Mattias Åkesson, brown belt and a member of Kallinge Judoclub in the south of sweden. Is a returner to judo after a 30 year career as a hockey player and coach. Currently competing in Kata and made recently great results with their club at 2012 years Swedish Nationals Kata in sweden. They won one gold and one silver to bring home to Kallinge Judo Club.
Judo the Sport
Has become judonerd again. So now it’s judo everywhere. Judo on TV, judo online and talking judo with my brother. In the end my son said: -“You and your damn judo, Dad“. It all even went so far that we purchased home a 20 square meter judomat, me and his little brother. We thought that the three times workout per week was far too little. Would love to practice more if my body would manage, but apparently it stops healing as well as after 35, typically. Has really found the joy of training sports again. No more running to the gym and lifting weights or running on a treadmill to keep me in shape. No, I’ve found something much better, I’ve found back to judo and I have my two sons with me on this. Now we just have to convince my wife that judo is a sport even for her, it may take time but it would be worth it.
Children
Anyone who has the pleasure of working with children know the joy of it. If so, judo, football or hockey, there is hardly anything more rewarding than training children. Everything from the little beginner who shines like the sun when she finally manages to do the flip, the contestant which ultimately succeed with their uchi mata-throw. Eyes that sparkle with joy when they grapple with one of the coaches, or the coach praises and pats them. It’s like the saying says shared joy is double joy.
Leaders
Without a good leader, you will have no club. Kallinge Judo has three great leaders in Diego, Markku and Steve. Totally different and totally awesome. It is thanks to them that Kallinge Judo is such a fantastic club in my my view. They have everything. Steve with his big heart and rich expertise. Markku with his technical expertise and structured way (and crazy humour), Diego with his South American sparkle and great judo. Together they create harmony and joy.
Competing
I thought my competition career was over. But one training Mr. Markku Pihl came up and asked if we could try compete in kata. Hmm, I thought, more training. I wonder how popular that gets at home? But of course, we started practicing kata and it was fun. So fun that we went with it down to Skurup on a two day course in nage no kata and Goshin Jutsu. Then there the carousel was started. For a 38 year old to start a new career in a sport feels absolutely amazing and very inspiring. Had might want to come back to judo a few years earlier or maybe it was for the best. After 3 years since my return, my goals just been rising. The next milestone will be to scale up to a black belt. Or, as Peter Martin told us; “You need to upgrade yourselves to black now, so that you can come out and compete internationally”. Hm more training, I wonder how popular that becomes at home.
Kallinge Judoclub
I want to thank my second family kjc for me and my boys to take part in and share the joy that judo gives us. Looks like on the judo blogs and other judo pages that it seems to be the same joy in other clubs. So there must be something to this sport, something magical. Judo is a great sport and I hope to get involved with judo for many years to come.
Best Regards
Matthias