Panamerican Judo Coaches gathered at the IJF Mexico International Training Center to complete the IJF Academy Level 1 course.

The course is designed for coaches to work effectively with young and novice athletes, especially at the national level.

The first phase that took place a few weeks ago, consisted of studying online the basic themes of judo and sport, including ethics, history of judo, physiology, nutrition, etc. Then at the end of this stage, the participants had to pass an online test.

The second phase took place at the IJF training center in Mexico from July 3 to 8 with 34 coaches from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru and Mexico.

The session consisted of six intense days of practice and knowledge, under the command of the IJF Academy instructors Daniel Lascau of Romania, Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands, Pierluigi Comino of Italy, Envic Galea of Malta and Dr. Tibor Kozsla of the Hungarian University.

Manuel Larrañaga, president of the Pan American Judo Confederation, was present at the course and was pleasantly surprised by the level of organization and the hard work of the students.

During the course, the participants had a theory exam, as well as Tachi-waza, Newaza and Nage no Kata evaluations.

Nayeli Leon coach of the Sonora Institute in Mexico talk about the importance of having this certification: "... This academy has greatly improved my knowledge about judo. The instructors are of great quality. This must be frequently done in order for judo to grow."

Finally and after having passed the Level 1 course, the coaches will receive a certificate that will be issued by the IJF and the University of Physical Education in Budapest, Hungary.

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