REGINA - Around 400 athletes participated in the Sask Open Judo Championships 2025 event happening in Regina over the weekend. The event is one of the six major judo tournaments that are a part of Judo Canada.
The competition sees various age groups going all the way from U-10 to Veteran, which are athletes born in 1995 or earlier.
T.V. Taylor, president of Judo Sask, talked about the representation of competitors across the country coming to Regina for the event.
"This year, we have competitors from New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. As a matter of fact, we have just over 80 athletes from British Columbia who worked out [to] 132 entries."
Seeing this level of representation, Taylor called it a "major success." He pointed out during COVID-19, judo "took a bigger hit [regarding] loss of membership [and] loss of participation [from] COVID than any other sport."
Taylor alluded to judo being a close-contact sport as the main reason for that. He added it was hard to get face-to-face with a competitor and hold a mask at the same time.
As club membership went down, Taylor was asked if he was concerned about the state of judo during COVID. He responded with, "Yes, it hit us hard, and we were worried."
Taylor also noted, "[judo] lost a number of clubs, and we [the organizers] were worried they wouldn't come back. Because our clubs are all volunteer-run [and] usually it's a family-oriented [club]. So whoever run[s] the club, they have a family to run, they have a job to do [during the day] and a club to run usually by themselves. So when it was shut down, a number of them after they were shut down for two years didn't come back."
Because of this, Taylor said many young teens decided to drop out of Judo, which later affected the number of athletes that represented Canada between the ages of 19-22.
Even with the drop in numbers, Taylor mentioned the country is still doing good on the national level. In the 2024 Summer Olympics for judo, Christa Deguchi won gold for Canada in the women’s 57kg event.
The excitement of hosting an event
As the level of interest in judo is starting to increase, events like the Sask Open Judo Championships are a good way to rank and determine the rising stars of talent in the country.
In terms of preparing for the event, Taylor said, "hundreds and hundreds of hours go into [preparing for the Sask Open]."
He added, "We'll really start [preparing for the next open] after this tournament is over. We'll all be taking notes. We'll have a meeting [and discuss] what went well [and] what we can do [better]."
When Taylor mentioned discussing what didn't go well in previous tournaments, Judo Canada will put in a number of recommendations for the next tournament. One of those was giving athletes a more private area to weigh themselves by setting up tents instead of doing it in a public bathroom. Taylor also said they discussed improving the TV quality for the live stream, where people can tune in and watch the matches happening in real-time.
Once Judo Sask looks over changes to the event, around August, organizers start to book hotels, apply to the city to book the facility and more.
Around late Nov., Judo Sask will then enlist volunteers. Taylor emphasized that "it takes a lot of volunteers to run these events." He gave an example of their importance when, on Friday, all the athletes and coaches came in to register, and the competitors also did their weigh-ins.
Taylor described it as a "real beehive," as around 350 athletes were there, with approximately 50 volunteers helping out and making the process go more smoothly.
As for Taylor himself, the reason he dedicated his time to helping host these tournaments is for "the kids."
Back in the 1980s, Taylor got into Judo. After joining a club, they held their first tournament. Taylor remembers one person trying to do all the work. So, Taylor went up to the person and asked, "Can I do that [as well]"? So, Taylor started running local tournaments and eventually was in charge of administration for a national judo tournament.
After running various tournaments, Taylor always loved seeing the smiles from children when they receive a medal, which he gives each one at the podium.
In doing that, Taylor wants "everybody to leave whether they're here or when they go home saying, 'we had a really good time in Regina. We're coming back next year.' That's my wish."
When asked if his hope would one day see the kids who participated in the event go on to compete in the Olympics, Taylor said, "that would be [the hope] in the long term." He added, "I am a little more focused on making it better for the people today."
As for encouraging people to try out judo, Taylor recommended a person go to a club and try out the sport for a week or two to see if they like it.
What people get most out of by learning judo is discipline and respect, said Taylor. He added, “when you learn to throw, you have to learn to throw [a] person without injuring them. So you know, you got to have courage to go out there and do it. Just that, you know, the respect and the discipline."
Looking ahead to the next major judo competition in Canada, the 2025 Pacific International Judo Championships is taking place in late Feb. The event will be held in B.C.
