This city in Andhra is introducing judo to the next generation and they are loving it!

An evening training session

It’s been over six months since the launch of the Father Vicente Ferrer – Judo Federation of India (FVF-JFI) Training centre at Rural Development Trust’s (RDT) Anantapur Sports Village (ASV). After hosting a series of camps and tournament, the FVF-JFI Training Centre is now hosting a Beginners’ Judo coaching camp.

Anantapur District Judo Association (ADJA) decided to open the flood gates of knowledge of the art of judo to younger and budding judokas. They are currently hosting 21 boys and 21 girls at the ASV.

These children have been handpicked from various schools all over the district, as they showed the keenest interest to learn judo. The ADJA decided to organise the camp for these youngsters considering their current batch of ASV Judo academy athletes are in competition phase for the School Games Federation of India(SGFI) State level games.

With this in mind, ADJA Secretary K. N. Babu explained that, “We saw this time as a very good platform to introduce these children to the sport, teaching them the basics while simultaneously exposing them to advanced levels of judo, which they could take, as a future goal.

This would encourage them to train sincerely with their goal in sight, while at the same time encouraging our senior judokas to develop the leadership qualities, as they themselves interact and teach these younger children in the presence of their mentors.“

The camp began on the 1st of December 2015 and is set to go on till the 9th. A few children arrived at the ASV on the 1st and began training at the FVF-JFI training centre, on the evening of their arrival.

The rest of the children arrived early next morning, with their boarding and nutrition being overseen at the ASV. The children were very enthusiastic about this camp, making their thrice a day, training routine seem very easy.

These children enjoy training with their senior judokas, who are currently training at a relatively lower intensity, as their competition in the end of December at Tirupati, Chittoor, allows them some time to involve themselves to train these children.

The senior judokas are happy with the opportunity to teach these youngsters the skills they have learnt over the last few years.

The camp is led under the guidance of G. Jayasimha and M. Pratap Reddy, P. E Teachers at the Zilla Parishad High School, Hanakanhal & Chigicharla, respectively. They are overseeing training in the absence of Judo coaches, G. Reddappa Reddy & D. Ramesh, who were selected to represent the state at the recent Senior Judo Nationals in Chandigarh and resumed to train the children on 7th December.

ADJA is planning another basic grassroots coaching camp in the end of January with about 40 more children, just after they are done with exams and are more likely to be at ease, especially after being complete strangers to the art of judo.

This particular coaching camp will train the children right from scratch and eventually develop the interest of sport in these children.