HAWKESBURY’S Malcolm Macpherson and Oliver Perrott won silver and bronze medals respectively at a judo competition on the central coast in April.
Pitt Town’s Macpherson, 13, and North Richmond’s Perrott, 7, both competed at the Judo NSW Central Coast championship over April 18 and 19.
The pair train at the Budo-En Vineyard Judo Club under the watchful eye of Sensei Dieter Reichert. It was Perrott’s third competition and first for Macpherson, and both are training for another competition at Blacktown later this month.
Macpherson said he did taekwondo for six years, before giving it up in favour of judo.
“I started doing judo in October and I like it because it is a lot more physical than taekwondo,” he said.
He said when he arrived at the competition he was nervous.
“It was kind of scary and I had heard lots about kids being good at judo and I was a bit worried.
“It wasn’t really that bad in the end – receiving the medal was a bit overwhelming and surprising because I thought I would use the competition as a tester and would succeed in the future.”
Perrott has done judo for nearly two years, and really likes training with Sensei Reichert. “It was my third judo competition I had been to,” he said.
“I’m going to try to get a black belt eventually.”
Perrott has won a silver and a bronze medal at other competitions.
Macpherson, who achieved a black belt in taekwondo, said he was also aiming to get a black belt in judo in the future.
“It will take a fair bit of time so I’ll make sure I stick with it,” he said.
Reichert said he was impressed with the performance of both boys. He said judo was open to children and men and women of all ages.
