The goal is Tokyo 2020

[nucopia]

My two eldest have been living in Naples Italy for just over a month now.

They are living in the dormitory of a large sport centre located in Pomigliano d'Arco a suburb of Naples.
The sports centre provides live in accommodation plus 3 meals a day and training for athletes in various sports, such as Judo , Tae kwon do, Boxing ,gymnastics weight lifting and a few other Olympic sports.

This is a picture of my two with Sandro Piccirillo Italian national coach

This is my daughter enjoying the scenery of Naples..

 

[nucopia]

For my two because they live in , the training starts before breakfast with 5 k run, after breakfast they do 2 hours of judo drills, then take a break for Lunch and in the afternoon they have a 1 hour strength and conditioning session in the gym , in the the evening starting at 7pm its another 2 hours of Judo.

They also go 2 days a week to another club to have one on one lessons with a Sydney Olympic Gold medallist Giuseppe "Pino" Maddaloni.

His Gold medal is my avatar picture.

Coach and athlete @ 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Dont blink or you will miss it..
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/X88ZOf6rjc8[/video]

 

[OzzieAu]

Lucky youngsters there nucopia....a beautiful country is Italy, with such history.
My wife and I loved our time there.
I hope your children achieve their goals. :Y:
Here is a couple of pics of that part of the world,
Cheers

 

[Heatho]

Awesome. Hope they make it and do well. :Y:

I used to enjoy martial arts before I ended up with a brain injury. Makes it difficult to do anything like that now as a good punch to the head might not be that great for me these days. I used to do Zen Chi Ryu which was founded by Tom Slaven back in the 70's I think. He was a master at many different styles and combined them into Zen Chi. Being able to defend myself and drop a well timed elbow has saved me a few times I reckon.

 

[nucopia]

Yeah OssieAu they are very lucky, my bank balance isn't .
To get them to Tokyo its going to be a very hard 2 years ahead.
Olympic qualification starts this May and ends May 2020 and only those ranked in the top 20 on the world ranking list at the end of May 2020 will be selected to compete at the Olympics.
For them to gain points on the world rankings and reach the top 20, they will have to live and train over seas as well as compete against the best athletes in their weight divisions at competitions all over the world.
Only coming home occasionally.
This trip to Naples is just the first small step forward for them, when they return home its off to the Gold Coast on the Queens birthday long weekend to compete at the Australian Nationals. Which I hope they can both win..
Afterwards it will be strait back to training for the July Asian international open in Taipei Taiwan.
A medal finish in Taipei will qualify them for the world Championships in Azerbaijan this September.

 

[Pirate pete]

For my two because they live in , the training starts before breakfast with 5 k run, after breakfast they do 2 hours of judo drills, then take a break for Lunch and in the afternoon they have a 1 hour strength and conditioning session in the gym , in the the evening starting at 7pm its another 2 hours of Judo.

They also go 2 days a week to another club to have one on one lessons with a Sydney Olympic Gold medallist Giuseppe "Pino" Maddaloni.

His Gold medal is my avatar picture.

Coach and athlete @ 2000 Sydney Olympics.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/5588/1524887148_sandro_pino.jpg

Dont blink or you will miss it..
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/X88ZOf6rjc8[/video]

Very nice TIA OTOSHI she move well .PP

 

[silver]

Live it Breathe it Do it. :Y: :Y:

 

[Northeast]

Best wishes to your kids and to you also Nucopia. Medal finishes at the Olympics are rarely achieved by just the individual - your story is testament to the support crew that athletes need to have around them

 

[nucopia]

Best wishes to your kids and to you also Nucopia. Medal finishes at the Olympics are rarely achieved by just the individual - your story is testament to the support crew that athletes need to have around them

Thanks Northeast.
Its not that Australian Judo athletes lack the talent or ability but its almost impossible for an Australian Judo athlete to medal at the international level , let along win at the Olympics or a World championships.
Unlike other sports, Judo is unknown under funded and almost entirelly ignored by the media.
If my two had applied their talents at any other Olympic sport , or even the typical sports most Aussie kids grow up involved in, they would be receiving grants, scholarships and probably have sports managment companies clamouring to represnt them.
Mine have their mum and I , and a few other Judo people and with little other than the passion to help them reach their goals.

 

[RM Outback]

All the best to your kid's nucopia I hope they achieve their dreams :Y:.

 

[pete165]

Hi Nucopia

All the very best to you and your children. May you and they achieve all the goals in front of you all.Hope it all well for you and your children. I do not and never have liked the word "kids". A kid is a goat, so unless you are a goat I doubt you have kids.

 

[nucopia]

Hi Nucopia

All the very best to you and your children. May you and they achieve all the goals in front of you all.Hope it all well for you and your children. I do not and never hand Ok ave liked the word "kids". A kid is a goat, so unless you are a goat I doubt you have kids.

All good Pete
My daughter took a photo of her brother walking along a street in Naples going to another club for training Saturday afternoon and he posted it to his FB page.
He wrote the caption No one said this road would be an easy one
When he was between 12 to 16 years old we lived in Tokyo for 3 to 6 months at a time. He and I would catch the train to the Kodokan in Tokyo 6 afternoons a week for 3 hours of hard training. He still is the youngest Australian at 14 to be awarded a Kodokan Sho Dan black and at 16 a Ni Dan.
My daughter has traveled a similar road over the last 8 years, when she was younger with myself or her mum staying in Japan for 3-6 months at a time. Over the last 2 years she has been going there herself to live and train for three month at a time.
They both know its not an easy road they travel but they have been on this journey with my self or their mum for a long time now
Whats hard for me is watching them from afare. I guess its a whole lot easy when your young and focused On your purpose.
You just go out and do it like theyre doing. They have never complained to me, but have often told a mutual friend that they worry about what its costing me for them to persue their dreams.

This is what I wrote and replied to them in a post on my FB page using the same picture they had taken and used.

Its hard to push them out of the nest. So they can make their own way. Create their own path. Build their own life and live their own dreams . With me standing by believing in them.
But; There are only two lasting gifts I can hope to give my children. One of these is a place in my heart to dwell in and the other is the wings to fly."

 

[nucopia]

Well we never got the Gold but a Bronze medal at senior nationals was a good result after a three year absence form major competition.
Most people give up right before the big break comes never knowing what perseverance can achieve
.

Sunday they fly out to Tokyo Japan for three weeks training.
My son is training at the Nippon sports science Uni in Tokyo and the daughter is spending her time at the International Budo Uni in Chiba training with the women's team.
July 5 they are heading to Taipei Taiwan to compete at the Asian International Open.
This will be the first of many events that my son will need to compete at to try and gain world ranking points to go towards 2020 Olympic qualification.
After Taipei its back to 6 days a week training Naples Italy.

For any one interested this is the Aust sports foundation page for my son.
https://asf.org.au/athletes/toshiyuki--yokoyama/

In life, its not the destination that is important, its the journey.

 

[Mackka]

Good luck to the family.
Mackka

 

[nucopia]

Update on the Journey.

My son is in Tokyo training at the Nippon Sports Science Uni with the Japanese national team. He has been there the last few weeks training daily with a rest day on Sundays.

He is also training a few days a week at his old Junior high school Judo club at Kokushikan.

My daughter meanwhile is training at international Budo Uni in Chiba.
She being a lot more social sends me a lot more interesting pics.
This is some of the players she trains with..

On Thursday they are going to Taipei Taiwan for 5 days to compete at the Asian Open.

 

[nucopia]

This competition in Taipei is the last Australian selection event to pick the Australian team to compete at the world Championships this September.
My son has a good shot at selection, my daughter has a chance to secure a reserve position.

 

[user 7268]

Nucopia the dedication required to reach the level they are, makes them champions already I reckon. :Y: I've no doubt they do you and their mother proud :Y: I was looking at your daughters vid and had a chuckle with an image of some bloke making an inappropriate advance on her ................ only to end up on his ass :Y:
Hope they indeed are rewarded for their hard work :Y:

 

[nucopia]

Thanks Bogger
Just received the Hotel invoice from the Judo federation for their trip to Taipei ..shared room x 4 nights plus travel insurance $853 each...
Thats just the tip of the financial iceberg lll be dealing with over the next 2 years ...
I really hope they can start getting some funding from the sport commission soon.. fingers crossed.. :Y:
It aint easy but we are going to domallmwe can to help them get to Tokyo 2020..