being selected as a finalist for the Signature Learning & Development Courageous Leadership Award at the @youngachieverawards. Although he did not take out the award, it is an outstanding achievement to have progressed to the finalist stage, and he deserves full credit for reaching that level of recognition.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEDAL SHARED WITH MONS & DINOS
One of the great things about the club is not just how Senior athletes mentor and support our juniors at training and at competitions but also how our elite Seniors share their achievements at the highest level with our youngest and brightest. Shortly after returning from Peru, Josh visited the Dinos and Mons classes and shared his medal and his experience at the Commonwealth Games – awesome!!
DREAM JUDO CLUB COMPETITION – 16TH AUGUST - RESULTS
Congratulations to all Budokan athletes who competed in the “Dream Judo Club Judo Open”. Results follow:
Mons: Zayn Mostafa - 3rd, Anaisha Shah - 2nd, Boran Feng - 3rd, Josh Xie - 1st, Zach Zhi Wang - 3rd
U11’s - Alex Tsettsvadze - 3rd, AlexTaipalus - 3rd, Asher Lee Yang - 2nd, Ramzy Mostafa - 2nd
Hayden Bielby 1st, Daniel Chi - 3rd, (Max) Myat Phone Pyae - 3rd
U13’s - Tayden Zhang 1st, Luke Park 2nd, Aleksander Dobric - 1st, Oscar Shahmatov - 3rd,
Artin Mosaeb - 3rd
Thanks to Dream Judo Club for running the competition, to our athletes Ethan Zhang and Leon Park who took on refereeing roles, our support coaches Daniel Kennedy, Gigi Reeves, Elli Donald and Alice Lee as well as to Kerrye for coaching and running a table.
BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL OPEN COMPETITION –
19-20 september
The information flyer on this competition is attached to the email accompanying this newsletter. The event is being held at Hibiscus Stadium Brisbane and that the program is:
Saturday 19th September - U/11, U/13, U/15, Cadet Juniors, Seniors, Veterans
Sunday 20th September - Schools Championships, Kata
NSW PARLIAMENT PRIVATE MEMBER’S STATEMENT
I reported in the last newsletter that the presentation of Budokan Perth Mint medallions was made to the club’s 2026 National Champions at the club on Tuesday 30th June.The club also acknowledged all the athletes who have or will be representing Australia this year at international competitions and all the athletes who competed for NSW in the 2026 National Championships. Josh Katz was also presented with a special commemorative Budokan medallion acknowledging his selection to his second Commonwealth Games. It was a great celebration of the club’s achievements and special guest Mr Mark Hodges, NSW Member of Parliament for Castle Hill, subsequently made two Private Member’s Statements in Parliament on the 5th and 6th August on the club’s performance at the Nationals and on Josh’s performance at the Commonwealth Games, respectively. The record of these statements is also on the Hansard record at the following links:
This is the first time in several years that the club and its members have been formally acknowledged in NSW Parliament, and we thank Mark for recognising and honouring us in this way.
Separately, a couple of articles making print in the Hills to Hawkesbury News this year are:
https://hillstohawkesbury.com.au/katz-brothers-win-commonwealth-games/ and
https://hillstohawkesbury.com.au/budokan-judo-club-soars-to-higher-levels/
BUDOKAN MONS AND U/11s COMPETITION – 18th OCTOBER
Our second club-hosted competition for 2026 is less than 2 months away. Please add the 18th October to your calendar. Numbers of entries from Budokan at our March competition could have been higher so please take advantage of the great opportunity that this event affords in being able to compete on home soil with a heap of Budokan supporters behind you at this event. An information sheet will be developed soon.
The club supports our NSW State Team athletes to the Nationals and all our international representatives so it is important that these athletes and their families provide support to these competitions. We will need our older Juniors, our Seniors and our parents to assist in the running of this event, for activities including: set-up (on Saturday 17th October at 2.30pm during the Junior class), and on competition day, front door entry, weigh-ins, first aid, match progression, scoring, timing, athlete marshalling, canteen, BBQ, and so on.We will place a sheet on the main table at the club where you can place your name indicating your willingness to help. Please talk to Rob if interested in any of the key jobs and unsure what to do – we can teach you.
Please support your club and reserve the 17th (club set-up 2.30pm) and 18th October.
BUDOKAN MERCHANDISE 50% SALE
A 50% sale on all Budokan merchandise will be held during classes on 14th to 17th September – this will be a great opportunity to pick up club merch really cheaply.
KEY DATES
1. 14-17Sep26Budokan Merchandise 50% sale
2. 18-20Sep26 Brisbane International Open – Hibiscus Stadium Mt.Gravatt
3. 18Oct26Budokan Mons and U/11s Junior Competition #2
4. 2Nov26Budokan AGM
5. 28Nov26Ryde Aquatic Centre Christmas function