Velloza ‘one step closer’
Ester Reedy has cemented her position as one of the country’s top judo referees with selection to the International Judo Federation women’s seminar in Panama.
Reedy, along with one other referee from Oceania, will travel to Panama in December for the seminar.
The selection comes a year after the Gisborne Judo Club chairman achieved Intercontinental Judo Federation B level status.
The seminar will take her one step closer to her dream of umpiring at the Olympics, she says.
“Only 18 from throughout the world have been selected for this seminar and only two from Oceania — an Australian woman and I Part of the focus is to push for women in the sport.
“There is another woman in New Zealand who could have been eligible but they chose me because I am more active.
“It is great to be chosen because my goal is to be at the top level of refereeing. In the next four years I would like to have achieved my A levels.”
Ester Velloza is doing the hard yards to get there.
The 43-year-old has just returned from refereeing at the Oceania Judo Union World Cup in Samoa and spends thousands of dollars travelling to events in New Zealand and Oceania. She has also just achieved her fifth black belt dan.
“I have been doing judo for 31 years and I represented New Zealand as a judoka for 14 years.
“My transition into refereeing was easy. A lot of people, when they get too old to compete, choose to go into coaching but I really wanted to ref.
“Becoming a top-level ref is not for everyone. It is jolly expensive for a start and it is a hard road . . . but I made it my challenge to get to the top.
Esters moto is 'so much to learn , so little time'
“I can only hope when I get there it will all be worth it.”
Sensei/Club coach Jason King said Ester had “done her time”.
“She has her fifth dan and is an intercontinental B licence referee,” he said.
“There’s no stopping her . . . it is a great honour for Ester and Gissie Judo Club.”
Because of her achievement, the club would now get international rules straight from the top and not filtered down through national bodies, he said.
“It is also great having a female who has their fifth dan at the club. Ester runs a women’s-only class once a week and we are keen to expand our numbers.She says this is big chance to teach basics to all beginners and it is most important that the best teacher in the class does just that.
the other moto for her all female class is '
'no pain no gain'
Reedy, along with one other referee from Oceania, will travel to Panama in December for the seminar.
The selection comes a year after the Gisborne Judo Club chairman achieved Intercontinental Judo Federation B level status.
The seminar will take her one step closer to her dream of umpiring at the Olympics, she says.
“Only 18 from throughout the world have been selected for this seminar and only two from Oceania — an Australian woman and I Part of the focus is to push for women in the sport.
“There is another woman in New Zealand who could have been eligible but they chose me because I am more active.
“It is great to be chosen because my goal is to be at the top level of refereeing. In the next four years I would like to have achieved my A levels.”
Ester Velloza is doing the hard yards to get there.
The 43-year-old has just returned from refereeing at the Oceania Judo Union World Cup in Samoa and spends thousands of dollars travelling to events in New Zealand and Oceania. She has also just achieved her fifth black belt dan.
“I have been doing judo for 31 years and I represented New Zealand as a judoka for 14 years.
“My transition into refereeing was easy. A lot of people, when they get too old to compete, choose to go into coaching but I really wanted to ref.
“Becoming a top-level ref is not for everyone. It is jolly expensive for a start and it is a hard road . . . but I made it my challenge to get to the top.
Esters moto is 'so much to learn , so little time'
“I can only hope when I get there it will all be worth it.”
Sensei/Club coach Jason King said Ester had “done her time”.
“She has her fifth dan and is an intercontinental B licence referee,” he said.
“There’s no stopping her . . . it is a great honour for Ester and Gissie Judo Club.”
Because of her achievement, the club would now get international rules straight from the top and not filtered down through national bodies, he said.
“It is also great having a female who has their fifth dan at the club. Ester runs a women’s-only class once a week and we are keen to expand our numbers.She says this is big chance to teach basics to all beginners and it is most important that the best teacher in the class does just that.
the other moto for her all female class is '
'no pain no gain'
thank god we got rid of helen clarke as prime minister, otherwise females would have taken over judo too
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