By Paul Osborne at the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Lusaka 

The International Judo Federation Development Project concluded in Lusaka today ©ITGMarch 2 - Practicality was the word of the day on third and final day of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Development Project as sports director Daniel Lascau and Veteran's Commission director Andrei Bondor took to the floor to lead the final two modules of the of workshop here today.


As opposed to the first two days of the project, where former Olympic champion Robert Van de Walle had talked of the development of the individual and how that could lead to the growth of a good leader, these final two modules looked more at that practical elements of managing and organising a federation and future competitions.

Bondor, who works both as the director of the IJF Veterans Commission and as chief executive of an IT company in Romania, looked at the elements needed to build a successful federation.

As Van de Walle and Alain Massart had in the previous two days, he addressed the attitudes and motivation needed to begin the journey of development before focusing on specifics such as budget, marketing and media.

He wanted to discuss the attitudes one needs for success in a more pragmatic sense than had been addressed in the previous two days, explaining to delegates that judo was a product.

A product in which they must market, strategise and sell to others in order to develop the funds to move forward.

Like Van de Walle, he explained that there is "no sweet without sweat" and that a federation must look at a pyramid of success and work from the base, the "social responsibilities", before they can push forwards and begin to look at winning national, regional and Olympic medals.

He also talked of the "maximum efficient use of physical and mental energy" in terms of how your federation can look to develop.

Development is not something that can be rushed; you must work at the tiny details in order to make the small progressions that lead to global success.

He used the phrase, "think global, act local", to demonstrate the necessity to act on a small scale in order to build up to global success in the coming future.

Delegates from across Southern Africa who took part in the IJF Development Project received certificates at the end of the three-day course ©ITGDelegates from across Southern Africa who took part in the IJF Development Project received certificates at the end of the three-day course ©ITG

Bondor wanted to put each delegate on an equal footing and build a federation from the bottom and as a group in order to show the steps necessary to reach success.

He said that all one needs to begin working towards success is "a t-shirt and a huge ambition" in order to highlight the that it is not necessarily about what you have that makes you a success but what you wish to work towards and what you believe you can build towards in the future.

Lascau's module moved away from the organisation of the federation and instead focused on the organisation of a competition or event in each country,

He worked step by step at the requirements that a federation should follow in order to produce an event of a high quality that will run smoothly and bring the out of both the host federation and those that visit.

Lascau looked at the each sage of an event - before during and after - asking the delegates firstly, why they would want to put on an event, then what feeling they felt after such an event had been held.

He explained that an event is "not just for that day, but for the day after, and the day after that" emphasising the point that a competitor involved in a competition is not just happy to be there at the time, but will look back in days, weeks or even years to come and reflect on the experience they had be it good or bad.

The IJF Development Project in Lusaka introduced delegates to a wide range of new concepts and skills ©ITGThe IJF Development Project in Lusaka introduced delegates to a wide range of new concepts and skills ©ITG

Lascau's presentation was concentrated on specific details which make a good competition possible, looking closely at transport, accommodation, meals, training areas, the media and press, accreditation and many other key areas that determine the success of an event.

He wanted the Southern African countries to work together in order to facilitate events, showing how cooperation, for instance on the dates of national championships, can allow each federation to save money and find pragmatic solutions in order to be successful.

Both Lascau and Bondor emphasised the practically of their presentations, explaining that Van de Walle and Massart's' workshops helped put each delegate in the right frame of mind to be a successful leader whilst theirs then used this frame of mind and attitude to then go a step further and show the details behind running a successful organisation and eventually a successful competition.

Lascau finished his presentation by explaining that, "what you get here should help not just yourself, but the whole judo community."

He added: "My wish is for you to go home and try to do what we have done here; try to cascade the knowledge you have learned here to your federations in order to develop as a judo federation.

"It's not just for you Presidents here now.

"You need to share this knowledge with the respective person at you federation so they can share that with the team."

"I would really like to see this progress in the future."

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