Why this year requires another preparation

The first IJF World Tour tournament is the Grand Prix of Havana. Despite the kick-off at the African Open in Casablanca, most of the top athlete prepare to be in Cuba like in June 2014. Then held in June the circumstances were excellent for the athletes to chill after the tournament. This year the international calendar is totally different.

Now Havana is scheduled as first tournament with much different weather circumstances as a normal start in either Sofia or even Tunis or Casablanca. That should have another preparation for the participants.

At the training camp in Brazil this year the large Brazilian team was accompanied by teams from Colombia, Azerbaijan and Russia.

High Performance Manager Ney Wilson Pereira of the Brazilian Judo Confederation explains:

“Last year the calendar was much different. The first competitions were in Europe and in the beginning of February. So we had our preparation in Mittersill for the first time and we appreciated it a lot. It was a very strong training camp. Normally we had a national training in the end of January, one week before the competitions in Europe. For this year, as the first competition is in Cuba and secondly in the third week of January we had to anticipate. Exactly in the same period as Mittersill we preferred to stay in Brazil instead of Austria, which is just a just a matter of choosing weather similar to Havana.”

“Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries contacted us if we could host their teams to train in advance of the Grand Prix in Havana. As we were already preparing our National training camp, they were able to enjoy the same structure that we prepare every year.”