From 17 to 22 October, while others were writing and running to help sick children, 2,400 pupils from 25 primary schools in Cambrai, in the north of France and the surrounding area took to the tatamis for a good cause.
This great week of solidarity around judo, in support of ELA, is a long-standing project of Francis Vilain, technical director of the “Judo Cambrai” club and judo teacher for 40 years.
Kodomo, the emblematic mascot of the French Judo Federation, came to present the introductory judo classes watched by the amazed and amused children on the tatamis of the Alain Colas sports centre in Proville, kindly lent by the municipality for the occasion.
On Wednesday, a departmental training course was led by Cyrille Maret, bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, European vice-champion in 2018 and world team vice-champion in 2019.
Finally, this week of sports mobilisation ended on Saturday with a day of activities for the youngest, as well as a tournament in which nearly 600 judokas aged 4 to 14 competed. About thirty judo clubs from the surrounding area were invited to this tournament.
Julien, who suffers from leukodystrophy, and his family had the pleasure of meeting the entire organising team during the day, as well as a selection of the women’s judo team made up of champions Mélanie Vieu, Anaïs Mosdier, Faiza Mokdar and Agathe Devitry.
We would like to warmly thank Francis Vilain, France Judo and the commune of Proville for their support to the event, as well as all the volunteers involved in the organisation and the four champions who came to meet Julien and his family.
Read the article on L’Observateur du Cambrésis
