Judon’t know ‘the gentle way’
13 September 2019 | Sports
Sheney Mwetako
The martial art created in 1882 has taken our world by storm. Judo, which was only a recognized sport in Japan, is now an Olympic sport with 204 official international judo federations. Namibia is no stranger to this table nor is the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek (DHPS).
Judo, translated to “the gentle way” from Japanese, is a combat sport that requires throwing one’s opponent to the ground and quickly subduing and immobilising one’s opponent with many different grappling methods. This gentle way relies on flexibility, balance, leverage and movements in performance on throws. Judo increases your speed, improves your reaction time and strengthens your flexibility and coordination. As far as physical pain goes. Judo is one of the roughest sports out there that places emphasis on safety and discipline. Judo can be taken and applied to all areas of your life as it can also be used as a self-defence mechanism.
Judo is no new sport at DHPS as it has been there ever since the early 2010s. Judo coach Mrs. Sylvia Konzmann introduced this sport at the DHPS and has been a coach there ever since it started. Her hard work, dedication and patience have brought back many medals and trophies to the school as she sees opportunity and potential in all her athletes. She offers her free time for her passion of judo as she is offering classes every day of the week.
Age does not play a huge factor in joining the classes as the school successfully introduced a parent-teacher group this year that takes place in the afternoons. The school also introduced an all-girls group this year, because not everyone feels comfortable training with the opposite sex.
The school competes in different competitions annually including the South African Open Championships at the end of June to the beginning of July. This competition takes place in South Africa where different counties come to gather and compete against each other representing their school or club and this brings their county’s name up higher. Last year alone the judo team brought back 30 medals as they proved all their hard work and training paid off.
Everyone from different age groups is encouraged to join and be part of this fantastic sport with its many health benefits, for example, judo is a form of stress relief. This makes people feel more confident and safer as they walk out of the house as they know how to defend themselves quickly in dangerous situations. As the famous quote goes “you never know what you can do until you try it yourself.”
Where there is effort, there is accomplishment
Queen Simasiku
The DHPS judo club took part in the South African Open Championship from 30 June to 5 July in South Africa (Vanderbijlpark). Many South African provinces, as well as judokas from Angola, Zimbabwe, Congo and Namibia participated. The DHPS team started preparing in February already and worked hard to be in top form. This preparation was evident in the team’s results with Sensei Sylvia Konzmann attaining a gold medal in the Masters division and a silver in the Katame-no-Kata section. Sensei Stompie Matthyser won a silver in both the Masters and Katame-no-Kata sections. In the 13-14 year division, Lorenz Denk won a gold medal while Amelie Dürrschmidt received the silver medal in the 11 years section. At only 10 years old Jana Mutschler managed to bring gold home.
The martial art created in 1882 has taken our world by storm. Judo, which was only a recognized sport in Japan, is now an Olympic sport with 204 official international judo federations. Namibia is no stranger to this table nor is the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek (DHPS).
Judo, translated to “the gentle way” from Japanese, is a combat sport that requires throwing one’s opponent to the ground and quickly subduing and immobilising one’s opponent with many different grappling methods. This gentle way relies on flexibility, balance, leverage and movements in performance on throws. Judo increases your speed, improves your reaction time and strengthens your flexibility and coordination. As far as physical pain goes. Judo is one of the roughest sports out there that places emphasis on safety and discipline. Judo can be taken and applied to all areas of your life as it can also be used as a self-defence mechanism.
Judo is no new sport at DHPS as it has been there ever since the early 2010s. Judo coach Mrs. Sylvia Konzmann introduced this sport at the DHPS and has been a coach there ever since it started. Her hard work, dedication and patience have brought back many medals and trophies to the school as she sees opportunity and potential in all her athletes. She offers her free time for her passion of judo as she is offering classes every day of the week.
Age does not play a huge factor in joining the classes as the school successfully introduced a parent-teacher group this year that takes place in the afternoons. The school also introduced an all-girls group this year, because not everyone feels comfortable training with the opposite sex.
The school competes in different competitions annually including the South African Open Championships at the end of June to the beginning of July. This competition takes place in South Africa where different counties come to gather and compete against each other representing their school or club and this brings their county’s name up higher. Last year alone the judo team brought back 30 medals as they proved all their hard work and training paid off.
Everyone from different age groups is encouraged to join and be part of this fantastic sport with its many health benefits, for example, judo is a form of stress relief. This makes people feel more confident and safer as they walk out of the house as they know how to defend themselves quickly in dangerous situations. As the famous quote goes “you never know what you can do until you try it yourself.”
Where there is effort, there is accomplishment
Queen Simasiku
The DHPS judo club took part in the South African Open Championship from 30 June to 5 July in South Africa (Vanderbijlpark). Many South African provinces, as well as judokas from Angola, Zimbabwe, Congo and Namibia participated. The DHPS team started preparing in February already and worked hard to be in top form. This preparation was evident in the team’s results with Sensei Sylvia Konzmann attaining a gold medal in the Masters division and a silver in the Katame-no-Kata section. Sensei Stompie Matthyser won a silver in both the Masters and Katame-no-Kata sections. In the 13-14 year division, Lorenz Denk won a gold medal while Amelie Dürrschmidt received the silver medal in the 11 years section. At only 10 years old Jana Mutschler managed to bring gold home.
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