In an era when so many amateur sports organizations now include paid professional coaches, Steveston Judo continues about its business of producing top ranked athletes nurtured by volunteers.
The 55-year-old non-profit club was once again prominent at the recent Elite Nationals in Montreal that featured only the top eight judoka from across the country in each weight class. Ian Ryder dominated the U18 90 kilogram category to win gold, while Meghan Jamieson earned silver in her senior women’s 70 kg class. Her brother Tavis lost his opening bout in the 100 kg division as he continues to gain experience at the senior men’s level.
The trio have been guided for much of their careers by Kane Morishita.
The lifelong Steveston resident joined the club himself when he was six and enjoyed an outstanding competitive career before he became a Vancouver firefighter. Now he is a distinguished coach with an impressive resumé that includes working on the provincial team staff.
He has shifted his attention back to his hometown club even though there are salary coaching positions elsewhere.
“Even people in our sport just shake their heads and say you have to stop that. They say you will never be successful as volunteers and we are proving them wrong,” said Morishita. “We have had essentially two Olympians come out of here and I don’t know how many national champions and provincial team coaches.”
Helping to drive Morishita’s passion is the opportunity to work with athletes like the trio that attended Elite Nationals.
Ryder continues to establish himself as one of the top up-and-coming judoka in the country.
The 16-year-old has been identified by Judo Canada and now has a heavy schedule of international competitions. He will soon be attending European Cup events in Portugal and Sarajevo. It means much of his Grade 11 course load is done online and he only attends a couple of classes at nearby McMath Secondary.
“He is a rising star. Judo Canada has targeted him and is sending him all over the world,” continued Morishita. “He is definitely on a path to be a senior high performance athlete and you could see him moving to Montreal after high school to be at the national training centre.
Ryder breezed through his own age group in Montreal to the point where he won’t compete at the U18 level again despite another year of eligibility. He got his first taste at the senior division too and will continue to fight up at the U21 level internationally as Judo Canada pushes his development.
“They are looking to see how good I can become over the next couple of years. I can see where they are all at right now and I can push myself to be above that level. Hopefully, that’s what will happen,” said Ryder of his steady diet of older opponents.
“Hopefully, if I do well I can get my E-standard. Right now I have D-standard. Then I can go to Junior Worlds next year.”
The Jamiesons are now on a different path than Ryder. They are full-time students in university but still competing at the national level.
Meghan, a nursing student at BCIT, lost to Quebec native and national team member Alix Renaud-Roy in her gold medal bout after winning two earlier matches.
Tavis fell to Zachary Burt, another national team member from Quebec. He is studying math and computer science at UBC.
“Both Meghan and Tavis have moved on from that stage of their careers but are still making the commitment it takes to compete at a high level and attend university,” said Morishita.
Meghan admits it’s her competitive drive that keeps her motivated, even when it can be difficult juggling studies with training.
“I think I am a competitive person to begin with. It all starts with a white belt and you just want to keep working up to the next level. It’s been neat being able to go and see different places in Canada and just the experience of competing at higher levels.”
As for Tavis, he is already looking forward to another shot at Elite Nationals next year and testing his skills against more national team members.
“They are the success story of two regular people. Tavis had played a little bit of soccer and Meghan was doing gymnastics,” added Morishita. “I still remember the day Tavis came up to me and said he was tired of losing and wanted to win a national championship. He wanted to know what it would take.
“From that day on he trained incredibly hard. We trained at the (Olympic) Oval together and did everything you have to do. The following year he was a national champion.”
The Steveston Judo Club trains out of the Steveston Martial Arts Centre. For more information visit www.stevestonjudo.org.
