Cadet judoka up with the best

UP AND COMING: Graham Rogers (front centre) with his class of junior and cadet grade judoka, several of whom have polished their skills to a high order and could be grading to brown belts next year. PHOTO/NATHAN CROMBIE

The honed skills of young judoka from the Masterton Judo and Jiu Jitsu Academy will "shock" grading judges beyond the region next year, says sensei Graham Rogers.

He said the junior judo players had been successful throughout the year and at grading this month, and the group of cadet judoka "are as good as any their own ages anywhere in the country, easily".

About 10 cadet judoka, aged from 11 to 16, had taken the mat at the Masterton academy this year and a cadre of seven green and blue belt players had shone during training and at grading recently.

Among the cadet class were Aisha Quaghebeur, Euan Morgan, Katia MacKenzie, Darius Simpson, Jayden MacKenzie, Sam Clegg and George Robinson.

"We're looking at brown belt for at least two of them in the coming year and maybe even more of them.

"Some of them are too young to be brown belt, but they're still the best."

Rogers, who holds a black belt in judo and grades in taekwondo and shorinji kan jiu jitsu, is an accredited C2 coach and former taekwondo club coach who was one of the first nationally to train in taekwondo while living on Waiheke Island in the early 1970s.

He started training in jiu jitsu at about 10 at a small club in a garage in Western Springs in Auckland and started in judo about five years later.

Rogers took up taekwondo in about 1971 and, although there were some private clubs in the country, the Waiheke Island club had Malaysian instructors and was one of the first in the country to be opened to members of the public.

Some years later, Rogers returned to judo training, and instructing, at a club in Torbay in Auckland where he first gained his C2 instructor certificate and qualified as a judo tournament technician.

Academy founder Simon Ogden, who takes the adult judo classes, said Rogers was an inspiring instructor who had a deep knowledge of the techniques (waza) of judo and a classical understanding of the art and its kata.

Rogers said he admired and passed on the teachings of judo, according to the writings of Kano, Mifune and Daigo, and he strove to emulate the original intention of the discipline.

"I try to instil in my students the basic principle of judo that through study of the principles of attack and defence you refine and improve yourself, so you're able to make a contribution to society. Better citizens is the ultimate goal of judo."

Rogers had also graded several adult judoka after the junior and cadet grading sessions. Other judo instructors at the academy included sensei Joseph "Bully" Kawana and sensei Daniel Chu.

The Masterton Judo & Jiu Jitsu Academy is at 149 Queen St, Masterton, with training held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Adult judo classes run from 7.30pm on Monday, kids and cadets judo (4 to 16 years) each run for an hour from 5pm and 6pm respectively and jiu jitsu (14 years and above) runs for two hours from 7.30pm. For more information, call Simon Ogden on (021) 248-6111.