Judo summer
Summerside TJC member to train with national junior team in Montreal
A big summer of judo awaits Sebastian Nash of Middleton who will compete at the Canada Cup competition this week in Montreal and then train there with the national junior team.
A big summer of judo awaits Sebastian Nash of Middleton. The member of the Summerside Toshidokan Judo Club (TJC) will compete at the Canada Cup competition that takes place in Montreal this week, and he will then spend six more weeks training with the national junior team, also in Montreal. “I am pretty excited to go up there,” said the 16-year-old son of Brian and Michelle Nash. “There’s a whole bunch of good people to train with up there, so you can only get better. “It’s going to be a good experience. . . Train with the best to be the best.” Nash says two areas he wants to focus on while training with the national junior team are strength and technique. TJC Sensei Chris Townsend noted Canadian junior national team coach JP Cantin invited Nash to train in Montreal. “This will be a great experience for him to improve his judo game,” said Townsend. “He has put a lot of hard work in over the past few years, and I’m super proud of him. “It’s not every day someone from judo on P.E.I. gets invited to train full-time with the national junior team.”
New tournament
The Canada Cup is a new continental tournament that will attract more than 600 athletes competing in senior, junior and cadet from 20 countries. Nash will compete in the under-18, 90-kilogram category. “It’s a pretty big competition,” acknowledged Nash, who qualified for the Canada Cup through nationals. “I wanted to do this. “Nationals and then this are the two biggest tournaments of the year for me. After nationals I started training (for the Canada Cup).” Nash competed in two divisions at nationals in Calgary. He went 1-2 (won-lost) to finish fifth in the under-18 plus-90-kilogram group, and was 0-2 in under-21 -100 kilograms. Nash, who has competed in judo for 9 ½ years, said his goals going into the Canada Cup is “win as many fights as I can, and go for gold would be nice.” Nash will be competing against some familiar opponents. “There are probably not too many people that I do not know who will be in my division,” he said. “I have beat some of them, and lost to some of them before.” Nash added there are two individuals who have had a positive impact on his development to where he is today. “I’m just thankful I have my friend George Madumba training with me, and my Sensei Christopher Townsend really pushes me towards these goals,” continued Nash. “It’s really nice to have them here so I can train with them.”