On Saturday, November 30th five local judokas travelled to Red Deer to compete in one of Alberta’s selection tournaments. This was a higher calibre tournament where our students participated to gain experience and learn from higher-belted competitors.

For Marcia Paget and MacKenzie DuBois, this meant facing a brown belt for the first time, one who had just won Alberta’s top athlete of the year. Ina Rollinger was challenged with competing with someone one weight group up due to not having competitors in her own category.

Emma and Graham Norquay had to battle not only their own colds  but also with competitors with more experience.

Each of our students showed incredible courage, strength and tenacity. Marcia and Ina came home with  hard-earned silver medals and MacKenzie came home with a well-deserved bronze.

On December 6th at the Winter Games qualifiers, Emma, Marcia and MacKenzie and other club members will be attending a training session in Creston.

Keep up the great work and see you on the tatame!

Karen Sharp is the daughter of Invermere Judo Club founder Hermann Mauthner.  She currently has her Nidan (second degree black belt) and Instructor Level coaching certification. Contact the club at invermerejudo@gmail.com